You shall have no other gods before me

Lifestyles of the Poor and Unknown

In the 1980s, one of the most popular programs on American television was a weekly show called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Each week, the host visited celebrities and royalty at their luxurious mansions, fawning over their exotic cars, million-dollar jewelry, and lavish wardrobes. It was conspicuous consumption at its most nauseating, and viewers couldn’t get enough of it.
But don’t we all secretly envy the rich and famous? Don’t we believe that if only we were rich, it would solve all our problems? Don’t we long to be recognized and loved by millions of people?
This craving for fortune is nothing new. Two thousand years ago Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:25 NIV)
Why is that? Jesus, who knew the human heart better than anyone ever has or ever will, understood that it's a matter of priorities. Too often, rich people make wealth their number one priority instead of God. They spend most of their time making wealth, spending it, and increasing it. In a very real sense, money becomes their idol.
God won’t stand for that. He told us so in his First Commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3 NIV).

What Riches Can't Buy

Today, we still believe the lie that money can buy happiness. Yet hardly a week passes that we don’t read about rich celebrities getting a divorce. Other high-profile millionaires get in trouble with the law and have to enter drug or alcohol rehab programs. Despite all their money, many rich people feel empty and without meaning. Some surround themselves with a dozen hangers-on, confusing opportunists with friends. Others get pulled in by New Age beliefs and religious cults, searching in vain for something that will help them make sense of their lives.
While it’s true that wealth can purchase all kinds of thrills and creature comforts, in the long run, those things amount to high-priced glitter and trash. Anything that ends up in a junkyard or landfill cannot satisfy the yearning in the human heart.

Lifestyles of the Poor and Unknown

Since you have a computer and Internet service, you’re probably not living below the poverty line. But that doesn’t mean the lure of riches and possessions never tempts you. Our culture constantly hypes the new--new cars, new music players, new computers, new furniture, new clothes. Wearing something that’s out of style pegs you as a misfit, somebody who doesn’t quite "get it." And we all want to "get it" because we long for the approval of our peers.
So we’re caught somewhere in between, not poor but far from rich, and certainly not famous outside of our circle of family and friends. We yearn for the importance that money brings. We’ve seen enough rich people treated with respect and admiration to want a piece of that for ourselves.
We have God, but we want more. Just like Adam and Eve, we desperately desire to be bigger shots than we are. Satan lied to them then, and he’s still lying to us today.

Seeing Ourselves as we Really Are

Because of the world's false values, we seldom see ourselves as we really are. The truth is that in the eyes of God, every believer is rich and famous. We possess the richness of a salvation that can never be taken from us. This is the treasure that’s immune from moths and rust. We take it with us when we die, unlike money or fancy possessions.
We are famous and precious to our Savior, so much that he sacrificed himself so we can spend eternity with him. His love surpasses any earthly fame because it will never end.
It’s time to stop comparing houses, cars, clothes, and bank accounts. It’s time to stop feeling inadequate because we don’t own the outward symbols of success.
Instead, it’s time to turn our eyes to our intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s where we’ll experience our greatest fulfillment. That’s where we’ll finally find all the riches we’ve ever wanted.

Picture of the Heavenly Father

Luke 15:11-32

The Prodigal Son :

The story of the Prodigal Son, also known as the Parable of the Lost Son, follows the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin. Jesus is responding to the Pharisees' complaint: "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Jesus tells the story of a man who has two sons. The younger son asks his father to give him his portion of the family estate as an early inheritance. Once received, the son promptly sets off on a long journey to a distant land and begins to waste his fortune on wild living. When the money runs out, a severe famine hits the country and the son finds himself in dire circumstances. He takes a job feeding pigs. He is so destitute that he even longs to eat the food assigned to the pigs.

The young man finally comes to his senses, remembering his father. In humility, he recognizes his foolishness, decides to return to his father and ask for forgiveness and mercy. The father who had been watching and waiting, receives his son back with open arms of compassion. He is overjoyed by the return of his lost son! Immediately the father turns to his servants and asks them to prepare a giant feast in celebration.

Meanwhile, the older son is not one bit happy when he comes in from working the fields and discovers a party going on to celebrate his younger brother's return. The father tries to dissuade the older brother from his jealous rage explaining, "You are always with me, and everything I have is yours."

Points of Interest from the Story:

• Typically, a son would receive his inheritance at the time of his father's death. The fact that the younger brother instigated the early division of the family estate showed a rebellious and proud disregard for his father's authority, not to mention a selfish and immature attitude.

• Pigs were unclean animals. Jews were not even allowed to touch pigs. When the son took a job feeding pigs, even longing for their food to fill his belly, it reveals that he had fallen as low as he could possibly go. This son represents a person living in rebellion to God. Sometimes we have to hit rock-bottom before we come to our senses and recognize our sin.

• The father is a picture of the Heavenly Father. God waits patiently, with loving compassion to restore us when we return to him with humble hearts. He offers us everything in his kingdom, restoring full relationship with joyful celebration. He doesn't even dwell on our past waywardness.

• Reading from the beginning of chapter 15, we see that the older son is clearly a picture of the pharisees. In their self-righteousness, they have forgotten to rejoice when a sinner returns to God. Bitterness and resentment keeps the older son from forgiving his younger brother. It blinds him to the treasure he freely enjoys through constant relationship with the father.

Questions for Reflection:

Who are you in this story? Are you a prodigal, a pharisee or a servant? Are you the rebellious son, lost and far from God? Are you the self-righteous pharisee, no longer capable of rejoicing when a sinner returns to God? Maybe you've hit rock-bottom, come to your senses and decided to run to God's open arms of compassion and mercy? Or are you one of the servants in the household, rejoicing with the father when a lost son finds his way home?

