Paul Sums Up

Posted on July 30, 2025 by Don Merritt

1 Corinthians 15:50-59

Paul completes the section on resurrection in these 10 verses with what is essentially a recap of the entire section. Verse 50 is the transition:

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Read this slowly! Only the “imperishable” can inherit the Kingdom of God. Notice that he did not say that only the imperishable can enter the Kingdom; that is a point that has caused just a bit of confusion and argument over the years to be sure. We enter the Kingdom as mortal humans by receiving God’s awesome grace and entering into relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, we live today as citizens of His Kingdom on the earth. As such we are destined for much greater things in Christ upon His return: We live today as His co-heirs, but we haven’t yet inherited everything. That will occur upon His return. When He returns…

Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

1 Corinthians 15:51-55 cf. Hosea 16:14

Upon Jesus’ return the dead are raised imperishable, and those alive are transformed… Simple.

Well, maybe not as simple as it should have been; Paul will need to correct a whole new batch of misunderstandings in due course. He went on to explain, in verses 56-57 that the sting of death is sin, and sin’s power comes from the law, but that has been dealt with by Christ. Finally, Paul concludes:

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (15:59)

It was as though he were simply telling them that since they have such an amazing future to look forward to, they should stand firmly together and dedicate themselves to the Lord’s work, secure in the knowledge that whatever this life might throw at them, their work in the Lord had a great purpose, and their labors would not be in vain. I would suggest to you, that the message for us is exactly the same.

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Real Faith

Posted on July 30, 2025 by Don Merritt

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.

Philippians 1:18b-26

Have you ever wanted to see what real faith looks like? Read this passage!

As he waits for his trial, knowing fully that the likely verdict will be death, he believes that his situation will result in his deliverance; either way.  He believes that even should he die, that he will not be “ashamed” and that he will have the courage to exalt Christ in his body.  You can see the connection he makes between “ashamed” on the one hand and “courage” on the other.  If he is sentenced to die, he will walk to the execution with his head held high as one who is looking forward to being with Christ.

Then comes that famous verse, verse 21: For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 

Just look at what troubles him; he is having a hard time deciding which is better; life or death.  If he lives on in the body, he will have much work to do for the cause of Christ, but if he is to die in the body, he will be with Christ.  What a choice!  He would rather be with Christ and away from this life, and yet he seems to think that maybe it would be better for everyone else if he remains alive a while longer so that he may continue to mentor them in the faith.

Let’s think about this, pray about this, and reflect.  This was no hypothetical question for Paul; it was very real.  What was his primary concern?  It was to continue the glorious work of Christ here on earth so that many would come to salvation. Paul was 100% motivated by God’s purpose.  How does this strike you?

How does this strike me?  To be honest about it, it’s a little embarrassing.  How often do I think I need a “break”? How often do I hesitate because I don’t want to tick anybody off, or because I don’t want to look foolish…?  Could I look death square in the eye and not blink?

I’ll get back to you on that.

Yes, dear reader, this passage is one for deep reflection and self-examination.  Here’s the question to ask:

“Is God speaking to me in this text?”

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The Resurrected Body

Posted on July 29, 2025 by Don Merritt

1 Corinthians 15:35-44a

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. (15:35-38)

Having covered the issue of whether or not there is a resurrection, Paul now moves on to a related resurrection issue; will we be resurrected just as we are, or will we be different? In these verses, Paul is making the point that there are many different kinds of bodies, which although obvious, isn’t really something we usually think about. He begins his discussion with a metaphor, this time of a seed. You plant a seed and God causes the seed to grow into whichever kind of plant the seed came from; each type is different. Yet, you don’t plant the plant, you plant its seed.

When we die, our mortal remains are like the seed of a plant; what comes forth from the grave is like the plant itself. It came from what was “planted” but is much grander than the seed it came from.

In 15:39-41 he mentions that there are different kinds of bodies. There are human bodies, animal bodies, fish and birds; they are all different. There are also earthly bodies and heavenly bodies, each of which has its own kind of “splendor”, just as the sun and the moon each has its own kind of splendor.

Paul is ready to zero in on his point…

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. (12:42-44a)

When we are raised from the dead, we will be different, and just as a plant is grander than its seed, so our resurrection bodies will be grander than our earthly bodies− that much is easy enough to understand, but what exactly is a “spiritual body”?

