Many years ago there was a newspaper, and I don’t remember the name of it, that had a column called “Bits and Pieces.” It consisted of several short thoughts on various subjects, all of which were designed to cause people to think. So, I “think” that’s how I’ll present our lesson today, in bits and pieces that will cause us to “think” spiritual things.
Bit #1. All of us have friends, don’t we? As we live our lives here on earth we get to know a lot of people. And, we mostly refer to them as friends simply because they aren’t enemies. But, that’s not “true friendship” is it? Just knowing somebody by their first name doesn’t qualify as “true friendship.”
I once read that “true friends” recognize the hearts of their friends and not their faces. I agree with that because I think that there is no “true friendship” where the heart is not involved which is evidenced by the things that friends “do” for each other. In Proverbs 18:24 we read that we have “…a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” And, you know what? That “friend” did something for us even before we were “friends” and, if we want to be “true friends” with Him, we have to do something in return. And that is, to give Him our “love, faith and devotion.”
Bit #2. Do you remember back in January of 2009 when an extraordinary event occurred? When a U.S. Airways flight, shortly after takeoff, had to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River? It was a truly historic event. They’ve even made a movie about the pilot’s courageous actions that saved everyone on board. Here’s an interesting aside: passengers on ships and airliners are very fittingly referred to as “souls on board.”
Here’s what I found spiritually noteworthy about this occurrence. It was reported that many of the passengers (the “souls”) were heard to be praying, repeatedly, “Lord, forgive me of my sins” and I immediately recalled a statement by Jesus, recorded in Matt. 7:21-22. He said that on the occasion of “that day,” commonly referred to as the “day of reckoning,” that “many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not…”
The key “think” about this piece is for us to consider when our “day of reckoning” will come, as I’m sure the passengers on Flight 1549 thought was happening on that wintry day in 2009. Here is what reality is: we don’t know when our personal “day of reckoning” will come, but if we’re not already forgiven of our sins, having been cleansed by the washing of the blood of Christ, (Rev. 1:5) it’ll be too late to start asking for salvation.
Bit #3 is sort of a tie-in to the previous one in that I’m going to mention something about “faith.” Heb. 11:1 reads: “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” (NLT) This bit ties in with the former in this way: “faith” is what causes us to believe in and obey the Gospel, thus preparing our “souls” for our “day of reckoning.”
Bit #4. Well we’re in another election season again. Seems like they are not “seasons” anymore, they’re always going on, but with elections come the “polls.” They take polls to ascertain what the popular way to go is with the idea that many will follow what is popular at the moment. This thought on the purpose of polls reminded me of something God told Israel when He was giving them the “law.” Recorded in Ex. 23:2, He said, “Do not follow a multitude to do evil.”
My thought: just because the popular “way” is broad and is going to be well-traveled by many people (Matt. 7:13), my point here is: the majority is not always right. What we need to always remember is that “RIGHT IS RIGHT!” Political polls seem to be trying to convince people that if they vote a certain way, metaphorically-speaking, they’ll get the best “bang for their buck.” Well, scripturally-speaking, it’s on the less popular “way” that Christians should travel as it’s on this “way” that we’ll truly get more “bang for our buck.”
Bit #5. A while back a movie came out entitled “The Bucket List.” Some of you may have seen it. In this movie, two old men are debating each other about many things of life and one of them mentioned “faith” as being one of those “things.” The one old guy, who was playing sort of agnostic towards religion made the statement “I can’t get my head around it (faith).” The other actor replied with a truly great statement. He said: “Maybe your heads in the way.”
I consider that to be a very profound statement and I think that it’s probably the reason why many people do not have “faith.” Their head gets in the way. Recall in bit #3 we read Heb. 11:1 where it defined “faith” as being the “assurance of things we can’t see?” Think about that a moment. If they’re visible, can be seen, then it isn’t “faith,” is it? It’s “sight” and that reminds us of what Paul tells Christians in 2Cor. 5:7 that they “walk (live) by faith and not by sight.”
And now, my final Bit, #6. This bit is applicable to the condition of our “hearts.” God, through Solomon, talks a lot about this aspect of human life. About both the physical and the spiritual. Solomon writes in Proverbs about how the condition of a person’s “heart” relates to how important it is to the “character” of a person’s life. Simply said, the condition of our “spiritual heart” determines the “character” of the person we are. I don’t know who penned the following words, but they apply to this thought here…
Watch your thoughts, they become words.
Watch your words, they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become character.
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.
(And Matthew 12:34-35 says that all of those things emanate from “the heart.”)
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey