“He who kills time, kills himself… for time is what life is made of.” Dad said, “To preachers, orators, and young lovers, time is but an illusion.” Yet to all of us, time is very important. How many of us would not give all we have, for more time? Maybe a “do-over.” Jesus said, “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4). Someone said, “Everything comes to the one who waits, except the time lost in waiting.” Killing time, wasting time… is slow suicide.
We only have a little time on this earth. If you are thirty years old, (all going well), you have approximately 8,000 days left to live with modern medicines and advancements. If you are forty years old, that becomes 6,000. If you are fifty, that leaves you with 4,000 days. Modern advancements in medicine, exercise, healthy living of course may give more time, and hopefully a quality of life. Solomon said, “Teach us to number our days so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.”
“The clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power
To tell just when the hands will stop
At late or early hour.”
Now is the only time you have… Live, love, toil with a will to accomplish. Place no faith in tomorrow.
“Be very careful then, how you live – not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17). The King James Bible says, “redeeming the time”, which literally means to “buy up opportunities.”
The ancient Greeks saw “opportunity” as a “half-bald-headed” woman. You may grab her by the hair as she comes, but cannot when she comes back and passes you again.
The Hebrews writer says to Christians… “GROW UP!” You should be more advanced, to the point that you can teach others. Lazy Christians who want only to be spoon fed with a spiritual milk bottle instead of growing to the point where they can handle ‘meat’, are wasting time (Hebrews 5:11-14). Here are some more phrases in Hebrews which encourage us to GROW UP, and quit wasting time… “Pay more careful attention” (Hebrews 2:1), “Fix your thoughts on Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1), “Do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:8, 15), “Be careful” (Hebrews 4:1), “Hold firmly to the faith we profess” (Hebrews 4:14), “Approach the throne of grace with confidence” (Hebrews 4:10). Jesus did not waste time! He “learned” and he “became” (Hebrews 5:7-10). He accomplished his mission in about THREE YEARS (or about 1,095 days).
Time is opportunity! Opportunity to learn, to grow, to become, to do, to encourage, to save, to teach… There is nothing we can do about time past except cherish memories, learn lessons. Today we can come to Jesus for the gift of his grace to deal with the past that haunts us. What should we do about tomorrow? If you get a ‘tomorrow’… don’t waste it!

Home life was fun! Dad liked to surprise us and do things on the ‘spur of the moment’. For example he liked to go to watch the planes come in. Occasionally dad took us to a dead end street located near the end of a run-way at the former Dallas Love Field Airport. He would park the car and we would get out and sit on the hood of the car and wait and watch. “Where’s the plane, dad?” we asked impatiently. It wasn’t long before he would say, “Here one comes now”. He pointed at what seemed a gigantic airplane coming in to land. “Hey dad, isn’t that plane coming in to low?!” The giant plane seemed to be floating, as it came in. The noise, as it passed over was loud. (I think this is one reason dad later needed hearing-aides.)
Dad loved doing this, especially as they got bigger. He learned as much as he could about flying, and eventually with his “Three Unusual Days” ministry, he became a ‘million-mile-flyer’. He explained to us, the principles of flight, which we didn’t understand. We just loved to go watch the planes come in. We asked him how something so big, so heavy, could fly. Dad simply said, “It’s what they are made to do.”
Later in life, I worked at Timco as an Interior Mechanic and had an up-close and personal look at how planes fly. When a plane came in for a ‘D-check’ for example, we would take everything out of the plane… even the floor! Everything was ‘tagged’ and ‘bagged’ and put on shelves. Everything was then inspected, cleaned and repaired or replaced, inspected again, put back on the plane, inspected again. The push to do a high quality job and be on time was and still is the challenge. “People are depending on your work” is the motto. Our proud moment was always when at the end of a check, the plane was rolled out… clean and ready to do what it was made to do… FLY.
What are we ‘made to do’? The choices are endless. Sin and its consequences teach us what we are NOT made for.
What are we ‘made to do’? 1) To glorify God. “That God in all things may be glorified” (1 Pet. 4:11). The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31). Sin however, makes this impossible… on our own (Romans 3:9-10; 6:26). God’s love came and ‘walked among us’ in Jesus (John 1:12-14; 3:16). All so we could once and forever understand and enjoy what we are made for… 2) To enjoy a relationship with God through Jesus (Romans 5:8-10; 8:1). 3) Have a home in heaven! Planes are not made to ‘sit on the ground’… we are not made for sin’.

