Christian Short Stories

George writes: "I am retired, for the fourth time, and live with my wife in Westbrook, Maine. I retired officially in October of 1999, and after two years of relaxation(???) I went  back to work and worked three more jobs at a total of ten more years retiring last January.  We are Maineiacs by birth and Christian by Grace.  Jesus is Lord of All."

You certainly have heard of comparing apples for oranges. How about bacon for bibles?

Bacon is delicious, smoked and salted to perfection; there is nothing like it, but not only is it not good for you; it would have the same taste as shoe leather after six months of eating nothing but that pork product and eggs.

I would like to suggest you try an experiment; eat anything you choose for six months with inexhaustible conviction; morning, noon and night, and then see if it has the same taste it did when you first started eating it a few months ago. I can almost guarantee it will lose, not only its attraction, but its taste, as well.

That experiment can be applied to all things; hobbies, games etc. Anything, when it becomes drudgery, loses some, if not all, of its lackluster enthusiasm. It becomes so mechanical; the novelty worn off; it is usually pushed aside to make room for your next endeavor.

People are fickle by nature; I want what I want when I want it, and when you get it, it is not long before it loses its fascination and is relegated to the bottom drawer in the kitchen, or ends up in the garage in an old cardboard box marked; THE PAST.  

Do not let your devotion to God wane, stay tuned to the Word of God; be a doer, and not a hearer only, thereby deceiving yourself, the Bible says. Be diligent to study God’s Word every day, it is fuel for the soul; the bread of life.

Your Bible reading and devotions to God must never become mundane, or make weary your interest. The Word of God is so full of wisdom; it would take a person a thousand years to exhaust the logic in its pages. It is the one thing in this world that you can never get enough of if you are a Believer; it is inexhaustible; not like crisp bacon or a hobby. The more you study the Word, the more you want to indulge in its wisdom.

Is there a correlation between bacon and the bible? Maybe metaphorically; one is good for you and necessary for a well balanced lifestyle. The other is bad for you if not taken in moderation. It can lead to a myriad of medical problems; not the least of which is a myocardial infarction (heart attack.) Lack of the nutrients in the Word can also lead to problems of the heart; sin.

Sin is a problem of the heart. Jesus said; “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” Luke 6:45.

What is this world coming to? That is a question you hear quite often, and the answer is simple to the Believer, but shrouded in mystery to those on the outside. Christians know what this world is coming to, and has already begun; a falling away to make room for the Anti-Christ. I am not saying the Anti-Christ is here today on the world scene. I would be a fool to make such a prediction, but Jesus told us the signs to watch for His coming. 

“...keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Matthew 24:42-44

The key here is readiness. Be ready for Jesus could come at any moment. Be diligent and study, prepared for that day.,

Bacon, eaten in moderation, is good for one meal and then it is over. Nothing lasts forever; except the Word of God. Bacon is eaten, digested, turned into refuse and discharged from the body. The Word does not go through the stomach; it goes into the spirit and there it will abide forever. Once you have learned it, you will never forget it; it will be there. When needed, the Holy Spirit will bring the Word to your remembrance; barring unforeseens such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia, or head injuries. But even with these, you will regain your memory when you get to Heaven. All will be made whole; the blind will see; the lame will walk and the slow of mind will know all things as God wills, without partiality.

While I am making analogies, I would like to make one more. If one eats two to three well balanced meals a day, and exercise, he should be healthy. It is the same with the Word of God. If you read it, study it every day, you will be spiritually healthy. Now if you read the bible on Sunday morning at church, you can liken that to having a Sunday morning snack. If, by the same token, you eat one meal a week on Sunday morning, you will probably get sick. The same applies to that spiritual snack on Sunday morning; if you read the bible once a week, and just the passage the pastor refers to, you will become spiritually anemic, and no doubt fall away.

Take it from a man who has been there and done that, as they say. I got saved nearly sixty years ago, and two years after my conversion, I began a downhill slide into the worst sin ridden years of my life. In those twenty-two years away from Christ, I became an alcoholic, swore like a drunken pirate, and was downright vulgar. I told dirty stories for hours without letup as my brother once told me. He has, praise God, also become a Christian. I give God the credit, and the glory, for bringing me back to Him in 1980 through a series of events. Praise His Name!

I would be happy to share my entire testimony with anyone. Email me and I will see that you get a copy, free of charge, of my testimony; how God worked in my life; how He never left me, nor forsook me in those sin ridden years. He was always there.

Bacon doesn’t last forever, but the Word does!

(© 2014 Richard David Briggs – All rights reserved. Written material may not be duplicated without permission.)