Focus on Eternity

The Kitchen      To say I’d learned a little in the past three months would be an understatement.   I had never spent so much time in the kitchen, it wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy cooking, but my meals were beginning to grow dull, even to me.   Week after week, I would prepare meals from experience, rarely using a recipe, nor buying new ingredients, and then what seemed to be a moderate inconvenience to stay-at-home all the time began to stir uncommon thoughts.   I began to worry about worst-case scenarios.   What if this pandemic causes a food shortage?   What if we run out of food?   What if we consume more than we need leaving us starving at the end of the stay-at-home order?   I was actually happy that I was carrying excess weight, convincing myself I would survive longer.   I concluded that it was up to me to manage our resources well so that none of us would suffer.        It was easy for my mind to run away from reality.   Before I knew it, I was creating circumstances out of

                  I am taking my annual pilgrimage through the books of first and second Kings, reading the stories of all the men who ruled in Israel.  I'm knee-deep in their stories recognizing that they quickly moved in and out of succession following the death of Solomon.  One can see their stories unfold, cascading back and forth between the kings that ruled the Northern Kingdom with its headquarters in Samaria, and the kings of Judah or Southern Kingdom whose throne remained in Jerusalem.  Each year that I pass through these stories, I’ve gone to great lengths to understand who’s who, to determine which side they were on, how long they ruled, and whether they were considered a good king or bad king according to God's standard.  In their book, A Visual Theology, Guide to the Bible, Seeing and Knowing God’s Word, Tim Challies and Josh Byers present the best visual aid which could have saved me hours of research had I discovered it sooner.  Not only do they lay each king

    Today I want us to consider how much we have learned from the experience of being told what to do, or what not to do over the past several months.  How much have you disliked a life of restrictions?  How much have you pushed back on being told what to do?  If social media gives us any indication, many adults have been behaving badly with resistance to the voice of authority:  1.)  some have been obedient with resentment, 2.) others have been disobedient, and 3.) some have complied.  Which group do you most resemble?       Can you remember being a teenager living under your parents roof being told what you should and shouldn't do?  Some rules were difficult to swallow.  Many of us have moved through the stage of wanting to be left alone, rather than told anything.  Or at least we would like to believe we have moved past that stage.  Have you ever resisted opening your ears to the voice of authority?            As I am studying the Wisdom books alongside some familiar Old

     Is there a part of the Bible that you find more difficult to comprehend?   One that you struggle to capture the meaning behind the passages.   As of late, I am reading the book of Proverbs.   It is nestled in the middle of the Old Testament and contains 31 chapters.   Proverbs were employed by parents and teachers to impart wisdom to children and students.   How they were written was to create an adventure that challenged young minds to develop mental skills that promoted wise living. 1   In Proverbs 1:1-6, the five-fold purpose of this writing is revealed.  (1) to attain wisdom and discipline, (2) to understand words of insight, (3) to acquire a discipline (skill) and live a prudent life, (4) to give prudence to the simple, and (5) to understand proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.  With such a great mission statement, no one with any sense would want to miss achieving these results.      The most frequently use of the word 'wisdom' found in Pr