Ecclesiastes 12:10

  In 1853, a contractor named John Coffee was hired to build a new jail in the town of Dundalk, Ireland. The project, however, proved too much, and during the construction, Coffee went bankrupt.  Unable to pay his debt, he was sentenced to serve time.   He became his jail’s very first inmate.   Sin works the same way. At the start, it seems like we are in control of it. But the longer it lasts, the more it takes over. Then, sooner or later, what we thought we were in charge of is now the very thing that traps us. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death . James 1:14-15   Sin is a prison we build for ourselves. The only escape comes when one is willing to pay the debt that put us there.  Sin is too much for us. We are not controlling it; it is capturing us. Only in Christ can our debt be paid and our fr...

   Near the end of David’s reign as king, he commits a great sin. He decides to number his people. The census isn’t wrong but the prideful act of the King is.   As punishment, David is given a choice by God, “ either three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land ” (1st Chronicles 21:12-13). David chooses the pestilence, figuring it would be better to be in God’s hands rather than men. As the destroying angel reaches the threshing floor of Oran, David cries out to God, “ Is it not I who commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and done very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, please let Your hand be against me and my father's household, but not against Your people that they should be plagued”.   This story literally emphasizes the Biblical point that the “ wages of sin i...

   In early 1865, Patrick Anderson’s farm fell on hard times. On the brink of bankruptcy, he wrote to Jordan Anderson, who had lived on the farm from age 8, asking him to return to the plantation to work. Though he shared a last name with him Patrick was not a relative to Jordan but his former owner.   The reason the farm was failing was it had lost its source of free labor when Union troops upon occupying the plantation, emancipated the slaves held therein. Now here was Patrick Anderson asking for the slave to come back to the plantation with no mention of pay.   Jordan, by then, had started a new life as a free man in Ohio and had found gainful employment. The return letter he sent back went about as you expected too. Jordan's sarcasm-laden message reminded the slave owner of the atrocities he had done and how he had ‘ shot at me twice before I left you’. He said he be willing to come back and “ forget past scores ” if Patrick would show his sincerity and...

  It is hard to find a place in New York City to park unless you are a United Nations diplomat. They park wherever they want.   It’s not that they are allowed to but their diplomatic immunity keeps them from paying the cost. In one year alone the diplomats racked up 143,508 parking summonses, which would have cost them $15.8 million. Yet, because of the immunity, the punishments they incur are not enforced. So, they tend to park very badly   Solomon recognized this tendency. In Ecclesiastes 8:11he writes; “ Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil .” If we do not pay for our wrongs quickly, we tend to think they are OK.  This however is a terrible practice to have in our lives. In Romans 2:4-6, Paul warns us about the danger when we look at God’s tolerance and patience of our sin as acceptance. He warns it will make things worse for us in judgment since God wi...

   As Francois de La Rochefoucauld once remarked, “ When our vices quit us we flatter ourselves with the belief that it is we who quit them .” Many times, our repentance is really nothing more than us trying to escape the consequences of our sin. We are sorry only because we are caught or maybe it caught up with us.   That however isn’t the kind of repentance God wants from us. Consider what is said about the woman Jezebell( probably not her real name but an apt description) in the message to the church at Thyatira found in Revelation 2. Here is a woman who is involved in wickedness and leading others to it. It is said of her “ I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality.”  God is willing to forgive. He wants us to turn back to him. He will give us chances to do just that. But there comes a point when our sin isn’t ignorance, immaturity or weakness, it is just simple rebelliousness. That kind of sin will be punished by God and we...

  John chapter eight might just start with one of the strangest recorded events in the life of Jesus. That is saying a lot in a book that contains numerous miracles and wonders. It is strange because of all the things it leaves out. It tells us about Jesus’ writing but doesn’t tell us what he wrote. He is asked a question and he doesn’t give an answer. Angry men are in a mob ready to kill yet end up slinking away one by one with no definite reason as to why.   The story is about a woman caught in the very act of adultery and then caught up in the political games of the Pharisees. They want to test Jesus to find something they could use against him.  She is a pawn in that test.   So, Jesus says nothing. He just stoops down and writes on the ground. They push for an answer. He eventually responds, “ He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her ” The perfect person gets to go first.   But no one does. One by one they lea...

  As comedian Jerry Sinfield pointed out, we only have a problem with hair when it comes off the head. We touch someone’s hair, even kiss them on the head, but when we find a hair on its own, it’s the most vile, disgusting thing. I guess it comes down to having something where it is not supposed to be.   I think that is why when people see sin in the church, they are so much more appalled than when they see it in other places. We encounter hypocrisy, pettiness, gossip, partiality, rudeness, and impurity every day in the world. Yet when it happens to people at church, they are more appalled.   Because, like a hair in our food, they know it is not supposed to be there. But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.   Ephesians 5:3-4   That is why we must be so careful as the faith...

