John 8:12

Making decisions in the dark can lead to some regrettable consequences. Back in the days before electricity, a tightfisted old farmer was taking his hired man to task for carrying a lighted lantern when he went to call on his best girl. “Why,” he exclaimed, “when I went a-courtin’ I never carried one of them things, I always went in the dark.” “Yes,” the hired man said, wryly, “and look at what you got!”

Some people change their ways when they see the light, others only when they feel the heat.

The problem in our society today is not that we don’t have Christmas.  In fact, we seem to have Christmas everywhere and for a long time.  Well before Thanksgiving you can begin to hear the music, the bells, and the endless television commercials.  It seems that everywhere you look, you see Christmas advertised in newspapers, on radio, television, and in every store across the land.

Our problem is not that we don’t have Christmas but increasingly it is a Christmas minus Christ.  We have the celebration, but the celebration has gradually edged Jesus completely out.  In fact, there are people who are attempting to gradually remove any mention of Jesus – Whom, by the way, is the Source of the joy and power of Christmas.

Do you ever find yourself wishing you had the courage to say what you really mean; instead of toning down what you mean; saying what you think deep in your heart, without censoring or sanitizing it to make it more palatable for people?

Did you ever think about your last words just before you die?  What do you consider to be the most important words in which to use your final breath in this earthly life? 

The Letter of 2 Timothy has often been thought of as Paul’s letter from death row. These were Paul’s final thoughts from his Roman prison to his beloved pupil Timothy.

Some people have the mistaken notion that a Christian should be nothing but sweet, mild, and nice.  Christians do not have to finish last. They do not have to be doormats.

In Nehemiah 4, Sanballat and Tobiah, the Ammonite official of chapter 2, verse 19, returned with more trouble. This time, Sanballat laughed at the Jews, ridiculed their rebuilding project before it reached the halfway stage, and returned later with more trouble when the wall was near completion.

Israel's enemies labeled them feeble, called their city a dump, and described their work as inferior.  How did Nehemiah respond?  Nehemiah was still nice but never to a fault.  He never allowed people to walk all over him and he did not back down when he and others with him were at risk, in danger, or being threatened.  Note also that Nehemiah did not pick a fight or start a shouting match.  He immediately brought the matter before God, quickly organized the Israelites to take action, and aggressively overcame the threat of their enemies.

We could take some great advice from Nehemiah's example.

Have you ever had the experience in which something was going on that was not right, or something was happening that you disagreed with but you just left it alone and walked away, only to later be bothered by your thoughts, thinking, "I should have said something and spoke up for what was right or for the truth"? Or maybe have you been in a situation in which you were being attacked by others, and people that you thought would speak up and say something on your behalf just remained silent trying to avoid eye contact with you.

Next Thursday, across America, families will gather around the table for a wonderful meal and people will give thanks.  Most will not have a true understanding of the Thanksgiving holiday, or what they are thankful for except that it is a day off from work with lots of food to eat.

The first Thanksgiving began with a group who joined together in the early part of the 1600's. It was a time when King James I was on the throne in England and the Church of England, under his authority, persecuted anyone who did not recognize its absolute civil and spiritual authority, including a state church which was known to hunt down, imprison and even execute those who believed in freedom of religion.