A Minute Meditation

There was a cranky grandpa who stretched out on the couch one afternoon for his nap. While he slept, his grandson carefully applied some Limburger cheese on his mustache. Grandpa awoke with a snort and grumbled saying. “This room stinks.” He walked from room to room and finally said, “This whole house stinks.” He went outside and cried out, “The whole world stinks.”

It is so easy to blame the whole world for the bad smell that is right under our nose. Wherever we go, we take our attitude with us and we tend to judge the world we carry with us. Our attitudes, our experiences, even the particular mood we may be in at the moment tends to influence the judgments and decisions we make. We look around at the world and we may wonder if it really pays to be good. This was the problem that David had when he wrote, “I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked…They are not in trouble as other men;…their eyes stand out with fatness: They have more than heart could wish…Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.”

Only when we go to God do we get the answer. David found this true. He said, “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.”

We need to remember that things may not be as we smell, or see, or hear and that God is in heaven and we are on the earth. His ways and His thoughts are higher than ours even as the heavens are higher than the earth.

“He shall not judge after the seeing of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth.” The point is this. We judge by what we see, hear and smell, just like the cranky grandpa decided the whole world stank because of what was in his mustache.

It is so easy for us to come to wrong conclusions about others because of how we feel what’s under our nose, or what we perceive to be true. David was wrong to envy the wicked.

Many a person has suffered because of the mistaken attitudes of others toward them. Jesus warned us that “the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” It’s sad to accuse the whole world of stinking because of what’s under our nose, but how much more tragic it is to actually kill, thinking that we are doing God a service.

Of course, we take comfort that we do not do violence. But it is possible that by what we say and do we are destroying others as surely as if we shot them with a gun.

For this reason, we need to be careful how we react to the smells, sights and sounds around us. We are going to need all the mercy we can get. If we have been mistaken in our judgment of others and condemned when we should have encouraged and forgiven, then we will receive the same kind of treatment we meted out to others.

The grandpa was considered “cranky” because he judged others, even the whole world, by his own senses. We are going to need mercy and not justice ourselves so let us begin to practice showing it now. Grace is getting what we don’t deserve and mercy is not getting what we do deserve.

A visitor from Australia was quite impressed when he read one of our signs along the highway which said, “Deer Crossing.” He thought that we must have highly intelligent wild animals who knew where it was legal for them to cross the road.

Actually, the sign was not for the deer, but for the motorists who were being warned that the highway had been built across the ancient path that the deer have used since time immemorial leading to their source of food and water. We cannot control the deer so we need to be warned that at any moment they may cross our path as we travel down life’s highway.

There are a great many things that we cannot control that may cross our path in life. If we know to be on the lookout for them, we will be better able to avoid them when we see them ahead.

This is why God, in His wisdom, has written for us His book, our Bible, to warn us of those things that are coming upon the earth. He has told us through His prophet, Amos, that “surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

For this reason, we should not be surprised when things happen apparently without warning, the deer that cross our paths. For example, the world considers the troubles that come upon it as calamities. Jesus told us, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” The world is taken completely off guard when events occur such as Iraq invading Kuwait. Jesus told us, “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

The world is described by Jesus when he said that “men’s hearts would be failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” But he tells us that we should be “looking up and lifting up our heads; for our redemption is drawing nigh.”

Isn’t it amazing how many motorists see the “Deer Crossing” signs and still do not expect a deer to cross? Isn’t it amazing that so many in the world do not even see the signs of the times that portend the soon coming of our Lord from heaven. In the case of the “Deer Crossing” sign, the world sees the sign but does not pay any attention to it. In the case of the signs of the times, unfortunately, most people do not bother to read the Bible so they are unaware of the signs and warnings that God has written for our learning and salvation.

Jesus was certainly correct when he hold us that his Father has “hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes.”

We are those “babes” that God has called out of “the Gentiles to make a people for his name.” We are those who can “glory in our tribulations knowing that our tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience, and experience hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart.” Yes, we are the ones who are of good cheer even though we have tribulations, we are the ones who know that the deer are going to cross our paths, but we also know that “all things are working together for our good” because we are the ones who love God. We have been called according to His purpose and so we are looking up and lifting up our heads because we believe that our redemption is drawing nigh.