   In Galatians 6:1, we are told, “ Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. ”   Helping another see and overcome their error is a good thing, but it also can be a dangerous thing as well.   The person confronting a false teacher can fall into a judgmental spirit. A man trying to correct a falsehood may succumb to gossip and slander toward those that spread the lie. A man standing against evil may let his good action swell him up with pride. A man trying to defend against an accusation may turn and attack in the same evil manner.   Often our pride keeps us from seeing the pit we are trying to help others out of is a place we also can slip into. That does mean we should try to help others. It just means we need to do so carefully with the right attitude and in the right way.

  Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21   When I read this passage, I often skip to the list. The behaviors that are ‘no-goes” for the person wanting to be part of the Kingdom. However, it recently clicked to me that the passage starts with a rather important point. These behaviors are obviously wrong. The word translated either as “evident” or “manifest” originates in the term for shining. It’s akin to the modern phrase “there is a flashing red light” saying NO, BAD, DO NOT DO!  Yet, how many of these behaviors are debated and justified? We try to make some form of them acceptable. We clean up the verbiage, we try to red...

  Some diseases don’t have a cure but can be treated. Medicine can be taken; symptoms can be controlled but, in the end, you still have the disease. And if you ever stop the treatment the disease will take over.   Under the Old Law sin was treatable. Sacrifices could be offered; atonement could be made but there wasn’t anything to stop the disease. If you ever didn’t keep the law, sin would be there to destroy you   “By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.  Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God …” Hebrews 10:10-12      That’s what makes the New Covenant so much better. In Christ, we have the means for sin to be cured. The old way just held back sin; the new way takes it away.   So why then do people st...

     Li Fuyan had been having the same headache on and on for the past four years. He’d tried every treatment imaginable to ease his throbbing headaches but nothing made much of a dent. It had all started after a failed robbery where he was attacked with a knife. The blade gave him lacerations on the right side of his jaw but he was able to escape with his life. Doctors finally decided to do an X-ray of his skull to see if there were any issues. Turns out the blade hadn’t just nicked his face. A rusty four-inch knife blade had been lodged in his skull the whole time. Once it was removed his headache went away.     This is similar to how sin treats us. Often, we struggle with a sinful temptation and maybe we feel like we escape the damage. However, if the desire finds a way in our hearts, it beings to corrupt. Some other struggles may seem unrelated but it’s really desire growing into lust. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his ow...

      I’ve done it to many times to count. I will go to a restaurant and be unimpressed with the food, the service, the cost, or any host of things. Then I’ll declare quite sincerely that “I won’t be going back”. Now fast forward a few months and we be out, and the choices are limited, and I want something different, so guess where we will end up?     It doesn’t just happen there. We often find ourselves in situations we don’t want to be in and when we finally escape, we swear we won’t be back. Until we are.       Satan knows and uses this tendency in his temptations. I might get burned with a bad meal if I fall for it at a restaurant but I could lose my soul if I don’t see Satan’s trap.     We go back because we forget why we left in the first place. We go back because we slip into old patterns. We go back because we don’t make a clean committed break. We go back because we don’t replace bad with good leaving a void. We go b...

    That summer was going to be pack with big-name movies, so the theaters were being picky. 20 th Century Fox had a movie they thought might make some money but only 40 theaters wanted it. What the rest of them wanted was “The Other Side of Midnight”, a steamy adult-themed adaptation of a bestselling book by the same name. The other movie was just a hero adventure of good vs evil that theaters felt was too sappy for modern audiences.     So 20 th Century Fox played dirty. They told the theaters that the only way they could get “ The Other Side of Midnight ” is if they would also show the other movie they were promoting. This was illegal and would get them fined 25,000 dollars, but they didn’t seem to mind.     It not because “ The Other Side of Midnight ” did so well, but because the other movie did. While “ The Other Side of Midnight ” made a modest 24 million, the other movie “ Star Wars ” made 775 Million!     It‘s not just...

  It must have been the ultimate heartbreak for Adam and Eve to be kicked out of the garden.   For a couple that had enjoyed the presence of God in their home in paradise, the cruel thorns and thistles of the world must have been a harsh shock. Any hope of heading back home was crushed by the angel with the flaming sword guarding the way.   But guardian was not a sign of God disfavor with them. It wasn’t protection against them but for them Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever-- " Genesis 3:22   God wants man to come home but only in a state where he can stay there. A man that lives forever with sin is one that will never get to be in the presence of God again (Isiah 59:2). Only those have had their sins washed away will dwell with him again. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they ...

