“Miss Realistic is quite a seductive little thing, but she always has ugly babies. When the cancer of corruption is well-advanced in a commonwealth, believers can easily be maneuvered into festooning themselves with the campaign buttons of the less corrupt. Such relative comparisons between ‘horrible’ and ‘not quite so bad,’ can appear quite stark, and …
Just Hit It
“When it comes to work, just hit it. Excuses are always plentiful. Too hot. Too cold. Too late” (Joy at the End of the Tether, p. 103).
Probably There By Now
“Take life as it comes. There it is. And here you are. I had a delightful picture of the meaning of Ecclesiastes just a few months ago. I was looking at the road which runs by the front of our property, and a fellow in a pick-up truck was headed industriously south. ‘Well,’ I thought. …
Not About the Ducks
[On Eccl. 11:1] “The business of generosity is governed by the Lord with predictable results. Casting your bread on the water is not about feeding the ducks” (Joy at the End of the Tether, p. 102).
Which is Hard to Do
[On Eccl. 10:15] “Some are overwhelmed by nothing. We see here some more understatement. That boy could get lost on an escalator” (Joy at the End of the Tether, p. 100).
Folly at the Top
“Stupidity generally has the run of high places (Eccl. 10:5-7). Egalitarianism proceeds from the top, and a denial of nobility is the folly of nobles” (Joy at the End of the Tether, p. 98).
For All Our Stupid Little Days
“Turning to relationships, Solomon says that men are to live joyfully with their wives for all their stupid little days. We think this would sound terrible on an anniversary card — because we are governed more by sentiment than by wisdom. How is this possible? Apart from the grace of God it is not possible. …
A Preposition That Makes All the Difference
“In this place, Solomon bluntly asserts that God controls all things. He does not say how God does it. Only a blockhead of the first order of magnitude would think to explain the way in which God reveals Himself through His works . . . We tend to assume, echoing Shakespeare, that the history of …
Additional Options Are Available
“If relativists seek after hollow minds, the godly must not respond by building minds of solid wood. Flexibility and prudence must not be confused with compromise and fear” (Joy at the End of the Tether, pp. 84-85).
A Dead Mackerel by Moonlight
“The religiously self-righteous are, to use the great words of John Randolph, like a dead mackerel on the beach in the moonlight. They simultaneously ‘shine and stink.’ What religious men esteem is not what God esteems. Our prayers need to be prayed for. Our tears need washing. Our repentance needs to be repented of” (Joy …