Perhaps you remember Newton’s second law of motion from high school physics (or is it the third?  Hey!  At least I can remember the law):  for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
            Sometimes we live our lives by this law as well.  We constantly react to what others do, and excuse it because of what the other person did first.  Christianity is a life of action not reaction.  My actions should not depend upon what other people do, but upon what is right and what is wrong.  Any time I let someone else’s behavior “cause” me to do something; I am actually letting that person control me.  How often have I said, “He made me so mad?”  No, he didn’t. I let myself get angry.  When I stand before the throne of God, I will not be judged on other people’s deeds but upon mine, no matter what the other guy did first. 
            Most of us know this, and readily spout the appropriate answers when called upon in Sunday morning Bible study, but when we get out in the world things are always “different.”  No, they are not.  These things apply to my relationship with my next door neighbor, my co-workers, my family, yes, even to that driver up in front of me!  Then there is the matter of poor service in a restaurant, or a delay in the doctor’s office, or a faulty product that needs returning.  All of these offer me a chance to act as a Christian, not react as an unbeliever who has no self-control.  Yes, in our society we are allowed to voice our concerns over shoddy service and merchandise, but Christians never have the right to make a scene or be verbally abusive.  By letting others control me, I am showing how weak I truly am, not how strong.
            Christians control themselves—they do not let others do it.  Is this easy?  Not with Satan constantly whispering in my ear, “He had it coming.”  Like Eve, I often listen to him.  But this is how important ignoring that whisper is:  I must constantly ask myself why I have acted as I have.  If the answer starts, “Because he/she/they…” I am condemned already.
 
Jesus’ Laws of Motion:         
For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endures griefs, suffering wrongfully.  For what glory is it if, when you sin and are buffeted for it, you shall take it patiently?  But if, when you do well and suffer for it you shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.  For hereunto were you called:  because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps; who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously.   1 Pet 2:19-23
 
And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise. And if you love those who love you, what thank have you?  For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to them that do good to you, what thank have you?  For even sinners do the sane.  And if you lend to those of whom you hope to receive, what thank have you?  Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much.  But love your enemies and do them good, and lend, never despairing, and your reward shall be great, and you shall be sons of the Most High, for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.  Luke 6:31-35
 
Dene Ward

After one particular surgery a few years ago, I had bled far more than the surgeon expected.  I needed a transfusion, he said, but given the state of the world these days, and the fact that a couple pints would have done the job, he took the conservative approach instead.  For the next few months I took a prescription iron pill, one more easily absorbed by the body than the over the counter varieties.  I don’t claim to know the entire effects of “running a quart low,” but I do know this.  I started every day tired and it only got worse.  And I was constantly cold.  Even though it was summer in Florida, I was wrapped in a blanket most of the time.
            Aside from the obvious Biblical applications about atoning blood, I find another worth mentioning.  John 6 is not about the Lord’s Supper.  John 6 is about commitment. 
            A sizable crowd had begun following Jesus on a regular basis.  They had been hanging around long enough to see several miracles, hear several parables, even be fed at his hand from five small loaves of bread and a couple of fish.  It was time, Jesus decided, to ask them to be more than hangers on, more than groupies enamored with the publicity of the local celebrity.
            Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 6:53-55.
            Far from believing he meant this literally, I think when they said things like, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they were just trying to avoid the obvious.  They were not in this for the long haul.  They didn’t want to get that involved.  They just wanted something fun and interesting to do for a few days.
            Jesus forced them to a decision.  This is not something you can do half-heartedly.  This is not something you can do while giving a lot of yourself to something else too.  I must be your sustenance, he was saying to them.  Nothing else should matter to you. 
            And they knew exactly what he meant. After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him, v 66. 
            I am afraid some of us are not even that honest.  We want to pretend we are living off the Lord, eating and drinking him night and day, when it is merely a pleasant pastime on the weekends, a source of comfort should a family member become ill, and a handy group for wedding and baby showers.  (Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves, v 26.)  The Lord tells us we might as well leave with the rest of the crowd.
            Why?  Because when we are running a quart low of Jesus, we will be too weak to withstand temptations and trials.  When we are running a quart low, our zeal will eventually grow cold.  We need as much of him as we can hold to overcome, to grow, and to change our characters, ready to live faithfully even to the point of death.  We cannot do it any other way.  
            Lev 17:11 says, “The life of flesh is in the blood.”  I have a new appreciation of that fact since that long summer of anemia.  Don’t make yourself spiritually anemic, and then expect God to reward you with eternal life.
 
