The first time I got tested for COVID to fly to Alaska, I went to a test center, and they put a swab up my nose so far that I was afraid they were in my brain; it was very painful.

The disease of worldliness is the biggest reason for lukewarmness, apathy, and backsliding in American Christians. It is highly contagious, and it is hard to see in ourselves.

The devil uses money and the stuff it can buy as his primary tools in his attempts to draw us away from God, and he has a very high rate of success, just like Eve, Judas, Ananias, and Sopphia.

A major problem is that we all tend to be naive in the probability of becoming entangled in the world to the point that we become useless to God to do anything for Him that matters.

So, the test is simple: what are you doing for God that matters? Do you have a ministry of some sort. Most Christians do not because they don’t have time because they are using it all up on the world.

The Bible says to love God with all of your heart. If you love the world and its stuff, you don’t love God with all your heart, only part of it. My Dad told stories about gas rationing during the Second World War. You got a punch card, and when you used up your allotment of gas for the month, you couldn’t buy any more. We have a measure of spiritual love in our hearts, and if we use it up on money, cars, boats, etc, we won’t have much left for God. It is like having two wives; it doesn’t work.

The trick is to own cars and houses and not love them. You have to guard your own heart well. The trick also, is to see people around you who have more than you do and not envy what they have. If you find yourself loving money and the stuff you can buy with it, give some away. Learn to be content by telling God thank you for what you have. Gratefulness and generosity are the primary vaccinations against worldliness.

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

That is a serious verse. How do I know if I am loving the world? One straightforward way to find out is to ask ourselves how we react to the sudden and unexpected loss of something we own. If we take it hard, with much hand-wringing and whining, we probably have a strong case of loving the world. How about when someone does something unintentionally and damages something you own? Do you get angry and risk damaging a relationship over some property that has no eternal value? Do you fret and worry about your finances or the future.

Loving the world means you depend on it for your security and joy.

Those who love the world will struggle to find time to read their Bibles every day and to pray faithfully, and they will find a million excuses for not getting involved in any ministry opportunities in their church.

The big sin in the Old Testament committed by the nation of Israel over and over again was idolatry. It is crazy the number of times that they would worship some pagan god, and Yahweh would allow them to be conquered by another nation. The Jews would then repent, and God would deliver them from their enemies, and then they would go right back to worshiping some pagan god again.

On a mission trip to Bangkok, Thailand, I saw stone statues of what looked like humans, and people would take gold leaf and stick it to the stone statue in places where they had pain, hoping that their own pain would go away as they bribed this stone god with their gold. As I watched people stick the gold to the head, back, or knee of these statues that had no life, I wondered how people could be so deceived.

Our idolatry is a bit more sophisticated; we worship money. Instead of stone statues, we worship paper with a President’s head on it. Instead of calling it idolatry, God calls it love of money or worldliness. The result is the same: God disciplines us by letting life conquer us.

God expects that we will worship Him only, and if any other god comes into our life He will destroy it and discipline us.

I sleep approximately eight hours daily and usually eat three meals, sometimes two. I brush my teeth; some people brush their teeth three times a day, but I only brush mine once. Every day, I take my vitamins and supplements, and I try very hard to tell Patty I love her five times every day and talk to her every day when I am home and on the phone when I am gone. I ride my stationary bike every day for one hour, and while riding it, I read twelve chapters in my Bible and 20 pages in a good book. I write my blog most days, which usually takes me about two hours, and I also write for twenty minutes in my journal. I spend 30 minutes to an hour in prayer every day, and I also try to pray with Patty three times weekly and at a corporate prayer time at the church three times weekly. I also shower most days, weigh myself, and record my weight. All of the above takes approximately 100 hours each week. I would consider that non-negotiable time, locked in and very seldom deviated from. That leaves 68 hours each week to divide between teaching, studying, meetings, travel, fishing, home projects, family time with kids and grandkids, and dates with Patty. One of my life goals is Ephesians 5:16, which says, “Make the most of your time.” The key to that for me is lists that I check off, good record keeping, and a strong commitment to not waste or while away time. That doesn’t mean that I don’t watch sports, play an occasional “Angry Birds” game, periodically watch a Western or wartime video movie, or read a Tom Clancy novel.
Time management is like budgeting and managing your limited income, budging for essentials, and occasionally splurging on a dinner out or a movie.
The basic motivation is to please the Lord and be wise in using limited time and money to accomplish as much as possible.

There are a handful of Bible verses that have become ones that I go to a lot in my thinking as I live life and face different situations. One of them is 2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” I regularly ask myself if I am pleasing the Lord with my present or past behavior. Does it make any difference in my life if I am pleasing Him? What difference does it make in my life if I am pleasing the Lord? I think diligently working on my behavior with the ambition to please my Savior in all that I do makes a massive difference in my life. God gives those who please Him joy, an inner joy that rises above circumstances. God gives strength to those who please Him. He provides open doors and opportunities to accomplish great things for Him. Those who please Him become His favorites. Many verses in the Bible speak of God’s favorites. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was one of God’s favorites. Daniel, David, Noah, and Enoch are a few of God’s favorites. I want to be one of God’s favorites in this life and eternity. “We have as our ambition.” I can confidently say that I live life with the driving ambition to please Him with all that I do, say, and think. I constantly wish I were doing better, but I am doing better than I once did, and I believe I will do better every day that I live.
Proverbs 12:2 A good man will obtain favor from the Lord,
Proverbs 3:4 So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.
Proverbs 8:35 For he who finds wisdom finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.
Proverbs 12:2 A good man will obtain favor from the Lord,
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

