Welcome:

I am introducing a new blog post where I will be posting a wisdom thought to chew on and think about. I call it: “Think Again.”

The blog postings aren’t for the loudest voice or the smartest take. It’s for those moments where you stop, tilt your head, and say, “Huh… I never thought of it like that.”

“Think Again” is where wisdom gets dusted off, where faith meets real life, and where curiosity and humility walk hand in hand.

If you’ve ever wrestled with a truth, laughed at your own blind spots, or found clarity in unlikely places—pull up a chair. Join me. You’re in good company.

Here’s the first: “Not everything that glitters is gold… sometimes it’s just a well-lit distraction.”

Truth nugget: Discernment isn’t just about choosing between right and wrong—it’s choosing between right and almost right. That’s where wisdom kicks in. The louder the world gets, the more we need quiet strength to spot the difference. We read in James 1:5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”

It’s like tuning a guitar—you can’t just go by volume; you’ve got to hear the true pitch.

God is Watching

We have an awesome hospitality team at church. The ladies do such a wonderful job preparing and serving the meals. We are blessed to have a time of fellowship around food. Of course, food is not the central focus of our fellowship, but it does provide a good motivation to sit down and talk (fellowship) with others after a great time of worship, learning and serving. From Luke 14, I see one key principle we can apply to our fellowship time.

People are watching and so is God – Luke 14:1

May I also add to this because I think it is also implied, “people are listening too.” After church potblessings are a good time to build relationships and home in on certain people you may not have gotten a chance to know very well. Take the time to do so. Don’t always sit among your own clique.

Are you one of those people who are watching? If you are, then you are well aware when someone in the church is eating by him or herself. Go sit and eat with that person. People are watching, and may I also add to this because it is also implied – “God is watching too!”

Someone will sit by him or herself and that becomes your cue to do what is right – go and attach yourself to his or her table, sit down and strike up a conversation. You know how it feels to go to a church or party and not know anyone there. And you know how grateful you are when someone comes to you and strikes a conversation so you don’t look and feel left out and ignored.

People are watching; people are hearing, and God is watching too!

Jesus zeroed in on the man with dropsy (a swelling of the body do to the retention of having excess fluid - v. 2). No one else did. People were watching Jesus. When Jesus asked the religious zealots if it was okay to heal this man on the Sabbath, they had no answer for Him (v. 4). God was listening.

So Jesus, not needing the approval of man healed the man with dropsy and then sent him away (v. 4). Why did Jesus send the man away? Because what fellowship does light have with darkness (2 Cor. 6:14)?

Jesus then gives a clever story. He wisely chooses a factual situation – the Pharisees will not hesitate to save one of their sons or even an ox that has fallen into a well on the Sabbath (v. 5), but when it comes to saving or helping a stranger, they recoil and turn the other way. God is watching, this is why Jesus was able to use this illustration on them. He knew what they usually do and what they usually do not do at their gatherings. God is watching!


Part of our mission statement is that PEOPLE MATTER! Is this merely a statement written on paper or is it also written on our hearts?  God is watching.  Since this is true, why not give the Lord something to smile about as He watches?

True Riches

Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” 24So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons” – Luke 2:22-24 NLT

Here are a couple of interesting note worthy facts from the early life of Christ soon after this birth. Sometimes we read the same story over and over and we gloss over some really rich insights that God brings our way.

Here are some for you to chew and meditate on –

First, after Jesus’ circumcision, forty days later, Mary and Joseph had to come to the temple for the purification rites described in Leviticus 12 and Numbers 18. They had to “redeem” their son since He was their first-born (Exod. 13:1-12). What did they have to pay? Five Shekels (Num. 18:16). Why is this so ironic? Because they “redeemed” the Redeemer who would one day (33 years from this point), redeem them and us, paying for our redemption through His precious blood (1 Pet. 1:18-19).

Second, they also had to offer Jesus to the Lord as their firstborn. The required sacrifice to do this was a lamb (Lev. 12:6). However, if someone did not have a lamb or could not afford to purchase a lamb, then they could purchase at a much cheaper value a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons (Lev. 12:8).

Why is this so ironic? When Joseph and Mary purchased the cheaper animal sacrifice, it revealed how poor economically this couple was. They did not have a lot of money. Yet, they possessed the One Person who owned the universe!

Furthermore, since they were so poor, they could not bring to the temple as their sacrifice a lamb. Yet, they brought Jesus “the lamb of God” (John 1:29).

All these examples reveal so many rich truths to us, but here is one that I want to leave you with. Just because a person or family may have the Son of God in their lives and in their home, does not mean in this life such will be given earthly riches. Nevertheless, if as Christians we do not have earthly riches, by having the Son of God we do possess all the true riches that Jesus Himself owns.