As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." John 6:57,58.
 
Dene Ward

If you are like me, it took a long day, or maybe even more than one, to get out those boxes of decorations and turn your homes into fantasy lands of colored lights, sparkly globes and shiny tinsel.  Awhile back I finally gave into my sons’ groans and stopped hanging the handmade elementary school ornaments.  Still, I have a fondness for macaroni glued to a paper plate, spray-painted gold and flecked with green glitter, and toilet paper rolls attired in shiny red paper, white lace, and sequins.  They bring back a lot of precious memories my sons will not understand until they have their own masterpieces hanging on an evergreen limb.
            And have you ever noticed that people adorn themselves as well?  Not their clothing, though this time of year I see magazine and newspaper ads full of expensive, gaudy clothes I would never have a place to wear.  I am talking about their behavior.  Even the biggest heathen in the world does not want to be called a Grinch and struggles to adorn himself with “the holiday spirit.”  I am glad that at least one month a year we must put up with less grouchiness, less complaining, and less selfish behavior from the public at large.  But I wonder what God thinks about it.
            The true Christian has the “mind of the spirit” no matter what month the calendar shows.  He is liberal in his giving, not just to get in a tax deduction before the end of his fiscal year, but because he truly wants to help others.  He is considerate of others, not because someone has reminded him with a poke in the ribs that “it’s Christmas,” but because he is in the habit of serving others.  He smiles and laughs, not because he has indulged in a little too much “holiday cheer,” but because he lives a life of joy as a child of God.  He shows courtesy in traffic, in parking lots, and in long check-out lines, not because of the lights and wreaths hanging all over town to remind him this is the month for “peace on earth, good will to men,” but because he lives that way all year long.
            Next week the calendar will change.  “January” will signal the start of a new year.  Will my behavior change as well?  Or do I live the same way regardless of the calendar, as a Christian who follows in the steps of the one I claim to be my Lord--kind, courteous, considerate, joyful, and full of goodwill to all?
 
Put on therefore as God’s elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any, even as the Lord forgave you, so also do you.  And above all these things, put on love which is the bond of perfectness, Col 3:12-14.
 
