GOD GIVES COMMANDMENTS AND WE SOMETIMES TREAT THEM LIKE SUGGESTIONS

These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
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(Use in your personal or church newsletters)

Remember the genius of the assembly line Henry Ford? He forgot to put a reverse gear in his first car, but by his second car around, he’d learned his lesson. Edison once spent $2 million dollars on an invention that never did work out, but as he said, “I got $2 million dollars worth of experience.”

For some people experience is only an exasperation and they learn nothing. Most unhappy people are those who have never learned how to take failure. And if you suggest to them it can be a learning experience they reply, “I don’t want to learn and change. I just want to continue to be what I’ve always been.”

His name was Walter Edwin Peck, a college professor with a brilliant mind. An authority on the poet, Shelley. He was charming and witty. He had the world in a jug and the cork in the other hand. (first line of a Cajun tune, author unknown) But in 1954, The New York Herald-Tribune reported his death on skid row during a snowstorm.

Somewhere along the pathway of living he had zanged when he should have zinged. Somewhere along the way this child of God, with a lifetime of promise in front of him, threw it all away for some moments of impulse.

He failed his wives – all three of them. He failed his children – all three of them. He failed his God – who had given him more than most.

And probably everyone of you is figuratively shaking your head and thinking, How tragic. And because we live on Main Street or Nightingale Avenue or 59th Street, skid row seems a million miles away; a tragic, wasteful, miserable million miles away.

But you see, skid row isn’t that far away for it is a state of mind, and heart and soul. Skid row isn’t just an area in New York City or its counterpart here in Miami-Dade County where I live. Skid row is what is inside of you and if you give it half a chance it will ruin your life.

Most likely Walter Edwin Peck came into this world like you and I, all starry-eyed and innocent. And then he made some decisions and they were wrong decisions. And then some more. And he didn’t learn and he didn’t change and one day he just ran out of time.

Have you ever stopped to think that sometimes when we believe we are being mentally independent, we are really being mentally incompetent? Indeed, we are all sometimes like the lady, who sitting on a jury, argued; “I don’t listen to the evidence. I prefer to make up my own mind.”

God gives a commandment and we treat it like a suggestion. Too often we write down God’s commandments in pencil… while keeping an eraser handy. Or if on a computer, with a finger poised above the delete button.

Do you know who and what a good Christian is? He is a man or woman who is good – for nothing. That’s right. His soul is not for sale to the highest bidder. He will do right if a thousand people are watching or if no one is watching. He requires no praise for his acts of righteousness.

By way of making a point: a young mountain lad was about to go on his first trip away from home on his way to college. As the train’s whistle signaled that it was time for all to board, the father put his arm around the young man’s shoulder and said, “It’s gonna be hard on your ma and me to keep you up there in that school this year. But we’ll do it somehow because we know you won’t fail to do your best by us.”

The young man boarded the train, found a seat by the window and waved goodbye to his parents. As the trip began, his eyes were misty and he thought, “I’d rather die than fail a dad and mom like mine.”
They believed in him. Their trust was like a living thing.

It’s what Christ does, you know. Puts His hand on your shoulder and says, “I love you. I died for you. I know you won’t fail to do your best by me.” And your response? Is it, I’d rather die than fail a Lord like mine.

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