The coach's star athlete had flunked math again. The coach went to the math teacher and pleaded for the teacher to give the player another chance. The teacher said, "All right, son, what is nine times seven?" The player answered, "Sixty-three." Quickly, the coach said, "Give him another chance, give him another chance!"
Wonder if he would have gotten the correct answer if the question had been, "What is seventy times seven?" That is the answer Jesus gave to Peter when Peter asked, "How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?" It is human nature to turn your back on those that offend you. But God says to forgive others because you are forgiven and if you expect forgiveness for your own future sins. To put it in perspective, you are only hurting yourself when you do not forgive others.
Matthew 6:15 But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Copied from So? Whatever--365 laughs and Devotionals, by Charles Jones and Mary Crisp. Sold through Amazon.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Friday, September 13, 2013
All Changes Are Not Good
Someone once said, "Pity poor Rip Van Winkle, he went to sleep and woke up with his whole world having been changed." I am sure it must have been quite a shock for old Rip to wake up twenty years later and having to deal with all the changes that had taken place. However, it could have been worse; old Rip could have lived in our day and age. Then he would have really seen some dramatic changes.
Those of you, if there are any left, who have lived as long as I have lived have noticed unthinkable changes. Obviously we have been blessed with some wonderful changes that have made life more enjoyable, but there are changes that have completely offset much of the advantages. Technology has provided us with so many labor saving devices that we have more free time than ever before. But what do we do with that free time? So much of it is being spent to entertain ourselves so as we will not become bored. The freedom granted to us has almost become a slavery that binds us to "keep up with the Joneses".
There once was a time, though the schedule was tight, we found time for the family, for friends to visit, and to attend church. My what a change: we don't want to become involved. There once was a time when a person would come to the aid of someone in distress, but no more. It is not uncommon to hear of a woman being raped and killed and those who saw it would not come to her aid. God have mercy on us!!!
If someone had told me when I graduated from high school that I would live to see the day when some would say, "Kill the babies, but save the owl." I would have thought they were insane. I wonder how we are viewed in much of the rest of the world when we become, as well as we should, about a few hundred children being gassed to death and we have literally allowed millions of babies to be snuffed out in the past few years.
Perhaps more disturbing than the fact that things that once were wrong or now right, and things that were once wrong are now right is that so often many things are neither right or wrong, black or white, but a very confusing color of gray in which the only guiding rule is, "If it feels good, do it."
If you are looking for something that is not confusing, that is constant in the midst of a changing world, consider God. He is still unchanging and his 10 Commandments have not been changed to 10 suggestions.
Those of you, if there are any left, who have lived as long as I have lived have noticed unthinkable changes. Obviously we have been blessed with some wonderful changes that have made life more enjoyable, but there are changes that have completely offset much of the advantages. Technology has provided us with so many labor saving devices that we have more free time than ever before. But what do we do with that free time? So much of it is being spent to entertain ourselves so as we will not become bored. The freedom granted to us has almost become a slavery that binds us to "keep up with the Joneses".
There once was a time, though the schedule was tight, we found time for the family, for friends to visit, and to attend church. My what a change: we don't want to become involved. There once was a time when a person would come to the aid of someone in distress, but no more. It is not uncommon to hear of a woman being raped and killed and those who saw it would not come to her aid. God have mercy on us!!!
If someone had told me when I graduated from high school that I would live to see the day when some would say, "Kill the babies, but save the owl." I would have thought they were insane. I wonder how we are viewed in much of the rest of the world when we become, as well as we should, about a few hundred children being gassed to death and we have literally allowed millions of babies to be snuffed out in the past few years.
Perhaps more disturbing than the fact that things that once were wrong or now right, and things that were once wrong are now right is that so often many things are neither right or wrong, black or white, but a very confusing color of gray in which the only guiding rule is, "If it feels good, do it."
If you are looking for something that is not confusing, that is constant in the midst of a changing world, consider God. He is still unchanging and his 10 Commandments have not been changed to 10 suggestions.
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