Mary and Joseph are seen in the world’s standard as being poor economically, yet with Jesus in their possession, they had the true riches of heaven in the Person of a little boy name Jesus.

Don’t see yourself with what you don’t have in terms of the world’s goods, but see what you truly do have – the Son of God. If you have Him and He has you – you are rich indeed!

Pain Before Pleasure

Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy – John 16:20 NIV

God does not tell us exactly when the joy is suppose to come into our lives, but if we look to Jesus and obey His Word, come it surely will.

When Jesus said these words, He was about to leave His disciples. The disciples had left everything to follow Jesus. Now they were being told that He was to leave them. So Jesus comforts them with this thought: “You will mourn and have grief, but your grief will turn into joy.”

What is Jesus saying? He is saying that sometimes before one can experience the presence of joy, he first must wrestle with sorrow. You and I wouldn’t really understand the significance of joy, unless we already dealt with sorrow to some degree.

There is a fine line between pleasure and pain. For example, when you get ready to take a hot bath, you will fill the tub with hot steaming water and then you slowly get in. As you sink to the bottom of the tub, there is a moment of pain. But as you settle in and as your body becomes use to the temperature of the hot water, the pain turns into pleasure.

I use to lift weights in my much younger days in high school. I got up to bench pressing 335 pounds. There were scores of times as I lifted those heavy weights that I would catch a cramp. That was pain. But when the pain subsided, the pleasure followed. Do you see what I am saying? There is a fine line between pleasure and pain.

A marathon runner often experiences pain while running, yet he or she keeps running, because in the midst of the pain, there is also pleasure in the endurance.

Therefore, when you read and obey God’s Word, joy may not come to you instantly. Don’t give up and say, “forget it.” Hang in there and keep on reading. God wants you to have His joy, but sometimes before He gives it to you, pain may be something you will need to wrestle with first.

What God Does Not Want You To Become, Part 4

In what the news called "The Miracle at Quecreek," nine miners trapped for three days 240 feet underground in a water-filled mine shaft "decided early on they were either going to live or die as a group."

The 55 degree (Fahrenheit) water threatened to kill them slowly by hypothermia, so according to one news report "When one would get cold, the other eight would huddle around the person and warm that person, and when another person got cold, the favor was returned." "Everybody had strong moments," miner Harry B. Mayhugh told reporters after being released from Somerset Hospital in Somerset.

"But any certain time maybe one guy got down, and then the rest pulled together. And then that guy would get back up, and maybe someone else would feel a little weaker, but it was a team effort. That’s the only way it could have been." They faced incredibly hostile conditions together—and they all came out alive together.

This is a picture of the body of Christ, the church. We are to encourage, exhort and come together during trying times in order to help one another. Therefore, being a godly example is imperative for this to occur.

However the devil would want to disrupt this from occurring so he tempts Christians to become what they were never designed by God to be.

In Proverbs 1:10-19, Solomon mentions four types of people to avoid becoming. We already looked at three of them – Practicing Sinners (vv. 10-19); Naïve – vv. 22, 32; Scoffers – v. 22.

4. The Fool – v. 22

The word for “fool” in the Hebrew means a “dullard,” a stupid, insensitive person. A fool is insensitive to the things of God and therefore lives his life in a stupid fashion, i.e. he become insensitive in his relationships to others. The basis for his foolishness is pride. The fool knows it all. Know one is to tell him what to do or how to do it. But when he opens his mouth, foolishness comes out. When he tries to live his life on his terms, he appears even more like a dullard.

What is interesting with these four classes of people is this: There seems to be a digression from bad to worse. For example, those who do not seek after the wisdom of God and therefore obtain it, become initially –

1. Practicing sinners.

Then if they still refuse God’s wisdom, they go from being a general sinner to –

2. Naïve or simple-minded.

If they still refuse God’s light and wisdom, then they digress further by becoming –

3. Scoffers, where they not only privately reject God’s revelation in Christ, but now they publicly scoff at it. And if they continue down this road of scoffing, then there is only one other category left, and that is --

4. Fools, people who are totally in bondage to their unbelief. These people are obstinate unbelievers and will under no uncertain terms listen to godly wisdom.

We find each of the categories of people within the church at times. Some have their foot in more than one category getting ready to transition from bad to worse.

The whole point Solomon is making in chapter 1 is that each of these four classes of people are in dire need of God’s wisdom, and if they refuse to reach out and accept it, then their lives will only become worse, not better.

