Blog Archives

OUT TO PASTURE?

10/27/2023

Although it has been only about four days since my last blog post, it seems like it has been a whole year. And in so many respects, it has – at least for me.

You see, yesterday, I reached a significant milestone as I completed my 61st year of life and turned 62. Many times throughout my life, I pondered what it might be like one day if l managed to live to my present age. Of course, in those days, 62 seemed quite old. But not anymore.

While my children and grandchildren may see me as old, I don’t see myself as such. I may look old; but I don’t feel old. Nor do I think of myself as old. And if indeed, one is as old as he or she feels, then I like to consider myself a youthful 62.

While I received many congrats from many folks, one in particular stands out. My daughter sent me a text recounting a conversation she had just had with her two oldest sons (the first and fourth of my seven grandsons respectively), who are all of 6 and 4 years old themselves:

My Daughter: “It’s October 26, Granddaddy’s birthday!”

Her Six Year Old: “He is 62!”

Her Four Year Old: “Yeah, Yaya (their name for my wife) and Granddaddy are the same size!”

After I had a hearty laugh, I replied with the “I’m laughing so hard I was crying” emoji face. While my wife and I are the same age, we are hardly the same size. She has me by about four months; but I have her by a good eight inches north to south and by an even more commanding 120 pounds east to west!

By God’s grace, out of our respective 62 years, we have had 40 of them together in wedded bliss (along with seven more which we spent dating beforehand). In this sense, we truly are a good balance for one another, despite what the scales say.

While neither one of us knows how much time we have left in this world, I pray we will spend it together. And that it will be filled with as many blessings as the ones so far have been.

But I pray for more. I pray that we will be able to continue spending our retirement years in a productive manner. In my own case, as God continues to give me strength, and opportunity, I hope I can use the talents He has given me to glorify Him and enrich the lives of others, be that though speaking, writing, or whatever other platform He may choose.

I am blessed to be able to spend these latter years of my life out in the country amidst an abundance of farms. But as I walk each and every day and behold the beauty of the pasture land surrounding me, I realize that one must remain vigilant so as not to find himself or herself prematurely “put out to pasture”.

May I be among those the Psalmist referred to as the ones who “flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” Of these, (in Psalm 92, verses 12-15) he said: “Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain, to proclaim, ‘The LORD is upright; He is my Rock, and in Him there is no unrighteousness.’”

These days, I think a lot about a single massive apple tree that once stood all alone out in my own grandfather’s pasture. Though old and weathered, it purely abounded in apples every year of my childhood. In doing so, it enriched the lives of all who ventured by it.

At this point in my life, I am quite comfortable being out in the pasture, as long as I can still bear fruit in my old age, and be a blessing both to my Heavenly Father and to my fellow man. I pray to God that I can and will do so for many years to come.

SCRIPTURE SOURCE:

https://biblehub.com/bsb/psalms/92.htm.

OPEN MY EYES THAT I MAY SEE!

10/23/2023

My precious mother-in-law loves to recite poems she learned way back in her childhood. Earlier today, she let loose on one that I must confess that I had never heard before.

I looked it up and discovered that it was titled “Come, Little Leaves”, and was composed by George Cooper. I recount it here…

"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day,
"Come o'er the meadows with me and play;
Put on your dresses of red and gold,
For summer is gone and the days grow cold."

Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,
Down they came fluttering, one and all;
Over the brown fields they danced and flew,
Singing the glad little songs they knew.

"Cricket, good-by, we've been friends so long,
Little brook, sing us your farewell song;
Say you are sorry to see us go;
Ah, you will miss us, right well we know.

"Dear little lambs in your fleecy fold,
Mother will keep you from harm and cold;
Fondly we watched you in vale and glade,
Say, will you dream of our loving shade?"

Dancing and whirling, the little leaves went,
Winter had called them, and they were content;
Soon, fast asleep in their earthy beds,
The snow laid a coverlid over their heads.

Cooper’s poem beautifully references the unfolding of fall in all of its luster, alluding as well to the inevitable advent of winter.

What prompted my mother-in-law’s recitation was her having just watched my wife and I spend a couple of hours clearing the yard of a week’s worth of fallen leaves. Of course, these days, using a zero-turn riding mower makes that process a whole lot quicker and easier than it used to be back in the day, when all we had was a rake and a ragged out tarpaulin upon which to pile and drag away leaves.

