Water Ripple Effect

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Symbol: Water Ripple

Lesson: Action/Reaction/Consequences

Illustration: Our decisions and actions are not without consequence. It is like throwing a rock into a pond—the rock does not merely sink, leaving no evidence. Rather it causes ripples in the water that take varying degrees of time to smooth out, depending on the size of and force with which the rock hit. Likewise, what we do and say can have a ripple effect lasting much longer than a mere water ripple. Especially bad or poor decisions/actions can affect us for a very long time. It is no wonder that Proverbs 14:15 advises those who would be truly wise (and shrewd) to consider each step (action) they take.

Notes: I heard this illustration used in a recent speech. It is not a new thought. Searching the web, TEDx has a few links to the ripple effect that good deeds have on others. Still, I wanted to capture this illustration in this blog for posterity’s sake.

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Fence Sitting

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Symbol: Sitting on fence

Lesson: No such thing when it comes to serving God.

Illustration: If you decide to build a new fence but your neighbor doesn’t agree with it, the fence needs to be built completely on your property. I once heard that it was up to five or six feet. This means that if you sat on top of that fence, no matter which side you fall, you would still be on your property.

Satan has made every attempt to keep people from serving Jehovah. As the “god of this system of things” he builds a fence designed to prevent, inhibit or discourage people from whole-hearted commitment. So while rejecting Satan and evil ways is a good thing, if that is not accompanied by active, positive action in serving God, that is figurative fence-sitting. Just “believing” in God is not enough.

Unless we have completely aligned ourselves with God, Jesus indicated that indecisiveness is like fence sitting. When the time of judgement comes or the end of our life comes, even if we try to jump off the fence and go over to God's side, it may be too late at that time. In effect, no matter what side we fall on, it is still on Satan’s property. We need to be away from the fence (of indecisiveness) and well within the midst of God's "drove."

Notes: n/a

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Hindsight Better

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Symbol: Driving, coming up on a distant landscape.

Lesson: Hindsight is better than foresight.

Illustration: As we are coming up on something in the distance, whether it be a town, a farm, or something else, we might find ourselves thinking, “I think I see what it is.” Even as we pass through it, we may still find ourselves trying to determine features about it. However, after having gone through it, we may finally have a good idea.

Similarly, on this side of an unfulfilled prophecy, we may think we have an idea of how it will unfold, turn out. Even as the prophecy is being fulfilled, we may not completely realize or appreciate it. It is not until we are on the other side, where it is now a fulfilled prophecy that we find ourselves thinking, “Oh! Yes, that makes perfect sense. I wonder how I didn’t see it in the first place.”

Notes: Even with personal decisions that may have us baffled, confused, and uncertain, it is usually after the situation has played out that we, in hindsight, say, "I wish I would have handled this differently." But this is not the case with God. He knows exactly how to handle things for everyone's best interests. His foresight is just as clear & certain as his hindsight.

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Energy Drink

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Symbol: Energy Drink

Lesson: Natural tendency for long periods of wakefulness is to grow tired. Nothing wrong with that. But when you need to stay awake, an energy boost is very helpful. Keep spiritually energized with spiritual activity.

Illustration: If you have ever worked graveyards or had to stay awake for some urgent situation, you know what a struggle it can be somewhere between 1AM and 3AM to stay awake. Your body naturally desires to sleep. Coffee or an energy drink can help in such times. But on a spiritual level, growing tired after years of faithful service (spiritual wakefulness) can be dangerous to our relationship with our creator. In such cases, what is our spiritual energy drink? Jesus himself answers that at Matthew 26:41.

Notes: Prayer is actually only one energy boost that God provides us to help us stay spiritually alert. There is also our Christian meetings, our association with fellow believers, and most of all our ministry. Put all of those together, and you will have the greatest adrenalin rush in these times we are living.

Auxiliary Scripture: 1 Thes.5:6

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Sanctify - Clean Dishes

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Symbol: Clean dishes & glassware

Lesson: Appreciating the honor of our being invited to know God & Christ

Illustration: Consider the act of washing dishes and drinking glasses. Under regular activity you might be satisfied that you got the items cleaned, dried, and put back on the shelf. But now what happens when someone special comes to visit. Even though the daily plates are clean, most people I know take out their best china and glassware. Even though the water-stained daily glasses are indeed clean and usable, for most hosts I know, using those would be an embarrassment. And even though the china and glassware is clean, I’ve seen my wife wash them again even though they had been safely stored away. And she is not satisfied that they are clean and dry, she makes sure that there is no water stain, no crack, no blemish whatsoever.

