Could greater injury be done to a man than this–to rob him of his heritage of strength?”
              –Zane Grey  (The Rainbow Trail)

    “Let me share in the prosperity of your chosen ones. Let me rejoice in the joy of your people; let me praise you with those who are your heritage.”
              –Psalm 106:5 (NLT)
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Possibly man’s greatest enemy, at least while on this earth, is that old enemy of “Time.”  We lose time, we throw away time, we squander time, we waste time.  Then one day Time starts to catch up with us.  Eventually, Time, along with his cohorts of pain, disease, and age will rob us of our strength and bring us down.  Take care to “redeem the time.” (Ephesians 5:16)
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    “Helplessness induces hopelessness, and history attests that loss of hope and not loss of life is what decides the issue of war.”
              –Captain Sir Basil Liddell Hart

I like Thomas.  Few in Scripture get a worse rap than Thomas, but are we any better?   “Doubting Thomas,” he is called and it seems to me that most of us do a little doubting now and then.  However, it was Thomas who declared that the disciples should go to Jerusalem and be ready to die with Jesus.  Really, in some ways we are not the same–I do not consider myself a “doubter.”  I have a simple faith–trust in the Lord and He will take care of me.  
    I have often wondered who had the other sword in the Garden?  We know that Peter used his and cut off the ear of Malchus, but if I remember right there were two swords purchased.  I wonder if it was Thomas; after all, he was prepared.
    I fear that you doubt me.  

         “Then Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us go too, that we may die [be killed] along with Him.”  
              –John 11:16 (Amplified)

         “’Lord,’ they said, ‘look, here are two swords.’  ‘Enough of that!’ He told them.”
              –Luke 22:38 (HCSB)

Makes me wonder.  Thomas, man of little faith because of doubt, but he never lost hope.  I recall those chilling words of Tennyson.  Men who went forward, and fell.

         “Cannon to right of them,
          Cannon to left of them,
          Cannon in front of them
            Volley’d and thunder’d;
          Storm’d at with shot and shell,
          Boldly they rode and well,
          Into the jaws of Death,
          Into the mouth of Hell
            Rode the six hundred.”
                    –Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Ride into the jaws of Death, Thomas was ready.  He knew that hope rested in the person of Jesus Christ.

There was something wrong and ugly about raw envy.  It was a corrosive that left a subtle stain upon a person, and bred a strange and sour bitterness.”
              –Luke Short  (Station West)

    “Don’t envy evil people or desire their company.”       
              –Proverbs 24:1 (NLT)
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Envy is a dangerous sin.  It is one of the sins listed by Jesus and then a couple of times by Paul as being something that can keep a person out of heaven.  One of the reasons that envy is so deadly is that it keeps us from thinking properly about ourselves and our role in life.  It can cause us to spend and let our finances get out of control.  It can lead to robbery and murder if a person wants something bad enough.  It can also lead a person into escapes.  They envy another person or what they have and realize they cannot have it so they turn to alcohol or drugs to escape.
    Two thoughts about envy.  First, look at the being of Lucifer.  The Scripture says that “he was the model of perfection.” (Ezekiel 28:12, NLT)  The Amplified puts it this way:  “…You had the full measure of perfection and the finishing touch [of completeness], Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.”  He was created “perfect.”  He walked in grandeur and could even enter the throneroom of God.  But that was when envy struck.  He was perfect, but every time he looked at God, he saw more than perfection.  We cannot comprehend that with our finite minds.  We cannot totally perceive perfection, so how can we grasp God, who is more than perfect?
    Second, when we begin to envy others for what they have or for who they are we are rejecting the purpose in our creation.  Paul writes, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” (Philippians 4:11, NKJV)  Why desire something other than what the Lord has given you?  Why desire to be someone other than the person God has created you to be?  All that does is bring great frustration.  He writes to Timothy and says that contentment is “great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6, NKJV)  
    We all have a place and job to do in the Kingdom.  We need to find it, do it, and not try to be something we are not.  If you are the “big toe”, don’t try to be the brains of the outfit.  Be content, work hard, strive to be the best you can be and don’t worry about those around you.  Riches is not in the having, but in living life in Christ.

