Timothy's Thoughts

W e get upset about some of the dumbest things. I was once told about a man who worked in an area where the janitors didn’t go in to collect the trash, so the people in that area would have to carry their trashcans out and set them outside the door for the janitor to dumb. This man, apparently newly hired to work in the area, came into work one morning and saw all of the trashcans sitting outside the door. Trying to be nice, he collected them all and put them back beside the desks. When his coworkers came in, some were furious. It so happens that in that area there were round trashcans and square trashcans. Only the higher salary grade people were supposed to have the square trashcans and the lower salary grade people were to have the round trashcans. I’m sure the lower salary grade people didn’t mind getting the square trashcans, but the higher salary grade people who ended up with the round trashcans were very upset. As silly as that sounds, it was told as a true story. The work en...

T here’s a difference between nice people and good people. Often, when people say that a person is a good person, what they actually mean is that they are nice people. A lot of people are friendly. A lot of people will do nice things for you. It wouldn’t surprise you if someone said they visited an unmarried couple who are living in the same house and while visiting them he had an enjoyable time talking to them over a delicious meal. And yet, the Bible tells us that the lifestyle of these people is not good. In fact, it tells us that fornicators don’t go to heaven. The sad truth is that there are a lot of nice people who are on their way to hell. The day will come when they will stand before God and all they will have to show for a reason for him to let them into heaven is that they were nice people. They will have done nice things for other people. But God will look at them and tell them that the requirement isn’t that they be nice, but that they be good. We like nice people and w...

S ome homosexual activists sat down with some Baptist leaders the other day and demanded that they apologize for what Baptists teach about homosexuality. The meeting went about like you would expect. It was cordial on both sides. The homosexuals questioned by the Baptists would apologize about what they had once taught about non-Caucasian races and the Baptists essentially told them that they were only teaching what the Bible says. They can’t change what the Bible says because they didn’t write it. When you consider this issue, the difference between what many Baptists once taught about the various races and what they are teaching about homosexuality is that the racial lines were drawn on the color of a man’s skin, which he is born with and cannot control. On the other hand, what the Bible says about homosexuality is always about the actions. If you define homosexuality as being attracted to someone of the same gender, then it is no sin and any Baptist who is worthy of calling himsel...

T he Bible says that it rains on the just and the unjust. But that doesn’t mean that you get rain whether you are just or unjust. Consider how God stopped the rain for three and a half years because of sin. Or consider the great flood. The whole world got wet, but Noah and his family stayed dry. But here’s the thing, if a just person prays for rain and God sends it, his unjust neighbors are going to get part of that rain. You won’t see a selective cloud that dumps rain on just one house. I won’t got out of my way to stretch this thought more than I should, but if you want to be blessed, hang out with the people God blesses. When their cup runs over, you’ll get the overflow.

I t’s taboo in writing circles to call writing a hobby. Needless to say, I’ve upset a few people in writing circles, but frankly, I’m not overly concerned because I think there are a lot of writer types who think too highly of themselves. What is wrong with calling writing a hobby? I think the reason it is taboo is because so many people attend writer conferences and hear the so called experts tell them that they should view it as a business rather than a hobby. For tax purposes and expense purposes, I totally agree, but the reality of the situation is that if writing is a business, most writers are pretty lousy businessmen. It takes about three months to write a novel. The author then takes the manuscript and sends it off to a bunch of people, usually only to receive a rejection letter from some and no feedback at all from most. After having had the manuscript rejected, the typical author sits down and writes another and then another. After doing this a few times, a few of them actu...

I read an article the other day in which the writer talk about how he had once prayed for $500, thinking that was about all God could give him at that time, but he went to a conference and heard a man talking about praying for the impossible, like a cure for cancer in his lifetime. Since that time, great strides have been made toward a cure for cancer. The thing is, if we truly believe that nothing is impossible for God, why aren’t we praying for bigger things? By that, I don’t mean that we should be greedy with our prayers and pray for the new Porsche when the used Impala will do. And while it is good to pray for peace in Jerusalem and world peace and freedom to preach the gospel in China—all of which the Lord can do in his time—I question why we aren’t applying this principle to things a little closer to home. How often do we sit around talking about why God doesn’t answer our prayers rather than being confident when we go to him? If we know we are asking amiss, that is one thin...

I ’ve heard my pastor say that if there wasn’t a sermon preached, a song sung, or a class taught that he would want to be at church, just for the fellowship. I believe he is sincere in what he says and of course, our church always has sermons from the word of God and good singing, but I wonder how many people across America do exactly that. How many people attend church because they want the fellowship rather than because they desire to hear the gospel preached? We’ve conditioned ourselves to think otherwise. We accuse people of going to the lake or going to the ballgame instead of attending church. We’re critical of people—and rightly so—when they schedule their family gatherings on Sunday and go to those rather than attending church. But we’ve conditioned ourselves to think that people wouldn’t attend church just because it is fun. After all, aren’t there more entertaining things to do than go to church? Why, some churches even mimic those activities because they don’t believe they...