Buy the Boat

Life Is Short - Buy the Boat

Recently, while traveling south on I-5, entering the Fife Washington area, I saw the brightly lit advertisement of the boatyard. The digital reader board is large, well-positioned and colorfully. It speaks to the enormous profits the business earns selling boats to those whose goal in life is to enjoy the few short years they have on this planet.

 

Life is short.

That is an undeniable truth. No one would argue it. The secular and spiritual will admit equally and freely is point. No debate here. It is one of the very few areas that all but a few on the very fringe would stipulate to. Whether one dies at a very young age or a very old age, in the scheme of history, our little slot here is short.

 

The difference is what to do with the information 

 

The secularist would say, “buy the boat.”

“Seriously, why not. Life might be short enough you never even have to pay it off.” A good number of those who buy the boat will sell it, at a loss I might add, in a year or two. They will then buy some other toy or feel-good item because, after all, “life is short.”

 

The Bible describes this mentality when Jesus gave the parable[1] of a rich man with this philosophy, Luke 12:19 (KJV)

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

 

The spiritual man would say, “Prepare to meet thy God.”[2]

Armed with exactly the same truth, that life on this planet is very short, the one who is spiritual seeks to know the Lord. The Bible is filled with verses declaring the brevity of life and the appropriate response to it.

·       “Our life is a vapor”[3]

·       “Teach us to number our days”[4]

·       “Seek ye first”[5]

·       “Treasures in heaven”[6]

 

So there it is. We agree, “life is short.” The question, and the fundamental disagreement all boils down to this – what will we do with that truth?

·       Will we, like an animal, live for the moment or

·       Will we, as the self aware being we are, prepare for a higher purpose?

---

[1] Apostle Paul spoke directly to the secular philosophy we he wrote under the inspiration of God, 1 Corinthians 15:32 (KJV)

If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

[2] Amos 4:12 (KJV)

Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

[3] James 4:14 (KJV)

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

[4] Psalms 90:12 (KJV)

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

[5] Matthew 6:33 (KJV)

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

[6] Matthew 6:19-21 (KJV)

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Making Marriage Bible Based

 Making Marriage Bible Based

At the time of this writing more than 50% of all marriages in the United States end in divorce. This, shockingly, includes those marriages of Christian couples.

Some of the reasons for that could be:

Because the term Christian is so loosely used in the United States. 

Just because a couple got married in a church (and likely had some sort of pre-marriage counseling) does not mean that the couple is actually Christian. 

Some churches require that one or both or the wedding couple be members of the church performing the wedding. 

Church membership is also no true promise of genuine faith. Baptist Churches attempt to filter those who are not saved from church membership through profession of faith and baptism. Still some get into membership who are not truly saved.

Christian couples are so conformed to this world that they behave more like those of the world than like the Christians of the Bible

There’s no reason to be overly judgmental of this point. The fact is, everyone who gets saved is conformed to the world. The Christian process of sanctification is one of being renewed into the image of Christ. We are all on differing stages of that process.

In every case where a Christian seeks a divorce, there is but one root cause

At the heart of every divorce one or both parties has allowed their emotions to overrule the will and the Word of God.

There is no other reason.

We have our contributing factors:

• Incompatibility
• Financial pressures
• Family pressures even
• moral failure

None of those provides a biblical excuse for divorce.

Even in the case of moral failure, some argue that this gives permission for divorce. It does not, however, require divorce.

In every case divorce happens because, as Jesus put it, the hardness of the heart.

Emotions overwhelm and overrule the clear and plain teaching of the Bible.

By the time most couples come to the place where they want a divorce, emotions have so overwhelmed them that 

• No passage of Scripture
• No models of relationship rebuilding
• No counselor
• No pastor
• No parent, relative or friend

Can talk them out of the divorce

Most couples meet and marry over emotional issues

• They find themselves attracted to each other
• They find that they enjoy each other’s company
• They find that they have things in common (sometimes that is a Christian faith)

They “fall in love” and agree to be married all based on emotional stimuli.

If the Christian couple is not aware of this, and early on develop a relationship that is more Biblically founded, when emotions fail, emotions will tear the marriage apart.

How to build a Biblically based relationship

1. Become a Biblically based Christian

This means that as individuals you spend personal, quiet time, reading the Bible, studying what it means and then - MOST IMPORTANTLY obeying the Bible.  

2. Begin quickly to do Biblically based activities

This includes reading the Bible together, studying a book of the Bible together, attending church together, discussing what the message of the Bible meant to one another together

3. Practice Biblically based household

Where the husband leads the family, the wife supports her husband, the children are taught to obey and they are brought up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord

4. Understand the Biblical place of the church and the pastor in your life

The church is a body to which you are committed for a lifetime. 

The pastor has been placed over you by God to watch for your souls. You are to obey him. He is not a lord over your life, but he IS placed to stand in the gap and help you to make wise choices in this world.