- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
“Dispose of this accursed woman’s corpse. Bury her, for after all, she was a king’s daughter.” But when they went to bury her, they found nothing left but the skull, feet, and palms of the hands. (2 Kings 9:34-35)
Racing one hundred forty kilometers per hour through the ancient tiled buildings of Esztergom, Hungary, three intoxicated medical students crashed their BMW. Two pedestrians were badly injured. One passenger went into a coma, the driver and his seatmate were both decapitated.
The next morning, I sat across the roadway at an outdoor coffee shop. The gore had been removed, but I couldn’t avert my eyes from the site. The Spirit of God spoke to me about the horrific outcome of sin. It clung to me like smoke from rancid garbage.
I get too relaxed among evil. I treat wickedness like a rich uncle who lets me live with him. As long as he pays my bills, I stay in his house and laugh at his twisted ways. In the same way, while the world pretends to care for me, I indulge its vile.
It’s not my place to judge others, but I need to be sickened by my own wrongdoing. Everything from exaggeration to copy write infringement, from rude comments to impure thoughts—it’s revolt against Jehovah.
Our free will is a sacred right with eternal consequences. Every choice alters the universe for good or bad. So to God, sin is never laughable. To him it’s blood splattering, head rolling, life decimating evil.
Because of sin’s devastation, our Father paid the most extreme price to reverse the destruction. He paid it on the horrible cross of beautiful Jesus.
Prayer: LORD God, help me to despise my sin as hell’s gore.
- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
A person who has friends may be harmed by them,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24)
My childhood friend came for a visit. We laughed about old times and got somber over shared grief. How was it that I’d left this guy behind? I asked him how long he could stay and he said he’d be with me as long as I needed. I invited him to sleep on the couch and he was grateful.
I needed groceries from the store. I also wanted some unhealthy indulgences.
“Um, would you mind waiting out here?” I didn’t want him to see what went into the shopping bag. “I know right where everything is and it will be quicker this way.”
A twitch of dejection crossed his face.
Next, we stopped to pick up papers from my office. I thought about asking my friend to come and see where I worked, but what if we ran into my boss? I knew my friend wasn’t always politically correct. I left him waiting in the car.
That evening, I created a distraction for my friend so I could plan an upcoming vacation with some buddies. I sent my childhood pal out to buy ice cream. He returned to find me with a bunch of off-color hooligans and watched without comment.
At the grocery store, I’d made him wait outside like a dog. I kept him out of my work life, vacation plans, and relationships like he was a flea on a dog. Soulmates don’t treat each other like that.
I broke the silence. “I don’t know what I was thinking. I want you with me everywhere I go. I’m sorry, Jesus.”
Prayer: Lord, I invite you into every activity, nothing held back.
- Details
- Written by: Don Goulding
The Levites - Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah - said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God!” (Nehemiah 9:5)
The smell of sour milk wafted into my car window in India long before I could identify the source. A half kilometer later, I spotted mountains of garbage overflowing a landfill. On top of layers of plastic bags, broken cement, and rotting sugar canes were dome shaped hovels made from the same refuse beneath them. And next to the huts were humans, walking over the rubbish like ants, searching for bits of life.
I approached a family to share the gospel through my interpreter only to discover they were already Christians. They’d been chased out of a refugee camp and to the city dump by persecuting Hindus. Impoverished Christians in India have one of the most abused existences on the planet.
One fellow stuck in my mind. Besides his ghastly living conditions, his fingers were missing because of leprosy. He used his stubs to sift garbage for any recycling he could sell to salvagers. There he stood, the soil beneath his feet made of human trash, white nubs for fingers, and a toothless grin because he had the joy of the Lord in his heart.
I’m relieved that in the kingdom of God the first will be last and the last will be first. That man at the dump will be honored through eternity because he stood above his rubbish heap and shined the love of Christ.
What rubbish is beneath my feet? Do I let money problems, health failure, or family grievances pull me down under the garbage? Or do I use this time on earth as my opportunity to stand on top of suffering and grin because I have the love of God in my heart?
If that Indian man can bless God in spite of his circumstances, then I can do the same with the inconveniences I call hardships in my life.
Prayer: God my Savior, may I praise you no matter what comes my way.