A church had a picnic and invited the entire community to come. The Pastor placed a basket full of apples on one end of a table with a sign saying, "Take only one apple please - Remember that God is watching."
On the other end of the table was a plate of cookies where one of the children had placed a sign saying, "Take all the cookies you want -- God is watching the apples."
This is the devotion I plan to share tomorrow at our Bible class during our service with the Lord's Supper.
The
other day a friend shared with me a story about a man who suddenly died. Just like that, the fellow finds himself
standing before St. Peter at the pearly gates.
The
fellow attempts to walk through the gates but Peter says, “Hey Buddy! Not so
fast! You need 100 points to make it
into heaven. Here’s what we’re going to
do. You tell me all the good things that
you’ve done and I’ll give you a certain number of points, depending on how good
it was. When we’re done, if you’ve got
at least 100 points you’re in.”
The
fellow shrugged his shoulders and said, “OK.”
He didn’t realize this is how things worked in heaven but he was willing
to give it a try. “First,” said the
fellow, “I was married to the same woman for 55 years and I never cheated on
her once, not even in my heart.” St.
Peter exclaimed, “That’s wonderful! That’s worth three points!”
The
fellow was taken aback. Only three
points for marital faithfulness? But he kept going. “St. Peter, you should also know that I
attended church and Bible class all my life.
And I always gave 10% of my income back to my church. My pastor knew he could count on my
tithe.” St. Peter responded, “I’m
impressed! That an additional two points!”
Now
the fellow started to sweat. All he had
was a total of five points and he was running out of good deeds to share with
St. Peter. Then he remembered something
that he thought should be worth a lot of points. “St. Peter,” said the fellow, “here’s
something else I’m proud of. I started a
soup kitchen in my city. We served over
200 meals a day!” St. Peter responded, “That’s terrific! Another two points for you!”
The
fellow was flabbergasted. All his good
works had amounted to only seven points.
He cried out, “At this rate, the only way I get into heaven is by the
grace of God!” And St. Peter answered,
“Come on in.”
Well,
I hope that story gave you a little chuckle.
More importantly, I hope you understand its important truth. If there were a point system to gain entry
into heaven, none of us could every amass enough points to please God. He expects our works to be perfect. His standard is that we keep all of his
commands. God wants nothing less than
perfect holiness from us.
Who
of us can please God in that way? Not you.
Not me. Still, there is a way for
you and me to one day be welcomed through the gates of heaven. It’s by grace, God’s grace.
The
apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by
works, so that no one can boast.”
Grace
– God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. God’s riches of
salvation and eternal life come to us as a free gift at Christ’s expense. His shed blood on the cross was full payment
for our failure to keep God’s commands in our life. Through faith in Jesus’ sacrificial death and
resurrection, all these gifts of God are yours.
You never have to worry about having St. Peter survey your life and
finding out you fall short. Jesus has
made it possible for you to one day hear and accept that gracious invitation to
come on in. Praise your Lord and Savior today.
A week ago today I joined Weight Watchers. I knew I needed to do something. Pictures don't lie. The pictures taken of me over the summer looked like I has swallowed a couple of basketballs. T-shirts that I though hung loosely on me did not. As much as anything they told the sad truth. I needed to lose some weight.
I've tried to lose weight on my own. For a couple of days I do pretty well. But then I see the bag of chips in the pantry or the chocolate candy in the dish in the living room and I scrapped the diet. And before I knew it I was right back eating all the stuff I wanted (but probably didn't need) and I was maintaining my regular (translated - heavy) weight.
So, I followed the Weight Watchers program. I received my daily point total. Some folks don't like tracking what they eat and applying the points to the food. But it works for me. And after one week it's working so far - down two pounds from my original weigh-in weight.
Paul says our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. I have to imagine the Spirit has been feeling pretty squeezed for a long time. So we'll see how this week goes. But doesn't it feel good when you're making some progress on a goal you've set?
In the meantime my new mantra is apples and carrots and grapes, oh my!
Such an interesting term. What does Paul mean? And what does Baptism have to do with it? Learn more at the Sunday service at Christ the Redeemer in Phoenix. Worship starts at 9 am. If you don't have a church then come and join us! Blessings!
After service, a stranger approached the pastor and said, “I’d like you to pray for my hearing.”