Hold on… isn’t “spiritual body” an oxymoron?

That’s a fair question. To find an answer to the question, we do have an example to examine, and as usual, our example is found in Christ Himself. Jesus has already been raised up from the dead; He is the firstfruit of the Resurrection.

Did He rise from the grave imperishable? Yes.

Did He rise from the grave in glory? Yes.

Did He rise from the grave in power? Yes.

Did He rise from the grave in a spiritual body? We could put this a different way, couldn’t we? We could say “Therefore, He rose from the grave in a spiritual body” instead, but I haven’t put it that way because there is additional evidence to consider.

We know that Jesus had a physical body after the resurrection because good old “doubting Thomas” wanted to touch it before he was convinced that Jesus actually rose from the grave, and that is exactly what he did. We also know that Jesus had a physical body because up there in Galilee He not only cooked fish, but he ate them; you need a physical body for both of those activities, don’t you? So, let’s think about the resurrection story some more…

When the women first went to the tomb early in the morning, they saw the stone rolled away, but they didn’t see Jesus… and then He was there. The followers of Jesus were together in a locked room… and then Jesus was there. Two disciples were walking along the road alone, and then Jesus was there. The disciples were talking with Jesus, and suddenly He began to rise up into heaven.

Physical bodies as we understand them cannot do any of these things, can they? Jesus arose from the dead in bodily form, but He had a different kind of a body, just as Paul has been saying in this passage. Yes, it was a spiritual body, and I don’t know about you, but I am really looking forward to that particular upgrade!

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

1 Corinthians 15:44b-49

With this paragraph, Paul expands on his message to the Corinthians about our resurrection spiritual bodies. In doing so, he has moved beyond seeds and plants, and people and other creatures, for now he is explaining how we will be able to move entirely beyond the earthly into the heavenly, thanks to what Jesus has done on the cross. Oh yes dear reader, you’ve heard me correctly.

You will recall Paul’s discussion of the gospel earlier in this chapter, and how it centered around the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We as Christians often speak of grace and the forgiveness of sins, and often in doing so we can go on and on for quite some time. Yet in these few verses, Paul has taken us far beyond the building block of forgiveness and God’s grace, and into our ultimate futures which is glorious beyond measure, and reading this passage, we have a little introduction to something that glory has in store for us that isn’t often talked about.

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Spiritual Fruit

Posted on July 29, 2025 by Don Merritt

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

When a person gives his or her life to God, certain things begin to happen, maybe slowly at first, sometimes these things are subtle to begin with, but they happen. The more we open ourselves to Him, the more we surrender to Him, the deeper these changes will go, and our new lives begin to bear fruit.

The basis of the Christian life is love. Love of God, love of our neighbor, love for the lonely and for the unlovable, and love even when others let us down. When love begins to dominate our outlook on life, we start to experience the joy that comes from God’s presence, the joy of having set aside the negative aspects of our former ways such as anger, jealousy and so on, which then brings us peace like we’ve never had it before.

Forbearance means patience, which is surely not everyone’s strongest attribute, that is, until we live according to the ways of God’s love. Impatience begins to fade as we come to realize that it really serves no other purpose than to make us miserable. With patience comes kindness, and with kindness comes goodness; this should come with no surprise, and then we have faithfulness, which means fidelity: we keep our promises and we do not cheat or deceive.

Gentleness and self-control then appear, and with these two, preceded by the others, we become very much like our blessed Lord Jesus, who embodied all of these fruits of the Spirit.

A fruit of the Spirit does not come about as a result of human effort or achievement. Instead, they are the products of a life-force within us, and that life-force is the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. He gives us life, and strength, and discernment, and growth as we allow Him to do. Thus, we can say that maybe there is one sort of effort required of us after all. We must surrender ourselves and our lives to Him, and then stay out of His way.

I don’t know about you, but I find that keeping out of His way is the tough part for me, since my natural self tends to take charge of things. Yet even so, I remind myself that spiritual growth is a life process, and even though life processes don’t usually run according to my schedule, they go on nevertheless.

May God continue to bless you, and guide and lead all of us to live as He would have us live.