This makes the question posed by Solomon even more urgent: “How long” (v. 22)? How long will those who are naïve, and those who are scoffers and those who are fools, how long will they remain in their sinful and lost condition? How long will you live like this? How long will you endure such folly? How long will you persist in your unbelief? How long will you continue to reject your only way of escape? How long will you put God aside? How long will you continue to digress toward the bottom? How long will you love to hate knowledge? How long will you live your life as an enemy of God? How long?

Christian, do all you can to avoid becoming any of these kinds of people:

Practicing sinners
Naïve
Scoffers
Fools

Avoid hanging with such people. Oh, you can be with them in the sense of witnessing and sharing Christ. Because now you have an objective, you are out to influence them not to have your life influenced by them. But be very careful. Be on the alert. Don’t compromise. It becomes harder to share Christ with these people especially as you get closer to the bottom.

Actually, the Book of Proverbs is really after the first two groups – people who are general sinners and naïve. But those who are scoffers and fools pretty much have their minds made up. They are not outside of all hope. God majors in the impossible. However, while they live whatever life they have left, they are also storing up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath (Rom. 2:5).

Rather than trying to remember all the little details of each group, just focus on becoming like Christ. When you do, you will not even become near to any of these that Solomon mentions. Because to become like Christ is to become holy, innocent, undefiled and separated from sinners (Heb. 7:26).

What God Does Not Want You To Become, Part 3

The consequence of ideas is illustrated well by this account from the USA, which took place in the early part of1900’s. Large business corporations were mushrooming everywhere and many of them were starting supermarket chains across the nation. However, they were facing a peculiar problem.

Thieves would strike at night, get into the clothes section, lift loads of clothes from the rails on which they were hung, and flee with them before the police could reach the supermarket. Electronic surveillance systems did not exist, the alarm systems were primitive, and modern electronics did not yet exist. Each robbery was costing them huge loss and they could see no way to prevent it.

After all their attempts at security had failed, the shop-chain owners turned to their own employees for suggestions. The request was that the employees come up with a strategy against the thieves that would be cheap but also effective. Many suggestions came in that would be very effective, but none was cheap or even affordable.

However, there was one suggestion that could be implemented free of cost, and made everyone laugh. Yet the management decided to give it a try.

The employee who made this suggestion said that the open side of all the hangers was always kept to the same side. He suggested that from then onwards alternate hangers should be hung facing opposite to each other. This was secretly done in all their establishments and nobody notice the change.

The next time the thieves hit one of their establishments, they got hold of a bunch of clothes with both hands and tried to pull the bunch off the rails as always. But the hangers could not be dislodged because half the hangers were facing the opposite direction. They tried to pull the bunch in the opposite direction, but to no avail because this time the other half faced the opposite side. Finally they had to pick up the clothes one hanger at a time, instead of the ten or twenty that they were always able to pull out at a time earlier.

No sooner had they started taking one hanger at a time, the time they needed increased to almost ten to twenty times what it had used to be. This delay in turn forced them to stay in the shop longer, without realizing it. This in turn enabled police to reach and arrest them.

Just a silly-looking idea, with no cost involved! Only a small change in the way things had been done before. The ultimate result was millions upon millions saved in the long run, as well as freedom from fear about the next strike by the thieves! Ideas do have consequences, and some consequences are astronomical in size or effect in comparison to the idea that brought them forth. This in turn means that, depending upon the attitude and goal of the idea-giver, the result can either be massively beneficial or massively destructive.

This is what makes the four groups of people God does not want us to become so crucial to analyze. Each group has its own ideas. And each group’s ideas can be massively destructive.

In my last two blogs, I analyzed two groups, one called Practicing Sinners (Prov. 1:10-19) and the other The Naïve or Simple Person (1:22). Now let’s analyze the third group:

3. The Scoffers (1:22b)

The scoffers are those who are basically arrogant. They know it all. They snub their nose at God’s revelation. They are the very ones whom Peter refers to concerning Christ’s Second Coming who mock and say, “Where is the promise of His coming? Ever since the fathers fell asleep, everything has remained the same since the beginning of creation until now” (2 Pet. 3:4). Yet, Peter tells us that their very presence among us is an indication we are living in the “last days” (v. 3; cf. Jude 1:18). Scoffers are people who follow after their own lust (v. 3) and who also forget some very crucial teachings found in the Word of God (v. 5). And the reason they forget such things is because they are blinded by their own arrogance.

Jude who apparently was quoting Peter in verse 18 of his little letter added to the description of scoffers by saying that they “cause divisions,” are “worldly minded” and “devoid of the Spirit,” which is just another way of saying that such people are without Christ. They are unsaved. Christians are not mockers. Their ideas which come from the bible and come from the Holy Spirit have beneficial results to others and to themselves.

