I know. That flies in the face of what your junior high – sorry, I’m dating myself – your middle school science teacher told you. But it’s true. Plants don’t grow toward the light. It only seems like they do. In reality auxin plant hormones make the cells on the shady side of the stem grow longer. The stem bends because the dark side pushes over the light side. Sometimes it can seem that the salvation of someone with a…..
This is part of the punchline to an old joke. I think of it every time I hear a message about how we can’t all be hands and we can’t all be feet. The body needs both. The body of Christ needs us all. Some lost people may need to be hit over the head with a 2×4. Some may need a billboard – “When you’re drowning / In great big waves / Just remember / Jesus saves – Burma…..
Well, they didn’t say it in so many words. But the message is the same. James 3 says no one can tame the tongue. Social media prove we can’t tame the fingers either. I am intrigued by the number of times I see someone post a verse praising the Lord, followed shortly by another post vilifying members of some social or political organization. I don’t know a better example of “with the fingers we bless God, and curse men and…..
Some people spend all their adult lives working for one company. I did not. Over the course of my career, I was with 9 different companies. Some changes were my choice; some were not. But being “the new guy” had the advantage of not upsetting someone when I would ask why things were done the way they were. And that opened doors to discussion about change. These days there is a lot of pressure to change. To change the way…..
People change when they decide to change. They decide to change when they want to change. They want to change when they understand the “new” will be better than the “is.” Elijah tried to get the people to change. He told them to repent – to “change their evil ways.” Thank you, Santana. Jezebel had him “runnin’ and hidin’ all over town.” But let’s look at Elijah for a minute, rather than at Jezebel. Elijah needed to change. Elijah was…..
I recently reread Stu Weber’s “Tender Warrior.” He was Special Forces in Vietnam before going into the ministry. For anyone interested, it’s a terrific self- or group-study on being a godly man. Well, actually it’s a terrific self- or group-study on being a godly man whether you’re interested or not. But it did bring some new thoughts to mind. When we first moved to Michigan, after decades in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida, we got the standard, “You ain’t from around…..
I’m reading Scott Adams’s book Loserthink. Adams says, “Loserthink isn’t about being dumb, and it isn’t about being uninformed. Loserthink is about unproductive ways of thinking.” People are taught to think about things a certain way. For example, an engineer thinks about things differently than a lawyer generally will. And if you use the thinking technique of only a single discipline, your thinking won’t be as productive as it could be. In a section on making comparisons, Adams notes that…..
All eyes are on COVID-19 and the stock market as I’m writing this. What’s this have to do with faith? Faith is the evidence of things not seen. On 2/19/20 Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) was valued by “the market” at $169-billion. This a company that has never – never – made a yearly profit. While stock price and market value are based on future expectation, as I’m writing this at 2:30pm on 3/19/20, Tesla has a market capitalization of $79-billion. That’s…..
Sometimes you can’t improve on what Someone else says. In Proverbs 30:12-14 (The Passion Translation) we find: 12 There is a generation rising that considers themselves to be pure in their own eyes, yet they are morally filthy, unwashed, and unclean.13 There is a generation rising that is so filled with pride they think they are superior and look down on others.14 There is a generation rising that uses their words like swords to cut and slash those who are different. Don’t be that…..
Last month we celebrated Christmas. And we read that about 700 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah said, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel,” meaning God with us. But this idea that the world would have a physical visit from the Creator of the universe is considered foolishness by many today. I heard it said once that third world cultures are more inclined to believe in the supernatural than western cultures. Developed…..
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