Those Who’ve Gone Before

Posted on March 19, 2026 by Don Merritt

It sure is easy to think that nobody has ever lived through the trials and tribulations that we go through, and yet many have done so.  Sometimes we might think that our modern age is so vastly different that we are breaking new ground every minute… but we aren’t really.

The modern life that we lead in the 21st century is different in some ways though…  Well, we are using computers aren’t we?

The challenges of every day aren’t much different from what they were in the 19th century, except maybe for the speed of things.  We worry about our families, making ends meet, keeping our jobs, educating our kids and keeping them out of trouble…  so did they.

We deal with a culture that sometimes acts as if Christians came down from Mars… so did they.

We sometimes wonder about where our lives are headed… so did they.

That’s an important thing to bear in mind; we really aren’t that much different from people of the past.  People in earlier times faced the challenges of their lives and times and came through it all.  They succeeded in one great, awesome and magnificent accomplishment: They passed the Gospel of Jesus Christ on to the next generation so that you and I could have its blessings in our lives today, and in this we owe those who have gone before us a great debt of gratitude.

In this light, we must always remember that it is up to us, the Body of Christ in the 21st century to ensure that we hand down to the next generation the love and sustenance of our relationships with Jesus Christ.

May we honor those who have gone on before as we lift up the Name that is above all names.

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Enduring Spirit

Posted on March 19, 2026 by Don Merritt

The human spirit can endure in sickness,
    but a crushed spirit who can bear?

Proverbs 18:14

Studies routinely show that people of faith have a higher recovery rate from serious illnesses than those without faith. I doubt that many Christians would be surprised to hear this. Indeed, the human spirit is a powerful influence in our lives if we allow it to be.  Thus, I would say that the first part of this proverb is positive in orientation. However, the second has sinister ramifications.

Have you ever met one of those optimistic, positive people who have a talent for raising everyone else’s mood just by walking into the room? One pleasant word from old Positive Pete, and everyone feels better about their day.

 On the other side of the coin is Negative Nellie. Whenever this person comes along, the mood changes entirely on the downside. Negative Nellie can find the dark cloud for every silver lining, and it is amazing how easy it is to go from the positive to the depths of negativity quickly, and how hard it is to get back on track.

Who can bear a crushed spirit? More importantly, who gains when our spirits are crushed? I suppose that the obvious answer is that if misery really does love company, then it’s a great day for old Negative nellie. Yet there may be more to it than that.

Negativity, by its very nature, brings questions, doubts, unease, even anger and resentment. Negativity that crushes our spirits tears us away from God’s presence and sets us in opposition to His love. I repeat: Who benefits from that?

Nobody I want anything to do with, how about you?

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Photo of the Week: March 18, 2026

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Don Merritt
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A Pharisee and a Tax Collector

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Don Merritt

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Luke 18:9-14

Luke sets this parable up in an interesting way, because he mentions no particular scene change, and has Jesus talking to people who are “confident in their own righteousness”; has he turned back to those Pharisees and teachers of the law, or has another group come along? Recall that we are on the road heading for Jerusalem…

Whoever it was, He tells a short parable that goes right at the attitudes of their day, that some people are “better” than others because they have achieved righteousness through their observance of a form of worship.  The Pharisee in the parable is praying a prayer of thanksgiving in which he is thanking God for making him better than other people. Honestly, I cannot imagine such a thing as this; such audacity…

But this is a parable after all.

The tax collector humbles himself, acknowledges his sin and asks for God’s mercy, as well he should, as well as we all should. It is the tax collector who is “justified” before God, not the righteous Pharisee, for the tax collector humbled himself and put his trust in God, while the Pharisee exalted himself and trusted his own ability to keep the law.

All God wants from us is that we humble ourselves and trust Him. When we do so, His grace is sufficient for salvation. Yet should we exalt ourselves and consider ourselves better than others for our ability to keep the law, we will be condemned by the law and our own excessive pride. Quite frankly, to thank God for making us “better” than everyone else is to bear false witness right to God’s face.

Yikes!

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Actions Relating to Friendship

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Don Merritt

One who is slack in his work
    is brother to one who destroys.

 The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
    the righteous run to it and are safe.

The wealth of the rich is their fortified city;
    they imagine it a wall too high to scale.

Before a downfall the heart is haughty,
    but humility comes before honor.

To answer before listening—
    that is folly and shame.

Proverbs 18:9-13

V. 9: The slacker (one who doesn’t work) doesn’t produce, and the destroyer destroys what has been produced. The results are the same: there is nothing to show for one’s time and efforts, Therefore, they are said to be “brothers”. Some who don’t take care of what they have, or who are spendthrifts, sometimes look down upon and criticize the person who has no ambition and produces nothing. But this saying relates the two groups together.

