THINK ABOUT IT            12-17-23

WHAT TO GIVE

Christmas is the season when many people are thinking about giving. The truth is that giving should be a way of life, not just a seasonal event. Giving is an expression of love and we naturally want to please those we love. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever wanted to give someone something that you couldn’t give? I suspect we all have. We love to give our loved ones the things they desire. The problem is that we don’t always have it to give. What then? Let me encourage you by reminding you that the most important things in life can be given by all of us, regardless of the size of our bank account. Here’s a few things we all can give:

• Appreciation. Everyone needs to know they are appreciated and little things mean a lot. Get in the habit of letting people know that you appreciate them.That’s a gift they will cherish!
• Time. This is a gift that we all can give–everyone has the same amount. Nursing homes, hospitals, etc. are filled with lonely people. Take time to be with or in contact with them.
• Attention. It’s not enough to merely be in someone’s presence, they need your attention.Be a good listener.
• Courtesy. It doesn’t cost a cent to be kind. A gracious word, a smile, a hand-shake, etc.doesn’t cost anything, yet are of great value. People have enough problems without you adding to their woes.
• Love. However it is expressed, people need to know that they are loved. Do whatever you can, in word and deed, to show people that you truly care about them. Those who care do!    HDS

David Stone

 Lakeway Baptist Church   

Humble, Tx

THINK ABOUT IT             12-15-23

WHAT THE MIGHTIEST MAN COULDN’T DO

Everybody knew the local blacksmith. Everybody knew him because no matter where the townsfolk went, they could hear the sound of his hammer as it beat against the anvil. No matter where they were they could hear the sound of his bellows as it spurred the fire to burn and roar with fresh intensity. Day in and day out his sledge beat against the metal like the ticking of a clock, like the beating of a drum, like the ringing of a bell.

Men, women, and children alike would pause as they passed by his workshop—pause to watch him rain mighty but measured blows upon rods and bands of iron. His shoulders were broad, his arms thick, his hands strong. Villains feared him but good men respected him, for they knew he was honorable, they knew he was committed to using his strength for good. An occasional uppity young man might challenge him and attempt to best him, but he would inevitably make that youngster regret such rashness, for none could ever throw him to the ground or make him beg for mercy.

It happened on one otherwise unremarkable afternoon that a silence settled over that small town and the people soon realized that the blacksmith’s hammer had fallen silent. Slowly it registered in their consciousness that they could no longer hear it ringing out through the streets, no longer use it to measure the hours and the minutes. Those who gazed into his shop saw his hammer resting still beside the anvil, the fire burning low, the workshop devoid of life and activity. The blacksmith was nowhere to be found.

A few walked silently to his home and, gazing through the window, saw a scene they would never forget. The blacksmith was inside, lying on a cot, cradling his sick and feverish child. He held her as gently as could be, carefully dabbing a cloth against her forehead, his calloused hands softly brushing a tear from her eye. He sang her a quiet lullaby, his trembling voice soothing her sorrows and drawing her to sleep. And soon enough she slept, her little head resting comfortably on his mighty chest.

The people understood that this weak little girl had done what the mightiest man could never do—she had brought that blacksmith to the dust. She had taken his mighty hand in her little one and drawn him down, down in her weakness. She alone had caused him to stoop, she alone had brought him down to her level. Her weakness had proven to be her strength and now the strongest of all was soothing and tending the weakest of all.

And isn’t our Jesus just like that? He is the one through whom all things were created and the one through whom all things exist. He is the one who has been given all authority in both earth and heaven and the one who has been crowned King of kings. Yet he is the one who responds to our weakness rather than our strength, to our helplessness rather than our ability. He is the one who came to seek and save the lost, who came to gather to himself the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame, the one who came to respond in strength to those who know themselves weak. When we need his power, when we need his love, when we need his forgiveness, we can approach him weak and broken. Like a little child, we can take his hand and he will gladly be drawn down, he will joyfully stoop to hear us, to lovingly tend to us. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he will remind us, “for theirs—for yours—is the kingdom of heaven.”

David Stone

Lakeway Baptist Church  

Humble, Tx.

