And He said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness,

for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

Luke 12:15, ESV

John Ortberg tells of the time when he was a little boy and would play games with his grandmother. Their favorite was Monopoly, and grandma was very good at this particular game. So good, in fact, that she always, always, always would beat him. As you know, Monopoly is a game that is won by taking all of your opponent's possessions and leaving them broken, bankrupt and poor. As you might suspect, this was not so good for little Johnny's ego, but grandma was not concerned in the least about puffing up the vanity of her young grandson.  She was in her own small way preparing him for life.

One summer when John was about ten years old, he began to play Monopoly with one of his best friends. They would play nearly every day, and he got quite good at the game and was now ready, he believed, for his grandmother. The big day came and John did indeed finally beat her. He was ruthless, taking every house, every hotel, and every scrap of property from grandma. He even took this poor old woman's last dime.

Then, the celebration began! John gloated and exulted over his big win. The unbeatable grandma had finally been vanquished, and he was quick to let her know. His grandmother, wise woman that she was, allowed him to have his little celebration before teaching John the most important lesson of all. "That's all fine and good", she began, "but remember this: In the end everything goes back into the box! All of your houses, all of your hotels, and even all of your beautiful money. All of it goes back!"

And of course, this was his most important lesson. It should be our most important lesson as well. For we all spend way too much time in pursuit of physical possessions that will someday "go back into the box". A wise man should ask himself, "What then?"

You see, in many ways life is a test, but it should never be a game. In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon reminds us all that it is alright to enjoy the physical blessings that God gives, but we cannot lose our perspective! He did for a season, allowing the physical to dominate his life. As a result, Solomon for a very long while lost sight of the most important. He forgot that he was not here to be king, but to be a servant of God.

Do you ever have that problem? I know I do, and that's why it is so important for us all to remember that life is not about the abundance of our possessions. For, in the end, everything goes back into the box. What then? 

By the way, if these articles are a help to you, please like them and share them with others you think might be benefitted by them as well. As always, I appreciate your kindness! 

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men their sins, you Father will not forgive your sins.

Matthew 6:14-15, NIV (1978)

One of the hardest things that we are called upon to do is to forgive others when they have wronged us. There is something about we humans that just seems to linger over the insults and injuries that others have inflicted upon us. We have all seen close friendships ruined through the carrying of a grudge, whether it be by both or just one of the former friends. How many of us have had countless nights of interrupted sleep because we cannot stop thinking of the hurt that someone has caused us? How many times do we notice actual enmities form because someone cannot just let go of the sin a good friend committed against them.

Just look at what we have when we fail to forgive one another. We have our productivity reduced because our minds are continually going back to what someone has done. We have poor sleep because we cannot turn our minds away from the hurt someone has caused us. We have our joy diminished, because we keep giving into our anger of the failings of others. We turn into an enemy those who had previously been among our most cherished friends and allies, and the love we once cherished becomes a hatred that steals the joy from our lives.

And this lack of forgiveness becomes a cancer that will eventually become fatal because it will destroy our very souls. This is what Christ pointed out so clearly in the Sermon on he Mount when He told us that God will forgive us only if we forgive those who have sinned against us. This is why we are to pray for God to help us forgive others as He has forgiven us. It is a daily need for us to let go of the wrongs and sins and betrayals of others. This would be impossible to do without His help, so by all means request that help that He is so willing to give.

Now, look what happens when we do forgive others. Our thoughts and efforts become more productive because they are not hindered by the poison of hateful thoughts. Our sleep comes to us more readily because our minds are now at peace. Friendships are restored to their former beauty because we are willing to let bygones be bygones. And our souls are at peace because that cancer of non-forgiveness no longer eats at our soul.

And now God is able to forgive us of all the evil things we have committed, if we will seek that forgiveness on His terms - one of the most important being our forgiveness of others. So you see, forgiveness is actually a precious gift. It allows us to live life to the fullest. So many people are living empty and subpar lives because they are holding on so tightly to their petty grievances, but we must not fall into this trap. It is true that some of the sins that people commit against us require physical penalties, and there are times when justice demands that these penalties be paid, but we still must find it in our hearts to forgive them. For without that forgiveness, there can be no healing.

Forgiveness is truly a balm for the soul! It releases us from the prisons we make in our minds that result from our inability to forgive. Forgiveness will give us peace, and it will return the joys that we may have thought gone forever. The fact is that forgiveness is not only a gift to those who have wronged us, but it is a great blessing for ourselves as well.

If you have been suffering from the ailments that will always arise when we hold onto our grudges, why not try this? Why not embrace the healing of the soul that is offered to all who would forgive  their brother, from the heart? It will change your life if you do. And, it will revive your very soul!  

Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?

Job 38:16, NIV (1978)

Life is a daring adventure, or it is nothing.

Helen Keller

There are times that I feel sorry for the children of this era. There are simply too many distractions! I realize just how old I am when I reflect on all of the modern conveniences we have in 2023 as compared to 1963. Back then, people never called you up and asked you where you were because telephones had a fixed location. If someone came home from working on a computer all day, it was because they had a job at NASA. The idea of video games had not even been thought of. If you wanted an adventure, it was not something you did virtually from the comfort of your favorite chair. You had to go outside and find one!

