Watch your words, Preacher

I’ve heard more than one preacher start a statement with “I don’t know about you but…” If this post is mere personal preference, please pardon me for mentioning it, but this seems soft and/or uncertain. (It’s similar to the SM – social media, habit of softening a statement by typing “Just saying.”) “Thus saith the Lord” (over 400 times in the Bible) or “it is written” (about 80 times) both have an authority, a firmness more fitting to the uncertainties of our dying world. The trumpet needs to make a sure sound!

– eab, 2/18/17

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Don’t feign love

Rom 12. 9

“Let love be without dissimulation [feigning; hypocrisy].

Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”

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John Wesley quote

“…How far is love even with many wrong opinions

to be preferred before truth without love!”

– John Wesley, excerpt from Preface to Sermons on Several Occasions

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God loved the world

God likes His now swelling, now calm, seas

Creatures that bark, sing, moo, and even sneeze

He’s fond of grassland, herb plants, giant trees

Things with six legs (Who knows how many knees)

God’s fond of His animals, His plants, and such

In fact, as Creator, He likes them very much.

The Book says He loved the world – how do we rate?

Look higher than the above scattered lists

Look beyond His like for fogs, clouds, and mists

God loves people: each woman, child, man

On each cordillera, each sea, in every land

God loves the ones we just tolerate

(And sometimes barely that)

Yes, He loves the skinniest guy

On which you’ve ever laid your eye

And the woman beyond plump – she’s fat.

He loves plain ole people

Under and beyond the steeple

God even loves the scum of the earth

Loves simpletons who live to make mirth

He loves scholars amongst their library stacks

Loves a farmer with bins or a farmer with mere sacks

There’s not a man that you can name

He does not love equally the same

And friend, His huge love includes you and me

The Triune God loves us all, Thankfully.

– eab, 2/9/17

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When it comes time to die

Multitask much?

Think you’re good at it? When it comes time to die you don’t want to have to multitask! You don’t want to then be trying to beg God for forgiveness, while writing/dictating a note of restitution, while calling a family member to apologize, and all the time wishing you could assure family that “all is well.” Now is the time to disengage from habits of question, and confess your sins while your mind is clear, breathing is normal, and God is listening.

Come back, friend, come back.

– eab, 2/18/17

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