This is why believers say, “I am heaven bound.” The question now is, are you heaven bound? Want to learn more about Jesus? Send me an email… Let’s study!

I was watching “Outnumbered” on Fox News, and they were discussing children getting an ‘allowance’.
A survey which had been taken revealed that the average parent surveyed was giving their children about $1360.00 per year, which is $113.00 per month or $28.00 per week or $4.00 per day as an allowance!!! Some were paying their children $20.00 for every “A” on their report cards.
I remember when I was a teen, dad was making $164.00 per week! As a teenager, we were cleaning up our rooms, making our beds, washing and drying dishes in the evening, cutting the grass and cleaning up the garage, helping plant gardens, helping mom with the dusting, and vacuuming, ironing our clothes and putting away our clothes… or just helping out. It was expected.
What was our allowance? TWENTY FIVE CENTS a week! Back then when gasoline was .50 per gallon and a new Chevrolet Impala was $3500.00, TWENTY FIVE CENTS was pretty good! We never thought of ‘going on strike. We never claimed we were mistreated… but then Eddie, the youngest brother did say, “I want to appeal the Supreme Court.” (Dad told him, “I’m IT son.”) We didn’t say, “You know dad… 3% inflation is eating away at this quarter… we think we deserve more!” $4.00 per day, would have been a major bill for mom and dad. He would have said, “Take it or leave it!” Now one day dad did ‘open the books’ and ask, “How much do you pay for Room and Board? Food? Clothing? Toys? Shoes?” “Nothing” was our answer. Then he said, “So be grateful for what you have and get, and help out!”
Dad wrote a small book called, “How to handle your parents.” One of the chapters is entitled, “Demand your rights”. He points out that kids have the RIGHT to DEMAND that parents allow them to help around the house, make beds, clean rooms, wash dishes etc… and just help carry their weight. Parents have responsibilities… and kids will never learn to be responsible, unless they are taught and allowed to help out.
Times and things have changed… but some things don’t. The dollar isn’t worth what it used to be. Allowances are fine, but don’t try and buy your children’s respect or obedience. We never thought of ourselves as in a position to demand it. We RESPECTED mom and dad, and learned early to say “PLEASE” and “THANK YOU”. We learned to APPRECIATE what we were given… especially our TWENTY FIVE CENTS.
I don’t know how much it cost mom and dad to raise us. A recent survey said the ANNUAL cost for raising a child in 2012 was $12,500 – $14,500, which equals about $225,000.00 over 18 years. You could build a nice house for that! All I know is, I owe mom and dad no matter how old I get… I’ll always be grateful for their love and care.
Paul said, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (I Thessalonians 5:18).

Having said all this, one then asks the question, “Since I have been through divorce, and am remarried, how do I proceed from here?”

1.) I want to be clear here, in that all sin is forgivable through the blood of Jesus. The need to Christians is to repent and pray. Stop doing what you have done. In this case, stop divorcing and remarrying. You are married now, right? So here are five things to at least begin with to determine. (1) YOU ARE NUMBER ONE IN MY LIFE! (2) I ACCEPT YOU AS YOU ARE – NO NEED TO CHANGE – BE YOURSELF (3) I WILL NOT MAKE A MORAL JUDGEMENT AGAINST YOU (4) YOUR FEELINGS ARE YOUR FEELINGS AND YOU ARE FREE TO HAVE THEM (5) I WILL NOT DIVORCE YOU – EVER (YOU ARE SAFE). Here we begin, and move forward in the grace of God.

