In Acts 20, there is the tragicomic event surrounding a young man by the name of Eutychus. He did what a lot of folks before and after him did, he fell asleep during a sermon. Unfortunately, he was setting in in the third story window at the time. So instead of nodding off and hitting the pew in front of him, he fell to his death. The good news was the apostle Paul was delivering the sermon and had the ability to bring him back. I don’t know, however, if we can judge Eutychus too harshly. The sermon had gone on till midnight. Paul wouldn’t finish it up till daybreak. That’s a long lesson. I know some folks that might want to jump out of a window if I had a lesson that long, yet these Christians wanted to be there to hear Paul. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not pushing for all night sermons but I think we might need to adopt these folks' dedication. They knew that Paul was only in town for a limited time only and they were determined to ...
Many people think gossip is a harmless diversion. However, a study on gossip found out that it indeed hurts someone, one you might not expect. Researcher set up a test where subject watched a video were actor talked about a third party. In the videos, the actor would either say something very negative or positive about the other person. After the video, the subjects were asked to rate the personality of the speaker. Even though it was obvious that actor was talking about someone else, the participants consistently attributed the negative traits to the speaker. As Jean Paul Richter said, “A man never discloses his own character so clearly as when he describes another's”. Gossip is seems does as much harm to the gossiper as it does to those being gossiped about. Proverbs 25:9-10 warns us “do not reveal the secret of another, or he who hears it will reproach you, And the evil report about you will not pass away.”
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