Eternity is a Long Time

    How many times have you said something and then immediately wanted to take back what you said? Unfortunately, there is no delete key for spoken words. Often, it happens in moments of passion and emotion where we let our words get ahead of our brain and we wish we could be anywhere else in the world.   Our tongues can be so useful and helpful. We can educate, instruct, entertain, uplift, encourage and help people with our words.   We can also insult, condemn, put down, hurt, lie, discourage and injure people with our words which come out of the same mouth as the good words.   The tongue can be a mighty weapon which can be used for good or bad and the consequences, both good and bad, sometimes far exceed the initial intent of the words.     Two other points need to be made before we go into the Bible verses. First, there are times when words need to be used as a weapon. Secondly, the hearer of the words has a responsibility to have grace and understa...

  Can a person truly change from who they once were to a different individual? This is not a change in work habits, weight loss or being more punctual. This is a deep and profound change of heart. A drunkard, a liar, a philanderer, a cheat, an addict, a reprobate, a murderer, a child molester — can their hearts change to the point that they are no longer even tempted with those evils anymore? True change is not controlling the desires that are bad, it is no longer having those desires; as if the desires were never there at all. The cynic and the skeptic dismiss this thought immediately. For them it is easier to deny that anything could change than to face up to the fact they may have big problems that need fixing. The doubter might say that some people might be able to change but certainly not them. There are countless stories of people who underwent this radical change over the centuries. In the 4th century Augustine was a complete reprobate but changed to be a leader in the churc...