When I was 12, I went deer hunting for the first time. I went with my Dad, and I carried an empty rifle. Dad was a fanatic on gun safety, and he told me that if I didn’t make one mistake in handling my rifle for the entire season the following year, he would give me one bullet, and if I didn’t make any mistakes that second year, I would then be awarded a full box of ammunition. Dad used to say, “All it takes is a few seconds of carelessness to kill someone.” When I went hunting with my Dad, my mind switched to fanatic gun safety mode; I am still like that when I hunt with a rifle.

I have learned over the years that my words have tremendous power to heal, encourage, and teach truth to people. My words can also wound, hurt, and discourage people as well. The main difference between the two is carelessness, lack of self-control, and the failure to take seriously the power of my words to give life or destroy.

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

I am training myself to go into a hyper-cautious mode the minute I step into a social setting. The hard part is that as a member of a large family and the pastor of a large church, that is much of my time. It is easy to be on “high alert” for short amounts of time, but when social time drags into hours, carelessness in speech sets in. I repeat a few axioms in my mind to help me maintain control of my words.
Don’t talk too much.
Keep stories short.
Proverbs 10:19 When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.
Don’t grumble or complain about anything.
Don’t gossip or slander.
Don’t try to impress.
Ask good questions.
Honor people by listening attentively.
Use humor, but don’t be stupid.
Mention the Bible, church, or Jesus as is appropriate.
Remember to ask God for wisdom and self-control often.
James 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.

I am writing this blog in my recliner, eating pieces of sliced cheese on little rice crackers. It is Brie Cheese, that soft French cheese with a pungy taste, my favorite. Patty came home tonight after she went for a doctor’s visit. She stopped on the way home and bought it for me as a treat. I felt very special and loved.

It is funny how little effort it takes to make someone feel special, but it does take thinking about others and what would bless them. My problem is that my thinking is so often locked onto goals, to-do lists, and projects that I don’t think of little things like what Patty thought of for me.

I have a project to train myself to think about others more, much more than I usually do, especially Patty, to think about things I can do that communicate love, concern, and care. I often excuse myself by saying that is not how I am or think. That is why I need to train myself, so that is the way I think, and that is who I am. One of the beautiful things about how God created us is that we can grow, change, and improve if we want to and choose to. I certainly want to, and I am choosing to, as well.

I like to tell stories; most people do. I like to tell stories when I teach and preach. One of the observations that we have all made is that some people are good storytellers, and others are not. Because I want to be a good storyteller, I have bought and read many books on the art and skill of telling stories. One of the books recommended buying books of short stories that were well written and read a lot of them. I have purchased every book Patrick McManus wrote and read each one several times. They are the best, and I never tire of reading them.

In one of my “public speaking” books, the author recounted that at a clinic put on to train people to tell stories well, the audience of twelve was wired up to measure their brain impulses as one of them told a story. It was observed that with a few of the storytellers, the brains of the audience synchronized with the storytellers’ brains until they were all simultaneously experiencing the same feelings of stress, joy, and humor as if they were all telling the story simultaneously.

As I read the book mentioned above, I thought of all the many skills there are in life to learn. Some are mechanical and have to do with making or fixing things. But many are relational and have to do with growing relationships with other people and being able to help them through teaching, counseling, and regular conversations.

Learning new skills in life has been one of my goals over the years in my life, and I have majored in mechanical skills because up until a few years ago, I didn’t realize that connecting with people was even a skill to be learned; I thought it was just a gift or part of your temperament that you were born with.

What drives people to learn and grow in any skill is the desire to succeed in life and the realization that our skill set is essential in our life’s accomplishments. Most people have learned new skills passively; that is, they have learned them because of the demands life has put on them, such as pressures, problems, pain, and failures.

Relational skills are part of what Proverbs is talking about when it says to seek wisdom diligently. Those who seek it like gold, silver, or precious jewels will find it.

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Proverbs 10:24 the desire of the righteous will be granted.
Psalms 145:19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, And He will give you the desires of your heart.
The main motto of my life over the last 50 years in knowing what God’s will is for my life is to get close to Him and follow my dreams. It has worked pretty well as I look backward in my life. The basic premise is that God will put His will for my life in my heart when I seek Him, and I will sense His will in the form of desires and dreams. I believe that as long as I am in the center of His will, I can’t fail. Accomplishing those desires and dreams won’t be easy; they will require diligence, wisdom, and endurance. However, perseverance comes from the confidence that what I am striving for is God’s will; therefore, success is guaranteed sooner or later.

I have been feeling a bit wimpy and lazy lately because I don’t have the usual number of ideas, dreams, and goals swirling around in my mind. But I am getting more comfortable with the idea that just as I believed that the constant push towards bigger and more was from God, I can now feel confident that the desire for fewer accomplishments and more leisure is also from Him.