The pastor touched the man’s ears and said a passionate, earnest prayer.
“How’s your hearing now?” the pastor asked.
Surprised, the man said, “Well, it’s not until tomorrow.”
I am presently reading "The Betrayal of Anne Frank." I was only a couple of pages into the book when I came across the following two paragraphs. They seemed to described present day conditions.
You might wonder: What is the point of questioning who betrayed Anne Frank in a war that happened so long ago? The answer is that almost eight decades since the end of the war, we seem to have grown complacent, thinking, as the Dutch once thought, that it can't happen here. But contemporary society seems to be increasingly susceptible to ideological divisiveness and the lure of authoritarianism, forgetting the simple truth that incipient fascism metastasizes if allowed to go unchecked.
Anne Frank's world makes this clear. What are the real tools of war? Not just physical violence but rhetorical violence. In attempting to determine how Adolf Hitler had taken control, the US Office of Strategic Services commissioned a report in 1943 that explained his strategy: Never to admit a fault or wrong; never to accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time; blame the enemy for everything that goes wrong; take advantage of every opportunity to raise a political whirlwind. Soon hyperbole, extremism, defamation, and slander become commonplace and acceptable vehicles of power. (page 13)
As I've pondered the above, I can't help but believe that rhetorical violence has been thrust upon our country over the past four years. The Biden administration has never admitted a wrong, even when it was clear the Afghanistan pull out was completely botched up; blame is never accepted, a recent example is Chuck Schumer, after being confronted with visual evidence of President Biden's mental deterioration, denied that there was never anything really wrong with the President; who has been the enemy for the past four years, and even before that? Donald Trump. Anything bad that has happened to our country is his fault alone; the J6 issue seemed to be the perfect opportunity for Democrats to create a political whirlwind. Instead, the country basically rejected the hysteria being made, instead if having had enough of rising inflation, DEI run amok, and a world on fire in many places. And beside, the country survived.
Since starting this blog back in 2011, I've purposedly stayed away from politics. But the above paragraphs were frightening to me since it seems like what happened in the 1930's and 40's is happening again. Will God grant us political and moral leaders who will prevent another catastrophe from happening - this time in our country?
Retirement gives me much more time to read and this year I polished 43 books. I don't write this with much fanfare. I know folks who read 75 or even 100 or more books. Still, I made through about three and a half books a month which is pretty good. I'm looking forward to topping my record this year.
I have come to really love a good murder mystery. This year I discovered Anthony Horowitz, a British author who had come up with a really interesting idea for a series. He has fashioned a former detective named Hawthorne who is something like a modern day Sherlock Holmes. Like Holmes, Hawthorne never misses a detail and sees a crime scene differently than every one else. The kicker is this - Horowitz has inserted himself into the stories! Horowitz is kind of like a poor man's Dr. Watson. All the mysteries are set in England which I like. A sixth book in the series is supposed to come out this year so I'm looking forward to more Hawthorne/Horowitz mysteries to continue.
Another author I really enjoyed reading is Kristin Harmel. She writes stories that are set around France in World War 2. The stories are extremely well researched and she has an amazing ability to communicate just how difficult and heartbreaking Hitler's march into Europe was, especially for Jewish people. I would recommend "The Winemaker's Wife," "The Paris Daughter," or "The Book of Lost Names," to get you started.
One book that was a real delight was Christopher Kennedy's "Jesus Said What?" Kennedy takes some of the more difficult texts surrounding the earthly ministry of Jesus, ones that pastors find challenging to preach on and unpacks them. For example, Kennedy takes Luke 14:25-30, 33 - the texts where Jesus says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." Explain that! Well, Kennedy does so and in a very engaging way. (You'll have to read the book to find out what Jesus is really saying). Each chapter concludes with discussion questions so the book would be good for a Bible study group.
Other books that receive an "A" from me were: Bret Baier, "To Rescue the Constitution," Erik Larson, "Dead Wake," and "The Demon of Unrest," and the J.R. Mathis & Susan Mathis' "Penitent Priest" series.
My friend, Fred, gave me four books for Christmas so I'm starting with an author I've enjoyed reading, Daniel Silva. I'm only a few pages into "A Death in Cornwall," but it's shaping up to be a good read. Hope you find a least one book this year that you can't put down!