Criticisms

Greetings:

 

            Fred Allen once said, “If criticism had any real power to harm, the skunk would be extinct by now.”

            How do any of us deal with day-to-day criticisms? Are we like the preverbal duck where criticisms are like rainwater running off its back or instead; do we take every harsh word to heart? We live in a world where back-biting is all too common these days. Media is full of critics who make their livelihood criticizing others. Politics it seems is nothing but criticisms of each person’s opponent; it would be nice to see a race where they pointed out the good in the other for once.

            We are a world ready to lower the critic boom on those we disagree with. It seems, we’re rarely able to see the good in others, only their flaws. Some folks enjoy the nit-picking and fill the hours of the day looking for chances to criticize others for any small indiscretion. I wonder, are those folks trying to compensate for their own inabilities in life, or are they just mean inside?

            Criticisms really abound when it comes to our beliefs. Others can’t stand the way some of us believe in God, or the fact we believe in God at all. Some folks criticize our church because we keep the Sabbath, even though all the disciples and Christ kept it. Some criticize our church because we abstain from unclean foods; although all the disciples and Christ abstained from them as well.

            We’re criticized for following in the footsteps of Christ, but that’s okay; He said we would be for His sake. They criticized Him daily and His power increased, and theirs decreased daily. Criticism won’t make Christians extinct; it will make us flourish in our faith. Criticism brings attention and attention brings an opportunity to witness to those that would criticize. Don’t be a critic, after all; the Christians will never go away because they’ll live for an eternity with Christ, where there will be absolutely no critics at all.

Don’t

Don’t search for sorrow in me.

It’s not sorry you’ll really see.

 

Don’t look for hate living in me.

It dwells elsewhere other than me.

 

Don’t look for pride in my life.

Pride pulls away, never the right.

 

Don’t make envy a cause for concern.

We each have a course we must learn.

 

Don’t make violence a tool of convenience.

Peace with others, it’s a better ingredient.

 

Don’t wish for the world, given a chance.

Ask for a life where wisdom is enhanced.

 

Don’t make life a reason for not living.

Live for God, his love’s forever giving.

 

Don’t create language expressing evil.

Make words of hope filling all people.

 

Don’t pity me; I’m free from the world.

You too can be free from life’s heavy toils.

 

Don’t fret over time spent on worldly cares.

Live for Christ, there’s little time to spare.

Blame

Greetings:

 

            He wrecked his car, he lost his job, and yet throughout his life, he took his troubles like a man-he blamed them on his wife!

            Who do we blame our troubles on? Are we like the man in this story and blame our short-comings on the most convenient person, who usually is our spouse. Or do we make up stories about fictitious persons causing our problems, diverting attention away from ourselves.

            Blaming others for our own inabilities seems to have become a national past-time today. There was a time in this nation when folks took responsibly for their actions, but like prayer in schools, it is a thing of the past.    

            Our youth is missing so much wonderful teachings and instructions by not hearing and reading the words in the bible. They are missing lessons in truth, responsibility, integrity, and how to conduct ones life with honor. These are attributes of those that don’t blame others but own-up to their own misgivings.

            What’s wrong with the world today? Just look out into the vast sea of people and search for those that fit the man in story above. When you’ve found him or her; ask yourself one question. Can they be trusted? If you say yes, you need not worry about them, but you might take a hard look at yourself. If you’ve said no, you’re probably one who cries out for relief from oppression of his fellow man and seeking justice.

            But don’t worry too much, they’ve blamed Christ much longer than they’ll ever blame you, and they killed him. Once more, don’t be too anxious, after all, Christ took all the blame for both you and me.