Dene Ward

George C Parker was one of the most successful con men in American history.  He made his living by “selling” national landmarks in New York City to naïve tourists.  His favorite piece of “merchandise” was the Brooklyn Bridge, which he sold twice a week for years.  He took whatever he could get for it, depending upon the bankroll in the tourist’s pocket and the balance in his bank account, from as little as $75 to as much as $50,000.  More than once police had to tear down the toll booths built by the new, and completely unsuspecting, “owners.”
            Parker was arrested several times, but finally on December 17, 1928, he was incarcerated at Sing Sing for the final time.  He spent his last eight years there, one of the most popular inmates among both convicts and prison officials.  His legacy in popular culture is the phrase, “And if you believe that, I have a bridge I want to sell you.”  Other people’s gullibility made his living for him for a long time.
            Jesus warned his followers about being gullible.  Generosity may be a virtue.  Expressing confidence in the good intentions of others rather than assuming the worst may be a sign of the love described in 1 Corinthians 13.  Sometimes we will be “taken” when we offer compassion and that is as it should be.  “Turn the other cheek” may very well mean you get another slap.  But in other cases, Jesus reminds us to “be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”  He tells us that he wishes his followers were as wise as the children of the world.  Does he give us any guidelines here?
            I am not the one to ask.  Many times I have been taken in, maybe too many times, so my record is not a good one.  But I can show you a couple of scriptures that might help.
            ​“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not cast your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” Matt 7:6.  Jesus meant for us to be discriminating in offering the gospel.  That does NOT mean you decide for yourself who will and will not listen.  What it means is to judge the reception and act accordingly.  By all means preach to everyone, but then why waste more time on those who scoff and scorn when there may well be others out there who are pining away at the chance to hear the good news? 
            He said the same to his apostles when he sent them out on what we call the Limited Commission.  And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town, Matt 10:14. Notice:  first they were given the opportunity, and when they refused the message they were left “in the dust.”
          Jesus did the same in his own work.  Look at John 6.  Early in that chapter Jesus feeds the 5000 with five loaves and two fish.  The next day they come seeking him again.  At least a few of them see Jesus as a meal ticket and he confronts them.  “You seek me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves,” (6:26).  Still later, as his discourse becomes plainer and he requires more commitment from them than they are willing to give, many leave.  Did Jesus chase after them?  No.  He looked at his disciples and asked them, “Are you going to leave, too?” (6:66,67).
            Is this easy?  Knowing when the time has come to cut things off is never easy.  It may be that it takes some people years of teaching before they get it, and you find yourself saying, “What if I hadn’t kept on trying?”  But then what if you waste your time on someone who has made it plain he is not interested and you never get to the one who is? 
            Maybe Jesus is saying, “Just pay attention.  Don’t ignore the one who is ripe for the picking while you waste time on the other who has already dried on the vine.”
            Sometimes you have to make difficult choices.  Jesus is telling you, it's okay.  He is telling you that he expects you to be wise and do your best.  Sow the seed, give out of your pocket, but do not be taken in like a babe in the woods when the signs are obvious.  When people show up asking for money, telling you they are Christians from another city, ask them who they worship with.  See if they know the names they ought to.  It isn’t a lack of compassion to check out their story. 
            And then if you need to say no, say it.  If you need to shake the dust off your feet, do it.  Just don’t buy the Brooklyn Bridge if you can help it.
 
Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone. Col 4:5-6
 
Dene Ward

I finally did it a few years ago:  I went to Amazon and began a wish list.  There isn’t much on it because I have very few wishes—at least ones that a human can do anything about.  And for most of our married life we have lived so closely that wishes for earthly things just made me discontent and unhappy so I avoided making them.  But every time I ordered something we needed from Amazon, there was that wish list icon in the top corner, so I gave in and made one.  I had to browse to come up with more than 2 things to put on it. I haven’t touched it since—and neither has anyone else.  In fact, I have completely forgotten what I put on it.  Must not have been too important, huh?
            I hear that some people have spiritual wish lists too.  Usually I find out when they come up to me and say, “I wish I had as much Bible knowledge as you do.”
            Let me set the record straight first.  I don’t have a passel of Bible knowledge in my hip pocket.  I have to look things up just like you do.  And, the knowledge I do have is courtesy of a husband whose knowledge is nearly encyclopedic and whose willingness to help is overflowing.  He is, in fact, the one who taught me how to study, so you could say that he is responsible for all of my so-called knowledge, both the answers he has given me and the things I have learned on my own.
            But about that knowledge you wish you had—why don’t you just do what I did and fulfill your own wish?  No one can do it for you anyway.  All it takes is time.  By that I mean hours at a time over a succession of years.  Do you really think I learned what I know in 2 weeks?  I have been working on this so long I have even had to unlearn a few things, because that’s the next step—growing in your knowledge as you hone your understanding of what you have learned.  It isn’t just a list of facts; it’s a compilation of concepts that weaves itself into a complex tapestry, and the more you learn the more clearly you will comprehend it.
            Don’t talk to me about “not having enough time.”  Nearly every one of us has changed our schedules to add something that was important to us.  You added children to your life.  That really changed your schedule.  You went back to school.  You started exercising.  You took on a new job.  When it mattered to you, you found the time.        
            I have learned this about wish lists—don’t put anything on them that you really need.  You may never get it when you are depending upon someone else.  Instead, buy yourself the present.  Buy this one—knowledge--with the same time and energy you spend on things that are not nearly as important. 
 
​Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. Prov 23:23
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…Hos 4:6.
 
Dene Ward

I went on my first diet when I was 13.  I lost 15 pounds in two months. I ate so many boiled eggs it’s a wonder I didn’t start cackling.  That was just the beginning.  I bet in my lifetime I have lost a whole person—maybe two. 
For a while I had it under control—I had begun to jog 30 miles a week, and the weight melted off—thirty pounds in 6 months and though a few pounds came back on when I started eating like a human being again and had to cut it down to 20 miles a week due to an increasing load in the studio, I settled into a comfortable weight that stayed that way until my feet gave out on me and two surgeries made jogging impossible.  When I could no longer maintain the new lifestyle, the weight came back on.
            And isn’t that the reason we lose new converts?  Instead of carefully maintaining our contact with them, teaching them, encouraging them, spending time with them one on one and in small groups as well as expecting them to attend the services, we think we’ve “got them” and do nothing.  Especially if these folks have come from a background completely alien to “church,” they will need constant help maintaining their faith.  They will need brothers and sisters to help them change their lifestyles just like I had to find the time for jogging and keep a strict diet too if I were going to maintain my weight loss.  Once I went back, even a little, to the old lifestyle, the weight came back on, and once they go back to their lifestyles, that first excitement will wane and there they go—right back down the road they walked before.  After all, they had walked it a whole lot longer than the new one.
            You know why this happens?  Because we are too busy to spend the time taking care of them.  We do not want to be bothered.  Why, we have lives too, you know.  Is that what we said when we brought a new life into this physical world?  Did we tell our newborns we didn’t have time to feed them, to change them, to get up at all hours in the night to take care of them?  If we had, we would have been no different that the ancient Romans who used to put unwanted babies out on the trash pile.  Infanticide we would call it now.
            And every time we let a new convert slip through the cracks because no one cares enough to spend the time it takes to nurture them along, we are guilty of spiritual infanticide.  Changing your lifestyle is hard.  We need to love these young souls enough to help them with the process.  Gaining back unwanted weight is not nearly so dangerous as gaining back an unholy lifestyle.
 
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” Rom 15:1-3     
                                                                                                              
Dene Ward

I just took my 88 year old mother grocery shopping.  In the past two or three years, her eyesight has gone downhill considerably.  She has to be careful when she picks up an item to make sure it is the right variety, especially as a type 2 diabetic.  “No sugar added” or “sugar free” are important to her. 

My eyes aren’t much, if any better, than hers.  But having shopped for her several times recently when she was ill, I had a much easier time of it.  I have been dealing with bad eyesight since I was born.  When you cannot see well, you adapt.  I learned a lot of tricks a long time ago.  I cannot see faces across a room, but I recognize walks; I memorize clothing colors; I know voices and laughs.  So after the first time I shopped for my mother I knew that her variety of yogurt had a little blue circle on it.  I didn’t need to turn the box upside down looking for the necessary phrase, nor try to read the fine print.  I didn’t even need to know that the little blue circle said “60 calories.”  The reason the calorie count is so low is that there is “no sugar added.”  I learned that the first time, when I did have to pick up the box, hold it close to my nose and scour the surface.  I learned that her favored fruit cups have a blue banner on them.  No blue banner and it’s the wrong fruit cup.  I do a lot of things like that.
 