Still, it remains a laborious chore that has to be repeated several times each fall before the tedious process is finally concluded. The entire matter is fraught with dust and sweat and red, irritated eyes and a generous portion of sneezing.

In any event, as she recited these words, I could not help but recall the vivid picture my wife called to my attention recently when she peered out the airplane window as we returned from our recent trip to Florida. In our descent to the airport here in east Tennessee, just outside Knoxville, the view below us was simply stunning.

Everywhere we looked, a magnificent patchwork of yellow, orange, and red trees unfolded beneath us. In the beauty of that moment, the impending hours of getting up leaves out of our yard mattered little. The splendor was too great.

In all of this, I have been reminded that I have a fundamental choice in life. I can focus on the incessant drudgery of recurrent chores or I can focus on the glorious majesty of God in the midst of His creation!

In the Old Testament book of Exodus (chapter 3, verses 1-3), we read:

“Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

Moses was busy with the mundane duties that fill one’s life. Yet he was sensitive enough to recognize whenever the supernatural was being manifested within the natural. Likewise, I have asked the Lord to help me be more and more sensitive to His power and presence in the world all around me.

In the words of the hymn writer of old, “Open my eyes, Lord, that I may see!”

For most assuredly, few things can be considered as sad as spending one’s life getting up fallen leaves and never once seeing the glory of God on display all around in the vibrant foliage of fall!

POEM SOURCE:

https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/come-little-leaves.

SEE ALSO:

https://hymnary.org/person/Cooper_George1840;

https://hymnary.org/text/open_my_eyes_that_i_may_see.

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/niv/exodus/3.htm.

NOTE:

The Bible makes plain that all one has to do is to look at the splendor of creation in order to see the majesty of the Lord.

Cf.: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Creation-Showing-God~s-Nature.

LASTLY, CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME FALL FOLIAGE MAP:

https://smokymountains.com/fall-foliage-map/.

MISSION MINDED!

10/19/2023

A seemingly endless string of flamboyant televangelists notwithstanding, most God-honoring ministers come to the end of the trail and don’t have much in terms of material possessions. In my own case, I came to that point lacking both worldly acclaim and/or any of its accompanying fortune.

Still, I am more than blessed. As a retired pastor, I am in no way destitute; and I want for little. All of this is to say that this is why I encourage you not to miss the irony of the following experience…

As I slid behind the wheel of a borrowed BMW Mini-Cooper earlier this week and navigated the streets of one of the wealthiest island communities in all of North America, an astute observer may well have taken note of the following facts:

1. I was wearing a 7 year old pair of flip flops bought at Walmart;

2. I was wearing a 10 year old pair of gym shorts bought at Hibbett’s;

3. I was wearing a 17 year old faded polo shirt bought at Kohl’s;

4. I was wearing a 19 year old pair of sunglasses given to me by a church member who worked at an eye Doctor’s office (and which, parenthetically, had been repaired with Super Glue on no less than three occasions since);

5. I was wearing a 20 year old Georgia Bulldogs Cap gifted to me back in 2003 by a church member (upon UGA’s winning of the SEC after an extremely long drought)!

Perhaps you are beginning to get the picture. From every vantage point around me (or so it appeared), I was more than a little conspicuous. And rightly so… for I was clearly out of place! (After all, who was I to impose my humble self into and upon any such esteemed venue?!)

Yet, I boldly ventured forth! Why? Because I was on a mission! You see, the day before, my prescription eyeglasses had been “lost” at a certain airboat riding venue deep within the Florida Everglades. And I was now determined to retrieve them at all costs! No matter what!

So, what’s my point? Just this…

As Jesus Christ slid into history, He humbly assumed the form of a human being. Thereafter, in an unpretentious manner, He navigated the dusty streets of Galilee and the paved roads of stately Jerusalem. In so doing, at all times, He wore little more than the rags of utter human degradation.

(After all, He came from the tribe of Judah, not the priestly tribe of Levi. He was born in Bethlehem, not the capital city of Jerusalem. And, given those who stood before Him, He was not anywhere near in line for the throne of Israel!)

As a result, He faced ridicule and rejection from those who considered Him out of place in their world. Little wonder that, as He ventured into, then through, and (eventually) out of their world, His mere presence there made them feel uncomfortable, even threatened.

