For Scripture Sunday:
What Do You Share?
“A recent study reveals some interesting truths about the way we share news across social media. Do you just share whatever without even realizing what’s behind it?”
Video: https://youtu.be/uuxlRqGLTpo
Transcript
[Steve Myers] “We know that Christians are supposed to be sharing kind of people, but what do you share, especially when it comes to the things you may see on the internet?
It was an interesting study that was done by Columbia University and the French National Institute. What percentage of links that are shared on social media do you think have never actually been read? People are sharing links, but do you think they’ve read the article behind the headline? Do you know what percentage of people do that with never reading?
They found in this study fifty-nine percent of the people who shared a link never really read the information behind it. In other words, people retweet the news without ever really reading it themselves. And on top of this, what they found that was also interesting – this determines what news or so-called news gets circulated. And they’ve also found that it’s impacted political things; it’s impacted cultural things; it’s impacted people’s perspective and reshaped those things. And yet, the information behind the headlines was never really understood. And so that’s a scary thing. One of the study’s co-authors said this: “People are more willing to share an article than to read it.”
That can be a pretty scary thing when you think about it. Do we do that? We’ve got to be really careful, especially as Christians, not to be doing that. We don’t want to fall into this majority of people who just share whatever without even realizing what’s behind it.
I think there’s a proverb that connects with this. It’s in Proverbs 14:15. Here’s what it says: “The simple believes every word, but the prudent considers well his steps.” Now, we may not even believe the headline, and if we read the article, we certainly not believe it, or maybe we would. But the point gets to the heart of the matter. We want to think more deeply. God wants us to think deeply, not just on the surface, not just with a sound byte, not just with a headline. Let’s be sure we don’t fall into that problem and be prudent people that really consider our steps, consider our shares, and we’ll be better people for it.”
From: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-daily/what-do-you-share
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Lessons From the Parables
Are You a Wise and Watching Christian?
“Matthew 25 records Jesus Christ’s parable of the wise and foolish virgins. What lessons did He intend us to learn from it?
Kevin Finneran/Unsplash
“Are you a wise and watching Christian?
Have you ever run out of gas and found yourself stranded on the side of the road? Once I was rushing to a meeting when we ran out of gas. The irony was that we had just pulled out of a gas station where we had stopped to make a phone call. We drove a mile down the road when the car sputtered to a halt. It was frustrating, but I learned a valuable lesson.
This reminds me of a song from the 1970s titled “Running on Empty.” The song’s theme was that we get very busy and don’t know we may be close to empty in a lot of ways. Could you or I be “running on empty”?
On several occasions Jesus Christ told His disciples to “watch” for His coming because we wouldn’t know the day or the hour. Learning the fine art of “watching” that we might follow His instruction requires that we not run out of gas. We have to learn to watch the gauge.
How do we learn to wait and watch?
One of Christ’s parables gives us the key to learn how to “watch” and to be ready when He returns in glory. Known as the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, it’s found in Matthew 25.
The previous chapter, Matthew 24, is a very detailed prophecy Jesus gave about the world events leading to His second coming. This parable is a continuation of the prophecy, telling us what we must do in light of what He says about His return. So let’s look at this parable to understand how we can watch and wait with godly patience for the coming of the Lord……”
Rest of article: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/lessons-from-the-parables-are-you-a-wise-and-watching-christian
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A set of Jesus’ parables about small beginnings gives us an important insight into the Kingdom of God. More at: https://www.ucg.org/beyond-today/beyond-today-magazine/lessons-from-the-parables-the-smallest-of-beginnings
Lessons from the Parables: Hope and Restoration - the Story of the Prodigal Son
“As he did every day, the father walked from his home to the small hill where he could look down the road and see for several miles. He always thought, and hoped, that he would see a familiar figure heading his way.
His thoughts were always the same—a mixture of longing, of hope and of regret. When he failed to see what he'd hoped, he would turn and go about the business of the day. There was always work to be done. But there was also the empty place created by the one who a long while back had chosen to leave and go far away from his home.
What can we learn from Jesus Christ's parable of the prodigal son? In a world of broken relationships, it teaches us a lesson of deep love and hope.” More at: https://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/lessons-from-the-parables-hope-and-restoration-the-story-of-the-prodigal-son
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Update:
My helper was out of town for several days which slowed down the rebuilding of the guest house, but now we have gone back to work on the kitchen cabinets. The kitchen is now in a different location, but we are still able to re-use most of the cabinets. Some of the lower cabinets were ruined when the renter let the sink leak and it rotted out the bottom of the cabinet, then the floor, then the joists below, then the termites came up and destoyed that whole wall. After replacing seven floor joists, putting in a new floor and rebuilding the wall we were able to continue.
The old front wall upper cabinets will fit very well in the new kitchen, but the big quandry was the left-hand side cabinets where the stove will be. The 39” lower cabinet that will hold the stove-top needed to be exactly centered under the 30” upper bridge cabinet holding up the ventahood, so that will mean the filling in of two 4+” spaces on either side of the upper bridge cabinet. We are toying with the idea of making them into slide-out spice cabinets. Some of the 39” lower cabinet is having to be rebuilt, so we took the chop saw and table saw over to the guest house and set up a good workshop over there.
We thought we had all the new water lines glued up correctly, but when we turned it on again, we had a couple of leaks. But one was the Pressure Relief valve on the water heater. It was old and needs to be replaced. As I have to go into Conroe to pick up the new exhaust fan for the bathroom when it comes in, I can get one then. I didn’t want to use the old bathroom fan as it is so noisy, so I found one that is 1/2 a sone.
Another project that had to be done while the weather is nice, is to put back the plywood floor in the attic of the guest house. Several parts had been taken up to put in new wiring. Unfortunately, whoever did it, didn’t mark where each peice went, so it took a couple of mornings of piecing it together like a jigsaw. Once we get that finished, just a little bit to go, we can sweep the floor and put the carpet back down.
Still had computer problems and had to go back to my old one. The “New” refurbished one wouldn’t load Open Live Writer, my pictures were in such a mess that I couldn’t put them in my ads, and it wouldn’t be friends with my printer. Hence the delay in writing this.
I came across a recipe for cooking rice in a bowl in my pressure cooker, and it turned out well, so I made rice, grass fed beef and veggies in a beef broth for the church potluck. Also I made a green soup with some left-over gluten-free noodles, peas and broccoli in a clear vegetable broth. It was just made as an afterthought, but it was very popular. We also had a big crockpot full of deer meat donated by Gary, and I was even able to bring some home to share with my neighbor.
The Bible readings were Psalms 116 and 117, Gen. 47:28-50:26. 1 Kings 2:1-12, and Phil. 2:12-17. The Teaching was about “Murmerings” see Num. 14:27, about complaining. Complaining is not done by belieivers. A murmuring person is not pleasant to be around. Be content. We were also reminded of a brother who is undergoing some very painful treatments because his body was terribly burned in an accident at his work. Now he really has something to complain about, but he doesn’t. We have a lot to be grateful for, and we need to say thanks every day.
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