The Christian Experience

Greetings:

Harry Lieberman once wrote, an American is a guy that sips Brazilian coffee from an English cup while sitting on Danish furniture after coming home in his German car from an Italian movie, and then writes his congressman with a Japanese ball point pen, demanding he do something about all the gold leaving the country.
Kind of hits the nail on the head in describing an Americans. We’re a mix nation of different cultures coming together within a set boundary creating a powerful nation of peoples. Our heritage stems from our belief, “All men are created equal in the sight of God.”
Most of these folks call themselves Christians, but a Christian is much like the American as described earlier. He or she worships in buildings made by cheap labor supplied by the Mexicans who are mostly Catholic, using wood cut by Presbyterians, fastened to concrete poured by Baptist, decorated by stain glass windows from the Church of Scotland. Alters are fashioned by Episcopalians overlooking the pews built by Amish sitting within a building topped with a steeple built by the Assemblies of God. They all raise their voices to God in praise from hymnals written by Methodist, and read from bibles printed by non-denominationalist publishers. Church of Christ preachers use modern day Pentecostal sermons, which were first given by the Church of England ministers hundreds of years ago. All the parts are interchangeable as to who built what, or wrote what, but they all come together to create the Sunday worship experience; if I left one or two out just plug them in somewhere.
They all bring a slightly different view of God into their worship, He changes marginally from denomination to denomination, but they all agree on one thing, He changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament, even though He says, “I change not!” No matter what the buildings look like, or the seats we sit in, and songs we sing, Christ is and has always been the same yesterday, today and forever. He is one God with one heritage and one message, Repent.

Perspective

Greetings:

 

            An employer interviewing an applicant remarked, You ask high wages for a man with no experience.” “Well,” he relied, “it’s so much harder to work when you don’t know anything about it.”

            We know this is simply a funny story about perspective. The perspective of the boss is, the young man starts at the bottom showing what he has what it takes to make it to the top, and that includes wages. The perspective of the beginner is, he should make more at the beginning because he has the extra burden of learning the job on top of his regular duties.

            We all would like the world to work like the vision of the beginner, but reality is a teacher of common sense. Reality teaches us that the beginning of something is full of learning and surprises; it’s an opportunity to explore the boundaries of our abilities. In the beginning, we learn what we’re good at and what is beyond our reach; we find the safe zone and exist between the parameters. The more we are willing to spend time learning the more expanses our parameters become.

            It’s the same with God; the beginning of our learning is full of work and trying to understand His will. We start our journey with God wanting to know everything at once, but struggle to grasp simple concepts presented before us. The job we’re given by God from the beginning is to go though all the material presented before us, categorize it, examine it, learn the relevant parts, and discard the bad information. That is God’s perspective.

            Man’s perspective is like the beginner in our story, they want all the rewards in the beginning, with little or no effort involved. God is the governor of reality, and although the reward is there for everyone in the end. The work is important to ensure we’re successful and we’ve achieved all that is between the parameters set by God for us.

 www.hgwaco.com

 

           

 

The Hunt

Greetings:

 

            Lee Sharp once told a story where he said; many of us are like a little boy we meet trudging along a country road with a B.B. gun over his shoulder. “What are you hunting, buddy?” we asked. “Dunno, sir, I ain’t seen it yet.”

            We all seem to be on life’s preverbal hunting expedition. We search for the right everything, some are quickly satisfied with what they find, and others are seemed to never be appeased. When we’re young, we spend our time searching for the perfect mate, while they’re searching for us, hoping against all odds, we’ll somehow meet.

            Some search for the prefect foods, reading labels to ensure the content is nutritious and healthy and its okay by our standards.  While others are just searching for something to eat, not caring what’s in it as long as it doesn’t bite back.

            Many women continually search for the perfect dress, or shoes spending hours looking and hunting the exact match for their wardrobe. Men on the other hand will throw on anything that doesn’t embarrass them or their spouse, but they’ll search for the right golf clubs or ski boat and believe me, the color has to be perfect.

            Our days are filled with searching for this or that and the internet has made that search easier for many. A person can spend hours on end searching for just for anything. Sometimes we’re like little Buddy, we don’t know what were searching for until we see it. Christ says, if you truly search God out with all your heart, you will find him.