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Paul Begins to Wrap Up His Argument

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Don Merritt

Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord.If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

1 Corinthians 15:29-34

Reading this passage, one might have the impression that Paul is going for the kill in dealing with the issues relating to the resurrection that he has been discussing in this section. We might even detect the presence of a bit of ad hominem here. An argument is said to be ad hominem when a person attacks another person instead of that person’s position on an issue. In our time, we should be quite familiar with ad hominem attacks, for the entire political world is engaged in such tactics. Just turn on any cable news station this afternoon, and you will see examples of this. If someone attacks you for your faith, saying you are “deluded, deranged and dangerous”, you have just received an ad hominem attack.

An ad hominem argument is a logical fallacy, and if this paragraph was all that Paul wrote on the issue in 1 Corinthians, it would’ve been a fallacious argument. However, in this case, after having addressed the actual issue very thoroughly, Paul is really using it as a sort of wake-up call for any remaining holdouts to really consider how poor their arguments against the resurrection are.

He begins with a practice of being baptized for the dead. Read his words carefully and ask yourself if he was endorsing the practice.

Hardly!

We might even infer that whoever was doing this was also promoting the no resurrection point of view: It sounds an awful lot like ridicule to me.

Look at vv. 30-32 in which Paul puts forth a comparison and contrast between his constant danger of being arrested and/or killed for preaching the gospel, and the whole notion of “eat, drink and be merry”. If there was no hope of a resurrection, why would he and those with him expose themselves to such danger? If there is no resurrection, there could be no judgement or eternity, and if that were true, why not eat, drink and be merry?

He winds up this part of the discussion by calling on everyone to set aside such nonsense and to be sensible on the subject. Instead of spreading such ridiculous thinking, they should be spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, and just to be clear about everything, yes, he was trying to shame them.

I can’t help but wonder how our reactions to such teaching would compare to Paul’s.

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What Counts Most of All

Posted on July 28, 2025 by Don Merritt

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Philippians 1:15-18a

Paul has been telling the Philippians that he is rejoicing because as a result of his imprisonment the gospel is being preached in Rome, and now he continues his thoughts on that subject. It would seem that there are people who are preaching the gospel with impure motives, that they would like to stir up trouble for Paul.  He hasn’t told us exactly how this would happen for him, so I will leave the speculation to others, but let’s be honest; there are those today who preach for the wrong motives as well.

I have seen and heard of some who preach out of envy and rivalry, have you?  I have seen some who simply can’t stand the thought of anybody else serving Christ in that way, who are always afraid that someone might supplant them or their ministry.  Maybe they are afraid for their job or their position, or maybe they just have a sense of inferiority. Whatever the reason, they are only good “team players” if everyone else is on their team.  It’s sad really, for it should never be this way in the Body of believers, for all of us are on His Team!  Most that I have seen, however, serve out of goodwill.  As Paul has noted here, they serve out of love for others. As Paul put it, they know that he was put here for the defense of the gospel.  Yes, isn’t that why all of us are “put here”?

“Selfish ambition” may be a reason that many preach, thinking that they can “be somebody” by attracting followers, just as a celebrity might attract fans.  This sort of thing has no place in the church, and yet perhaps it is more common than we might like to admit.

I know about a particular case where there was a minster leading a growing church. He was doing good work, and yet like all of us, wasn’t good at everything. His leadership considered adding an “associate” to staff who was much more experienced and who could handle the areas that the minister had problems in.  When the minister heard about this, he became quite upset; all he could see was that the leaders were thinking he wasn’t doing the job right.  He felt that if they added someone to help him, the people would see him as having been rebuked in some way.  When the other guy heard of this, he removed himself from consideration, not wanting to cause any division.  Was the growth and health of that church damaged by this?  Would it have been even more vibrant had things worked out differently? We will never know; maybe that guy coming on board just wasn’t God’s plan, but I think you get the idea of what can happen… Right about now, we might want to jump on the bandwagon of condemnation and indignation, but before we do, maybe we should see how Paul reacts…

Paul recognized the situation, and while he did not endorse false motives in any way, he saw that good was coming out of it in spite of everything.  What did it matter anyway? For whatever reason, the gospel of Christ was being proclaimed, and that is the most important thing.

Have you noticed how Paul views things?  He isn’t overly concerned with his unfortunate circumstances, he isn’t overly concerned that everything isn’t always ideal, his sole concern is that the gospel of Jesus Christ goes forth so that some will be saved, that their sins may be forgiven, and that they may inherit eternal life.  I wonder, is there a lesson in this for us today?