  It’s estimated that in the US that $40 billion to $60 billion is lost each year in various forms of wage theft. Wage theft comes in various forms but it basically comes down someone not getting what is due them. Any of us that have worked for someone and then found out they are not going to pay, can tell you the frustration. Yet for all of us, the greatest wages we have withheld is really for our benefit. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23   This verse explains to us that what we are due, what we have earned by our actions is death. Our work has a consequence; a terrible one. Sin brings death and since all have sinned, all should get what is due to them. However, God’s gracious salvation isn’t earned it is given. We don’t demand it as a result of what we have done rather we accept it on the terms it has been given.   It’s odd however how people seem to get this backward. We seem...

   A few years back the congregation I worked for installed new dry erase boards into the classrooms. Even though we put the correct markers in the room and let everyone know to only use the dry erase markers on the boards, it wasn’t too long till someone wrote all over the board with a permanent marker.   Not wanting to have to replace the entire board, I made several attempts with various solvents and scrubs to erase the damage. No luck. Then I ran across this piece of advice: “Write over the mark with a dry erase marker and erase, it will remove the permeant markers.” I thought there is no way it could work. It too simple, but it was that easy.   Wrong made right by doing it right.   Wish life was that easy. We all have marks on our clean slate that we wish we could get rid of. We might scrub at them but what we think will take away the stain doesn’t work. It seems damaged beyond repair, forever stains with the mistake of sin.   Yet ...

    Thomas Midgely was a mechanical and chemical engineer that had over 100 patents in his career. He has won the Priestly Medal the highest award of the American Chemical Society, was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences and hold two honoree degrees because of his work. He also might have done more damage to the atmosphere than any person that ever lived.     You see, Midgely is the man responsible for both leaded gasoline and Freon.  While both products had wonderful uses, they both had deadly consequences. Leaded gasoline is linked to all kinds of long term health problems. Freon was found to destroy the ozone layer. By 2018, both products made the Time’s list off worst inventions of all time.     At least with lead gasoline, he should have known better. The plants that manufacture the stuff had serval deaths attributed to lead poisoning, workers had bouts of insanity and hallucinations because of exposure to i...

  From 1918 till 1920, about 75 million people died on the flu. The epidemic was a global one but the disease was known by a regional moniker, the Spanish flu. It didn’t start there nor was Spain hit particularly harder than any other nation, so why did it get the name?   The reason was World War 1. The combatants in WWI didn't report on how badly the flu had hit their nations. Not wanting their enemies to know how sick they were nor did they want their own people, they instead censored the reports. Spain neutral in the conflict had no reason to hide the truth, so it looked as if it was being hit harder than the rest. So it became known as “Spanish Flu”.       Often times those that are authentic in their behavior are relegated as oddballs. For example, those that confess their sin are looked down on when in truth there are many of those setting in silent judgment there that have the same if not worse sins. People that admit to faults are seen as we...

  I’d argue that the greatest cultural change in the last fifty years has been the cell phone. The first mobile phone call was made 45 years ago but the greatest change came with the introduction of the smartphone in the early 2000s. Now everyone has information and entertainment at their ready. A single tool that can do all kinds of amazing things that were revolutionary in numerous separate devices just a few years back.   Yet like any tool, it can be a danger.   The ease at which the internet can be reached can be made for good but also evil. The social media interaction it provides can be a helpful boost but also a harmful habit. It can take us across the globe at the punch of a button but can also remove us from our friends and family.   Lots of good things can be made into evil. Anything that we allow control of us can be turned into a master for evil. I think we are just at the tip of the iceberg for how these new inventions will shape and chang...

   Uri was a soldier. He was a good soldier. No check that, he was a great soldier. One of the thirty best in the country. He wasn’t that rich or all that famous. He didn’t have a lot but he had one thing; a girl.   His girl was amazing. Absolutely beautiful. One look would have a man wanting to know more about her. She came from an important family. Her granddad was one of the top political advisors in the world. Who knows how Uri came to get a girl like her, but he did. He married her. He loved her, but Uri was a first and foremost a soldier.   Soldiers have a duty that often times calls them away from home. That absence can cause a strain in any marriage. Yet Uri knew his duty. So when the trumpets of war sounded, Uri backed up his gear and headed to the battlefield, leaving his girl home alone.   Uri was a man of duty and honor. God, family, and country. So when He received a special order to give a report to the commander in chief, Uri packe...