Fifty-six years after the end of the Civil War in America, a minister, George Swann, told this true story from slave days. "A middle age slave had risen by his worth into great esteem with his master. One day, being in the slave market with this master, he noticed an old gray haired slave trembling with fear and weakness. He had not many more years for this world. The worthy slave begged his master to buy this old man. Partly our of curiosity he did. The younger slave took the old man home with him, and tenderly cared for him until the old man died. "Why did you want to buy that old fellow?" the master asked. "Is he your father?" "No." "Is he your brother, or near kinsman?" "No." Years ago,

Today, if you go to the bank to borrow money, you must sign a large number of documents in order to protect the institution from being exposed if you don't pay them back. There was a time not long ago when all this wasn't as necessary. People kept their word! In those days, honor meant a lot to folks. One's word was his bond. But now, that kind of "word Keeping" moral is almost forgotten. Something bad is happening in our time. Our Lord admonished us to keep our word, just as He keeps His. David asked, "I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people," (Psalm 116:14). David's example is for us to follow. It is too easy to forget God and His commands, in favor or follow

Do you remember the old song by the title above? It is interesting that we say he is a "good" fellow. When called "good" Jesus asked the rich young ruler, "Why do you call me good? There is but one good, and that is God," ( Luke 18:19). Yet each of us like to think of ourselves as not being bad, but comparatively good. Notice, I said comparatively. Compared to Christ, none of us would be called good, but compared to a mass murderer, any common person would be known as good. Each of us should, however, daily compare our lives with our good Savior Jesus. When we see ourselves in light to compare with Him, we would be like Isaiah when he saw himself compared to God, (Isaiah 6). When we are comp

(Job 2:10b), "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?" Many people think that believing in God protects them from trouble, so when calamity comes, they question God's goodness and justice. But the message of Job is that you should not give up on God because he allows you to have bad experiences. Faith in God does not guarantee personal prosperity, and lack of faith does not guarantee troubles in life. It this were so, people would believe in God simply to get rich. God is capable of rescuing us from suffering, but he may also allow suffering for reasons we may not understand. It is Satan's strategy to get us to doubt God at exactly this moment. Here Job shows a perspective broader tha

The Bible is absolutely full of important information we need to know as believers! One of the most interesting, at least to me, is the 139th Psalm! I could go on and on about the blessings this Psalm contains, but I would be doing you a disservice if I did anything other than encourage you to discover the answer to many mysteries by reading it yourself! Here it is! Psalm 139 For the director of music. Of David. A psalm. 1 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know i

I could have said, "How much of your life does God own? Or perhaps; how much of your life have you surrendered to the devil? The fact is; there is only 100% of your life available! What percentage of your life does each of the three I mentioned control. I feel sure we would like to proclaim that Jesus owns 100% of everything we are! But, in truth, we know that wouldn't be accurate. In fact though Jesus has a prior claim on all of the lives of his saints, we still don't recognize him as the owner. In fact, many times, the parts of our lives we don't consciously dedicate to the Lord, then monitor those parts constantly, sometimes will seep into the control of the devil. When he gets a foothold

How hard it is to go backward! In my teen days, roller skating was actually popular! I was never good at skating but I did relish the feeling of freedom it engendered. But one thing I was loathe to do- skate backward! I don't remember even trying. I had enough problems maintaining my balance going forward! But as life goes along we usually experience at least some form of success. That leads to a certain satisfaction. When we have attained this level, it is really hard to "go backward"! We view loss of a home, or a job, as going back to our point of origin, and many of us have trouble with that. We can't abide starting over. That is where adaptability must come in. People can live in the tro

I am reading a book written by George Swann. This work was written in 1921. Wow, thing have changed! The author speaks of being kind to your milkman, your washer woman, and your ice man. It's been a while! But to the point. Swann pointed out that some people are unkind to others for no real reason at all. Some folk seem to need to feel "superior" to others, so they "joke" about the other guys clothing, or his old car. Many times these "jokes" are wrapped in funny jargon, but in reality they are meant to "cut" like a knife. Many a person had made a life-long enemy because of their "joke". Once there was a lady who was still single after several years. She was sitting on a park bench reading a

In order to receive the gift of life, one must believe the gift exists! Once there was an airplane in the process of going down. The crew gave everyone a parachute with quick instructions on how to use it. But there was a man who didn't trust the parachute to open, so he went down with the plane though he was wearing a perfectly good chute that would have saved his life! People have been misled by the world so long, they don't know what to believe. Once I was on a backstreet in San Salvador when I spotted three young men hanging out on a darkened street corner. As we talked about their eternity, they told me they weren't interested in Christianity because they trusted the Ouija Board. I thou