A young businessman was sitting in the VIP lounge at an airport waiting for a prospective client. Suddenly, the young man noticed Bill Gates sitting across the room. He introduced himself to Gates, explaining that he was trying to seal an important business deal. He asked Gates, “Could you possibly just say a quick ‘Hello Chris” to me when I’m with my client? It would help seal the deal.” Gate agreed. Five minutes later the client arrived, and Bill Gates tapped the young man on the shoulder and said, “Hey Chris, what’s happening?’ The young man replied, “Take a hike, Gates, I’m in a meeting.”
“Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food.”—Proverbs 12:9.
The famous Dutch artist, Rembrandt, created an interesting painting of the crucifixion. One’s attention is first drawn to the cross and the One who hangs there. But when you look at the crowd that is in attendance you find that Rembrandt has included himself among the ones who are crucifying Jesus!
It is a good thing to be reminded of the fact that we are sinners for whom Jesus died. We can be as indifferent as Pilate, as scheming as Caiaphas, as callous as the Roman soldiers and as cowardly as the disciples. Yet Jesus died for us anyway.
Maybe, in a sense, we can find ourselves somewhere in the picture, standing next to Rembrandt.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”—Romans 5:6-8.
As I participated in communion this past Sunday I thought about how someone had to take the time to prepare the trays of bread and juice beforehand so that we could engage in this important part of the worship service.
Then I moved on to the thought that Jesus had to make preparations as well. He had to lay down his life on the cross in order to pay for our sins. His broken body and shed blood made it possible for us to be forgiven.
Those who have accepted Jesus as their savior are prepared to stand before God. We are reminded of this wonderful truth every time we take communion.
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”—Romans 5:9.
There is a story told about a man who decided to become a monk. He joined a monastery that required its members to take a vow of silence. At the end of each year’s service this man would be allowed to say two words.
After the first year the man was allowed to speak his two words. He said, “Bed hard.”
After his second year of living at the monastery the man uttered these two words—“Food bad.”
At the end of his third year, the frustrated monk said, “I quit!”
His supervisor replied, “I’m not surprised. Ever since you got here you’ve done nothing but complain.”
“Do everything without grumbling…”—Philippians 2:14.
There has been some controversy surrounding President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia. While there he was photographed fist-bumping several high-ranking Saudi officials. Some feel that it was an improper display that perhaps showed some acceptance of a murderous regime. Should one appear to be so friendly with people who are guilty of having blood on their hands?
Only time will tell if the Saudis experience any backlash from appearing to be so cozy with the pro-abortion Biden.
“Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’”—1 Corinthians 15:33.
Tonight is Major League Baseball’s annual All-Star Game. This year’s game will be played in Los Angeles. You may remember that last year’s game was scheduled to be played in Atlanta, but was moved to Denver. Major League Baseball said that the move was in response to Georgia’s new voting law. The left, and President Joe Biden in particular, called the new law “Jim Crow 2.0”, insisting that the result would be to suppress the vote, especially of minority voters. Major League Baseball bought into the left’s narrative and made their knee-jerk decision to move the All-Star Game.
If you followed the issue, you will know that the voter turnout in Georgia for the primaries this spring was actually much higher than recent elections. It seems that the law did exactly what it was intended to do—to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.
Meanwhile, Major League Baseball played their All-Star Game last year in Colorado, a state that actually has more restrictive voting laws than Georgia.
If MLB has issued an apology to the city of Atlanta, I missed it. Perhaps they are waiting until tonight’s game, when their apology can be heard by a large audience.
I wish that MLB would stay out of politics. But if they have to get involved, they should at least try to get it right.
“To answer before listening—that is folly and shame.”—Proverbs 18:13.
My neighbor recently cut down a dying walnut tree that had become a nuisance. Even though the tree was nearly dead, it still produced a few nuts last year. I helped myself to a few of the walnuts and kept them for a while. After he cut down the tree, I decided to try the nuts to see if they were still any good. About half of them were still edible. I enjoyed eating the nuts, even after the tree’s demise.
This made me think about a verse in the Bible that talks about how we Christians bear lasting fruit. Revelation 14:13 says, “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.’”
Our words and actions will be remembered by those who remain after we are gone. We have many opportunities to continue to make an impact for the Lord long after we have passed from this life to the next. Let’s strive to produce fruit that will last.
I recently read a pro-abortion newspaper article that began with this statement—“If you oppose abortion, do not have one.” No doubt the writer thought that she had said something so profound that her wisdom could not be refuted. Her statement reminded me of similar comments made by those who defend the homosexual lifestyle—“If you are against gay marriage, don’t ask a gay person to marry you.”