A long time ago we did not have color coded road signs.  But once they came out, I was home free.  I picked up on the colors immediately.  Forty years ago we were in a strange town visiting a friend at a hospital.  We did not know exactly where the hospital was, but it was a small town so we figured we could find it.  As we crossed every intersection I looked one way down the cross street and Keith looked the other.  “There!” I said.  “Turn here.”
            Keith turned and seeing no hospital said, “How do you know?”
            “Because there’s a square blue sign down there.”
            “So?” he said.
            “Hospital signs are blue squares with a big H on them.” 
And sure enough, as we got closer, there was an H on that sign and two blocks later the hospital appeared on our right.  I could not read the sign, but I could see a blue square. 

Before long Keith picked up on the color coding too.  When we camp, we always look for brown, the telltale color of a state park sign.

Do you know why I can do those things?  Because it’s necessary to my functioning independently.  As long as I want to do for myself, regardless my decreasing vision, I pick up on these things and use them.  My various eye drops have different colored tops.  The individual vials that look almost the same, feel different in my hands.  That is very important because each eye requires different medications.  I could cause a lot of damage if I mixed things up. 

I started teaching myself these things before I could even read.  When I was 4 and there were a lot fewer car models, I recognized them by their taillights.  It used to tickle my Daddy to death when four-year-old me identified cars to startled friends and neighbors.  I learned those tricks and devices then and I just keep on doing it.  It’s habit, and it’s habit because it’s important.

Now don’t tell me you can’t learn Bible facts because you are “too old” or you’re “not smart enough.”  That is not the problem.  The problem is that it’s not important enough to you.  Didn’t you have to take a driving test?  How about tests at work to earn promotions?  When it becomes a necessity in your mind, you can do just fine.  You may have to learn a few mnemonic devices, but you can do it.  I am not good with numbers any longer, but I always remember what side of the page a verse is on, and once I remember the book I can browse through and find it.  I make up silly songs and sing them (silently) in my head.  I remember alphabetic tricks. 

And finally there is this:  if you read something enough times and study it deeply enough, not just once but again and again and again, you will eventually know it just like you know your own name, address, phone number, cell number, social security number, PIN number, and the dozen passwords you have to know to function in this technological world.  And I bet you know the addresses and most of the phone numbers you had before the ones you have now.  Why?  Because you had to know them all at one point in your life.  4916 Bristol Court, 8011 Pine Hill Drive, 125 W Walnut Street, Route 4 Oak Drive, Route 2 Box 790-B, Route 3 Box 1559—all of those used to be my addresses, the first one before I even started elementary school.

Don’t tell me you can’t learn the Bible.  Don’t tell me that so-and-so’s Bible class is too deep.  Don’t tell me you can’t remember the 12 sons of Jacob, the judges, the kings, the apostles, and all the books of the Bible.  If you can’t, it’s because you don’t want to badly enough.  It isn’t necessary for you to function in this life.  And that’s where the problem lies.  God and His Word do not constitute your life and your reason for being.  If they did, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.
​
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you…In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Ps 119:10-11,14-16
 
