Get rich quick!  Pay off all your bills!  Scratch off and win!  Big payoffs every hour!  Sweepstakes!

You’ve seen the ads.  We’ve all been tempted.

Is it really possible to get rich quick?  I was brought up with simple logic: hard work will pay off, and there are no short-cuts in life.  Did you know that the odds of lottery payoffs are worse than getting struck by lightning – multiple times?  I also know that the large percentage of people who buy lottery tickets really can’t afford to and should be buying milk for their family instead.

I think the folks selling the get rich quick schemes are the ones who are getting rich, not their customers.  Proverbs 1:10 says “My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent.”  There are many out in the world preying on people who don’t know any better.  They are counting on finding people who do not know how to protect themselves.  They are also trying to find people who will help them in their scheming.  Proverbs 1:11 “If they say, "Come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood; Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;” – DO NOT CONSENT - Proverbs 1:15 says “My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path;”

In the olden days, people used to carry their own sets of weights to the market, so when they bought a pound of grain, they knew it was a pound of grain, because they tested the scales with their own true weights.  Sellers would often hollow out the weights and fill them with wax, so they could cheat people who didn’t know any better.  If a smart person came along, with their own weights, the seller would switch his good set of weights for the hollow ones.  This practice was called “carrying two sets of weights” – one for the smart people, and one for the ignorant.  Deuteronomy 25:13 says "You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light.”

Today, folks call it “just good business” when they charge two sets of prices for the same item.  In some industries, bargaining is expected, and the smarter bargainer may be able to get a lower price, especially if he is a friend.  I still call this “carrying two sets of weights”.  I look negatively on a person, or a company, who charges different prices for things, depending on who the customer is.  I think one of the reasons the car company Saturn was so popular, is that they had a “one price” policy.  Today, I get very confused by some of the grocery stores, who charge three different prices for the same item, depending on if you have a card or if you have points!  I guess they don’t want me to shop there.

Let me add a twist to this.  How often do we judge people with two sets of weights in our mind?  There’s the “preferred” and then there’s everyone else.  People who are “like me” get treated with favor, but people who aren’t, get treated differently, or even taken advantage of.  Is that right?

While patriots are preaching about who is an American, and what rights do we have, who stands up for the human being you see walking along the side of the road?  Does he have a soul created by God?  Does he also have the same value in God’s eyes that you do, even though he doesn’t walk with your “crowd” or may not speak your language?  God speaks their language.  I try to think about how people may be dealing with some extreme circumstances, and they are just trying to help their family survive. Remember, Jesus did not come to give us “rights”; he died to take our “wrongs.”

When Jesus looked at people, he looked at the inside, and not the outside.  I think he had the advantage of knowing the whole story about a person.  He walked with sinners.  He dined with thieves.  He forgave prostitutes.  I’ve often wondered if the woman he forgave in John chapter 8, was dealing with some extreme circumstances, and what she did was the only thing she could do to help her family survive.

Jesus chastised the leaders and the religious authorities, because they were so driven by rules, they did not see the hurting people.

I sometimes wonder if Jesus came and visited, if we would even let him into our church buildings.  As song writer Todd Agnew said in his song “My Jesus” – “my Jesus would never be accepted in my church.  The blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet.”

It is in times like these, the God’s people should be opening doors for strangers, not slamming them.

Pastor Jay Merritt

I don’t like to make mistakes.  I’m not a perfectionist or anything, but I don’t like the foolish feeling I get after doing or saying something wrong.  Sometimes I feel that way when I DON’T do something that I should have.  Frankly, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who likes feeling foolish.  I feel like I learn from my mistakes, so that I won’t have to repeat them and feel doubly foolish.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could learn all the lessons we need to learn without having to make the mistake in the first place?  Maybe someone could come out with a video game that would teach everyone all the lessons they need to know in life.  I wonder if anyone would play it?  I suppose the game would have to be programmed to create the foolish feelings, or else it would not have a lasting teaching effect.

Until the game comes out, I’ve figured out that I can learn from other people’s foolish mistakes, so I don’t have to suffer the same way.  I can even learn by watching people who do crazy things on TV and hurt themselves in the process.  That’s one reason I don’t grind skateboards down stair railings.  I don’t have to experience it to know it can be painful.

Something else I don’t want to learn is how to destroy my life with crack cocaine.  I’ve travelled to many parts of the world and found that there are only a few words that are the same in any language – “crack” is one of them.  I was just in Central America over the summer and met a young man in a substance abuse rehab center, who is going through the trauma caused by crack.  He had met an American woman, fell in love, married her and they had a child together.  He got messed up on crack and deported.  His wife fell ill and their child was taken by the U.S. authorities.  After accepting that the mother was not going to get well enough to take care of the child, it was put up for adoption, while the father was in rehab.  The poor man was distraught.  He lost his home, his family, his child – all for a moment of worldly pleasure.

The man who ran the rehab center had a similar story about his life with alcohol.  He had come clean many years before and opened this center for men who needed a place to get free of addictions and get fed God’s Word.  Often, we learn best from people who have experienced the same thing we are going through.

I have a profound respect of people who have suffered, recovered, and then reach back and help someone else through the same problem.  I’ve even come to respect some of the people I’ve learned from, who have taught me to not even look down certain roads that lead to disaster. 

In many of our lives there are a couple of people we can look to and even need to honor for showing us the correct way - Mom and Dad.  The Fifth Commandment says “Honor your father and mother.” The wise man Solomon said “My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother;” (Proverbs 1:8).

How many things did they teach you about right and wrong?  Sometimes, I think I learned more from the things they did, than the things they said.  If you are a parent, are you behaving in a manner that is worthy of honor, or are your children learning things from you that may destroy their future, or lead them into temptation.

None of us have perfect parents, so consider these words “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God…” (1John 3:1). 

We all have a Father in Heaven who is worthy of all honor and glory and praise.  Hear His instructions.  Do not forsake His commands.  He has given us much to learn and meditate on.

Pastor Jay Merritt