Nonetheless, He boldly pursued His mission to pursue and retrieve that which was lost to Him! Irrespective of the world’s opinion, or its view of Him as a person, He persevered and made His way forward until He had completely achieved His ultimate goal of finding and redeeming those who were lost!

And why did He do this? In short, because He was one hundred percent mission minded! When all was said and done, He did what He came to do irrespective of what the world either saw in Him or thought of Him.

By the way, after leaving Marco Island, Florida one day earlier this week, I did eventually find and retrieve my prescription eyeglasses from some fifty miles inland. (Had I not, given my impaired eyesight, I doubt that I would be able to be typing this even now.)

Of course, my wife and I were there solely due to the generosity of a couple who were not only church members, but good friends. Any and all props [i.e., condos, cars, etc… within my story] were made available to us as a result of the generosity of this couple.

Still, I trust you get the point. I pursued my lost eyeglasses for no other reason than that I was completely mission minded! You see, I valued those eyeglasses enough to borrow whatever means of transportation I could and then run the risk of the ridicule of any and everyone who encountered me along the way in order to seek and to save that which was lost to me!

Likewise, to His glory, Jesus Christ did what He did for no other reason than because He was singularly mission minded! In the culmination of the famed Biblical story of Zacchaeus (found in Luke 19:1-9), He replied: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

As one of those He came on to find and redeem, I, for one, am extremely thankful. I hope you are as well!

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/niv/luke/19.htm.

CONCERNING ISRAEL…

10/15/2023

Dr. Dean Haun is a good friend of mine who serves as the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Morristown, Tennessee. He recently shared the following informative piece on Facebook. I thought I would repost it here today…

A quick Bible lesson on Israel…

First, Israel was a PERSON (Jacob, one of the three Hebrew fathers…Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)

Second, Israel (Jacob) received an eternal PROMISE (a covenant), concerning the land. It was passed on to him from God through his father and grandfather, Isaac and Abraham.

Third, this promise would be passed on to a PEOPLE (the Hebrew people…the 12 Tribes, ‘sons’ of Israel). They would come out of Egypt and finally enter and settle into their ‘Promised’ covenant land.

Fourth, through Jacob’s (Israel’s) fourth son Judah, the PROPHESIED MESSIAH would come, born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, headquartered in Capernaum, and crucified, buried, raised, and ascended in Jerusalem (all in Israel).

Fifth, the descendants of Jacob would be PUNISHED for their rebellion against God and removed from their land.

Sixth, in the last days, God would gather his dispersed chosen people from the four corners of the earth. He would bring them back to their promised land to prepare for the coming again of the PRINCE of PEACE. (There will be no lasting peace until Jesus returns to rule and reign.) All end-time Bible prophecy requires Israel to be back in her land.

The demons of Hell are trying to thwart His coming again to this earth.

It will not succeed!

Jesus is coming again!

He is coming back to the Mount of Olives… in Jerusalem… in Israel.

Last, are you PREPARED?

You must be born again!

Come to Jesus today!

All I will add is a definitive "AMEN"!

SOURCE:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02VoiPx9GgHKT84o4h4rBa6hYpDTDrX9wo1KqTM1bNWBeCMDibiEAM6EMbVHnhwYEql&id=568478242&sfnsn=mo.

SEE ALSO:
https://firstloveonmain.org/pastor-dean-haun/.

A DEBT OF GRATITUDE

10/12/2023

My wife and I have always believed in the importance of giving back. As God has blessed us, we have rightfully tried to pass those blessings along to others. Thus, in addition to tithes and offerings at our local church, we have tried to support other worthwhile charities as well.

Today, I want to call attention to two of these in particular. The first of these is the “Wounded Warrior Project”. Untold numbers of service men and women came home from Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan bearing the scars of their sacrifice. This worthy organization works hard to provide quality of life for individuals who have faced loss of sight, hearing, speech, and/or a myriad of other body parts.

Our monthly contribution is small. But is it also consistent. And when joined with tens of thousands of other contributions, it all adds up. As such, it surely makes a difference.

The second organization is “Tunnel to Towers”. According to their website, here is how this organization received its name:

On September 11, 2001, Stephen Siller, who was assigned to Brooklyn’s Squad 1, had just finished his shift and was on his way to play golf with his brothers when he got word over his scanner of a plane hitting the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Upon hearing the news, Stephen called his wife Sally and asked her to tell his brothers he would catch up with them later. He returned to Squad 1 to get his gear.