Dene Ward

"That's too much work!"  "That's too hard!"
            I have heard both of those half a dozen times in nearly fifty years, and always in connection with either my or Keith's Bible classes.  Other teachers have told me that they have heard it, too.  It always refers to any Bible class that asks for a couple hours prep time with several chapters of reading and answering questions that are not easy multiple choice or true/false or simple one word answers.
            I understand that many of us are busy.  But I also understand that a Christian ought to be spending some time every day in study and prayer.  That should go without saying.  Maybe that's the first problem—it can't go without saying.
            If you read your Bible every day, which I hope you do, try letting that time be your prep time for class.  If nothing else, you can attend a class having read the scriptures that were assigned.  Then be prepared to take copious notes when you get there, rather than just sitting there while the information floats in one ear and out the other.  Go home and spend the next day's Bible reading time going over your notes and rereading the scriptures to see if they make more sense now.  That will also help cement them into your mind. 
            But if you can't do that because you aren't spending time in prayers and study every day, you have some serious thinking to do about where you stand with God.  Some priorities need rearranging because when you call Jesus "Lord," you are telling him that you will dedicate your whole life to him, not just Sunday mornings.  When you claim to be a child of God, you are telling Him that you love Him as much as any child would love a Father.  How does refusing to attend or study for a Bible class in order to receive His communication with us fit with that?  How much trouble was it for God to put on mortality and experience, for the first time in Eternity, discomfort, pain, hunger, exhaustion, and even such minor indignities as heartburn and indigestion?  How hard was it for him to bear being mocked, ridiculed, spat on, and flogged to within an inch of his life?  And how difficult was it for him to suffocate over several hours' time on a cross with what amounted to railroad spikes pounded into his ankles and wrists?    Nothing should be too hard or too much trouble for us in our service to God and Christ. 
            I would hope that I will never hear that statement again.  Unfortunately, since I wrote this a few weeks ago, I already have.
 
…Who has given {God} so much that He needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! (Rom 11:35-36).
 
Dene Ward

A long, long time ago Keith and I traveled with another couple to visit a gospel meeting in a town thirty miles away, about a forty-five minute trip.  The men sat in the front seat and we women in the rear.  I am notoriously bad about motion sickness.  I hadn't yet learned that sitting in the backseat was far worse than sitting in the front for that particular problem, so I hopped right in, hoping to have a good conversation with and get to know better this sister whom we had just met a few weeks before.
            We talked easily at first, but my Mama had taught me to look at the person I am speaking to.  Anything else was rude.  So I kept swinging my head over to look this lady in the eyes as we spoke.  Meanwhile, behind her the scenery was whizzing by.  We were in hilly country as well.  Between the up and down, the extra swing of the backseat on the curves, and looking over to the side to engage my fellow passenger while the trees and buildings and flashing neon signs sailed past behind her head, I was coming close to a crisis that no one in the car would have wanted.  Finally I leaned back and looked forward, concentrating on keeping my head perfectly still while attempting to control my ready-to-heave stomach.  And said, "I'm sorry, Barbara.  I can't look at you any more—it's making me sick."
            I was so lost in my misery that I had no idea how that had come out until I heard a gasp and a low, "Well!"  Of course I was mortified.  I explained and she understood and all was okay—I think.  We all understand when things like that happen with no ill-intent and no malice in the words uttered.  We also make allowances for people who are in various states of discomfort, either physically or emotionally.  As the piano player for scores of weddings, I have had my head bitten off more often than I can count.  The mother-of-the-bride is usually stressed out and walking an emotional tightrope.  It's part of the job for me to put up with things like that in a kind and equitable manner.  On the other hand…
            As a preacher's wife and a Bible class teacher I have had many occasions to hear things that, to put it bluntly, should never have been said.  Not to me necessarily, although sometimes they were.  They simply should never have come out of the mouth of someone claiming to be a disciple of Christ, a servant of the Master, a child of God.  Period.  This is what God's Word has to say about the matter:

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person (Matt 15:18).
​The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).
The words of a wise man's mouth win him favor, but the lips of a fool consume him (Eccl 10:12). 
You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. ​The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Matt 12:34-37).

            I think that's enough to get the point.  No matter how we protest, our words show what it is in our hearts.  God said it.  The Lord Himself said it.  The Holy Spirit had it penned far more than just once.  "I didn't mean that!" is usually a false claim, no matter what we think because the words we spoke could never have been spoken if they had not first lived in the heart.
            I have a list of things I have heard said by Christians over the years that literally stopped me in my tracks.  I didn't really start "collecting" them until I had heard a dozen or so and it suddenly made sense to try to do some teaching with them.  Surely people will become more careful in what they say if these things are pointed out, right?  And more important, repentance will result in changed hearts, which will fix the problem almost immediately for that is the source of these words, as we have seen.  At least that is my aim here.  I heard some of these nearly fifty years ago, so please don't immediately think I am talking about you.  I am talking to all of us, including myself.  Our words give us away oh, so many times!  (So do our children!)  And really, many of these have been said by more than one person in more than one place, so it's a larger problem than we might think.
            I will be starting this series with the above title in the near future.  They will not be appearing on a regular schedule, just when I have an opening for them.  Meanwhile, join with me in praying the following prayer today:
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer (Ps 19:14).
 
