bible

Take Time To Read The Fine Print

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read-booksFrom the time I first learned to read, I’ve had a love for books, and an article I read in WSJ Online, reminded me of the importance and great benefit of reading.

The author, Jeanne Whalen, believes that reading just 30 minutes a day will:
• Improve your ability to concentrate
• Reduces your stress levels
• Deepen your ability to think, listen and empathize

Whalen isn’t alone in touting the benefits of reading:
• The Journal of Neurology cited a study of 300 elderly people that suggested regular engagement in mentally challenging activities, including reading, can slow the onset of memory loss.
• Developmental Psychology (1997) showed a correlation between a student’s first-grade reading ability and his 11th grade academic achievement

As I read this article, I thought of the promise and encouraging words that God spoke to Joshua (1:5-8): “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Mark Twain once said: “The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.” It is to your advantage to take time to read. I have often been blessed by reading a good book, and every time I read The Good Book, I am doubly blessed.

I conclude with a statement made by David Josiah Brewer (1837 –1910) who was an associate justice of the Supreme Court for 20 years: “No nation is better than its sacred book. In that book are expressed its highest ideals of life, and no nation rises above those ideals. No nation has a sacred book to be compared with ours. This American nation from its first settlement at Jamestown to the present hour is based upon and permeated by the principles of the Bible. The more this Bible enters into our national life the grander and purer and better will that life become”

As Sweet As Honey

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beeI’m not sure if I like it because of what it says about the Word of God or because of the pleasant memory it brings to my mind, but Psalm 19 is a favorite of mine.

Every time I read Psalm 19, or fix a piece of toast, I think of my Great Aunt Fern. I remember her as a lady who was full of love; gave me big smiles; and, one who wrapped her short arms around me and embraced with warm sticky hugs—Aunt Fern was a bee keeper.

I think her bee keeping is one reason I grew up eating toast slathered in peanut butter and drenched in honey. Whenever I walked into her house, I would look to the left, and her shelves would be lined with jugs of pure raw honey. This was the real stuff—not an anemic imposter of colored water you see on store shelves labeled as honey.

The sweetness of honey is used in Psalm 19 as one of several descriptions of God’s Word. When you read this Psalm, you find the Word of God is:

• Perfect and will convert the soul
• Steadfast and sure
• Able to make the simple wise—boy do I need this!
• Full of God’s statutes and they are right, and they bring rejoicing to your heart
• So pure it will enlighten your eyes
• So precious you should desire its teaching more than gold
• Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb
• The means through which God warns us, and in keeping of them there is great reward

Now that you’ve read this summary of Psalm 19, compare it to the words of Solomon in Proverbs 28: “A discerning son keeps the law, but anyone who turns his ear away from hearing the law—even his prayer is detestable.” Quite a contrast between hearing and obeying on one hand, and neglecting it and refusing to hear it on the other.

Whenever I read Psalm 19, it reminds of Aunt Fern in two ways. It reminds me of her sweet honey, but I am also reminded that we need to be keepers of God’s Word.

Crossing Over–A Deathbed Experience

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heavenIs Heaven just a fictional place? Are you crazy to believe you might go there when you die? Is there any evidence that Heaven is for real?

Questions like these come to mind when you watch the movie To Heaven and Back. It is the story of the life and death experience of three year old Colton Burpo. This incident has strengthened the faith of believers and ruffled the feathers of skeptics. Apart from the Bible and the experience of Colton, how can you know if heaven is for real?

Even if I had never read a page in the Bible, I would believe in Heaven, and this isn’t wishful thinking—I believe because of an experience with an uncle.

In the last weeks of my Uncle Kenneth’s life, I was at his bedside almost daily. I was able to reminisce with my dad’s oldest brother, and saw him drift in and out and up and down through different levels of consciousness.

I remember one particular day when Kenneth had drifted out and was very restless, and then he became very calm, and said: “There’s Mom and Dad!” When his focus returned to the room, we spoke of his parents—my grandparents.