Ride as far as you’ve a mind to, shoot straight when you must, but lie to no man and let no man doubt your word.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (The Man From the Broken Hills)

    “The guilty walk a crooked path; the innocent travel a straight road.”
              –Proverbs 21:8 (NLT)
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There was a hilarious movie produced several years ago and the title is somewhat prophetic.  “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World.”  This world is getting crazier by the day so it is important that you do your part to keep your small portion somewhat sane.  
    One way to do this is to be a person of your word.  Say what you mean and then follow through.  Don’t be a mamby-pamby or join in with the “snowflakes.”  Take life as it comes, trust in the Lord and keep your gun oiled and handy.
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I read the other day about another one of those unsung heroes of the faith.  David Marks was fifteen when he left home with only a dollar in his pocket to follow God’s calling and preach the gospel.  He preached for the next twenty-five years.  “He rode one horse 19,000 miles, preached to thousands, organized churches throughout New England, published books, wrote articles, taught school, and worked diligently in opposition to slavery and in support of foreign mission.  Then he died from sheer exhaustion at age 40.”
    One experience he faced was when he rode into the town of Ancaster, Ontario.  He announced he would be preaching in seven minutes in the park.  He asked if anyone had a text he would like to hear and a man mockingly said, “Nothing.”
    “Marks immediately began preaching on ‘nothing.’  God created the world from ‘nothing,’ he said.  God gave us laws in which there is ‘nothing’ unjust.  But, Marks continued, we have broken God’s law and there is ‘nothing’ in us to justify us.  There will be ‘nothing’ to comfort sinners in death or hell.  But, which Christians have ‘nothing’ of their own in which to boast, we have Christ.  And in him, we have ‘nothing’ to cause us grief, ‘nothing’ to disturb our peace, and ‘nothing’ to fear in eternity.”  He finished his sermon, mounted, and went his way.
    Sometime later, Marks returned to the town of Ancaster.  “This time a larger group assembled, and the meeting house was opened to him.  David preached ‘something’ to them.  He said there is ‘something’ above all things.  There is ‘something’ in man designed to live forever, but there is also ‘something’ in us that makes us unhappy.  There is ‘something’ about the gospel that reverses our unhappiness, ‘something’ that gives us hope.  There is ‘something’ that will disturb the impenitent in death, but ‘something’ resides in Christians that the world can’t understand, and ‘something’ in eternity to give us everlasting joy.”
    This uneducated circuit-riding preacher had “‘something’ to say–and ‘nothing’ to fear.”  (notes and quotations by Robert J. Morgan)

Fire never dies till it has eaten away the substance of its own heart.”
              –Ernest Haycox  (The Feudists)

    “Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.  Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire…”
              –James 5:1-3 (NLT)
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What Haycox said is so true.  If man follows his own way it will sooner or later control him and consume him.  Look at the cause of people’s death; it often is the result of their lifestyle.  Just a couple of examples:  the smoker–lung cancer, the consumer of alchohol–destruction of liver.  With that in mind we should come to realize that God is in charge.  Ask yourself this one question:  what is the secret to your happiness?  Hmmmm, I’m sure there were various answers.
    One of the biggest cause of problems, anxieties, and depression come from the fact that we often choose roles for which we are not suited.  I like what Stephen Brown says, “Almost all frustration and anxiety come from a refusal to be what one is.  Frustration and anxiety are the result of playing a part other than the one you’ve been given.”
    First of all, man was created to glorify God.  Augustine said, “Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”  When man realizes and does this “there is a sense of rightness, a sense of rest, a sense of reality that doesn’t come from any other source.”  It is important to realize that you cannot glorify God and yourself at the same time.  “It is the desire ‘to be’ God rather than to ‘worship’ God that creates an almost unbearable tension in the Christian.” (Brown)  Meditate on the words of the Psalmist:

            “Whom have I in heaven but You?
             And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
             My flesh and my heart fail;
             But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
                        –Psalm 73:25-26 (NKJV)

    Second, it is time to realize that you are not God, and you will never be God.  Man will not and has never been autonomous no matter how much he desires to be so.  You are not self-made.  One of the worst songs from Frank Sinatra is “I Did It My Way”.  No!  Every life is controlled by a series of various unavoidable events, environments, and heriditary factors.  No matter what happens in your life, God is there, whether you are a believer or not.  He never relieves Himself of His responsibility.
    There is therefore, a choice.  You can get angry that you are not in control or you can submit to a sovereign God.  We get caught in the thinking of “I have my rights!”  No!  Everything is God’s.  There is a false belief that we have a right to everything good in the world.  It is a shock to man to know that God really doesn’t need me, and He doesn’t need you.  This hurts our ego for we have a great desire to be needed.  Read Ecclesiastes, when we die, nothing is changed.  God can run His universe without us.
    Ponder these final words from Stephen Brown.  

             “Because there is a sovereign God, we have only three choices:  We can ignore God, we can fight God, or we can submit to God.  To ignore Him is foolish, to fight Him is silly, and to submit to Him is exciting.”