One last thing. Back over in Proverbs 1:22, Solomon says that scoffers “delight themselves in scoffing.” The word “delight” means “to take pleasure in.” In other words, these people actually love to hear themselves talk, scorn, mock and scoff at spiritual matters. They take great pleasure in hearing themselves say such things. They think that their ideas are worthwhile and that such ideas matter. Perhaps, it is because they are somewhere out on a limb all by themselves with few others with them that they think of their ideas as wiser than others.

But God is going to get the last word, He always does. Paul said in Romans 3:4, “Let God be true and every man a liar.” Christians are not to turn into such people. We delight in hearing God’s Word preach, proclaimed and taught accurately. We delight in knowing that God takes the initiative to speak to us and when He does, scoffing about God’s revelation will have a damming affect.

Yes, ideas have consequences. We all have ideas and such ideas will affect the way we both think and behave. Scoffers get their ideas from the world and from their own flesh. But Christians get theirs from God’s Word through the Spirit of God making God’s Word plain and understandable to us.

If you do not want to turn into a scoffer, then do not hang with such and therefore learn their ways. Ideas matter. Be certain the ideas that you receive draws you closer to God and not away from Him.

What God Does Not Want You To Become, Part 2

Las Vegas now has a call-in "Connection Confession" line where people can call and confess their sins to a recording. America's first confession line makes it possible, for a fee of $9 per three minutes, to record your sin, and if you want to pay a little more you can listen to other people's sins.

Apparently the service is being bombarded by calls. One of the originators said, "It's a technological way to get something off your chest without the embarrassment that comes from confessing one on one."

But do you know what it really is? Besides a money maker for someone? It's confession without accountability. This is precisely what the Lord wants us to understand in Proverbs 1. There are four kinds of people God does not want us to turn into thinking that there will be no accountability. Just the opposite.

Review:  The first one God wants us to avoid turning into are practicing sinners (vv. 10-19).

Second, God does not want us to become naïve – Prov. 1:22: "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?”

The word “simple” in the Hebrew is quite revealing. It is the word used to suggest “open-mindedness.” How often are we told to have an “open mind?” We hear things like, “Oh, come on now, have an open mind. Go into this with an open mind. Attend this meeting with an open mind? Experience something new with an open mind.”

But that is exactly what God does not want for anyone of us. He does not want us to have an open mind. That can be a severe problem. If our minds are open, someone other than God can fill it. By the way, when it comes to our mind, God does not tell us to open it, but to what? “Guard” it!

In fact, check out some of these passages:

“The peace of God shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philip. 4:7). God will not open your mind, but guard it. But on the other hand, you and I need to fill it with “whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute. . .let your mind dwell on these things” (v. 8). God wants our minds filled with His Word and guarded not open.

But you ask, “Well how can my mind be filled if it is not first opened?” God does the opening and filing of our minds, not us. Besides, what are we to use to guard our minds? God’s Word. And when we use God’s Word to guard our minds, what are we doing at the same time? Filling it with the truth of Scriptures. To have an open mind is to receive the revelation of God found in the bible, not to open it up by attending a meeting where someone is giving an alternative view of some doctrine found in the bible.

We are also told to “guard ourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). Jesus said “be on your guard against every form of greed” (Luke 12:15). Greed is a sin that does not come only in one nicely wrapped package, there are many forms, so Jesus says, be on guard. Peter told us to “be on guard so we will not be carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from our own steadfastness” (2 Pet. 3:17). Finally, Paul told the pastors at Ephesus to “to be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock,” why? Verse 29 – “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.”

Please do not ever think that you are somehow more knowledgeable or more sophisticated because you approach life and learning with an open mind. There are situations where we need to do this especially when it comes to traditionalism and culture. But by and large, be a person who guards his mind in Christ Jesus.

Or to put it another way, open your mind to the things of God found in the Holy Scriptures, but all else, do your very best to guard your mind. To go around with an open mind on all various sorts of things is to become naïve.

Would you manage your home like that? Would you simply have an open house policy where anyone can come and go inside your home thinking that somehow you were being a good neighbor? No, we guard our homes. Why? To protect what’s on the inside. If the wrong people somehow get into our homes, they can do damage to the things inside, and they can steal things.

So it is with our minds. Satan is a thief and a destroyer (John 10:10). He can change himself and his teachings into noble and good things which merely counterfeit what is right (2 Cor. 11:14). Once he gets a foothold into our minds, he can begin to damage things and worse, steal other things.

Ever had your joy stolen? Ever had your peace turn suddenly into anxiety? Perhaps, it happened because you had an “open mind policy.” Paul clearly taught that the “peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” If God wants to guard your minds with His peace, how much more should you also in cooperation with God guard your own mind with His Word?

More to come.