Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Carts
* Scripture: Jesus said, "For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Mark 13:22, NKJV

Got the cart before the horse . . . Well, I've heard that saying, and I suppose someone might harness a horse so that it pushes rather than pulls a cart, but such a scenario seems highly unlikely. It is just a way of saying that someone has their priorities reversed.
I can envision someone hitching their horse to the wrong cart, though. Especially if a number of look-alike carts were parked together. Anyone who has wandered a large parking lot trying to locate their automobile among dozens of identical colors and similar models can relate to this one. Many people fasten unique things to their radio antennae to make it easier to spot their car in the multitude.
It is embarrassing to fumble with your key, trying to unlock the door, only to discover that you are trying to enter the wrong car. Ask me!
I still recall, with a chuckle, watching a friend select the wrong car, only he actually entered it. I had stopped at the post office so that he could check his mail, while I waited in my car. He came back out, intently reading a letter, not noticing that another auto had parked beside mine. The reaction - and embarrassment - when he finally looked up and saw me grinning one car over . . . Priceless!
While embarrassing, and probably humorous to the onlooker, such gaffes endanger only the ego.
Jesus, however, was warning about mistaken identification that could have serious consequences! False christs and false prophets are among the most dangerous of scam artists. Many will indeed steal your worldly goods to support their nefarious causes, but the real loss is to the unsuspecting soul - for eternity. Talk about hitching your horse to the wrong cart!
It would certainly be wonderful if there was a door or ignition switch on these spiritual scam artists, just like the keyed locks that keep us from entering and starting the wrong car.
Imagine for a moment that you are wandering that humongous parking lot, looking for that one car among many - except that there are no locks, no keys, and you could just enter any car, turn a switch and drive off. But you don't want just any old car, and you don't want yours stolen.
Wouldn't you be concerned? Sure you would. You would probably do something about it.
But just think about how many people literally leave their souls "unlocked," and select from those false christs and prophets.
So mark your 'soul' with Jesus Christ. He will provide the security key for you.
November 12, 2006

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” Lev. 19:18, NIV

The king’s horse drowned in the river. Enraged at the insolence of the river, the king threatened so to break its strength that in the future even women should cross it easily without wetting their knees. Accordingly he put off for a time his attack on Babylon, and, dividing his army into two parts, he marked out by ropes one hundred and eighty trenches on each side of the Gyndes, leading off from it in all directions, and setting his army to dig, some on one side of the river, some on the other, he accomplished his threat by the aid of so great a number of hands, but not without losing thereby the whole summer season.
(Cyrus Captures Babylon Account in 539 B.C. Herodotus, Book I, para 189-191)
An extreme reaction? King Cyrus never-the-less acted in spite to thwart the river, dividing it into 360 channels
Another Persian king, Xerxes, fighting against Greece, decided to cross the Bosporus, building a boat bridge with each boat connected to the other with planks. This bridge would be over a mile long and required a perfectly calm sea. On several attempts winds and rough seas broke it apart. Frustrated and enraged, Xerxes ordered that the Bosporus receive three hundred lashes with a chain. Properly chastened, the sea remained calm and the bridge was completed.
The kings Cyrus and Xerxes, acting out of petty ill will, attempted to irritate, annoy, or thwart the forces of nature. Now that’s spite!
Yes, I’ve been hitting the Word Books again. As usual, one good word leads to another, and spite has some juicy synonyms, beginning with ‘malice,’ and increasing in severity: malevolence, ill will, malignity, spleen, and grudge.
MALICE implies a deep-seated often un-explainable desire to see another suffer.
MALEVOLENCE suggests a bitter persistent hatred that is likely to be expressed in malicious conduct.
SPLEEN suggests the wrathful release of latent spite or persistent malice.
GRUDGE implies a harbored feeling of resentment or ill will that seeks satisfaction.
The Bible speaks often about the downward path of malice. Paul advises to rid oneself of malice; see Eph. 4:31 and Col. 3:8. Peter, also, calls us as Christians to be holy (1 Peter 1:13-16) and to rid ourselves of malice (2:1).
The old maxim to “cut off the nose to spite the face” speaks well to the perils of spite. Harboring ill will, nursing a grudge, plotting revenge, all stem from anger that ulcerates the soul. We are in danger of cutting ourselves off from the body of Christ. Rather, as Jesus counseled, forgive others their sins (Mt. 6:15.) Turn the other cheek. (Mt. 5:38-41) Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Paul, to Timothy: 1 Tim. 5:15.
July 13, 2003

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: God told Jonah, “And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who can not discern between the right hand and their left - and much livestock?” (Jonah 4:11, NKJV)

“Your OTHER left!” Usually uttered as a sarcastic put-down to someone stepping off on the wrong foot while marching. The odds are 50-50 that you will get it right. “All together now: Left-right-left-right.” - If you are out of step you are . . . left?
Actually, the proper word is ‘wrong.’ But note that if something is correct it is ‘right.’ In English, anyway. A little bit of discrimination in favor of right handed people, perhaps.
Those who use the hand on their right side are dexterous, from the Latin ‘dexter’ - on the right side. On the other hand, on the left side, you are ‘sinister,’ unlucky. In France, you would be gauche, lacking social experience or grace; also, not tactful.
In most Arab countries, the left hand is considered “unclean” and is not put forward in social situations. The left hand earned this interesting epithet in the harsh desert, a land of few trees and no paper. It was the custom to eat, shake hands, wave a greeting, all with the right hand while the left hand was reserved for certain “hygienic functions” or blowing the nose.
Many of these same left hand, right hand conventions are found in the Bible. The seat at the right hand is one of honor and power (see Psalm 110:1; Isaiah 62:8) Jesus placed the righteous -the blessed - on the right, and the cursed on the left in the parable of the sheep and goats in Matthew 25:31-46.
So what do you make of the comment God made about people who “can not discern between the right hand and their left?” Is He in effect calling the Ninevites “gauche,” “sinister” or ignorant?
Not at all! God is expressing reasons for mercy. In Nineveh, that great city, are many children who are too young to know their right hand from their left hand, to know good from evil. God has a tender regard for little children, also evidenced by Jesus request to “let the little children come to me.” (Mt. 19:13)
Jonah had pity for the gourd, even anger that it had died, but he showed no pity on the innocent children in Nineveh, not to mention the livestock, who were not guilty of sin. Jonah concedes (vs. 4:2) that God is a “gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness.” Yet Jonah is “displeased exceedingly” (vs. 4:1) that God has taken pity upon Nineveh.
We need to Think about our own “Jonah effect” that we may not discriminate collectively against people by group or category.
God, in His great mercy and lovingkindness, considers all people who turn to Him worthy of salvation.
October 9, 2005