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Stand Up

Posted on July 27, 2025 by Don Merritt

It is popular in our day and age to stand up for what you believe.  People stand up for all kinds of things from animal rights to going green, from progressive social causes to free speech…

In all of this standing up for things and causes, who is standing up for Jesus?

There seem to be a lot folks who would rather that nobody did!

Sometimes it even seems like nobody will stand up for Christ… but things are not always the way they seem.  Our brothers and sisters in Christ are standing tall for the Truth of His Word all over the globe, often in places where this is very dangerous.  People are standing up in churches and communities all over America and in other nations as well; some are even standing up for Christ on the Internet.  Yet, the truth is that standing up for Jesus isn’t always a comfortable thing to do; it can be very uncomfortable in fact.  We have all experienced it…

Have you ever found yourself in a family group or a group of friends who are into things that you know to be wrong and who will just laugh at you if you say anything?  I sure have.  They may not want to hear the truth, but they need to hear it.  They may not appreciate what you have to say, but it could be their salvation some day.  Of course, if we don’t do our talking in a loving way we’ll never get a hearing.  Consider this:

He who 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

Even when we feel a little shaky or uncomfortable, there are times when friends and family need to hear the truth stated in a loving way.  Our friends and family may not necessarily respond well at the time, but God’s Word has a way of sprouting later and taking root in a person’s life; we may share a little seed that produces fruit years later and we never even know… and yet we have played a major role in someone’s salvation.

Our shelter is in our Lord’s arms, not in our social circles, so why be shy about being Christ’s Ambassador?  There is plenty of refuge to relieve our discomfort, and lives are truly at stake.

Will we stand up for our Lord?

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Who is Sacred, Who is Not

Posted on July 26, 2025 by Don Merritt

How would you approach such a quandary as a Christian? Would you approach it as a legalist and say that a person is sacred if they have behaved themselves and done certain other things that make them “cool” in the church? Perhaps one might say that a person who is a Christian is sacred, but that the lost are not, or maybe that people who are really good are sacred, while the rest are not. Some might suggest that a person is sacred if they are a member in good standing in their particular denomination, or even that no one is sacred until they die and go to heaven.

Yet, I wonder how God looks at this; would He see it the way we do?

Maybe God would say that a person whose sins are forgiven is sacred, and those who remain in their sins are unclean…

I wouldn’t presume to tell you that I am privy to all of God’s thoughts, but I can suggest that Scripture might give us some insight on this topic that can lead us to draw some conclusions.

As we have seen many times, all humans are created by God in His image, and yes, even after sin entered the world in Genesis 3, we still bear His image. With that being the case, and the image of God being in itself sacred, we all have an element of sacredness inherent in our beings; His image. Each of us was conceived in the mind of God and created in every detail with His intentional purpose in mind with talents and gifts, not to mention intelligence as God saw fit to give, and I doubt that God is in the habit of creating that which is unclean or inherently bad.

Yet in spite of this, we make choices as we walk through life, and sooner or later each one of us makes choices that are at odds with the ways of God; some really go out on a dark extreme and make a serious mess of things. Yet even in such a dark place, distant and far from God’s presence and will, He still loved us:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

Because of God’s amazing love, He sent His Son to die for each one of us, while humanity was still in its sinful rebellion. I don’t know about you, but offhand, I can’t think of any cases in Scripture when God was said to have loved that which was evil, bad, or unclean. In fact, the second greatest commandment was that we love our neighbor as ourselves; He made no mention of our neighbor needing to be perfect first, did He?

Moreover, which of the patriarchs was so perfect? How about the great Israelite kings David and Solomon; were they perfect? No, I didn’t think so.

I would maintain that every single human being is sacred in God’s sight, not because of the way we behave, but because we were created by God in His image with a purpose that transcends this world. Of course, there are many sacred ones out there who aren’t all that attractive, and some behave in really nasty ways, in rebellion against everything God is and stands for. Yet I really don’t believe for an instant that this sad state of affairs means that they aren’t sacred in God’s sight; can you guess why that is?

