Good morning and happy Saturday. Time to go to the grocery store and get them vittles. Thanksgiving is almost upon us.
Our Community Thanksgiving meal last Wednesday was a huge success. We had a lot of people attend, quite a few visitors, and many wonderful volunteers helping out. Thank you to everyone that provided food and/or helped make the event go so well.
Michelle and I were at the grocery store the other day picking up a few items. As we wandered aimlessly up and down the aisles a display caught my attention. It was at least five shelves high and it was filled with box after box of delicious salted nut rolls. Seriously, there were at least 150 boxes on this particular display of nutritional indulgence. From the frontside, I could clearly see around 50 bright red boxes. Each one was clearly marked 2 for $ 1 in bright yellow to contrast the red box. Obviously, that is a small price to pay for such a scrumptious treat. But wait, it only gets better. The store had sweetened the deal by posting a sign that declared they were now on sale. The new price….wait for it….3 for $ 1. Clearly, they must have just put that sign up or they were doing a good job re-stocking the shelves. I couldn’t believe people weren’t shoving each other out of the way to grab them like they do at Costco when they offer free samples of cod on a stick or garlic-chili-lime-siracha-mint chocolate chip mouthwash. As I stood there in awe, debating whether to liquidate my retirement account and buy the entire stock, I noticed something else on the sign. It said, “You save $ 1.97.” Having worked with numbers all of my life, I was a bit confused. If they were originally 2 for $ 1 and then they made them 3 for $ 1, it seems to me that you save 50 cents. It has been awhile (ok, a really long while) since I have been in high school, so I reached out to Drew Tucker to see if this was some formula from new math or something. He confirmed that the savings was only 50 cents. Of course, this would only be true if the store was honoring what was on the package and they had been selling them for 50 cents each. However, if they had been taking them out of the original display boxes then they could have been pricing them at 99 cents each. Thus, the saving would be $ 1.97.
Sometimes, it seems like it takes sleight of hand or the use of fuzzy math to derive at the numbers retailers, politicians, and the media often report (sadly, some religious institutions as well). We have politicians running for office that promise free health care, free college education and free puppies to get your vote. Ok, maybe not the free puppies but just because they haven’t thought of that yet. Anyway, they do so with all the math worked out and it won’t cost anyone anything. One proposal I saw recently was to tax the income of the wealthy at over 100%. That seems to be a bit of a demotivator. Fortunately, I won’t fall in that bracket (or is that racket?). All around the world, there is now more than 17 trillion dollars (which would buy a lot of salted nut rolls by the way, regardless of the price) all on deposit at negative interest rates. Some use the term “earning” negative interest. I am not sure that is very accurate. People and institutions are literally paying banks a small fee to hold their money. Actually, they don’t hold it. A lot of it they lend out exponentially under the fractional banking system so that they can earn money on the money that they are being paid to hold. Strange days indeed.
Sometimes we use fuzzy math in our own personal budgets. We fool ourselves into thinking we don’t spend much on items like coffee or fast food. However, if you do the math, it can be quite a bit. Just $ 5 per day for the work week throughout the year equals $ 1300 ($ 5 x 5 days x 52). I’m not saying we shouldn’t buy these things, I am just saying it adds up if you do the math. Anyway, as fun as this had been, there is a number that cannot be changed and is clear in Scripture.
Our salvation is in Jesus and only Jesus. It is not the cross plus the good works we can do or anything like that. It is in Christ alone through faith alone.
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
27 Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. (Philippians 1:27, HCSB).
The world will always try to deceive you, trying to get you to believe things that are not true. They will use many tactics. Everything from outright lies, to subtle deception and inuendo. Never forget, the devil is good at his job. That is why we must be anchored to the truth, the truth of God’s Word.
I hope to see you tomorrow. Be blessed.
Pastor Larry
0 Comments