Which Eternity?
I was driving down the road the other day up in the city, and in the distance saw a big building sign that said “Eternity Club”. I thought, “hmmmm, I wonder if that is one of those new-fangled church names or something.”
As I got closer, I realized that the Eternity Club was a….. stripper bar.
I wonder if they have ever thought about which Eternity Club they going to be a part of ?
Such a Good Person, Really
Have you ever noticed that no matter how bad a person was, after they die, someone talks about what a good person they were, and that the bad behavior “really wasn’t them”. Really?
So a guy kills and rapes and steals but that “really wasn’t him”? He was really a good person, just got caught up in the wrong situation? Really?
It goes with our current aversion to talking about “sin” and the wickedness of the human heart to pretend like everyone really is a good person no matter how they actually lived their life. I’m not suggesting we dogpile on the family of someone who just died, I’m just making an observation about this cultural tendency we have to declare every person is “really a good person deep down” when in fact, the Bible says we are ALL wicked sinners deep down.
Wasted Opportunity
On a church message sign (you know, the white changeable sign that is often out front of churches) last week I read, “It’s sad when you face temptation, just turn right”.
Okay, I’m not the brightest bulb in the house, but I have no clue what that even means. However, it brings up a bigger issue. I drive past churches all the time that put up cute or witty little quotes on their signs attempting to appeal to unbelieving world… or maybe it’s a display about how hip and relevant the church is.
Call me old fashioned but whatever happened to the powerful Word of God, able to pierce the depths of man’s heart, dividing soul and spirit with eternal truth. Witty quip vs. Life changing truth? Funny quote vs. eternal Word? Hmmmm…. We consider Scripture boring and uninteresting but cute little sayings as effective “advertisements” for God.
Is God a liar? Is His Word not world-changing, life-transforming and heart-penetrating? If yes, why waste the golden opportunity to speak to thousands of passersby every day by offering worldly cute-isms? Why not give them maybe the only Holy Word from God they are exposed to all week?
If your church squanders this golden opportunity, forward my comments to your Pastor or Elders and maybe they’ll think it over.
Never Give Up?
Never never never never give up. Famous words that do not always apply to Christians. We hear it constantly in motivational workshops and self help information.
Truth: Christians should give up regularly. Giving up is one of the primary ways that we live in God’s will live as good Christians. We give up sin, we give up selfish desires, we give up our own plans, we give up are striving, we give the pursuit of things God has said “no” too.
We give up our illusions of control. We give up the reign of our life. I’d venture to say we “give up” more than we “never give up”.
Having said that, here’s where “never give up” fits the Christian life: never give up your faith, never give up your hope, never give up on anything God has given you to do, never give up on trying to witness to the world, never give up on God.
None of this is earth-shattering revelation. It just crossed my mind when I heard someone say “never never never give up.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.