Think About It

I can only imagine the words that typically accompanied the scene of a crucifixion. I figure there were all kinds of nasty interchanges between the accused and the executioner. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were pleading and protesting going on. The whole process must have been ripe with anger, fear and sorrow. Maybe that is why Jesus’ remarks surrounding His crucifixion were so incredible. The soldiers who nailed Him to the cross may have figured they had heard it all, “But Jesus was saying, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.” (Luke 23:34). It’s not that the soldier didn’t know how to do his job, he just didn’t understand the implications of what was happening. He was killing the Son of God! Yet, the most compelling part of the story is that Jesus also did His job – He forgave the soldier without even being asked! As I think about this moment in history it challenges me to think...

When I was a youngster, my dad would jokingly say, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up”. I would kind of chuckle at the absurdity of the comment, but the older I get the more the applicable the concept seems to be. While there are times preference drives our actions – we like what we like; however, the real problem is when mere conviction trumps truth. It is easy to fall into the rut of believing what we want to believe whether there is evidence to the contrary or not. It is no longer that we acknowledge the appeal of our preference; it becomes dangerous when we fail to realize the difference between preference and truth. I don’t have any problem with liking what we like, but we must be careful when we become so closed minded that we are blind to any effort at establishing reality. If we want to do something or believe something because that’s our preference; that’s fine as long as we don’t become adversarial to accepting true understanding. We can be con...

One of the things I like most about this time of year is that people tend to look for more outward ways to help others. It’s not that people need more help this time of year, it is just that there is a special spirit of giving during the holiday season. It is easy to ponder this and be critical that we should be doing more throughout the year, but in all honesty, I’ll take what we can get. If our society is going to be more caring for one month out of the year – let’s savor it. One of the challenges of doing good for people is that they often make it harder for us to feel good about helping. If you give someone a $100.00 gift card, they wonder why someone else got more. If you give people a Christmas bonus, they complain it wasn’t as much as last year. If you ask someone for their wish list, we can be shocked or disappointed by what is on it. Each of these are common reactions, but let’s keep in mind that we get to control our spirit of giving. No, we don’t have to meet someone...

If you have spent much time reading my thoughts you know that I am a sucker for a pithy quip. Well, the other day I found a hidden gem that may not be well known, but makes a ton of sense. In a collection of proverbs I found one that proclaimed, “Empty vessels sound most”. I guess I can’t be certain what the original sage had in mind, but the first thing that came to my mind was how often people who have the least to brag about do the most talking. Those who accomplish the least are often the ones who shout the loudest. People who are full of knowledge and accomplishments are typically content letting others sing their praises, but those who have more pride than productivity are often the ones tooting their horns the loudest. I guess there could be a lot of reasons for it, but the simplest explanation might be that they aren’t accomplishing enough to be recognized, so they have to tell the world what they are doing! Centuries ago, the wise man Solomon observed, “Let another prais...

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo...

While there can only be one truth, there can be a lot of good ideas. That may be a rather deep thought, but hear me out. When it comes to certain matters of absolutes there can only be one right way to do it. For example, when it comes to matters of spiritual salvation, there is one right way to accomplish it. However, when it comes to most other concepts there can be a variety of different ways and perspectives. One way might make good sense to one person, while another response may be more appropriate to another person. Interestingly, both could very well be a right way to do it. The value of the acceptance of equal options is that they allow us to live in harmony. When we are willing to accept there might be multiple ways of doing something, we are able to work together. However, when we believe that our way is the only way, we tend to alienate people and are forced to live with a narrow focus of one mind. Sure, we should strive to do what is right, but we must be willing ...

A lot of us have received CPR training. It has become so common and the process is so simple that even many of our teens are even trained. I am glad we are educating our people on these life-saving measures, but one thing we must remember is that the process is not always successful. I know some people who have been saved by CPR, but the vast majority of attempts do not bring people back to life. Depending on who you reference, the general consensus is that less than 25% of the efforts are successful. However – and this is a big “however” – a lower success rate should not deter us from trying. We never know which of the people we work on will make it, so we need to try! As I thought about the CPR process, it got me to thinking about evangelism. Sure, more often than not the people we teach won’t respond to the gospel, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. We should make our best effort to preach Jesus and see what happens. Our focus shouldn’t be on “conversion rates”, rather...