V. 10: Many passages teach that God .is a refuge: sometimes a “tower,” sometimes a “rock”, sometimes covering “wings” (I1 Sam. 22:3; Psa. 18:2; 27:l; 61:3,4; 91:2ff; 144:2). V. 6. V. 6. V. 8. The ancients had their fortified cities with their walls, big gates, and towers. Sometimes the enemy was able to break through the gates and batter down the walls. That left a tower to get up into for their final safety. The Lord can take care of us when other helpers fail.

V. 11: The first statement is also in Prov. 10:15. In contrast to the righteous person’s God, the rich man trusts his “wealth”. This is forbidden in I Timothy 6:17: Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Don’t overlook the connection of “high wall”, “strong city,” and “tower” in vs. 10, ll.

V. 12: While the righteous of v.10 find their “tower” (God) a place of safety, the rich man of v. 11 finds that his wealth did not save him from destruction. The first statement is similar to Proverbs 16:18; the last to Proverbs 15:33. The present verse brings these two contrasting statements found isolated in Proverbs and brings them together in one verse as a contrast, whose truths are witnessed numerous times in the Bible.

V. 13: Pre-judging (judging before the facts are known) gives us our word “prejudice”. Many misjudgments are made because of pre-judging: replacing investigation with rumor or making a judgment of a person on the sound of his or her name or where one is from (John 1:45,46), one’s looks, or first impressions. (John 7:51; 7:24)

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A Persistent Widow

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Don Merritt

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Like 18:1-8

The scene has not changed from the last passage (Luke 17:20-37), Jesus has just said “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.” Then He tells this parable to clarify things.

It is not a difficult parable to understand: God hears our prayers and comes to the aid of His persistent children in this life. Jesus assures the disciples that there will be justice; this is easy to see. The “kicker” is at the very end:

when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Do you remember their question (17:37), “Where Lord?” Remember His answer (17:37)?

There is a considerable controversy over when and where He will return. There are books, videos, presentations, even blogs that are filled with speculation, but none of this builds faith; it is a distraction. How many come to Christ because they are afraid He will return next week, and they need to get their house in order? How many non-Christians read those end of the world books? How many Christians draw closer to God while arguing about the Second Coming and End Times?

The disciples had much more important things to worry about, and so do we. We and they have been tasked with taking His love to a dark world that so desperately needs it, and we cannot do this while arguing about the end of the world, particularly when Jesus’ entire guidance on the subject is that it will be a surprise and we must be ready whenever it happens.

Don’t worry; God will do His part− we need to worry about doing our parts.

Oh my, there’s another parable coming up in the next passage…

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More Contrasts

Posted on March 17, 2026 by Don Merritt

Chapter 18 is an interesting one; it seems to have a theme loosely structured by friends and foes. This develops quickly in the first four verses:

An unfriendly person pursues selfish ends
    and against all sound judgment starts quarrels.

Fools find no pleasure in understanding
    but delight in airing their own opinions.

When wickedness comes, so does contempt,
    and with shame comes reproach.

The words of the mouth are deep waters,
    but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.

Proverbs 18:1-4

V. 1: Selfish and self-centered people isolate themselves from others. A self-centered person is conceited to the point that he goes into a rage against the sound words and advice of others. This is true in the Christian community also (i.e. Romans 16: 17,18).

V. 2: A fool does not like to take in, to learn, but only to talk. Facts, figures, and business have no interest for the fool-only to talk, talk, talk, and he really has nothing to say that is worth listening to.

V. 3: A Hebrew parallelism, paralleling “wicked” and “shame” and paralleling “contempt” and “reproach”. The wicked loses a good name and turns critic of all that is good and of all who are good. “When wickedness comes,” watch out! He injects contempt and reproach into the association. The rule is, those who deserve no honor themselves are sure to dishonor all others, and those who themselves are good are the last to suspect others of evil.  

V. 4: The verse is not talking about just any mouth but the mouth of “wisdom”. A wise man’s mouth is likened to a “deep”, “flowing” spring. Such is a great blessing to all around him, and to such they turn for counsel and guidance.

It is not good to be partial to the wicked
    and so deprive the innocent of justice.

The lips of fools bring them strife,
    and their mouths invite a beating.

The mouths of fools are their undoing,
    and their lips are a snare to their very lives.

The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;
    they go down to the inmost parts.

Proverbs 18:5-8

V. 5: Here we have a verse dealing with legal matters. We must not take a person’s wealth, fame or position into account in a legal case before a court. Many passages teach the same: Lev. 19:16; Deut, 1:17; 16:19; Prov. 24:23; 28:21. A nation’s principles are either maintained or corrupted by its judicial officials.

