Nuggets 51: Smart Ignorance

  • B. Shelburne
  • Jan 8, 2007
  • Series: Nuggets

We can be so sharp about some things and so blind about others.  Jesus said to some religious experts, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."  The Son of God came to visit and they never even knew him.

We still know when to take an umbrella to work.  How to educate our kids for financial success, how to advance in our career, when to change the tires on our car.  But many Christians seem oblivious to other truths any one of which could totally change their lives:

Life here is not all there is; it is just a preparation for eternity.

We find life only by losing it for God and for others.

Happiness is inside us.  Nothing outside can ever make us permanently happy.

Relationships weaken and die if they are not nourished.

We cannot be right with God if we are not right with people.

The first six years mostly determine what a person will become.

We cannot play around the edges of sin without falling in.

We become what we feed into our minds and dwell on.

Most unhappiness is from centering on self, and happiness comes through unselfish love.

Most of life's problems and answers are spiritual at their root.

At this season when we customarily review our lives, God give us eyes to see these things he has been trying to show us, and the courage to follow through.

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Matthew 16:2,3;  John 1:11;  Matthew 16:24-26;  Philippians 4:11-13;  Ephesians 5:25-28;  Matthew 5:23,24;  6:12,14,15;  Ephesians 6:4;  5:3;  Matthew 5:28;  Philippians 4:8;  Romans 8:5

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Copyright 2006 by G.B. Shelburne, III.  May be freely reproduced or forwarded for non-commercial purposes provided content is unchanged and this copyright notice is included.  These shepherding messages are sent to members and friends of New Beginnings Church (www.nbchurch.com), to students and alumni of South Houston Bible Institute (www.shbi.org), and to other interested persons.

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