But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be (Matthew 24:37).

In the days of Noah, God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was evil continually. It is not hard to make a comparison to today. Our world is full violence and corruption. Television and movie industries pollute the minds of people until the thoughts and the imagination of man’s heart is only evil continually. And just as in the days of Noah, people eat and drink, marry, and carry on their business without thought to the soon coming of the Lord.

The world can’t continue on much longer in the way things are, spiraling ever downward.

A day of reckoning approaches, and nothing in the world’s arsenal can save us. Education won’t save us. Neither will science. The government won’t. The United Nations won’t. Not even Green Peace can save our planet. The only sure hope for the future is the return of Jesus Christ. He alone has the power to save and deliver.

As we see the deteriorating conditions of the world around us, we shouldn’t get discouraged. Instead, we should be motivated. We need to rise to the challenge and live lives that are godly, righteous, and holy, as we wait for the return of our Lord.

Father, as we look at the world today, we see the same conditions that existed in the days of Noah, and we realize that judgment is not far off. May we humble ourselves, pray, and seek Your face, and may we turn away from all wickedness.

In Jesus’ name. amen. Dan Shock – Florida Market Place

***

SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES

Author, educator and theologian, Howard Thurman, once told a story about one of his university students, a deep-sea diver, who wrote about his experience on the ocean floor.

Discovering a coral rock garden, he sat down to look around. First, a single fish swam up to look at him. Then more and more fish were swimming around him. Soon, the garden became more intense. More vivid. More colorful. Plants opened revealing their blossoms.

After sitting there a long while, he began to swim away and suddenly the flowers and fish disappeared. They were living things that only emerged when there was stillness.

Glenn Pease who related Thurman’s story observed that the diver realized that if you come thrashing and splashing into such a garden you would never experience its full beauty.

He learned that there are marvelous things you will never see unless you sit in silence.

We’re reminded of this truth in Psalm 46:10. “Be still, and know that I am God.”

In a culture of endless hustle and bustle. With 24-hour cable news being piped into our homes. With music blaring everywhere. With the sound of traffic and horns beeping. Cell phones ringing. Children yelling. And endless chatter all around us. Silence becomes a sweet respite.

This verse reminds us there is a time to tune out the noise and tune in to God. We all need periods of sanctified silence. Preacherman

— o —

U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since World War II, according to report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Life expectancy is an estimate of the average number of years a baby born in a given year might expect to live. It’s an important statistical snapshot of a country’s health that can be influenced both by sustained trends such as obesity as well as more temporary threats like pandemics or war that might not endanger those newborns in their lifetimes.

For decades, U.S. life expectancy was on the upswing. But that trend stalled in 2015 before hitting 78 years, 10 months, in 2019. Last year, the CDC said, it dropped to about 77 years, 4 months.

— o —

Australian officials are asking us to rebrand shark “attacks” as “negative encounters.” What can this and other cultural euphemisms teach us about the reality of death that can keep us from experiencing the fullness of God’s blessing on this side of heaven?

***

QUOTES YOU CAN USE

Excuses hold you back while action moves you forward. Anonymous

Mistakes are the portals of discovery. JAMES JOYCE

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. General George S. Patton.

No one is beyond the touch of Jesus. Florida Marketplace Ministries

Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN

The best motivation to live the Christian life is gratitude, not guilt. Kelly Knouse

Our souls are not hungry for fame, comfort, wealth, or power. Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will be at least a little bit different for our having passed through it.” —Harold Kushner

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. Thomas Edison

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. ROBERT BRAULT

One of Satan’s great deceptions is convincing lost people they are not lost. A second deception is convincing Christians that lost people are not truly lost. Jim Denison

Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will. DR. ROBERT ANTHONY