2.) The is no need to try and unscramble the eggs, or have another divorce to try and un-do the past… Adultery cannot be un-done, it can only be stopped and forgiven.

3.) Grow in your understanding of how GRACE WORKS. Study, study, study… We have much on this subject here on this web site.

4.) Forgive yourself since God has forgiven you… now TRUST HIM.

5.) Go where Christians meet regularly, who also understand God’s grace.

6.) Work at building a strong, wonderful marriage…

7.) Do not let anyone convince you that the only way to heaven for you is through divorcing again and or living celibate.

8.) Consider another web site with much more indepth study on this subject, www.olanhicks.com.

9.) Practice B.E.S.T. principles. (1) BLESS your spouse (Never allow anyone to run your spouse down in your presence PERIOD! (2) EDIFY your spouse. This means build them up. Encourage them. Even in times where you get angry or your spouse gets angry, work at not allowing anger to have it’s way with you. Paul says, “Don’t let Satan gain a foothold.” (3) SHARE with your spouse. Feelings and fears, hurts etc… need to be shared if possible. It helps to bring you closer. (4) TOUCH each other. This does not mean purely sexually. Sex is good in marriage for sure, but this means just holding hands, or a gentle touch… It means a lot.

10.) Pray, and thank God for His mercy, love and grace… You are heaven bound… not because you are great or perfect… but because He is GOOD, LOVING, MERCIFUL, GRACIOUS…. and FORGIVING.

11.) Determine you will not abuse this grace from now one.

Divorce hurts… it is sin… sin is always involved in divorce in some way. I know how it feels to hurt God and others… but God’s love and grace is there for you. Now Grow! Don’t look back…

(“Whoever finds this… I love you!”)

(I encourage you to re-read Part One on this subject before reading this article.)

Is it true, as one preacher said to one lady, “You have been married too many times to be saved”? Ours is a troubled world, yet not wholly unusual when you consider the situation in which Christianity began. Another lady I spoke with recently said that she “had been through two divorces and one annulment… She said further, that she would not want to be a part of a church that was harsh on those who had been through divorce.” Now, in all honesty, today it is not hard to change churches when one gets upset or disagrees. The idea is not to hunt and pick for a church that agrees with you. It’s nice to find of course, but the real concern should be to find a group of believers who understand how grace works with sin.

Regarding the key passage in this subject… many have made the mistake of changing what the actual sin in Matthew 19:9 is. Instead of accepting what the text says, that adultery is committed in the two acts of putting away and marrying another. Instead they say that “adultery” is the sex act and is committed repeatedly in the subsequent marriage and therefore is a sin not repented of. Jesus was specific, in saying, a man who (1) puts away his wife, except for fornication, and (2) marries another, “commits adultery”.

The change originated historically with the Roman Catholic Council of Trent (16th century). They ruled that marriage is a “sacrament” and is UNBREAKABLE. Thus the divorced person is still married to the first spouse (in the eyes of God) and the next marriage is “an adulterous relationship.” This contradicts the Bible text. Matthew 19:6b says significantly, “LET NOT” not “CANNOT”. This is not pointed out to make excuses for people, or encourage sin… God forbid!  It is simply what the Bible says. (Familiar passages need to be studied again more carefully.)

It is important to understand… man’s theories, opinions and councils cannot over rule the word of God. The facts stand as the Bible states them. Jesus says, adultery occurs when a man is unfaithful or disloyal in putting away his innocent wife and marries another. In Mark 10:11, Jesus says that man who does this “commits adultery against her.” So He was talking about a sin committed AGAINST the wife put away, not a sin committed WITH the next wife.

Asking if adultery can be STOPPED, is not the same as asking “Can the adultery be UNDONE?” No, it cannot be undone. Yes it can be stopped. Any sin can be and should be repented of … forgiven… and not repeated in the future. The only answer to it is repentance and a change of behavior. Forgiveness is by God’s grace. When God said “I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and lawless deed I will remember no more,” and then His word gives examples where this particular sin was forgiven in that way, there is no reason to have any more questions or doubts about the matter. Adultery is a forgivable sin.

