Timely Thoughts from KeRusso

Thousands of years ago, Solomon wrote a book named Ecclesiastes. The observations he recorded in this ancient scroll are timely and relevant today. He wrote about human activity an pursuits being focused on things under the sun or under the heavens. Another way to say that would be people were focused on life without giving a thought to the God in the heavens.

As I listened to the talk about the recent election in the United States, a truth became clear to me. I heard people expressing why they were voting for a particular person, and I heard people give certain reasons why others should vote for a certain person. It seemed people had their top reasons for voting in a particular way. Everyone felt strongly about their reasons. The people who got elected were the ones who appealed to the most reasons people had. I suppose it is that way in every country where people get to vote for their leaders.

Have you ever wondered why people can become so divided and immovable in their divide? We see division all around us. We wonder why there seems to be no consensus about what we each think is clearly right. How is this possible?

If it is righteousness that exalts a nation, and if it is God who determines the boundaries and duration of nations, then it is vital that people of any nation seek God, learn his will and follow his ways.

I can remember the night clearly even though it happened over 45 years ago. I went bowling with some friends. I didn’t have much money, but I had a enough to go bowling and to buy something to drink. I also had a $20 bill in my pocket. That didn’t happen much. (It actually hasn’t happened a lot since.) we had left the bowling alley and gone to McDonalds. Somewhere in that parking lot in reached into my pocket and accidentally pulled out my $20. It fell out without my knowing it. It was only later, after we had left the restaurant, that I realized I had lost the $20.

Let’s take a moment and consider the current movement that pushes for sex changing surgeries for minors.The push is even taking place in public institutions like schools. Those in power in some places are pushing for teachers and parents to allow the children to choose to be referred to as the opposite sex, and even to have medications and surgeries to change their bodies to the opposite sex. It seems some adults in schools are promoting this view, even pushing to keep parents uninformed of what their children are being told and being encouraged to do. There even has been attempts to pass laws to make this easier for children to do without parental consent.

In the proverbs of God there is some wise advice we will find timely: “Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly (Proverbs 17:12). To understand this proverb, you need to understand what a “fool” is in the book of proverbs. The fool is any person who refuses to listen to God and follow his commands. We see the sense of that, because since God created and gives life, so he knows the best way to live. His commands instruct us how to live that best life, so anyone would be foolish not to listen and follow his teachings.

In 1967, Louis Armstrong recorded a song entitled “What a Wonderful World.” Beautiful song with a great title; however, we might not believe it to be an accurate assessment of life on this planet. Watch or listen to daily news and you won’t walk away with that thought. Look at the problems in your family, school, workplace, community, city, state or country and you will likely think we come up short. Wouldn’t it be great, though, if this could be a wonderful world in every aspect?

You may have heard of the book in the Bible named Proverbs. It is a wonderful book that is worth your time, well worth it. There are 31 chapters in the book. Some people read a chapter a day and read through the whole book in a month. If the month has only 30 days, they double up their reading on one of those days that month. By so doing, they read through Proverbs 12 times in a year. They do this every year.

Maybe you were like me when you were younger; I used to think about the worst possible way to die. I didn’t dwell on it, but maybe after watching a disaster movie, I would think, “I sure don’t want to die that way.” If I could make  a “Never Die This Way” list, it would include: being eaten by a shark/bear/lion, etc.; in a fire; drowning; torture, the electric chair/hanging. These would be bad ways to die, but oddly enough, they were not the top dreadful way for me. I decided the worst way to die was to die alone. To state the obvious, this was a morbid way to spend time, but maybe you did the same thing. Maybe we still do at times.

Do you remember some time in your life when you tried so very hard to win something? Maybe it was a game in athletics, or a contest in school. Maybe it was some award at work or in your community. Perhaps in all of us is some level of competitiveness because we all have a desire for recognition. Honor and affirmation are important to people.

There are many countries in history, past and current, that are described as world powers. We believe some to be good and some to be evil. The particular view one has depends on what country he or she is from. When we name world powers, we might name: United States, Russia, China. If we go into the past, we might name: England, France, Germany, Japan, Spain. If we wanted to go way back, we might name: Rome, Persia, Greece, Assyria, Egypt. These are countries that had such power that they spread their influence and will into other countries, not always peacefully. We are familiar with this kind of world power.