Think About It

Do we believe that God can forgive us?  Maybe a more basic concern is if we believe God wants to forgive us.  We live in a time and place where holding a grudge is seen as prudent and retaliation is an expectation.  Have we applied these two qualities to God?  Sometimes I wonder if people are so despondent (and maybe even self-destructive) because we don’t understand the grace and forgiveness of God.  While I am not convinced that God is willing to overlook anything and everything anyone decides to do, I do believe that He desires to forgive His people.  Centuries before Jesus sealed salvation for believers, David provided us an insight into God’s ability to forgive when he wrote, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.  He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniqu...

As Jesus was preparing His disciples for His death, He sat them down and had a pretty straightforward discussion with them.  The most detailed description of this meeting is found in the Gospel of John.  While there are several topics discussed, a couple of them should definitely catch our eye.  The first one is “love”.  When Jesus prepared His disciples for taking His religion public He told them, “ By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35).  Not long after that, when He was praying for the future of His believers, He laid out the plan for unity by asking, “… that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (John 17:21).  Love and unity would not only be a requirement for Christianity, but it would also be how people (even outsiders) would be able to identify His church...

One of the things that has built this nation into what it has become is sacrifice.   The early generations sacrificed the certainties of what they had in the “old country” to explore something new.   Those who forged a path to the Midwest and beyond left behind the green, verdant valleys of the eastern seaboard and wandered into harsh territories so the next generation could expand.   Many immigrants and factory workers sacrificed their wages so their children could get an education and attend college.   There has been a lot of sacrifice to get us to this point.   While all of these are examples of American sacrifice, we would be remiss if we didn’t honor one special type of sacrifice – that of our military veterans.   Whether they served overseas or kept the domestic borders secure, the men and woman of the military gave of themselves so that we could be free to pursue the American dream.   Some gave all, but all gave some … and we appreciate your s...

When I was a youngster, I remember being admonished to attend church services.   (Come to think of it, “admonished” may not be a strong enough word for it.   We were going to church – and that was that.)   If there was any doubt about the weekend’s activities, we were continually reminded of our responsibility with, “… not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25).   Folks, in all honesty, I didn’t need much compulsion to go to church, as a preacher’s kid that’s where my friends and my (church) family was.   However, it wasn’t until I was a little older that I realized there was a little more to this context.   You see, the preceding section of this thought taught, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate o...

There comes a time when you stop being the idealist and become the establishment.  I can’t tell you when it happens, but having lived through the last several decades I have made the transition.  When I was younger, I felt like we had all kinds of new ideas and innovations … now, I live in fear of having what I believe to be the best way of doing things becoming extinct.  I think it is natural for young people to advocate change and older people to resist it.  In all honesty, I kind of believe this a natural part of the circle of life.    As I was thinking about this the other day, I got to thinking about how the approach to work as changed in my lifetime.  Not only has how we view our jobs evolved, so has how we perceive “work”.  As I pondered this, I was lead to an observation by one of my favorite writers, Simon Sinek, who noted, “Work ethic is giving great effort to complete a task.  Passion is giving great effort to advance a cause.”...

Jesus was a good guy.  (Okay, you can file that under the “firm grasp of the obvious” tab.)  While Jesus was full of goodness and kindness, He did have an intolerance for certain things – one of which was hypocrisy.  Early on, Jesus reminded people to look at their own lives before criticizing others by saying, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5).  However, if there was a particular bias, it was against religious hypocrites.  In condemning the one particular attitude of His day, He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” (Matthew 23:27).  Throughout His ministry Jesus advocated love and acceptance, but He was very pointed when it came to duplicity.   As I thought about t...

Will everyone be satisfied with the way this election will turn out?  Sometimes I wonder if anyone will be pleased with the way this election will turn out!     This has been a unique election season and I get the impression that it isn’t over yet.  I have been around for a lot of these elections and I just get the sense that this one is different than those I have previously experienced.  Now, I don’t know if the results will be better or worse – in fact, I don’t believe the success of this election will be answered on Tuesday … in the next few days … or even in the next few years.  I believe that it will be the historians that will ultimately decide if November 5, 2024 was a good day or not.   As I think about this historic day, I tend to harken back on our nation’s history – but, in all honesty, it takes me back even further.  As I have thought and prayed about Election 2024, I keep going to back to a passage in the New Testament, “ Honor...