Ecclesiastes 12:10

  For years I heard some passionate debates about whether or not Jesus made intoxicating wine.  I think the real issue isn’t really a curiosity on the alcoholic content but rather if this situation would create a loophole for his followers to imbibe. Some want to find an excuse to indulge their physical desire.  It isn’t just this passage however that gets twisted.   The effects of alcohol, and other such drugs, have a biblical purpose to be used to provide relief of physical suffering and for medicinal purposes (Proverbs 31:6, 1 st Timothy 5:23).  Folks however want to have the effect without the purpose. The use is a justification rather than a legitimate reason.  But God’s people are not to be controlled by a substance but rather by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:8).   It’s sad because in the debate we often lose that principle.  I’ve seen some of the most adamant teetotalers that take pain medicine like it’s going out of style. ...

   I’m a bit worried we have gotten a little too obsessed with how bad the world is.  I hear so many discussions about how bad things are getting, so many posts about warning about this wicked new twist, so much indignation over a famous person’s wicked behavior.  It seems that some Christians spend most of their time watching the world so they can report on it's behavior.  It has become an almost voyeuristic pastime to look at the world and comment on how wicked it is. Of course its wicked, it is the world. Do we really need to be told that?    I understand we get concerned about these kinds of things because we want our country to be better and are worried about the future for our children.  But we need to remember the world has always been the home turf of the devil (1 st John 5:19) and will always be.  Wickedness will be around us no matter how hard we try to avoid it.   Consider what we read in 1st Corinthians 5:9-1...

Monday Morning Scatter shooting while wondering why people who say they don’t care what people think are usually desperate to have people think they don’t care what people think     Ok, everybody calm down!  I feel the need to say that fairly often.  People get so worked up about everything anymore.  Any action, decision, or event must be debated in the public arena.  And all the indignation that comes to those that didn’t do things the way in hindsight I seems how they should have been done.  We have to have an opinion on everything that happens in the world.  Well, I’m done.  I only going to care about the things, I can shape and control.  Luckily for me I serve a God that knows all and sees all, so instead of getting worked up about everything, I’ll let him take care of it.  All these national crises and world cataclysms( Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkn...

  In every congregation I have ever worked with a constant source of complaining is with the thermostat. There is always someone to hot or to cold. No matter what approaches the church tries to regulate the temperature, some one is not satisfied. I often wondered how the problem can be solved.   A few years back, I traveled with a group of young people to help in the recovery after Hurricane Katrina. During that time, I had to privilege to worship with the Chalmette church of Christ. Most of their building was washed away from the floods following the hurricane. The church had continued to meet in the building as soon as they were able to get in the area. The members had begun the slow process of rebuilding. When we met, some new sheetrock had been installed but the church was still without doors or windows. A church of 80 members now only had 5 still able to live in the community. But many still traveled in each week to worship, some from as far as fifty miles away. On this S...