That is the sense of the Greek words “sanctify” and “sanctification.” God is cleansing us not to be stuck on some shelf (sit in a church pew once a week), but to proudly display us as his finest dinnerware. We are being put to use to carry a specially prepared meal.

Notes: The word “sanctification” is/was a difficult one for me to wrap my mind around. While understanding Greek grammar has its benefits, what is more important is that we can extrapolate the impact of what is being said and apply it to our relationship with Jehovah and his Son, Jesus Christ. 

(This post as a result of reflecting on 1 Peter 1:2)

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Driving Laws

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Symbol: Driving rules

Lesson: Being narrow-minded only hurts you.

Illustration: So you are talking with a peace officer, lamenting that there are so many driving rules to remember. The officer, trying to be kind and put it into perspective, responds: “Look, just obey the traffic signs and signals and you are pretty much obeying safe driving rules, which is the intent of the motor vehicle code.”

But is that really all there is? For example, there are no signs saying “don’t drive on the sidewalk.” However any rational person should already know that is not safe. But say the next day you are at an intersection and it seems to be gridlocked. So you think to yourself, “Hey, I only need to make a right turn and there are no pedestrians around, I’ll just quickly go around the corner on the sidewalk—after all, there are no signs saying I can’t.” So you cautiously proceed on the sidewalk around the corner. Guess who’s there? Yep, a peace officer. He pulls you over and you sigh a breath of relief. Why? Well, it’s the same officer you spoke to yesterday. He’ll understand. You greet the officer with a big smile. He’s not smiling. When he starts to write up the ticket, you protest, “But officer, there were no signs saying I couldn’t do that. Remember what you told me yesterday?” The officer laughs and and says, “Haven't you ever heard of common sense?”

Notes: In Romans 13:8, Paul said, “Do not owe anything to anyone except to love one another; for whoever loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law.” There are some people that become so focused on one specific passage, they want to use that as an excuse to completely dismiss not only the rest of the scriptures, but even common sense. With regards scriptures, even Jesus himself expanded what the intent of “The Law” (Mosaic) was when he said at Matthew 22:36-40 “You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. The second, like it, is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets.” John, one of the apostles that actually walked with Jesus, said “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and carry out his commandments.  For this is what the love of God means, that we observe his commandments; and yet his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:2,3) Regarding common sense, anyone inclined to base their whole belief on one, two, or even a small handful of scriptures chosen to fit their preference needs to realize that God is not fooled. The only one such people are fooling are themselves.

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Real Gold

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Symbol: Gold Bracelets

Lesson: Don’t be fooled by supposed “value”

Illustration: You are in a jewelry store and are shown several bracelets. The first, you are told, is pure gold. It is completely free. Next to it are other bracelets, all of them shiny and beautifully crafted. They are made of fool’s gold and are priced at $5,000 each. Right away your mind starts racing with questions and confusion. Something is not right. How can a purportedly pure gold bracelet be free? How can mere fool’s gold trinkets be priced more than the pure, real gold item? Something is not right. Even though in reality you would lose nothing by taking a chance on accepting the pure gold item, instead of taking it and having it tested to ensure you have pure gold, you decide to buy the one of the fool’s gold items. After all, the design of the fool’s gold items are delicate and intricate where the supposed pure gold item is sort of plain.

Such is the case when people hear the good news of the Bible as freely declared by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Witnesses claim their offering is the pure gold of God’s Word. To some, it is sort of plain because there is no ceremony, ritual or extravagant showiness. In fact, the Witnesses are known for their meetings being truly educational events without pomp and circumstance. If those hearing the message would only test what we preach against the measure of scripture, they’d find out that what is being offered is indeed pure, real gold of God’s truth. But instead, they want to accept the fool’s gold because it is so much more beautiful in their eyes. They love all the celebrations, all the ceremonies, all the music and while all of that may not be bad in and of itself, it is not what God wants of us.

Notes: (n/a)

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