Stephen drove his truck to the entrance of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, but it had already been closed for security purposes. Determined to carry out his duty, he strapped 60 lbs. of gear to his back, and raced on foot through the tunnel to the Twin Towers, where he gave up his life while saving others.

Thereafter, his brother founded “Tunnel to Towers” in his memory. This group works to aid First Responders and their families in much the same way that the “Wounded Warrior Project” works to aid military veterans. In each case, it is an attempt to acknowledge and appreciate the sacrifice of those who placed themselves in harm’s way on behalf of fellow citizens.

For our part, we support these two organizations in recognition of the service and sacrifice of fellow Americans on our behalf. It is the very least we feel that we can do. After all, we owe them so much!

As I write these things, it is now six days since the Jews of Israel suffered the worst attack on their people since the Holocaust. While some 1300 Israelis have been killed and scores of hostages have been taken, Israel is slowly taking control of the situation. My strong suspicion is that, although it will take time, she will inevitably prove victorious over her enemies.

In the meantime, the 7.2 million Jewish people who reside in Israel today know full well that they owe a tremendous amount to the hundreds of thousands of Israeli Defence Forces and First Responders personnel who stand between them and certain death. Both of these entities are proving themselves minute by minute as they now serve and sacrifice for their fellow citizens.

Jesus Himself was of Jewish descent. And He Himself once told us (in the New Testament Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 13) that “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

As a Christian, I am thankful for the Son of God, who was willing to lay down His life for my eternal benefit. As an American, I am thankful for all those who were willing to lay down their lives for my earthly benefit. And as human being living on this planet, I am thankful for anyone who is willing to lay down his or life for their fellow man (or woman or child) as Israel’s military and First Responders are even now doing.

Never are we more like the Son of God Himself than when we choose to do this very thing!

SOURCES:

https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/;

https://t2t.org/stephens-story/;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel.

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/john/15-13.htm.

A PRAYER FOR ISRAEL

10/9/2023

"Dear Heavenly Father, as I watch the events in Israel unfold in the news, I am at a loss for words. So much violence, so much hurting, so much fear I imagine those in Israel and those held hostage in Gaza must be experiencing right now.

I pray that you protect those who are in the midst of this escalation of violence right now. Please shelter people from harm, get families to safety, and shield them with your peace and protection.

God, although I do not know what will happen in Israel in the next few days, I do know that you have protected them in the past. You are the God of the nation of Israel. You have protected them from enemies throughout history, and you will not fail to do so now.

May we continue to lift up the nation of Israel to you, and trust that you will set everything right with your righteous hand (Isaiah 41:10).

Amen."

SOURCE:

Based on a prayer found at

https://www.crosswalk.com/video/a-powerful-prayer-for-israel.html.

AT YOUR SERVICE?!

10/5/2023

When my children were small, they were involved in musicals each spring at our church. There were many of these, including “Dr. Newheart’s Neck Up Check Up” (about rebellious, “stiff-necked” people), “Oh Me, Oh My, Oh Nehemiah” (about the Old Testament leader, Nehemiah), and “You Gotta' Be Joshin’ Us” (about the Old Testament leader, Joshua). But the one that stands out the most in my memory was titled “Nick at Night!”

It related the New Testament story of Nicodemus (who, according to the Bible, came to Jesus at night). In doing so, it included a recurring character dressed in a trench coat whose presence on the platform was accompanied by a distinctive guitar, saxophone, and brass instrument combined rhythm clearly intended to resemble and evoke the James Bond movie theme.

It is likely that few, if any, of the children involved in the production recognized the musical score, it is also likely that few, if any of the adults present did not! After all, the James Bond franchise is arguably the single most successful ever to come out of Hollywood! To date, after the original twelve novels by Ian Fleming, twenty-seven films based on a total of some fifty plus novels have garnered right at $20 Billion in box office receipts!

(I will have to admit that I have seen each and every one of the Bond films. Indeed, long before I studied western civilization in college, I learned a fair amount of what I knew about world geography from these films. That is to say that before I ever actually visited England, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, India, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, etc…, I had been there vicariously through, first one, then another, of James Bond’s adventures!)

Admittedly, Bond himself is not all that praiseworthy of a character. He clearly has his share of shortcoming. These include his smoking, his drinking, his gambling, and his carousing! Not to mention his personality, which can variously be described as prideful, arrogant, condescending, lustful, patronizing, and/or vindictive. Clearly, Bond is a flawed individual.

