A laughing matter by Gary Rose

 

The above bits of humor were sent to me by my friend, Bruce Arnold. I enjoyed them greatly and would like to say THANK YOU! I thought a bit about humor in the Bible and remembered several passages from the book of Genesis which involve Abraham and his wife Sarah. Hope you enjoy the humor ( and the irony of the situation )...

A doubting that is laughable

 

Gen 17 ( World English Bible )

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.

² I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”

³ Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying,

⁴ “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.

⁵ Neither will your name any more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.

⁷ I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you.

⁸ I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.” …

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah.

¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to him who is one hundred years old? Will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth?”

¹⁸ Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!”

¹⁹ God said, “No, but Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son. You shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.

Gen 18 ( World English Bible )

¹ Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.

² He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

³ and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant.

⁴ Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.

⁵ I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.” They said, “Very well, do as you have said.”

⁶ Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.”

⁷ Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it.

⁸ He took butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He stood by them under the tree, and they ate.

⁹ They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He said, “See, in the tent.”

¹⁰ He said, “I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

¹¹ Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

¹² Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

¹³ Yahweh said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet I am old?’

¹⁴ Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵ Then Sarah denied, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

We often think of Abraham as a great man of faith and this of course is correct. But, both he and his wife Sarah laughed at the prospect of becoming parents in their old age. They doubted, but God turned that doubt into reality.

A Joyful laugh

Genesis 21 ( World English Bible )

¹ Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.

² Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

³ Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.

⁴ Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵ Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him.

⁶ Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.”

If even Abraham, with his great faith, could doubt something that God had told him, don’t be surprised if occasionally we might stumble in some aspect of our faith. I especially like the passage from Genesis 21 because Sarah laughed at her own situation and gave glory to God. 

 

As for me, I will laugh at the jokes in life and remember that God really does have a sense of humor, which is often coupled with a tinge of irony. Life is GOOD, but with GOD it is great! I wonder, when God created man, did he name the bones he put into our bodies… if so, I wonder if it was HIM who had the idea of a funny bone….?

It is what it is and that's that by Gary Rose

 

Yesterday, while she was perusing Facebook, my wife Linda spotted this picture and remarked how beautiful it was. I looked at it and agreed, saying;”Now that is one beautiful bird”. Later, I looked at the Facebook page and noticed that the comments about it varied a lot. Some people stated that they thought the bird was very beautiful and others labeled it as a fake or even an abomination.

To my surprise, I kept thinking about this bird throughout the day. Finally, I said to myself: It is what it is and that’s that. Should the bird be a creation in the mind of man, that changes nothing- it is still beautiful; if it is the handiwork of God- it is still beautiful, but it also proclaims how wonderful God’s creations can be.

It should come as no surprise to those who know me that I prefer the second option. At the same time, I thought, sometimes people are so prone to criticize, that even those things that God Might Have Created are suspect. Unfortunately, they put themselves in a position of placing the wisdom and reason of human beings against the stated will of God. With that in mind, I remembered Acts 21 and a prophecy of one called Agabus…

Acts 21 ( World English Bible )

¹ When it happened that we had parted from them and had set sail, we came with a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.

² Having found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard, and set sail.

³ When we had come in sight of Cyprus, leaving it on the left hand, we sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre, for there the ship was to unload her cargo.

⁴ Having found disciples, we stayed there seven days. These said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.

⁵ When it happened that we had accomplished the days, we departed and went on our journey. They all, with wives and children, brought us on our way until we were out of the city. Kneeling down on the beach, we prayed.

⁶ After saying goodbye to each other, we went on board the ship, and they returned home again.

⁷ When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. We greeted the brothers, and stayed with them one day.

⁸ On the next day, we, who were Paul’s companions, departed, and came to Caesarea. We entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

⁹ Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰ As we stayed there some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

¹¹ Coming to us, and taking Paul’s belt, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit: ‘So will the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

¹² When we heard these things, both we and they of that place begged him not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³ Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

¹⁴ When he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The Lord’s will be done.”

If something has the possibility of being “from God” do we immediately assume that is phony or are we spiritually enough minded to diligently search out the possibility of it being from the Almighty. More than this, are we willing to accept God’s will for our life and joyfully seek HIS desires for us? Good question. Now, reread Acts 21 (and especially verses 13f.) and ask yourself: what would you do if the Bible plainly told you to do something you did not want to do?

Beyond blueprints by Gary Rose

 

Those of you who know me well, are already aware that I quite often think about astronomy. With astronomy on my mind, I recently changed my application menu selector graphic ( that button on the bottom left that accesses applications, settings, etc.. ) on my computer to the picture at the very top. I enjoy this over my previous “stairway to heaven” picture because of its color contrast, progression from darkness to light and of course the end result the Christian will receive at the top of those stairs. Now, I had not really intended to use that ascending billowy staircase today and continued to peruse my stock of pictures. Then I came across the second one. Unfortunately, the original color of this was awful, so I reversed image and much to my surprise, it looked like a blueprint to me. At that point, the advice on the “blueprint” seemed very appropriate to me and so I decided to use both pictures.

Wanting to go beyond mere human advice, I turned to the Bible and found this passage within the book of Micah...

Micah 6 ( World English Bible )

8 
He has shown you, O man, what is good. 
What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, 
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? 


While I think the “blueprint” is correct, somehow the word of God seemed more meaningful to me. I will probably think about it for the rest of the day.

I hope you will as well.

Doubt by Gary Rose

 

When I first saw this picture, I had to do a double-take. The water looked solid; how odd. Now, I know that this is an island in the middle of a river, but still… the water just looked solid to me.

I guess that is just the way life is; it is all too easy to be fooled by appearances and misunderstand something that is right in front of you.

And with this in mind, I thought of the Gospel of John and a man named Thomas.