            Sometimes we don’t know we’ve been searching for Christ even though we’ve had a great desire to find Him. We may not know Him when we find Him, or how to process what we’ve just found. We only know something’s changed, something’s different in our lives and we are truly satisfied for the first time.

The Better Man

Greetings:

 

            Billy Graham once wrote: “Until we solve the human equation called man and get him straightened out, we will never have a peaceful world. You’ve got to build a better man before you can build a better society.”

            The human equation was the creation of Christ. It was the beginning formation of a new and different experiment for the heavens. Humans were made unique beings unlike the usual angel, cherubim, or seraphim. Man’s existence was out of the realm of the usual sphere where all the other creatures dwell. The whole physical creation might have been confusing to the angelic creatures in the beginning. It may have been threatening to some of the common dwellers of the eternal kingdom.

            It may have become a challenge to portions of the angelic realm; the more rebellious may have concluded they had little recourse but to end the experiment. Destroy the man-creature at any cost, maybe even believing they would be doing Christ a favor in the process.

Sound far-fetched? The bible says men would destroy men believing they were doing God a favor, and we know a third of the angels followed Satan in rebellion.

Are we the problem with the world, or is there another influence contributing to the corruption of society?

            The better man is the one that has devoted his or her life to Christ. Scripture also tells us this is only the beginning of our creation. We are to become new creatures it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17; new to earth and new to heaven. We will then have the better man and the better world.

I Don’t Know

I don’t know if you know?

But, I know you know a lot.

Knowing as much as you know,

Must be very hard to know.

If I knew as much as you know,

I’d know just how hard knowing is.

But maybe since I know stuff too.

I know many more things than

you know.

So we both know things we

each know.

But do you really know what I know?

So maybe I don’t know what you know.

And you don’t know what I know.

Maybe its time we learn more, and quit

Assuming less, lets get to know one-another.

By: Ron Harmon

War on Women

Greetings:

 

            We hear a lot about wars these days. Many places in the world conflicts are ongoing between different factions for any number of reasons: religion, better status, or corrupt government. I keep hearing from different news sources there is a war ongoing right here in the good-old-US of A. There seems to be a serious war being waged and they call it, “The war on women.” Now what right-minded man or person would wage such a war?

                        But I have to say I haven’t seen this mythological war occurring in my neighborhood, nor any bodies on the sides of roads as a result of this conflict. And I soon discovered to my shock and dismay, it’s not a physical war. It turns out to be what they call, “a quiet war.” It’s a war to end all wars in the social realm of America’s society. The evil white male has been a bully too long and now he has met his match.  The main battle has taken place where he least expected it, right in his own home.

            Perhaps the opening salvo begins with a simple suggestion, the wife stays home, has children, teaching and mentoring them while the man makes the living. This is unacceptable and demands a swift reply of shock and awe proportions, holding back peace and serenity within the home until such demands are dropped and never to resurface. What were you men thinking?

            I was raised to be somewhat smart about picking my battles and I have to say, this is one war that wouldn’t fair well for men, if it were true. In a battle with women, the women have all the advantages; they’re more cunning than men for one thing, and they have all the allies on their side, kids and neighbors. They garner the larger amount of sympathy and have enormous amount of recourses in social advocacies and regulatory bodies. Men are only allies to other men and I have to say, we have a lot of traitors among our ranks.

            Seriously, is there such a war occurring? We all know there are social injustices everywhere in society. It will never be totally equal for every person male or female, black, white, or brown. But women and other minorities have made giant strides in the last half-century. There is equality if you look for equality, and there is inequality if all you do is spend you life searching for it.

            In Isaiah 3:12, it says women will be our rulers, perhaps we men have already lost the battle and we don’t realize it, yet! It also says that those who take that lead cause us to err and destroy our ways. The battle may be lost, especially for men. Christ will return one day and the wars were having between one another will cease; who will care who won or lost at that time?