The restlessness returned, and I whispered, “What’s wrong Kenneth?” He said, “I can’t find Clara Mae (his wife).” Then he was gone again and his face soon lit up with a smile as he said, “Well there’s Eddie.” His eyes then focused on me and with a smile he said, “I saw Eddie—your dad.”

“Uncle Kenneth,” I said, “Do me a favor. When you cross on over to Heaven, tell Dad hi for me. I haven’t seen him since 1965, and I still miss him.” He smiled and drifted back out saying, “I’ll do that.”

Kenneth closed his eyes and became calmer than I had seen him for weeks. He took a deep breath and said, “There she is—there’s Clara Mae!” I stayed quietly by his bedside, not wanting to interrupt this wonderful reunion with his wife.

A few minutes later, my uncle returned to the room and we discussed what he had just seen. We prayed and I left a minute later. Not long after he found his wife, Kenneth died, and went to be with her, his parents, and my dad.

Is Heaven provable with hard science? Nope! Is it for real? I have no doubt that it is, and what I experienced with my Uncle Kenneth and multiple other people on their death beds is enough confirmation for me.

If you’ve never read the book or seen the movie detailing the experience of Colton Burpo, you can watch an interview here.

Vertigo

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Hey boys and girls, who can leap tall buildings in a single bound; is stronger than a locomotive; and, is faster than a speeding bullet?  That’s right, it’s Superman.

When I was just a kid, I watched superman every time I got a chance.  I think some of the opening words are still appropriate for today:  faster than a speeding bullet.  There are times that life seems to speed by at a dizzying rate of speed.  This fast-paced living can blur our perspective on life and leave us with mental and spiritual vertigo.

Spiritual vertigo can afflict all of us.  It even diminished the wisdom of Solomon for a part of his life.  Solomon began his reign as a man focused on the principles of God, but he digressed into a Hedonistic lifestyle that eventually morphed into fatalism (Eccl. 3:18-21).

The wise old king had failed to follow his own advice.  In Proverbs 3 he advises his readers to not lean on their own understanding, but to acknowledge God and to embrace His principles.

Solomon had become so dizzy with the world’s delights, his only focus was the horizontal dimension of life.  He had forgotten that his real joy and satisfaction had come from his vertical relationship with God.

Here is a thought to keep you thinking.  If you realize your life is just a merry-go-round existence, it’s time to slow things down and get your feet back on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.

Why God?

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In the last two blogs, I’ve discussed the presence of evil in the world.  There are times when people meet evil face to face and then question the existence of God:  How can there be a God when there is so much evil in the world today?

My response to this question is a question:  How do you know evil exists?  To determine what is evil and what is good, a person must have some standard or moral law by which evil and good are measured.  A moral law of this sort requires a moral law giver, and that, I believe, is the God of the Bible.

With God as my starting point, I believe He created a universe in which there was no evil and no suffering.  This includes Adam and Eve who were created as perfect beings with the ability to choose right and wrong.

This is where things take a turn for the worse.  Adam and Eve freely chose to engage in an act of disobedience, and sin entered the world.  Their act of rebellion gave birth to sin and evil.

God did not directly create evil.  He created Adam and Eve with the ability to choose good or to choose evil.  “God created the fact of freedom; we perform the acts of freedom.  God made evil possible; men make evil actual (Norm Geisler).”

A couple of days ago, I made the comment that I find myself praying for peace.  The underlying assumption of that prayer is that evil will be eliminated.  When will this happen?  I don’t know about you, but I want it to happen immediately.

More often than not, I find that I do not understand God’s timetable.  In my understanding of theology, I believe God is in the process of eliminating evil.  The Scriptures tell us there will be a future day of peace when even the lion and lamb will lay down beside each other.

As we wait for this day to arrive, we need to realize that we are a key component in restraining evil.  This statement can be understood by seeing the contrast between the following statements made by Jesus.

  • Men loved the darkness because their deeds were evil.
  • You are the light of the world.
  •  God is light an in Him is no darkness at all.

Here is a thought to keep you thinking.  When your light shines in the darkness, is it perceived as one of condemnation or compasssion?  Is it a light that shows the Way or a light that pushes away?