Finding adventure was my main pursuit when I was a boy. Whether it was flying kites in the field across the irrigation canal from our house when we lived in Colorado, or playing in the woods that were next to our house in Washington, or going to the creek a few blocks from our home in Texas, life came packed with adventure. When my parents got me a Stingray bicycle for Christmas when I was nine or ten, the scope of my adventures increased exponentially. When we moved to Wyoming on my 15th birthday and I got a car a few years later, the range of these adventures grew and grew. I can still remember coming home from work, loading up our dog and my camping gear, and just heading out for a day or two to the canyons and lakes that were an hour's drive from our home.

I mentioned that I realize how old I am now when I look at the changes to this world, but looking back, what I really see is just how blessed I am. I cannot imagine how different my life would have been had I possessed all of today's modern conveniences, but I do not think I would have had half of the fun I got to having while growing up. In fact, I still enjoy life's little adventures! Our kids, adults themselves now, have arranged several such adventures for us in recent years - adventures that have spanned from Idaho to North Caroline. We have got to enjoy exciting places like Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, and Jekyll Island. We even got to "ride the Dragon's Tail" in our mini-van. Each year we take the teens from church on a five day camping trip to Estes Park, so that they can taste a bit of adventure for themselves, and get to do so in the incredible beauty of God's vast creation.

I have been blessed far beyond anything I deserve - I realize that - and I am thankful! I am so thankful to God for allowing me to enjoy a life that has been filled with wonder and joy. I cannot begin to fathom how empty my life would have been had I grown up with my face plastered to a cell phone screen, or a set of video game controls attached to my hand, but I am so grateful that I did not. I don't think that I would have liked it that much.

Having said that, I realize that this life is short no matter how many "adventures" we have packed into it. Furthermore if our blessings, whether in the form of adventure or electronics, get in the way of our service to God, then we better wake up. God has called us to a wonderful life, it is true, but it cannot be used up on selfish and trivial pursuits - it must be lived for Him! We are often tempted to just give Him a small portion of our time, Maybe a few minutes a day to ask Him for the "stuff" we need. Perhaps an occasional reading of the Bible when we feel guilty for not doing it as much as we should. Maybe we even carve out a full hour or two on a Sunday for worship if we are not too busy doing something else. But this is not the service we were called to!

The fact is that this life can be fun indeed, but we must not let our desire for fun things override our duty for service. The wonderful thing I have found is that they can be combined quite nicely, for service to God is a great adventure if we do it right. And, if we will remember to put God first, if we can remember to serve Christ with all of our hearts and teach others to do the same, well then, life can be an exciting adventure indeed. And then we can look forward to the biggest adventure of all - Heaven!

Isn't God good!

Jack was riding with the elderly couple he was working for when the storm hit. It was one of those old fashioned Colorado blizzards that just seemed to pop up out of nowhere. It was sometime around the year 1950. There were no cell phones to issue weather alerts so they were caught off guard. They were still a mile or two from their farm house when the blinding snow permitted them to go no further. With Jack being somewhere in his late teens, he was the only one able enough to go back to the house to fetch the tractor that could get them towed home.

Jack started the long walk back and it was a struggle from the outset. He could barely see the road and would slip again and again into the bar ditch. Still he kept on going until finally, half-frozen and exhausted, he fell one more time into the ditch. He was disoriented from the blowing snow and so mind-numbed from the cold that he was ready to just remain lying there in that ditch and give up.

I heard him tell the story some 50 years after the event, and he revealed at that time what had kept him going, and what got him back up out of that ditch. He said he knew that if he just lay there, wallowing in that ever deepening snow, that he would die. But that wasn't the half of it because there were two people that he cared for who were counting on him to make it back. So he kept on getting back up and continued down that road until he got back to the house where the tractor was. And he did finally make it and was able to rescue the couple that he had left with the promise that he would come back for them.  

That's the way life is, is it not? There are storms that will slam into us from out of nowhere. Some of these storms will be so severe and seem so overwhelming that we are ready to thrown in the towel and give up. There will be moments when the effects of our sin and the sins of others are just too much for us to bear alone. At times like this we are often tempted to just give up on our service to God and take that seemingly easy ride down into the ditches that Satan has waiting for us.

But the point is that we cannot! We must not just lie there and wallow in our own miseries when hard times come because we will do we will be lost. What's more, there are people who are counting on us to help rescue them from the perils of this sometimes evil world. What will become of them, if we are not there? What will become of our children if we do not raise them up to serve the Lord? What will happen to our friends who have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, if we are not there to bring it?

Jack went on to get married and he and his wife raised three beautiful daughters and a fine son. All got married in there time and had families as well. The family continues to expand and grow, and as it does, these good people are continually reaching out to others to help them along life's journey. What would have happened if Jack had just given up?

What will happen if you give up? 

Rescue those who are being taken away to death, hold back those who are stumbling toward the slaughter.

If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will He not repay man according to his work?

Proverbs 24:11-12, ESV

The good news is that we have One who is willing to help us through life's difficult times. God knows that you will have struggles and He is willing to help you through them if you will let Him. People are counting on us not to give up. God has placed each one of us in our own unique situation in order that we might rescue those who need help... and He will know if we fail them. The penalty for failure will be more than we can bear, but He does not want that for us. He will help us every step of the way, if we will only let Him. So, don't give up!

Who is counting on you?