Ecclesiastes 12:10

   In Haggai 1:6-7 we read: "You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes." Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways!   It’s funny how often people get caught in a feedback cycle yet never stop to consider why. There is an old adage, “ Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results ”.  In this passage, God is rebuking his people because they can’t seem to get ahead yet they never stop to consider why. In putting everything else but God first in their lives, nothing in their lives seems to be working out. Yet they continue in the same pattern. Consider your ways!   It is a cry we need to hear today.  If things are not improving, it might be because we not doing anything differently. If we are stuck in the same rut, it might b...

    Why did they decide to start the year in the middle of winter? It is not a solstice or equinox. It doesn’t really seem like a ‘new’ year.  If they had done it in springtime, that would make sense when everything is blooming back and nature is returning. But no that is months off.  The school year isn’t new, we are smack dab in the middle of it. There is no new sports season that starts, nothing is premiering,  no reason for the business world to take notice except we say it is a new year. There is no metaphorically, astronomically, and culturally significant reason for it.  Yet here we are in a New Year. However, there doesn’t have to be a reason to change, except it is time for one. We all need to move ahead, maybe by letting go of something (a sin, a struggle, a grudge) or making a fresh start (better habit, a spiritual commitment, a new walk).  Don’t let arbitrary date on a calendar make you start anew. The only day you need is today! As w...

  I had a college professor no matter what the lecture started on, it ended up on one of three topics. Maybe you know some preachers like that. Or it could conversation with a friend that will be constantly on the same subject. Or maybe it’s us making the same mistakes over and over.   It can be easy to get in a rut. The same choices led to the same actions, that lead to the same results. We fall into a comfortable place even if that place is very good for us to be in.   So how do we get out of the cycle?   In Romans 12:2 we are told, “ And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect .” This verse gives us a template   First, we need to escape the pattern. Break the cycle. Step out of the rut. Then we must change our minds. Instead of letting the pattern of the world determine our actions, we need to rework and ...

  Contentment is very much a biblical concept. Contentment comes from the right spiritual mindset and trust in God and his control. (Philippians 4:12-13). It is the idea of being happy with what you have. Contentment keeps us out of the temptation of longing for things that will lead us from God (1 st Timothy 6:6-10). It is a trait we need to cultivate and admire.         However, contentment isn’t complacency.         Complacency is getting to a point and thinking that is all I have to do. It's not finding satisfaction as much as it is being static. It's finding a comfortable rut and staying in it. Complacency longs for something, the status quo, for nothing to change for things to remain in a predictable easy pattern at will require little effort out of us.       While contentment is the secret of happiness, complacency is the recipe for failure.     You see complacency ignores the fact that chang...

 ( The Equal time Rule originated in The Radio Act of 1927 ,later the Communication Act, stated U.S. radio and television broadcast stations must provide an equivalent opportunity to any opposing political candidates who request it. Though this not required of preacher’s blogs, I thought in fairness I might give equal time to the other side with this post!).   Why wouldn’t you want to go to hell?   Oh sure, there are a lot of thing people like Jesus saying bad things about hell but what the great traits? Do we ever consider them?   For example, Hell is quite the popular destination (Mathew 7:13-14).  Many of your friends and family will be there (Luke 13:23).  It not hard to get into Hell, you don’t have to do anything to get there. You don’t have to listen and do anything anybody tells you to do (Matthew 7:21).    On earth, you always have God looking over your shoulder (Jeremiah 23:23-24) but in Hell, you won’t have to...

  Initially, there were no or few postal regulations governing packages mailed by parcel post.  So when a Salt Lake City Company wanted to construct a bank in Vernal, Utah, in 1916, they ascertained that the cheapest way to send 40 tons of bricks to the building was by parcel post.  Each brick was individually wrapped and mailed. The postal rules were promptly rewritten.   There will always be those that will in their craftiness come up with ways to skirt the rules.  Those that look for loopholes or create them, thinking they can get away with something.  To combat it, we try to make more rules and regulations but then that makes things worse for everyone and just gives the schemer more ways to do what he was doing from the start.  Simple clear rules are the most difficult to bend or break.   In 2nd Corinthians 11:3-4 we read, “ But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the...

Crazy hypothetical: The Same Old Same Old* For $1 million dollars, would you wear the exact same outfit every day for the rest of your life? It must be the exact same outfit, (if you put on a jacket it must be on your person at all times**, so it may be too hot in summer not warm enough in winter). You will wear this in all aspects of your life (work, school, church, funerals, weddings, mowing the yard).  You may replace garments as they wear out but they will be the exact same style and color. Any variation will mean you forfeit the money and must pay it back. Would you do it? Could you do it? How much money would it take till you couldn't say no? *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class. This is a great way to talk about change and how we can’t avoid it. ** Point of clarity, If you decide on sweatshirt you can we...

Anyone that has ever read a super hero comic knows the importance of a good origin story. Everything you need to know about a character should come thru in his origin story. If you want to know why Batman is the “dark knight” or why Spiderman puts up with all the grief he receives, you need to read the origin story.  Similarly, if you want to understand the apostle Paul, all you need to do is look to his origin story and his conversion to Christianity.  The events on the Damascus Road in Acts 9 shaped Paul into the man we see throughout the Bible.  When Paul is put on trial for his actions as an evangelist, his defense is the re-telling of his conversion (Acts 22:3-21; 26:9-23).  Paul doesn’t start out the hero of this story however; he is the main villain.  In the beginning, Paul is the chief persecutor of the church and believed that he “ had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.” But after Jesus speaks to him on that desert road,...

       I think the hardest thing about moving isn’t filling the boxes, or renting the truck or figuring out where everything goes, it’s all the change in habit.  Those simple routines we work ourselves into to simplify life.   Now instead of going into autopilot and following a familiar routine, we are forced make hundreds of little decision that normally would never enter our mind.  Everything seems harder than it should be.  Habits help make life easier.                         Easier however doesn’t always mean better.  Bad habits can give us less discomfort in the short term but set us up longer term failure.  Poor or vulgar language makes it “easy to say” but leaves others with negative long term impressions about us.  Fast and easy meals are nice but may bring regrets to your waistline.  The Bible ...

As I began to write this article, I had to for the first time write the date as 2012. It felt very odd. My mind tells me we can’t be that far along. I’m just now getting used to writing 20 instead of 19 and we are 12 years past that change. It is however a basic fact of life, times change.   We may think they shouldn’t, we may try to hold on to the past but this world is an ever changing place.   I think we get a false impression that this world is stable and consistent, but it is not. We cling to certain things, thinking they will last but time will get the best of them as well. In truth there is only one constant that will never change. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that “ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ”   Our environment, the way we live, how people travel and work, the ways we behave, how we communicate, our leaders, our buildings, our landscape are all subject to change. Christ isn’t. He is our constant in an inconstant world.