Thought for May 1, 2024

  •  1707: Acts of Union become effective creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain [England and Scotland]
  • 1753: Linnaeus publishes  "Species Plantarum" formally starting plant taxonomy
  • 1776: Illuminati founded
  • 1840: The "Penny Black" issued, first adhesive postage stamp
  • 1867: Howard University chartered
  • 1920: Babe Ruth's first home run as a Yankee
  • 1931: Empire State Building opens
  • 1939: Batman first appears--Detective Comics #27
  • 1939: "Back to the Bible" broadcast begin from Lincoln Nebraska
  • 1941: "Citizen Caine" premiers
  • 1941: CheeriOats introduced [changed to Cheerios in 1945]
  • 1948: Citation wins Kentucky Derby
  • 1952: Mr. Potato Head introduced
  • 1960: Francis Gary Powers shot down by Soviets
  • 1961: Harper Lee wins Pulitzer for "To Kill a Mockingbird"
  • 1982: Knoxville World's Fair opens
  • 1991: Ricky Henderson steals record 939th base and Nolan Ryan pitches his 7th no-hitter
  • 1999: SpongeBob SquarePants premiers
  • 2020: Protesters against stay-at-home orders gather at Michigan Capitol
  • Born: Kamehameha, Mother Jones, Calamity Jane, Kate Smith, Glenn Ford, Jack Paar, Joseph Heller, Scott Carpenter, Sonny James, Judy Collins, Rita Coolidge, Ray Parker, Tim McGraw
  • Died: Thomas a Kempis, David Livingstone, Antonin Dvorak, Spike Jones, Flipper
Thought;
Reading Proverbs 11:1 this morning--"A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight." The first thought that comes to my mind is the miller with the golden thumb in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. A merchant who doctors his scales to cheat the customer. And certainly this is true--the Lord is opposed to lying for Jesus is the Truth. But another thought came to my mind this morning as I read this verse. What do I give false weight to in my life?

Weight is a measure of value, so the question the Lord is speaking to me today is, what weight do you place on things in your life--what is the relative value. Larry, do you put more weight on what the Bible says, or on what someone else says? Larry, do you put more weight on what someone else thinks about the way you think, act, and speak than how I, the Lord, think about those things? Whose opinion is weighty for you? Whose praise means the most to you? Whose glory is of greater weight to you? 

Is my scale balanced with truth, or has the world got my scale out of balance? A former pastor once said that Satan's trick was to sneak into the jewelry store and not steal anything, but to simply move the price tags around. Satan sets up false scales, false values. He uses our fleshly desires to tilt our value scales so that we falsely value the praise, approval, rewards of the world and undervalue the riches of Jesus. Think about offering a 5-year old a gold bar and a balloon. Which are they likely to value? The balloon is something I can play with, the gold bar  doesn't have the same appeal. Jesus offers love, joy, peace, eternity, but I settle for a house, a job, a car, a position. 

Maybe I am misreading this proverb today, but what I heard as I read it was to make sure my scales were true--not skewed by the flesh or the world. Perhaps just making sure my scales were tuned to His. 

Blessings
Larry

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