Two reasons: First, they are precisely the ones Jesus gave His life to save, and second, because God has gone to all of the trouble to put you and me in this world to take the good news to such people, that they might be brought into His light. Imagine for a moment how different this world might be if more of us saw such people through God’s eyes and took our Commission more seriously.

Come to think of it, I have another question to ponder: Who grieves God’s heart more, the lost person who dwells in darkness and acts accordingly, or the Christian who dwells in the light with all of the riches of Christ at his or her disposal, but who is afraid to get their hands dirty taking the light to those dark places where so many need it so desperately?

Yes, I’ll need to ponder that one for some time…

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A Gospel Refresher

Posted on July 25, 2025 by Don Merritt

1 Corinthians 15:20-28

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (15:20)

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then the gospel would be a lie; but He did rise from the dead!

In these verses, Paul gives a gospel “refresher course” to the Corinthians, reminding them that Jesus has risen, and that in due course, so will we. He was the first, having risen to reign over the kingdom of God. He reigns today as well, in anticipation of that Great Day when He will return at the consummation of the kingdom, to put an end to all evil on the earth and to raise all who have “fallen asleep” over the centuries (15:20-25).

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For he “has put everything under his feet.” Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ.When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all. (15:26-28)

God has put every enemy under Christ’s feet; He will be the one to judge evil and death, and when this has been accomplished, God will reign over the consummated kingdom forever.

This short summary of the end of this world wasn’t placed in this chapter so that we might indulge in speculation about the details of The End. Rather, it is the conclusion of Paul’s point in the prior passage (15:12-19) in which he made the point that if there is no resurrection, our hope is all in vain. Remember, he is correcting misunderstandings about the issue of the resurrection of the dead, as well as any contentions about the resurrection of Christ.

Before we continue, I wonder how we react when people speculate in our midst about such things. To be clear, I am not referring to unbelievers, I mean people who say they follow Christ. Quite a few Christians question whether or not Jesus actually rose from the grave in bodily form, suggesting that His resurrection was more a spiritual thing, something mystical perhaps, but not physical. Even worse, some even suggest that the whole resurrection is sort of a myth, an oral tradition… or maybe something figurative.

How would we respond to that?

Paul’s reaction is found here in chapter 15− and he isn’t quite finished yet.

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Paul was All About Purpose

Posted on July 25, 2025 by Don Merritt

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

Philippians 1:12-14

Paul is in prison awaiting trial before Caesar.  He has been taken to Italy and is being guarded by the troops assigned to Caesar’s palace guard, a rather tough bunch to say the least.  Last time, we saw that Paul was there in jail writing letters, and praying, but not for himself. Unlike what you or I might be doing, Paul is in prayer of thanksgiving for those to whom he writes, for they are remaining in their faith and spreading the gospel.  In these verses, Paul reveals that he has been doing more than that.

It has “become clear” that he is in jail for Christ, so we can infer that he has been talking quite a lot as well.  It would seem that he has been speaking boldly about Christ while in jail, and that has emboldened other believers to do the same.  Caesar’s palace guard has heard all about Jesus, and the word has gotten out.  Caesar’s entire palace has heard about Christ and the gospel because Paul is being held in jail! Let’s be careful here not to over indulge in speculation; Paul didn’t say that the whole palace has become Christian, but they have heard, and that is surprising enough under the circumstances.

There has been another result, and that is the effect this has had on the Christians in the larger community. They have become fearless in their determination to spread the good news in the city of Rome.

It may be hard for us to fully comprehend how significant this was, for we live in an age of information.  It’s very easy for us to assume that by this time everyone would have heard about Jesus, but that cannot be true.  The Roman Empire did not have satellite news, 24 hour reporting, radio, internet or even newspapers; the printing press was still almost 1,500 years in the future. The only way news could be spread was by word of mouth; one person to the next.  For the gospel to travel all the way from Judea to Rome was a huge deal and Paul was spending his time in jail spreading the gospel. For those few Christians who were in Italy at this time to hear that Caesar’s palace guard were listening to the gospel meant that anyone in Rome was likely to listen, and they would have understood that this was a huge step forward.

Historical details aside, what does this say to us today?  Put yourself in Paul’s situation; would we be so bold?  Would we be able to stop feeling sorry for ourselves long enough to stay on purpose?  Do we ever stay on purpose when things aren’t going our way?  Has it even occurred to us that we should have a purpose?  

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