V. 6: A fool’s lips show that he is a fool. He says the wrong thing or speaks at the wrong time, or he says what he does in the wrong place or to the wrong person. He is like a child who does not know these wise details of speech. Consequently, he gets himself into trouble with others, and his superiors correct him severely for it.

V. 7. This verse continues the topic of v. 6. Similar passages: Prov. 10:14; 12:13; 13:3; Eccl. 10:12. The fact that such behavior can imperil a person’s very life, shows the serious destruction that his speech can bring. This saying is carried twice in Proverbs (see 26:22 also), probably for a needed emphasis.

V. 8: A “gossip” is one who goes behind people’s backs in talking about them, saying things that are not in the best interests of the one being spoken about. The verse brings out the sad fact that people are willing to listen to such cowardly, wrong, ruinous talk (They are as “choice morsels”). They are swallowed without question (“they go down to the inmost parts”).

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The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Don Merritt

Luke 16:19-31

It is very important to remember that this parable follows without any breal whatever the Parable of the Unwise Namager. As a consequence, the context in this passage is the same as in our last parable. Here, Jesus is taking His teaching another step forward for His listeners, the Parisees and teachers of the law. At the end of the last parable, they had sneered at Him, and He reminded them of how they manipulated the Law concerning divorce for their own profit, and began another parable…

Lazarus was poor and destitute; he had nothing in this world other than severe hunger and sores. The rich man was loaded and lived the life of luxury and plenty. Lazarus begged at the rich man’s gate but received nothing. As the story goes, they both died…

Lazarus was gathered to Abraham’s side, while the rich man went to torment. There was a great chasm between them, but the rich man could see Abraham and Lazarus in the distance; who was the beggar now? The upshot of the story is that there is no way to send aid to the tormented rich man, and Lazarus will not be going back from the dead to warn his brothers to change their ways. There is great justice in this, for the rich man had been blessed with much in his lifetime and now felt the torment Lazarus had felt during his life; their roles had been reversed and the scales of justice were even. The rich man and his brothers had all been able to follow the teachings of Moses and the prophets (the Scriptures) but were living in negligent disregard of them. If they would not listen to the Scriptures, they won’t listen to anyone, and the brothers’ fates will be just like that of the rich man.

I must add that we should resist the temptation to take this as teaching about heaven and hell, and thus miss the point. This is a parable, not an historical account; it is not a teaching about heaven and hell.

The rich man represents lovers of money and wealth, such as the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They might have a grand time in this life; wealth, position, power, influence and self-righteousness, but in the end, they will come to ruin for their folly. As in the last parable, the very part the Pharisees sneered at, they refused to use the assets they had been given for God’s purposes. There were desperate needs all around them and they ignored those needs, and basked in luxury, which is to say that they could not be trusted with “little”.

In the Kingdom, we will be co-heirs with Christ to everything. If we cannot be trusted with “little” in this life, we won’t be trusted with “much” in the Kingdom: This is the warning Jesus is giving to those Pharisees and teachers of the law.

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Promoting Restraint

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Don Merritt

If imposing a fine on the innocent is not good,
    surely to flog honest officials is not right.

The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint,
    and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.

Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent,
    and discerning if they hold their tongues.

Proverbs 17:26-28

These last three verses of chapter 17 promote restraint. They do so in our actions, in our temperament and in our speech. If you stop and think about it, we all know that the people we respect, that we consider to be wise and laudable all have the traits advocated in our verses. Sadly, they are all too rare these days, and perhaps in any time.  In these days, when people are incredibly rude in social media, saying thigs they probably would not dare to say in person, it is very easy to slip into a habit of being uncivil… most especially in the arena of politics, where appearing to be intelligent was once a prized attribute.

It is surely a sad state of affairs.

Yet we do not need to become part of the current trends, for in Christ we have overcome the world around us, and have both the freedom and strength to resist taking upon ourselves the characteristics of fools.

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Finding Shelter

Posted on March 15, 2026 by Don Merritt
maine

Where can we find shelter?

In modern life, people seek shelter and refuge in many places, for instance many seek it in money and possessions.  Others might seek it in a relationship with a loved one, while others might seek it in their careers or professions… Some might even try to find refuge in drugs or drink.

None of these can really protect us from much, for the things of men will perish after a season.  Despite this grim reality, shelter and refuge are available for anyone who seeks them; we need only to seek them in the right place.

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 91:1-2

Do we seek the shelter of God?

Will we dwell in His ways, walk His path and do His will? I’d have to say this is an important question, for in our answer lies our destiny.  If we answer “no” there will be no place to take refuge, but if we answer “yes” our security is assured now and forever.

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