Guy E. Wood

Do Good. Do Well. Honor God.

Guy's Blog

10 Propositions About Time

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Illuminated lighthouse on a rocky outcropping at night, with the title of this post superimposed onto it -- 10 Propositions About Time. Guy's Blog and GuyEWood.com.
  1. Time is a precious commodity.
  2. Time can be neither bought nor sold.
  3. Time cannot be reproduced or repeated.
  4. Time cannot be duplicated; every moment is unique to itself.
  5. Time affects us all.
  6. Once time is past, it’s gone forever.
  7. Worrying about wasting time or the time we’ve wasted is, in and of itself, a waste of time.
  8. We can make the most of our time or the least of our time, but we cannot make time.
  9. Time passes, despite the presence or lack of activity.
  10. There’s no time like the present and there’s no present like the time.

Use the gift of your time wisely, my friend.

How the Holy Spirit Helps Christians

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Lighthouse on rocky peninsula with blog post title in foreground -- How the Holy Spirit Helps Christians

Among many other things, the Holy Spirit who dwells within God’s elect:

  • Teaches (John 14:26)
  • Convicts (John 16:7-8)
  • Empowers (Acts 1:8)
  • Encourages (Romans 15:13)
  • Intercedes (Romans 8:26)
  • Directs (Acts 8:29)
  • Strengthens (Romans 8:13)
  • Empowers (Ephesians 3:16)
  • Gives fruit (Galatians 5:22-23)

If you would like an introduction to the Holy Spirit, check out this short video that our friends at BibleProject produced. Like all of their work, this video provides a great summary of a key person in Scripture.

For those who want to dig a little deeper, Sinclair Ferguson provides a more comprehensive view of The Holy Spirit’s Ministry.

Fear Not

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Do NOT be afraid.

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

Jesus (Luke 12:4-7)

Fear is a natural response to the threat of harm, whether that threat is physical, emotional, or psychological. The sense of fear is a gift from God, which is useful in some circumstances but useless — even dangerous — in others.

Fear can keep us safe, of course, but it can also paralyze us, making us timid and ineffective.

Jesus explained to His disciples to only fear the One who “has authority to cast into hell.”

The worst thing our fellow humans can do is kill our bodies, but they can do nothing to our eternal souls.

Only God has the authority to lift our souls to heaven or send them to hell.

Jesus went on to express not only our value, but also the comforting fact that God knows each one of us (Luke 12:6-7).

Why, even the hairs of our heads are all numbered, and not one of them is outside the sovereign authority, interest, and control of our Creator.

So, fear not.

If you are in Christ, your Father in heaven, your Abba, knows who you are and what you need.

And He will bring you home.

P.S. If you haven’t placed your trust in Jesus Christ, then you need to be very afraid.

A Matter of Life and Death

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Lighthouse with blog title -- A Matter of Life and Death -- and GuyEWood.com website address.

Don’t play around with sin.

Kill it. Make that, slaughter it! Have no mercy.

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 8:13

Sin is a serious business, and the way in which we deal with our sin has eternal consequences.

How we handle our sins is literally a matter of life and death.

Jesus expressed the severity, the seriousness of sin during his Sermon on the Mount:

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Matthew 5:29-30

Think about what Jesus said for a moment.

According to the One who made us, “it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body be thrown into hell.”

Now, I don’t believe that Jesus was telling us that we really need to mutilate ourselves — if you think about it, we would have a whole of of one-eyed southpaws around us — but rather giving us an idea as to how serious sin really is.

It’s better to be blind than to burn.

It’s better to be handless than hopeless.

It’s with these things in mind that Paul wrote to the saints in Christ at Colossae:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Colossians 3:6-8 [emphasis added]

We must kill our sins, that is, the deeds of the flesh, or we will not — indeed, we cannot — live in the presence of God.

We must NOT merely play with our sins or learn to live with them. We must put them to death.

This is serious stuff and putting to death the deeds of our bodies may involve painful things, such as ending ungodly relationships, quitting jobs or completely changing career paths, moving to a new neighborhood or city or state or nation, etc.

The good news is that God will forgive us:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 (read the whole letter for context!)

But note that killing sins is not something we can do on our own; we can only mortify our sins through faith in Jesus Christ. Choking the life out of our sins is neither easy nor fun, but the rewards are indescribable, not to mention eternal.

We’ll close with the words of the Puritan theologian, John Owen:

Set faith at work on Christ for the killing of thy sin. His blood is the great sovereign remedy for sin-sick souls. Live in this, and thou wilt die a conqueror; yea, thou wilt, through the good providence of God, live to see thy lust dead at thy feet.

Quoted in How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home1 [emphasis in original]
  1. I’m currently reading and highly recommend: How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home, by Derek W.H. Thomas. Available at Amazon through our affiliate link (thank you for supporting our work here).

Empty Apologies

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Empty apologies are worse than apologies that are never offered.

After messing up a furniture delivery for which we waited almost all day–the company failed to load some items and delayed others–Haverty’s dutifully emailed me a link to provide feedback.

I responded with a polite but firm explanation of the inconvenience caused by the company’s procedures and some thoughtful suggestions for improving their processes.

I don’t time things like this, but I estimate that I spent somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes answering the survey’s questions, which were obviously designed to prevent any unfavorable feedback, and typing genuine feedback and ideas into the text-entry boxes.

Based on the sorry-not-sorry response above, it’s apparent that the request for feedback was ingenuous and the feedback I provided was unappreciated.

Here’s the thing: Whether you’re an individual or an organization, if you’re going to apologize, truly apologize.

Don’t express an empty collection of thoughtless words.

Instead, use words that demonstrate your understanding of where you fell short and your empathy for the harm you caused.

Because empty apologies are worse than apologies that are never offered.

Image: Screenshot of an email received from Haverty’s after a botched delivery.