Precious Words

Evangelist D. L. Moody had just started preaching a sermon on Galatians 6:7 when a man in the audience stood up and shouted, "I don't believe it." In 2005 scientists germinated a date palm seed that was recovered from Herod the Great's palace atop Masada in the Judean wilderness--making it around 2,000 years old. And a 1,300-year-old lotus seed recovered from China was germinated in 1995.* These remarkable examples of preservation, however, are more the exception than the rule. Seed companies today don't normally guarantee the viability of their seed for more than a few years. Lots of things determine the quality of a harvest: the quality of the seed, the number of seeds sown, the quality of the soil, and the amounts of moisture and nutrients provided. And the same is true with spiritual harvest. God's laws of the harvest apply to the sowing we perform. If our seeds are our good works, our financial investments, our prayers, our study, and our service and wor

There's an ancient parable, "The Monkey's Fist," that teaches a profound lesson. Native tribes would catch monkeys by hollowing out coconuts, filling them with bait, then tethering them to trees to lure the monkeys. When the monkey reached into the small opening in the coconut, his hand fit. But once his fist was full of the bait, he couldn't retrieve it--the monkey was trapped. The lesson for all of us is that the coconut was not the monkey's undoing, but rather his greedy unwillingness to let go of the bait. I know a lot of people like that. They clutch their material possessions so tightly in the attitude of their hearts that worry handicaps them, negatively impacting their faith, their family and friends, and their future. If only they would put God first, giving Him what belongs to Him--their time, talents, and treasures--then they could quit worrying about their future. If you are grasping something tightly right now, you're in a trap and need to rel