The Bible says…

John 20 ( World English Bible )

¹⁹ When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”

²⁰ When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.

²¹ Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

²² When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit!

²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, they have been forgiven them. If you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”

²⁴ But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came.

²⁵ The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶ After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace be to you.”

²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don’t be unbelieving, but believing.”

²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed.”

Like that picture where the water seemed solid, sometimes we just can’t believe what we see. Yet, most of the time, seeing is believing. For Christians, we believe in God ( who we cannot see ). However, there is overwhelming evidence that God is real, Jesus actually lived and was in truth the son of God. These things give us hope of a life beyond this life, which will be blessed right now because of belief and even more so eternally in heaven.

Believe in God, trust in HIM and do what the Bible tells us to do.

Humm, that last sentence just could be a fairly good definition of a Christian. Add the text of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and it just gets better and better.

See what I am saying... no that is not right; believe it because its true.

Reflection, by Gary Rose

 

I wonder what is in this glass? Water, possibly. Perhaps alcohol, for this glass does appear to be one that is used for drinking spirits. Whatever it is, it reflects the light around it beautifully. And the that light; sunset and almost twilight – simply beautiful.

A second thought… If I were a glass, what would I reflect and display?

Would my imperfections make my the resulting reflection better or worse? I wonder?

Then, I thought of something I read this morning as part of my daily Bible reading…

Psalm 8 ( World English Bible )

1 
For the Chief Musician; on an instrument of Gath. A Psalm by David. 

Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! 
You have set your glory above the heavens! 


2 
From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, 
because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger. 


3 
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, 


4 
what is man, that you think of him? 
What is the son of man, that you care for him? 


5 
For you have made him a little lower than the angels, 
and crowned him with glory and honor. 


6 
You make him ruler over the works of your hands. 
You have put all things under his feet: 


7 
All sheep and cattle, 
yes, and the animals of the field, 


8 
the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, 
and whatever passes through the paths of the seas. 


9 
Yahweh, our Lord, 
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Jesus said...

John 14 ( WEB )

15 If you love me, keep my commandments.

16 I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever:

17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive, for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

18 I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.

19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.

20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

21 One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.” 


 

What the glass contains, it reflects. Hopefully, that reflection is beautiful. The picture above reflects God’s creation at sunset. I wonder, Gary, do you reflect Jesus?

This last question concerns not only myself, but all who read this post. Question: Do you reflect Jesus ( because he is in you ) or something else? Right about now, a little introspection just might be very beneficial.

Not interested, then, your reflection just might look like this….

The whole world by Gary Rose

 

This picture reminds of the song: “He's got the whole world in his hands”. I found a nice version on the net; below please find the link. I hope you like it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNrpun-SOPo

The above led me to think about God and the creation of all things. Naturally, I started at the beginning. The Bible says...

Genesis 1 ( World English Bible )

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep. God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” There was evening and there was morning, one day.
6 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.”
7 God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.
8 God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening and there was morning, a second day.
9 God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear;” and it was so.
10 God called the dry land “earth,” and the gathering together of the waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good.
11 God said, “Let the earth yield grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth;” and it was so.
12 The earth yielded grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, with its seed in it, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.
13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.
14 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years;
15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so.
16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
17 God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the earth,
18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
20 God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of sky.”
21 God created the large sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24 God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures after their kind, livestock, creeping things, and animals of the earth after their kind;” and it was so.
25 God made the animals of the earth after their kind, and the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind. God saw that it was good.
26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 God said, “Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which bears fruit yielding seed. It will be your food.
30 To every animal of the earth, and to every bird of the sky, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food;” and it was so.
31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.

This is a chapter of the Bible that most people have either heard of or know or have studied. However, I have a few thoughts I would like to share with you for your reflection:

There is a creator.

Everything that you can perceive with your senses ( and more ) is created by him.

Everything that He made is very good.

There is a pattern that he made in his creation.

God made it in HIS own time and HIS own way, according to HIS desire.

Human beings are the pinnacle and stewards of God’s creation. We are not the product of the theory of evolution. We are special in this world and are caretakers of all creatures, by God’s decree.

If God decides that tomorrow he will destroy any or all of his creation- it is HIS right to do so.

Because God created everything; HE is therefore in everything.

These are but a few thoughts, but even considering one of them is worthwhile and time well spent. The more that I consider the nature and actions of God, the more I begin to grow as both a person and as a follower of Jesus ( a Christian ). It is my prayer that you will too!

Victory by Gary Rose

No matter who you are, you are growing older with every minute. This is an undeniable F-A-C-T. You might be a very nice person or the complete opposite. Young or old, rich or poor, someday your earthly body will fail you and you will die. Depressing isn’t it?

However, one of the reasons I follow Jesus of Nazareth is hope. Hope that someday I will be victorious over death and decay. I WILL BE VICTORIOUS BECAUSE JESUS WAS VICTORIOUS! Because Jesus lives, I will live. His resurrection from the grave is what is in store for me. This past Lord’s day, I heard an excellent lesson about the resurrection of Jesus. The good news is: It was the first of several lessons on the topic from the 15^th chapter of the book of 1^st Corinthians.

The Bible says...

1 Corinthians 15 ( World English Bible )

¹ Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

² by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

³ For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

⁶ Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

⁸ and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was bestowed on me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

----------------------------------

⁵⁴ But when this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

AND

1 John 5 ( WEB )

⁴ For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.

If you believe the documented fact that Jesus died for our sins and that he now is living, your faith will be rewarded at the moment of your demise. And that reward is not temporary, it is permanent! Until that day, I will live in the knowledge that with Jesus Christ, I WILL BE VICTORIOUS. Can you say that? If not, then put aside whatever is preventing you from obeying the Gospel and become a Christian NOW!