Yet, in spite of all his faults (and to his everlasting credit), at the end of the day, he does have two redemptive qualities. He is absolutely devoted to the country in which he lives and to the monarch of that country, whom he serves.

One particular scene in one particular movie serves to illustrate my point. A female villain in India tempts Bond to give up his career as a British Secret Agent and join forces with her in smuggling and other nefarious activities. She states: “We are two of a kind. There are vast rewards for a man of your talents.” Bond responds simply by saying: “I am not for hire.” To which she, aware of his willingness to undertake questionable methods, sarcastically retorts: “Naturally, you are willing to do it for queen and country!”

Nowhere is this devotion to monarch and country on display more than in what has often been decried as the single worst of all the Bond films: “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”. In this film, Bond has been denied the opportunity to continue pursuing the arch-villain, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, by his immediate superior, “M”. Yet, his passion is so great that he threatens to resign if he is not allowed to go after the enemy.

Bond then retreats to his office and awaits the outcome of his gambit. Thereafter, the director of the film frames a shot with Bond at his desk and a picture of the Queen of England above and to his back. As he waits, he turns and acknowledges her overarching presence with a gesture that undeniably implies his complete subservience to her and her kingdom.

Can you relate? I know I can. I readily admit that I am, above all else, a flawed individual. I struggle daily with behaviors and attitudes that are anything but praiseworthy. May God continue to forgive me for these things! And yet, in spite of these things, I find that I still have a passion for my Sovereign and for His Kingdom!

Can you relate?

If so, then I have some good news for you today. In his first New Testament Letter to Timothy (chapter 1, verse 15), no less an individual than the Apostle Paul referred to himself as “the chief of sinners”. Various English translations render this passage as “the worst” and/or as “the foremost” of sinners.

And yet, this same individual also testified (in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 9): “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home (in this world) or absent (from the body), to be pleasing to Him.”

Thus it is that Paul, too, understood his own frailty. And thus it is, also, that Paul passionately desired to serve his Lord and His Kingdom.

If you, like me, are a believer today, then hopefully you will join me in realizing that James Bond is not alone in his devotion to his chosen sovereign. Nor, indeed, is the Apostle Paul.

It is for this reason, no doubt, that we read (in Paul’s New Testament Letter to the Philippians, chapter 2, verse 11) that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

James Bond was not perfect; yet he was devoted to and served his queen and his country. The Apostle Paul was not perfect; yet he loved and served his Master and His Kingdom. I, myself, am not perfect; yet I will continue to do my best to serve my Lord and His Kingdom.

I hope you will do the same!

SCRIPTURE SOURCES:

https://biblehub.com/1_timothy/1-15.htm;

https://biblehub.com/2_corinthians/5-9.htm;

https://biblehub.com/bsb/philippians/2.htm.

CLEAN SWEEP?

10/1/2023

It was the title of the article in the Jerusalem Post more than anything else that drew my attention. And little wonder, for it read: “Listen to Granny: Cleaning behind Your Ears, In Between Toes Helps Keep Skin Healthy – Study”.

The subtitle further postulated the premise: “A Total Of 129 Students Were Taught to Collect Their Own Data by Swabbing Certain Moist And Oily Hotspots Behind the Ears, Between the Toes, and In the Navel.”

As reported Judy Siegel-Itzkovich on October 1, 2023…

Although you thought her demands were exaggerated, it turns out that your grandmother was correct. Scrubbing between the toes and behind the ears helps keep the skin in those regions healthy, according to a new study at George Washington University (GW) in Washington, DC.

The microbiome – the collection of microbes living in and on the human body, is known to play a role in human health – and the skin is no different. The new study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology under the title “Spatial diversity of the skin bacteriome”, has shown that the composition of the skin microbiome varies across dry, moist and oily regions of the skin.

The skin is the largest organ in the human body with an average surface area in adults of 30 square meters. It has a protective role, acting both as a physical barrier against environmental factors and an immunological barrier, reducing the effects of injuries and infections. The skin also has a thermoregulatory function – preventing water loss, enabling temperature regulation, and supporting vitamin-D synthesis.

The researchers at the GW Computational Biology Institute headed by biostatistics and bioinformatics Prof. Marcos Pérez-Losada and his team were interested in testing what they called “the Grandmother Hypothesis.”