The Last Supper - Story Summary:

Matthew 26:17-30; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20.

The Last Supper - Story Summary:

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread or Passover, Jesus sent two of his disciples ahead with very specific instructions on where to prepare the Passover meal. That evening Jesus sat down at the table with the 12 apostles to eat his final meal before going to the cross. As they dined together, he told the twelve that one of them would soon betray him.

One by one they questioned, "I'm not the one, am I, Lord?" Jesus explained that even though he knew he would die as the Scriptures foretold, his betrayer's fate would be terrible: "Far better for him if he had never been born!"

Then Jesus took the bread and the wine and asked his Father to bless it. He broke the bread into pieces, giving it to his disciples and said, "This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

And then he took the cup of wine, sharing it with his disciples and said, "This wine is the token of God's new covenant to save you--an agreement sealed with the blood I will pour out for you. He told all of them, "I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom." Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

Points of Interest from the Story:

• The Passover commemorated Israel's escape from bondage in Egypt. In Exodus, the blood of the Passover lamb was painted on the door frames, causing the plague of the firstborn to pass over their houses sparing the firstborn sons from death. The Last Supper was very significant because Jesus showed his disciples he was about to become the Passover Lamb of God. His blood would open the door to freedom. His followers would exchange slavery to sin and death for eternal life in God's Kingdom.

• Typically wine is served four times during the Passover meal. According to Jewish tradition, the four cups represent four expressions of redemption. The first cup is called the cup of sanctification; the second is the cup of judgment; the third is the cup of redemption; and the fourth is the cup of the kingdom.

• These verses surrounding the Last Supper form the biblical basis for the practice of Communion.

• There are 3 main Christian views regarding the blood and the wine during the practice of Communion:

-The bread and the wine become the actual body and blood of Christ. The Catholic term for this is Transubstantiation. - The bread and the wine are unchanged elements, but Christ's presence by faith is made spiritually real in and through them. - The bread and the wine are unchanged elements, used as symbols, representing Christ's body and blood, in remembrance of his enduring sacrifice.

• Judas had already determined that he would betray Jesus, yet still he shared in the communion of the Passover meal.

Question for Reflection:

At the Last Supper, each of the disciples questioned Jesus (paraphrased): "Could I be the one to betray you, Lord?" I would guess at that moment they were also questioning their own hearts. A little while later, Jesus predicts Peter's three-fold denial. Are there times in our walk of faith when we should stop and question, "How true is my commitment to the Lord?" Do I profess to love and follow Christ, yet deny him with my actions?

So why don't we laugh more?

In Proverbs 17:22, it says, "A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones." (NKJV) I like how the New Living Translation says it even better: "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength."
With the high cost of prescription drugs these days, we can all benefit from some good medicine that's free!
According to a 1988 Health Update published in The New York Times, a group called "Nurses for Laughter" at Oregon Health Sciences University wear buttons that say: "Warning: Humor May Be Hazardous to Your Illness." A family practitioner at New Jersey's School of Osteopathic Medicine, Dr. Marvin E. Herring, said, "The diaphragm, thorax, abdomen, heart, lungs and even the liver are given a massage during a hearty laugh." And Dr. William F. Fry of Stanford University said that "laughter stimulates the production of the alertness hormones catecholamines. These hormones in turn cause the release of endorphins in the brain. Endorphins foster a sense of relaxation and well-being and dull the perception of pain."

 

So why don't we laugh more?

More recently, the Humour Foundation reported that a Brazilian health center is treating patients who suffer from depression, stress and diabetes with "laughter therapy." Patients are encouraged to "laugh out loud together." This same report claims that laughter therapy cuts health care costs, burns calories, helps arteries, and boosts blood flow. Over the years, many physical benefits to laughter have been reported by doctors and health care professionals. Here are just a few:

• Decrease in stress hormone levels
• Strengthening of the immune system
• Muscle relaxation
• Pain reduction
• Lowering of blood pressure
• Cardiovascular conditioning
• Natural anti-depressant

Don't Take Life Too Seriously
Remember to focus on the lighter side of life. Take time to enjoy your friends, watch a comedy, read the funnies. I'm sure you've heard this before, but life really does go by too quickly to spend it being miserable.
Spend Time with Children
Being around my little nephew is the perfect cure for depression. He's in that stage of rapid discovery and he giggles over every new thing he does and sees. Making him smile is pure contagious joy!
Subscribe to a Joke-a-Day Email List
I'm a terrible joke-teller. I can never remember exactly how it goes, and I always mess up the punch line! But I love to hear a joke and share one with a friend who might be able to tell it better than me.

So why don't we laugh more? Let's get started now ...

Why did the chicken cross the road halfway?
She wanted to lay it on the line. A police recruit was asked during the exam, "What would you do if you had to arrest your own mother?"
He said, "Call for backup."
Why don't oysters give to charity?
Because they're shellfish.
Hopefully you're at least smiling by now. So go on—start laughing more!

Imitinef Mercilet

The Adyar Cancer Institute is a real health facility. "Imitinef Mercilet" is apparently an alternative spelling of the cancer drug, Imatinib mesylate. It is true that Imatinib (or "Imitinef") is available free of charge for patients who have been admitted to the Adyar Cancer Institute hospital for cancer treatment. However, the Institute is not handing out the drug freely to all as suggested in the message. Moreover, the drug does not actually cure all blood cancers as claimed in the message.
http://www.cancerinstitutewia.org/