Complacency

 

I just read an article that intrigued me.  As the war in the Middle East drags on, many Israelis are becoming tired of fleeing to the air raid shelters in the basements of their apartment buildings.  With warning sirens sounding all hours of the day and night, weary citizens have grown tired of living in the underground shelters.  Many are just taking their chances and staying put in the high-rise buildings of Tel Aviv.  How often do we as Christians become complacent too?  Sin becomes not that bad.  Shocking behavior by sinners has become commonplace and no longer alarms us.  We tolerate bad language in social media, movies, and online.  Hosea 6:1, "Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up."  Don’t let the cares of this world wear you down.  Trust in the Lord and refresh your spirit in His goodness. 

Waxed Knees

 

Two weeks ago, Marleen and I stripped the floor in the fellowship hall at church and rewaxed it.  Well, technically, it wasn’t wax; it was polymer surfactant.  But polymer surfactant doesn’t just roll off your tongue like the word wax does, so I’ll just call it wax.  As I would kneel to scrape the edges and corners of the floor, my jeans became soaked with the old, dissolved wax.  And the next day, my jean knees were hardened like body armor.  Even after washing, the knees were still stiff (it took several washings).  They reminded me of those iron-on patches that my mother used when I was a kid.  My three brothers and I were hard on clothes, and my mother patched our jeans just to keep them in one piece.  My 2026 waxed jeans felt just like my 1960 patched jeans.  And I ought to know, because I remember that feeling quite well.  Matthew 9:16. “No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.”  Often my newly patched jeans would tear at the point where the old cloth met the new patch.  Hey, God’s Word is accurate, whether it is 60 A.D. or 1960 A.D.  Keep your clothes in good order.  Keep your fellowship hall floor in good order.  And keep your spiritual soul in good order.  You keep your soul in good spiritual order by staying close to the dear Lord.  He can keep you in good order.  Yes, He can.

Confident?

 

When I bought a gently used 2012 Hyundai, I thought that I was in good shape.  No more breakdowns; no more stranded on the side of the road.  But one month later, I came out to find a flat tire.  Bummer.  I opened the trunk but found no spare tire or jack.  I got my floor jack from the garage and jacked up the car.  I reached for the tire wrench, but that was missing too.  Then I discovered locking lug nuts on the tire with no key in the glove box.  So, I got out my tire plugger, crawled under the car, and plugged the leak with the tire still on the car.  The next day I drove to the dealership (not in a good mood) to get new lug nuts, spare tire, tire wrench, and jack.  I only thought that I was ready for an emergency.  But when I actually had an emergency, I found out that I really wasn’t ready.  Hey, are you prepared for eternity?  Are you sure?  You don’t want to find out at the last minute that you aren’t prepared.  There isn’t a do-over after death.  The writer of the book of Hebrews said in Hebrews 9:27, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”  Prepare now for eternity while there is still time.  If you aren’t sure that you are prepared, please message me right now and let’s chat.  Don’t put it off; you may have an emergency today.