Manners

I had a roommate in college who always caused trouble.  He dated a girl off-campus and was usually right on the edge of disaster.  But he had good manners.  He said, “Yes, sir” and “No, sir” and seemed polite.  So, he got away with more than he should have because of his manners.  Manners are no accident.  Children are not born grateful.  Children are born selfish.  No, really!  Parents must work hard to get children to say, “Please” and “Thank you.”  Hey, are we thankful?  Are we grateful?  It’s easy to feel entitled … to feel like the world owes us a living.  But we deserve nothing.  What we get is because of the dear Lord’s goodness.  Paul said in I Thessalonians 5:18, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  Jesus Christ gave us His life!  We should be grateful.  REALLY grateful!  Because of Jesus we have the opportunity of eternal life.  And if you are the receiver of this eternal life, tell the good Lord thanks today.  It will bless the Lord and it will bless you too.

New Toilet Seat

Our toilet seat is showing its age, and my wife said that it was time to replace it.  So, I went to Lowe’s and browsed the selection of toilet seats.  Our toilet is an almond color, so that narrowed the options.  It has an elongated bowl, which left only two possibilities: expensive and more expensive.  I decided on the cheaper of the two, which was still $37 plus tax.  When I began to install it, I was pleasantly surprised.  It was the slow-closing type, which is nice, because I won’t forget and drop the lid in the middle of the night and scare my wife awake.  But, the hinge is non-discriminatory: it closes slowly down AND opens slowly up.  So now, I have to fight with the toilet lid to make it stand open.  I lift it, and it has a tendency to want to spring back a little, which leaves it less than vertical, so it slowly closes again right in the middle of me using the toilet!  Very frustrating.  Hey, the trait that makes it popular (slow closing) also makes it frustrating (slow opening).  Hey, we humans have a similar problem.  God made us with a free-will because He wanted us to love Him freely.  God did not want an automaton who HAD to love Him.  But our free-will allowed Adam to disobey God as well.  And, like my new toilet seat, the advantage of free-will turned out to be our disadvantage as well.  But now comes the best part!  Paul said in Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  Hallelujah! Jesus Christ stepped in and loved us enough to take our place in death!  By His sacrifice on Calvary, we can be restored to sweet fellowship with our Maker!  Hey, have you repented of your sins and accepted God’s free gift of salvation?  If not, do it now before it’s eternally too late.

Secret Code

We put a digital lock on our church door five years ago.  For a while, I kept changing the code to the month and year.  It’s a good idea to change passwords regularly, right?  But it got tedious for me to remember to change it, and tedious for everyone to remember that I had changed it, so it got left on … well, I won’t reveal what it is left on.  If you know it, you are an important person.  Actually, almost everyone knows it.  I told the school students, “You know the secret code, and you can give the code to your parents.  But don’t give the code to any terrorists.  We don’t want any terrorists to know the code.”  And so far, they haven’t.  Ha, ha!  So, do you feel important when you know a secret code?  Hey, the writer of the book of Hebrews knew the secret to gain access into the pearly gates of heaven!  He said in Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  Hey, the secret into heaven isn’t a password; it isn’t a secret code; it’s knowing Jesus Christ as your own Savior!  Know Him and you’re in!