There is a well known saying that, “it isn’t what you know, but who you know, that is important.” Let’s analyze this and see what scriptural lessons we can draw from it.

We might decide that we could improve on the saying by changing it to say, “It isn’t what you know, but what you do with what you know, that is important.” This is true. There area lot of people who know a great many things but never do anything with what they know. Knowledge is not power unless it is used.

Knowing and not doing can turn out to be a great sin. James tells us that, “to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Peter adds to this by saying, “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.”

Knowledge does bring responsibility. When we know what is right, we are duty bound to respond by doing what is right. James again instructs us by saying, “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” So we could conclude that the revised saying is absolutely true. “It isn’t what you know, but what you do with what you know, that is important.”

But let’s go back to the saying that is so well known; “It isn’t what you know, but who you know, that is important.” This saying is often used in the world to indicate that influence peddling is a way of life in business and government. That is true. However, let us now see if we can apply it in a scriptural way in our relationship to our Heavenly Father.

Do we know, really know, the creator and sustainer of the universe? The Lord Jesus Christ did. He told the scribes and Pharisees, “Ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his sayings.”

From this we can conclude that there are people who think that they know God but really don’t. What Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees made them so angry that they decided to kill him for saying it. What he said was true and it is still true. Just think how many people there are in the world today who think that they know God and yet they are ignorant of His glorious promises. Paul reminded the Ephesians that at one time they had been “without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”

All the people you know who do not know about the promises are described by Paul as being “strangers from the covenants of promise” and they have no hope and no God. So we can conclude that it is important to know God, what He has said and what He has promised. The “who you know” in the saying ought to be God Almighty. If we really do “know Him,” then a lot of the “what you know” upon which the world places so much importance will not be important at all.

Let us decide to know, really know, our Father in heaven. When we do, then the “what we know “will ” will be the things concerning “the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ.” The wisdom of this world will then be foolishness with us as it is with God. Let us pray that we can truthfully say what the Lord Jesus Christ said, “I know him and keep his sayings.”

It has been said that attitude, rather than aptitude, will determine one’s altitude.

There are a great many people with very high IQ’s who never amount to anything because they are in need of an attitude adjustment.

In the field of aviation, we find that the word “attitude” means the angle at which the plane meets with the wind, whether it is level with the horizon, climbing or descending. If the pilot is not responsive to the attitude of his aircraft, he is in deep trouble.

If we do not take charge of our attitudes, we can also be in deep trouble. The “world” is in deep trouble; God describes it as being “like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”

The world recognizes the importance of a good attitude in order to rise. Aviators understand that the proper attitude of their plane is essential to a successful flight. We need to appreciate the fact that our attitude, rather than our aptitude, will determine the verdict that we receive from our Lord at his return.

What kind of an attitude is God looking for in us? Through Isaiah, God tells us, “This is the man to whom I will look, he that is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

This is an entirely different answer than you would hear from the world. They admire and respect the aggressive, the self-assertive, the forceful. They cannot imagine that the meek will inherit the earth.

We are fortunate that God looks upon our hearts and He is more interested in hearts that tremble at His word than He is in our cleverness. For this reason, Paul tells us that, “Not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” Jesus actually thanked his Heavenly Father because, as he put it, “thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”

We are those “babes” who Jesus was referring to. We are those who are not mighty or noble by the world’s standards; we are those who are of a humble spirit and tremble at God’s word.

We all know some who are clever, who have high IQ’s, they are self-assertive, aggressive, forceful and considered to be successful. They rise in altitude and are considered the mighty, the noble, the wise and prudent from a worldly viewpoint, but they have no time for God or His word and they are like a plane hurtling uncontrollably fora crash. Solomon described this attitude by saying, “Pride goeth before destruction , and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

David was envious at the foolish when he saw the prosperity of the wicked. He explains that he did not get his attitude adjustment until he went into the sanctuary of God; then understood he their end.

The only way we will ever achieve the correct godly attitude is by going to God’s word and having Him instruct us in the ways of righteousness. God will do this for us. We can, with the proper godly attitude, soar to great heights, for with David we say, “It is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. Thou wilt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory.”