Topic(s): Humor, Time

Seven Ages of Man
R.M. Cornelius identifies “Seven Ages of Man:”

6 weeks—all systems go
6 years—all systems “No!”
16 years—all systems know
26 years—all systems glow
36 years—all systems owe
56 years—all systems status quo
76 years—all systems slow

I don't know about you, but it shocks me to see that I am already firmly entrenched in the fifth age—all systems owe. Where has the time gone? Surely Job knew what he was talking about when he said, “My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle” (Job 7:6). It seems that “the hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”

The most precious commodity we have today is not silver or gold, but time. John Randolph reminds us, “Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all possessions.” When we squander it on things that don’t matter, we are so foolish. Paul warns us, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:15-17). When we look around us, we can see that the days we are living in are truly evil, with sin rampant in our world. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, however, that “this time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” What we need to deal with our time is a heavenly perspective: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3).

What will you do with time? I find Henry Thoreau's observation thoughtful: “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity” (Walden I: Economy). Will we “injure eternity?” We are each given twenty-four precious hours daily. How will we use them? Whatever age we find ourselves in, whether 6 or 76, we must serve faithfully.
—Bob Prichard

“Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not”
—Proverbs 8:33

That’s the Spirit!

Topic(s): Christian Life, Encouragement

A little leaguer was playing outfield in the first game of the season. After chasing a long hit and hustling the ball back into the infield, someone asked him how his team was doing and what the score was. The boy said his team was doing OK, but they were trailing seventeen to zero. The person asked if he was discouraged about being so far behind, and if he was ready to admit defeat. He came back immediately with this retort, “We aren’t beaten...we haven’t even been up to bat yet!”

“...this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 Jn. 5:4).

How to Live a Happy Life

Topic(s):  Christian Life

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight, and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Enjoy the simple things. When the children are young, that is all you can afford. When they are in college, that is all you can afford. When you are on retirement, that is all you can afford!
4. Laugh often, long, and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. Laugh so much that you can be tracked in a store by the noise.
5. Tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is ourselves. Be alive while you are alive—don’t put out a mailbox on the highway of death and just wait in residence for your mail.
6. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it is family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
7. Cherish your health. If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
8. Don’t take guilt trips. Go to the mall, the next county, a foreign country, but not to “guilt country.”
9. Tell the people you love that you love them at every opportunity. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” —John 15:11

Sin Taxes!

Topic(s): Christian Life

An 89-year-old friend told me, “You can’t win sinning.” Since Adam and Eve got themselves into a jam eating forbidden fruit, billions have learned first-hand that in the end sin, far from satisfying, brings suffering and loss that often cannot be completely repaired. Sin is hard on humans, no matter how fun and appealing the devil and marketing experts can make it look.

A reporter was interviewing a grizzled old man, sitting with his hands folded in his lap, behind his farm house. “Sir, I’d like to know the secret of your long life,” said the reporter. “Well, I drink whiskey every day, smoke cigarettes all the time, dance wildly every night, and I’ve lived with many different women.” The reporter was astonished and exclaimed, “That’s remarkable. And exactly how old are you?” The man replied, “Twenty-seven.”

Recently Tennessee state lawmakers debated whether to raise “sin taxes” on such things as alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. The debate was over whether or not we should “tax sin.” But there can be no debate that “sin taxes.” Sin taxes our homes, our marriages, and our very lives by subjecting them to excessive stress. From sexual immorality to murder to materialism to profanity to prejudice—sin has saturated our society. Prisons bulge with those who discovered too late that “sin taxes.” Adultery at first allures an individual but in the end it assassinates a marriage. Pornography promises pleasure but soon overwhelms with pain and guilt. All of us are paying sin’s taxes—or know someone who is.

The world says sin will thrill you, but God says sin will terminate you. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Sin may at first feel good to you, but sin is never good for you. Someone observed that sin always takes us further than we want to go, costs us more than we want to pay, and keeps us longer than we want to stay. Sin always taxes—whether we tax sin or not.

—Dan Gulley