THINK ABOUT IT            12-1-23

AMAZINGLY STUPID

THINK ABOUT IT             11-29-23

Here is a story that encouraged me and perhaps it will do the same for you.
Kent Hughes told the following true story of an elderly teacher. Howard Hendricks, who has taught Christian education at Dallas Theological Seminary for over forty years, has told about an experience he had at a Sunday school convention: A number of us who were speaking there went across the street at noon to get a bite to eat at a hamburger stand. The place was crowded and people were standing in line. An elderly lady was in front of me. I guessed she was about 65—she was 83, I learned later. She wore a convention badge, so I knew she was a conferee. There was a table for four open, so two friends and I invited her to join us. I asked her the obvious question: “Do you teach a Sunday School class?” “Oh, I certainly do,” she said. I visualized a class of senior citizens, but asked her: “What age group do you teach?” “I teach a class of junior high boys.” “Junior high boys! How many boys do you have?” “Thirteen,” she said sweetly. “Tremendous! I suppose you come from a rather large church.” “No, sir, it’s very small,” she said. “We have about fifty-five in Sunday School.” Hardly daring to go on, I said, “What brings you to this Sunday School convention?” “I’m on a pension—my husband died a number of years ago,” she replied, “and, frankly, this is the first time a convention has come close enough to my home so I could afford to attend. I bought a Greyhound ticket and rode all last night to get here this morning and attend two workshops. I want to learn something that will make me a better teacher.” Hendricks went on to add, “I heard a sequel to this story some time later. A doctor told me there are eighty-four young men in or moving toward the Christian ministry as a result of this woman’s influence.” As Howard Hendricks would say, “May her tribe increase!”

God help us to do all we can, the best we can, while we can.As long as we are alive there is something we can do for the kingdom of God. Let us then determine, by the grace of God, to serve the Lord as long as we have breath, taking advantage of every opportunity. – HDS  

THINK ABOUT IT          11-27-23

HOW IS GOD PRESENT IN OUR PAIN?

Since we all have troubles and trials of various sorts, the following words of Tim Challies should get our attention.

“In our pain we know God is not absent, but in our pain we also wonder whether God is present. Or perhaps more correctly we wonder how God is present.

In times of great grief or dark uncertainty we cling to the reality that God is a loving Father who has welcomed us into his family—we are his beloved children. We dwell on the promise that he will never leave nor forsake the ones he loves—he will preserve us to the end. We hold to the knowledge that even our worst experiences are somehow being used to accomplish something beneficial—all things work together for good for those who are loved by God. We reflect on the sure and fixed hope that Christ will return and in that day bring an end to all pain and sorrow—he will right every wrong.

But we also remember that he sometimes chastises the ones he loves. We remember that a good Father must sometimes exercise a loving discipline toward his beloved children. We remember there are often just consequences for unjust actions. God assured Paul of his power and presence, but also gave him a thorn in his flesh to keep him humble, to keep him from falling into a spiritual death-spiral. God calls us to confess our sins that we may be healed, an acknowledgement that sometimes our sickness and suffering may be a divinely-ordained consequence for sin (James 5:14ff). “What son is there whom his father does not discipline” (Hebrews 12:7)?

Today’s suffering, today’s pain, today’s sorrow—is this simply a part of the difficulty of living in a sin-stained world, a world where sin’s consequences afflict our bodies, our minds, and our souls? Or is this a divine warning of sorts, a divine chastisement meant to interrupt sin and steer us back to the way that is straight and narrow? Thinking soberly in our most difficult moments, we often can’t help but wonder. Do I need to repent or do I need to endure? Do I need to ask God to give me insight to see and own my sin, or do I need to ask God to help me bear this burden?

In the end, we may never fully know. But it seems clear that when we suffer, we should prepare to endure even as we also give ourselves to self-examination. When sick and suffering, we should devote ourselves to asking God to reveal any sins we are harboring, coddling, refusing to acknowledge, or refusing to put to death. It may be that there are none. But it may be that we uncover something we’ve been unwilling or unable to see and admit and repent of.

And then we endure. We endure with joy. We endure with patience. We endure with trust. We endure with confidence that God is good. We endure and trust that somehow God is working even in this to conform us more and more to the image of his precious Son.” Think about it. 

David Stone  

Lakeway Baptist Church   

Humble, Tx