Questions
Maybe the reason we’ve stopped answering questions is because we’ve stopped asking them.
Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
Maybe the reason we’ve stopped answering questions is because we’ve stopped asking them.
When the fish aren’t biting, banging on the water with an oar won’t help. You can’t get sap out of a hoe handle. Nor can a relationship be corrected by legislation and force.
In Ecclesiastes 3:1–8, Solomon, the wise, passes along to us a list of various types of “appointed times” on earth. Among them he mentions a time to heal...a time to shun embracing...a time to give up as lost...a time to be silent.
Most folks read through the Bible and casually notice birds, plants, trees, and wind. But not you! Aim higher than that.
We need each other. You need someone and someone needs you. Isolated islands we’re not. To make this thing called life work, we gotta lean and support.
Writing down the outline and a few thoughts during the sermon also keeps the mind from drifting off course.
What can be done by the listener to keep the sermon interesting? Instead of thinking about how the preacher could improve, let’s turn to the flip side and consider how we could improve our listening skills.
Being alert and discerning, basing one’s opinion on the absolute truth, is a sign of maturity, a mark of excellence in a life. But pasting labels on people and churches and schools with only partial facts, feelings, and opinions to back those statements up is worse than unfair...it’s un-Christian.
Ignorance is not bliss. On the contrary, it is the breeding ground for fear, prejudice, and superstition, to name just a few. Knowledge is critical.
Slice it any way you wish, ignorance is not bliss. Dress it in whatever garb you please, ignorance is not attractive. Neither is it the mark of humility nor the path to spirituality. It certainly is not the companion of wisdom.