Dene Ward
 

I started jogging in 1983.  Keith had been doing it since he was in the Marine Corps.  A couple of neighbors did it, and every time I went into town I saw people all over the sidewalks doing it.  I was in dreadful shape and 30 pounds overweight.  I decided that if everyone else could, so could I.  And I did.  For a while there, I was jogging 30 miles a week, and those thirty pounds melted off, especially over the long, hot Florida summer.
            But jogging was not always "what everyone did."  The whole idea of jogging for your health's sake began in the 1960s and back then anyone who did it was considered a "weirdo" or "an exercise freak."  In fact, in 1968, a man named Dick Cordier from Hartford, Connecticut, was out jogging one day and was stopped by the police for "illegal use of the highway."
            It seems that this new fitness routine, jogging, began in New Zealand.  William Bowerman, an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, visited a friend there in 1962 and saw people of all ages participating in this new hobby.  He published a four page pamphlet co-sponsored by the Oregon Heart Association and suddenly people started listening.  Still, it took time for the word to spread, as evidenced by poor Mr. Cordier's citation.  But later that year, on October 15, 1968, The Chicago Tribune published an entire page on jogging and people began to look at the weirdos a different way.  By the time 1983 came along, I was perfectly happy to jog down the highway and unworried about what people might think.  But I wonder how well I might have done back in 1968?
            It's hard to be different.  Usually we save these lessons for our teenagers, but folks, we need the lesson, too.  How many times have we thought we needed something because everyone else had it, or thought we should wear something because it was the latest style, or avoided stating an opinion we knew might make others dislike us?  They had that problem in the first century, too.
            For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you (1Pet 4:3-4).  Don't think you would never fall for "those kinds" of sins.  When everyone else is doing it, it suddenly seems less wrong.  That is exactly why our culture has fallen to a new low in morality.
            It would be good to remind ourselves of four teenage boys who not only managed to be different, but seemed to revel in it.  Among these were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego. But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king's food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself… (Dan 1:6-8).  The rest of the story makes the point.  Daniel and his friends did not try to hide their difference.  They pointed it out in a hostile environment and allowed their faith to be tested, and it wasn't just a popularity contest.  If they had failed to please the Babylonian king, someone might well have died.  The steward himself said, "You will endanger my head" (1:10), and should their refusal to eat the king's food be known to the king, that king, especially, might have taken it badly.  God rewarded their faith, as he did continually in their stay in Babylon, even rescuing them from the fiery furnace and the lion's den.
            But God does not always save us from the consequences of being different.  What are we failing to do because it is not popular, or because "times have changed?"  And what are we doing because "everyone else is?"  Have we ever dared to do or say something that was unpopular on purpose?  Forget talking to the young people until we can answer those questions ourselves.  Peer pressure works on us all!
            God has plenty to say about his desire that His children be different:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom 12:2).

My son, do not walk in the way with [sinners]; hold back your foot from their paths (Prov 1:15).
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Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night (Ps 1:1-2).

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few (Matt 7:13-14).
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f you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you (John 15:19).
           
           Maybe we neglect teaching our children to revel in their difference because we have not learned to ourselves.  We need to be out there showing them the way, making "illegal use of the highway" in a time where no one except weirdos jogs.  Make no mistake:  whoever we want to be most like, whoever we act, dress, and speak like, that is our god.  Do we want to be like the rest of the world, or like Jesus?
 
That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world (Phil 2:15).
 
Dene Ward