Wish You Were Here

I immediately confronted the leaders and demanded, “Why has the Temple of God been neglected?” Then I called all the Levites back again and restored them to their proper duties. (Nehemiah 13:11, NLT)

A Sunday School teacher challenged her children to take some time on Sunday afternoon to write a letter to God. They were to bring their letter back the following Sunday.

One little boy wrote, "Dear God, We had a good time at church today. Wish you could have been there."

It isn’t really funny. In fact it is a sad fact that some churches operate in such a routine manner that there is no God and no Holy Spirit. There is no spiritual life and no sense of the presence and power of God at work. They have become simply social clubs where people can meet but there is no motivation to serve and worship God. The Almighty God is completely absent.

From DAY LIGHTERS by Nico Bougas. Available from amazon.com

Great than God

Who is so great a God as our God? Psalm 77.13

A riddle has been making the rounds. When asked this riddle, 80% of preschoolers got the answer, compared to 17% of university graduates. Here's the riddle:

What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich want it, and if you eat it, you'll die?

What is it?

The answer is 'nothing'. Nothing is greater than God, nothing is more evil than the devil, the poor have nothing, the rich want nothing, and if you eat nothing you will die!

It seems so obvious. Maybe that's why younger children have an easier time answering it than educated adults. As we get more educated and more sophisticated, we look for deeper answers. But Jesus said that true, genuine faith is uncomplicated like that of a little child.