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IRONY

The irony of the scene is obvious. A seemingly poor woman playing her instrument for donations outside of the world-renown Concert Hall in New York City.

No doubt Concert Hall patrons would have a variety of reactions: Some compassionate, others indignant.

How would you have reacted?

Proverbs 28:27 states a startling principle:

“Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.”

Let us not hide our eyes.



BE A WINDSHIELD, NOT A REARVIEW MIRROR BELIEVER!

Why are we more inclined to dwell on the past than to consider the future:

Perhaps the reasons to get stuck on the past include: Fear, Un-Forgiveness, Blaming, Procrastination, Trauma, Self-Pity, Sentimentality, Anger, Doubt & Unfinished Business.

Perhaps the reasons to avoid forward thinking about the future include: Lack of meaning, pessimism, laziness, perfectionism, pride, insecurity, confusion, lack of direction, debt, regret & failure to be in the Word &/or to pray.

Whatever your reasons might be, the Lord Christ calls & commands you to forward, faith-filled thinking!

When I was learning to drive my instructor urged me to look through the windshield & only to glance at my rearview mirror about every 6 seconds!

Rearview mirror over-looking causes accidents!

Eyes front! Drive safe!



NOT MY CUP OF TEA BUT THANKWORTHY

Not bacon & eggs but bugs & eggs.

I know that the verses leading up to 1 Timothy 4:3 have to do with false, apostate & corrupt  teachers who were prone to legalism.

But one of the underlying principles is that all food is given to us by our Father’s kind hand.

” … forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”
(1 Timothy 4:3)

Bon appetite!



LURED

This big boy saw a lure that tricked him into thinking it was delicious.

James 1:13-16 – “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”

What’s tempting about fishing lure is that it looks like food to a hungry fish.

What’s enticing about any sinful temptation that it appeals to our own lusts.

Here’s the equation:
TEMPTATION = DESIRE + BAIT

Desire without bait is not temptation.

Bait without desire is also not temptation.

Watch your desires. Bring them under the Lordship of Christ; then you won’t get “hooked”!



SILENCE IS GOLDEN 

Proverbs 17:28 – “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.”

My grandfather often said: “if you can’t improve on silence then don’t speak.”

He lived by that adage.

He was a man of few but weighty words.

It’s only the Holy Spirit who can hold a believer’s tongue!
And often the believer’s tongue needs holding!