If one who was divorced, has now become one who is committed to one mate for life and is penitent about his former sins, that person has come from the wrong way… to God’s way. Such a person can rest assured that God will keep His promise to forgive. Understand, there will NOT be anyone in hell whom God has forgiven.

For those outside Christ, who come to Jesus by faith, repenting of sins, and are immersed into Christ (Acts 2:38-39), are forgiven of every sin (by grace). Christians, who sin, must repent and pray, and rest in His grace.

There is no evidence in the New Testament, that people were required to DIVORCE AGAIN to show proof of repentance. Grow in his grace.

Does God’s GRACE cover (a) ALL (b) SOME (c) IT DEPENDS ON WHICH ONE (d) NONE, of our sins?

To understand our subject we must keep God’s grace in mind. VITAL PRINCIPLE: “If you push any truth to an extreme, and isolate or emphasize it over other truths, it results in a loss of Biblical balance, and falls under its own weight.” “Once saved always saved” is no more correct (although certainly more attractive) than “once saved never saved or maybe saved”. One often leads to being overly confident and the other leads to no confidence at all.

VITAL QUESTION: “Is there more grace for those coming to Christ than for those who are “in Christ”? God doesn’t save us “by grace through faith” and then give us a Bible with the words, “GOOD LUCK- YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN” inscribed on the inside cover!

When it comes to ‘grace’ we need to realize that it is a divine concept, not a human concept. Thus we really do not fully understand God’s grace. We do have His word however to help us understand as much as we can. Needless to say, man often thinks of grace as UNFAIR (Matthew 20:1-16).

Grace means ‘undeserved favor’ and God’s power to become, to grow. Yet grace is often not appreciated, until seen in the light of our own sins. The answer to the sin problem is not more hell fire and damnation preachers who ignore grace…nor do we need more grace preachers who ignore sin… we need preachers who know how these fit and work together! Without Sin, grace would not be needed. Without grace, sin would be unbearable and result in hopelessness.

The specific application of grace is seen in God’s word. Here we see real confidence is found in grace and the promises of God, not in our ability to keep God’s commands perfectly.

God includes both grace and law in His New Covenant offer to man. We have to keep both in mind. “I will put my laws in their minds and will write them on their hearts” (Hebrews 8:10). His laws are immutable, and provide important, necessary guidelines (while law keeping does not save), grace/faith does. God then says, “And I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12). This “mercy” and “forgiveness” is just as immutable as His laws.

We understand that God says breaking marriage (divorce) is sin. But we also need to know specifically what His mercy and grace says about forgiveness and the sin of adultery as with other sins.

Consider David and his adultery with Bathsheba in addition to murder and efforts to cover-up his sins (2 Samuel 11 & 12). When David acknowledged his sin and showed repentance Nathan said to him, “The Lord has put away your sin.” (2 Sam. 12:13). Legalism cries, NOT FAIR! The Bible still reads the same however!

Remember the adulterous woman who was brought before Jesus? The religious leaders asked Jesus “What do you say?” His statement to her was “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” Legalism cries NOT FAIR! The scriptures still read the same way! You can’t get more specific than that. She is pardoned and told to stop committing the sin of adultery.

The accusation comes, “You’re just trying to fill the church with adulterers.” Well, the wake up come when you read about the next example… In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, a list of sins is given and the third one on the list is “adulterers”. Then the text says, “Such were some of you but you were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” Legalism cries, NOT FAIR! Yet, it still reads the way it reads. What cleansed these brethren was and continues to be, the blood of Christ. This is the power of grace to one who comes to Jesus… Paul, tells these Christians, they had been forgiven of through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus says all sins can be forgiven except what the religious leaders were doing in Mark 3:23-30 (Read it and see.)