Thought for February 20

 History:

  • 1792: US Postal Service created
  • 1816: Rossini's "Barber of Seville" premiers
  • 1865: MIT forms first US architectural school
  • 1869: Tennessee Governor declares martial law because of KKK
  • 1927: Golfers in South Carolina arrested for violating the Sabbath
  • 1935: Caroline Mikkelson is the first woman to land on Antarctica
  • 1941: Polish Jews barred from public transportation
  • 1944: Batman and Robin comic strip debuts
  • 1952: "The African Queen" premiers [one of my favorites]
  • 1953: August Busch buys the St. Louis Cardinals for $3.75 million
  • 1962: John Glenn is the first American to orbit the earth
  • Born: Ansel Adams, Gale Gordon, Gloria Vanderbilt, Sidney Portier, Amanda Blake [Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke], Bobby Unser, Nancy Wilson, Roger Penske, Mitch McConnell, Phil Esposito, Jennifer O'Neill, Patty Hearst, Charles Barkley, Cindy Crawford, Rihanna
  • Died: Frederick Douglass, Henri Moissan [isolated fluorine], Robert Peary, Chester Nimitz, Kathryn Kuhlman [faith healer], Dick York [Bewitched], Ferruccio Lamborghini, Gene Siskel, Sandra Dee, Curt Gowdy
Thought:
Reading in Zechariah 8 this morning where I have marked a couple of verses. Read with me 8:16-19. I am always amazed at how simple God's commands are. I pick up a new phone, computer, appliance and look at the directions--who can follow those? Then I look at the diagrams--who wrote these? I am amazed when something actually works because the instructions are complicated or not clear. Now consider what the Lord says in these verses:
  • Speak the truth to each other [8:16] and love truth [8:19]. Sometimes I think back to my law practice and consider how many of the cases and how much of my time was devoted to situations where people simply were not telling the truth. Or maybe they were telling the truth, but not the whole truth. Or perhaps they were telling the truth but not just the truth. We all have a tendency to avoid the truth, especially when the truth is adverse to us or places us in a bad light. So I only tell part of the truth or I tell the truth and then add a little something to make me look better. For those who claim Christ as Lord, I think this command from God can mean a least two things--first, be honest. Be honest about yourself. We sometimes say that a person has no self-awareness when we really mean that what the person thinks about themselves is totally different from what everyone else sees. I don't like to admit when I am wrong or when I fail--but I do that a lot. The scripture tells us not to deceive ourselves for God is not deceived and most of the time others are not ultimately deceived either. Be honest. And tell the truth. Verse 17 says do not love perjury. Have you ever repeated a lie so many times that you think you are telling the truth? Here I think God is telling us to tell the truth in secular matters, but also tell the truth in spiritual matters. Jesus said, "I am the Truth." So speak Jesus--may all our words speak Jesus.
  • Judge for peace [8:16] and love peace [8:19]. As with truth, Jesus is our peace. He is the Prince of Peace. And He blessed the peacemakers. And He commanded that to the extent it depends on me to be at peace with all men. So I seek peace not strife, I seek unity not chaos, I speak peace, not contention. I turn the other cheek and do not repay evil with evil. But I also present peace--the peace that passes all understanding. I bring the peace of Christ into the disputes and disagreements of life. I listen before I speak, 
Now look at 8:23. If today I speak the truth and speak the Truth and if I love peace and walk in His peace, other people will grab me and say "let us go with you for we have heard that God is with you." As we have heard many times, today you may be the only Bible that other person will ever read--truth and peace--God loves those who speak truth and love peace. 

Blessings
Larry 

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