Prof. Keith Crandall, director of the Computational Biology Institute and professor of biostatistics and bioinformatics recalled that his grandmother always told the children in his family to “scrub behind the ears, between the toes and in the belly button.” Crandall posited that these hotspots are normally washed less often compared to the skin on the arms or legs and thus may harbor different types of bacteria.

But would the Grandmother Hypothesis hold up if put to the test? Pérez-Losada and Crandall designed an innovative genomics course and then unleashed a team of students to help them find out.

A total of 129 graduate and undergraduate students were taught to collect their own data–by swabbing certain moist and oily hotspots behind the ears, between the toes and in the navel. They also collected samples from control dry areas like the calves and forearms. The students then learned how to extract and sequence the DNA in the skin samples in order to compare the microbes living in the hotspots to those in the control regions.

The researchers found that forearms and calves that are often cleaned more thoroughly at bath time had a greater diversity and thus potentially a healthier collection of microbes compared to the samples taken in the hotspots. No significant differences, however, were observed across genders, ages, and ethnicities.

When certain trouble-making microbes take over the microbiome, they can shift the balance away from health, Crandall said. If the microbiome tips in favor of detrimental microbes, skin diseases like eczema or acne can be the result.

One thing I know for sure… Next time I take a shower, I will be scrubbing furiously behind my ears, between my toes, and inside my belly button! The mere thought of unhealthy microbes congregating and propagating in these places on my body is more than enough to assure that will be the case!

As I read this article, I was especially intrigued by the concluding paragraph:

The students proved the Grandmother Hypothesis, and their results suggested that cleaning habits can change the microbes living on your skin and consequently its health status, Crandall added.

Cleaning habits, especially those related to the smallest places, can have a great impact upon the status of one’s health! My own learned grandmother knew this; as, I am persuaded, did yours. What is more, we both know that they each preached their convictions!

And therein lays the great truth I wish to draw from this article. What is true on the physical realm is also true in the spiritual realm. Chances are that most of us had grandmothers who believed passionately in and preached physical cleanliness. Would that more of us would have listened to them!

Chances are, however, that most of us also had an aged pastor, minister, or mentor in our life who passionately believed in and preached spiritual cleanliness as well. Would to the Good Lord that more of us had listened to them as well!

Let’s be honest here... It’s often easy to focus on the “biggies” at the expense of the “little-es” when it comes to spiritual cleanliness. The article notes that bathers tend to focus on the more noticeable areas, such as forearms and calves, at the expense of the less prominent ones, such as ears and toes.

In like manner, when it comes to spiritual cleanliness, people often tend to focus on what are considered to be sins that are of great significance at the expense of those that are viewed as being of little importance.

And yet, Biblically, all sin is consequential! While some may choose to differentiate between so-called mortal and venial sins, Biblically, there are no big sins and little sins. All sins are equally detrimental. All sins are equally substantial. For at the end of the day, it does not matter if one sins a lot or a little, he or she is still a sinner.

After all, the New Testament Book of Romans tells us (in chapter 3, verse 23) that: “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” The word here translated as “sinned” is the word “hamartano”, which means “to miss the mark”. It comes from the context of archery, in which one aims at a mark and falls short.

By implication, at the end of the day, if one misses the bullseye, one simply misses the mark. It matters not whether or not that miss is by an inch or a country mile, one still misses the mark!

Do not make the mistake, therefore, of assuming that tending to the “biggies” alone, i.e., the more visible sins, will somehow make you less culpable than if you tended to the “little-es” as well. Such distinctions are artificial at best, and disastrous at worst.

For in truth, a conglomeration of little sins, while they may seem inconsequential to us, are just as deadly, if not more-so, than one, two, or three big sins!

In light of this, make certain to include in your next conversation with the Lord an acknowledgment, not only of your larger shortcomings, but of all your shorter ones as well. In his first New Testament Letter, (chapter 1, verse 9), the Apostle John tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

All sins have consequences, even the little ones. Thank God, therefore, that all sins can be forgiven.

Knowing the consequences of sin when it is left to fester, why be partially clean when one can be fully clean?!

STORY SOURCE:

https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/article-761204.

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/romans/3-23.htm;

https://biblehub.com/greek/264.htm;

https://biblehub.com/1_john/1-9.htm.