Their line of thinking goes like this—If you think that a certain behavior is wrong, the only recourse that you have is to refrain from engaging in that particular behavior. Any other action that you might take is off limits. You may not speak against the offensive behavior, nor may you attempt to prevent others from making the mistake of engaging in that behavior. In other words, mind your own business.
Let’s see if that reasoning holds up if we apply it to other sins besides abortion and homosexual behavior. Suppose you think that it’s wrong to sell illegal drugs to children on the playground. Is it true that your only choice is to refrain from selling drugs to children yourself? Of course not! You can lobby for laws against that practice to be passed and enforced. You can report suspicious activity to the authorities. You can warn children about the dangers of drugs and interacting with strangers.
Or let’s say that you believe that immigration laws should be obeyed. Does that mean that your only option regarding this issue is to avoid entering a country illegally yourself? Of course not! There are other legitimate ways that you can take a stand on this issue.
The idea that the only legitimate way to oppose wicked behavior is to avoid that behavior yourself is ridiculously absurd. So how can the pro-abortion and pro-homosexual zealots come to such illogical conclusions? It is because they have aligned themselves against God. Psalm 111:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.” Since there is no true wisdom without the fear of the Lord, those who oppose God are incapable of attaining true wisdom and understanding. Romans 1:21-22 describes these people—“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools.”
This is why people who defend—and even celebrate—violence and perversion can say such illogical things and think that they have a winning argument. Their opposition to God has rendered them fools who are incapable of having a logical conversation. It is impossible to reason with people who did not use reasoning to reach their current position.
However, we must not remain silent on important moral issues. Where God has clearly spoken, we must speak. While we might not ever convince those who have aligned themselves against God, we can have some positive influence on people who have honest questions and are looking for some biblical perspective on moral issues.
The headline of a story on page four of today’s edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader read—“Pet adoption, fostering could move state toward no-kill”. This seems like a direction that would be agreeable to almost everyone. Who wouldn’t be in favor of allowing cute little animals to continue living?
Ironically, this liberal newspaper often proclaims the virtues of abortion—insisting that ending the life of a baby in its mother’s womb constitutes health care for women and insinuating that the only people who stand for the pro-life movement are narrow-minded, mean-spirited women haters.
Why can’t we offer the same kindness and mercy to tiny human beings that we do to our furry little friends?
Hopefully, the recent Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade will help move our nation toward a no-kill policy for babies in the womb.
“Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”—Psalm 82:4.
Sometimes people accuse Christians of being narrow-minded. They say that followers of Jesus should have a broader view of moral and social issues. They even maintain that Jesus would not be so narrow-minded—that he would share their wider acceptance of liberal thoughts and behaviors. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The Jesus we see in Scripture has some sharply defined views on many issues. One might even call him narrow-minded. Let’s look at some examples.
Jesus has a narrow view of creation. In Mark 10:6 he says, “But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female.” Jesus doesn’t seem to leave room for macro-evolution, the idea that mankind finally emerged as a finished product after billions of years and a series of remarkably fortunate occurrences that saw one-celled creatures finally evolve into the human beings that we are today. Jesus says that we were created by God in the very beginning.
That same verse also shows that Jesus has a very narrow view of gender, at least compared with some of the ideas that are being thrown around today. I recently filled out a medical form that gave me the option of listing myself as male, female or other. I heard of a university that lists 8 different genders that their students can choose from! But Jesus has a limited view of gender—male and female.
Jesus also has a narrow view of marriage. In Mark 10:7 he says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh.” Here Jesus quotes Genesis 2:24 and reaffirms God’s original definition of marriage—that it is a union between a man and a woman. Many in our society today would take a broader view of marriage, but Jesus does not offer that option.
When it comes to divorce, Jesus once again has a narrow view. When the Pharisees asked him if a man could divorce his wife “for any and every reason”, he answered, “…Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” He went on to say that sexual immorality was the only legitimate grounds for divorce. (Matthew 19:1-9). Our culture mirrors the one that Jesus lived in during the first century, with its wide acceptance of divorce, but Jesus takes a narrow view.
Jesus has a narrow view of discipleship. While some would say it’s an easy thing to be a Christian, Jesus says that if we want to be his disciple we have to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him (Mark 8:34).
Jesus has a narrow view of morality. He implored the woman who was caught in adultery to leave her life of sin (John 8:11).
Jesus has a narrow view of membership in his kingdom. In Revelation 22:15 he says, “Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.”
Jesus has a narrow view of salvation. While some insist that there are many ways to God, Jesus proclaims in John 14:6, “…I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
These are just a few of the examples we see in Scripture of how Jesus has a narrow view of what is right and true. So, the next time someone tries to insult you by calling you “narrow-minded” because of your Christian beliefs, be aware that they are unknowingly paying you a great compliment. Let’s all strive to agree with Jesus in all areas of life.
