Ecclesiastes 12:10

  I’ve seen it at concerts, sports arenas, and black Friday sales. A crowd so desperate to get in that almost force the door and in one mad insane rush, they pile in trampling over anyone in the way. It happens in a lot of places but I’ve never at church.  Yet that is the exact word picture Jesus used in Luke 16:16. "The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.”    Jesus explains that for generations up till John the Baptist’s, the Kingdom of Christ coming has been hyped and soon the doors will be opened and everyone will want to get in there. The NAS and ESV version uses the phrase “force into”. The KJV says “presseth”, while the ASV says “enters violently”.   So why the rush?   Why do people do at the mall and the venue? They want to be there and nothing is getting in their way.   Maybe we need to adopt a little of th...

  Hetty Green had money problems.   She would wear the same black dress till it was worn out. Her daughter was sent to a convent to be raised and provided by nuns and her son lost his leg because of the cost of treating an infection. She separated from her husband because he spent too much and he eventually died bankrupt. She ate cold oatmeal, onions, and eggs since she hadn’t paid for fuel to heat it. She sold newspapers she had read to others for half price for extra cash. She used a ragtag trunk as a desk and set on the floor rather than have proper office furniture.   You may be tempted to feel sorry for a woman so broke, but don’t. She wasn’t broke. Heddy Green was the daughter of a shipping magnate that had inherited 10 million dollars. When she died in 1916, she had over 100 million dollars. She had money, she just didn’t ever use it.   Maybe we should feel sorry for her to have such a warped perceptive on what money was good for.   We m...

  Old Spice was having a tough time. It was getting crushed by its newest competitor Axe with its hip image that appealed to youth. Old Spice was …old. How could they regain their strength in the market?   They were able to do it with a new quirky ad campaign that changed their image and strongly appealed not to men, the primary users of their product, but to women the primary purchasers of their products. 60 percent of their body wash was bought by women.    I wonder if we are not having the same problem in our churches today. You hear all the time about how churches are shrinking. We see the statics about how the next generation is becoming less religious. The first response is to try to change in order to attract that demo. Be hip, lose the old ways, let popular culture determine your message and actions.  Yet before we do that let us consider, who are we trying to please and who will give the increase?     I planted, Apollos watered, but...

   Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. made the observation “ that kings, generals, and presidents tend to make their biggest mistakes immediately following their greatest victories ”.   I think he’s right but it isn’t just limited to kings and generals. Think of all the Biblical examples. Noah right after he gets off the Ark gets himself embarrassing fall down drunk. David finally secures his kingdom and puts it into jeopardy with his sin with Bathsheba. Elijah defeats the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel then finds himself despondent in a cave ready to give up. Peter confesses Jesus as Christ, then proceeded to tell Jesus he can’t go to the cross.  Over and over, we think the moment at the top is secure until we take that first step down and tumble. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. 1 st Corinthians 10:12   Maybe it’s simply because we start to lose focus when everything is going our way....

 I have always thought we need more punctuation marks. One to show sarcasm for instance. As it is, we really only have three ways to end a sentence. Even those are fairly new. The question mark came about in the middle ages when scholars would write the Latin ‘quaestio’ at the end of a sentence to show that it was a question, which in turn was shortened to QO then to ?..  Yet a lot can be said with those. For example, when Victor Hugo wrote his publisher about the sales of his book Les Misérables, he simply wrote”?”. They responded “!”.    Years ago, I hear someone proclaim “ never put a question mark where God has put a period ”. That’s very good advice. Also, we might say don’t let what the Bible says is an Exclamation point become a question mark. Too many times we know what the Word says but our reaction to it puts a different spin on it. We react as if the Good News isn’t that at all.   As it is we would do well to remember the word of James ...

  Chances are this week you are in the midst of trying to get everything done before the holiday season. Buy the last-minute presents, wrap those gifts, get the Christmas dinner fixed, send out those ends of the year letters, clean up before guests arrive, gas up the car, make sure the travel plans are in place. It can be overwhelming.   Did I miss anything?   It reminds me of Martha in Luke 10. Frustrated not only by all she has to get done but also by a sister that isn’t helping. When she expresses her irritation to the Lord, he gives her an unexpected response. " Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary …”.   It was not her sister that made the mistake, it was her. She is missing out on what is most important because she focused on all the things that should come second.   Could we be doing the same thing?   This time of year should be a reminder of what matters most. Don’t let al...

  An unusual detail is given in 1 st Kings 6:7 about the construction of the house of the Lord. All the stonework was done offsite so that there would be no construction noise made in its building. If you have ever been on a construction site you know the noise that comes about. Of course, the sound today would be different, but still, we can understand how odd that would be.   Still, why go to all that effort?     I think it says something about the reverence for the place God would dwell. We live in a world today of constant noise. People talking, air conditioners blowing, lights humming, music in the background. Silence is a strange phenomenon. Yet there are times and places where the noise seems to cease. Where something about the place or the circumstances draws the noise to a close. Think about a memorial or a cemetery or that moment in a ball game when a player is injured and the crowd hushes. The beginning of a prayer, the end of the performance, th...