Month: April 2025

Ecclesiastes 1:18 says, “In much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”   This is part of Solomon’s dissertation on the futility of life.  The more we know about the world the more we learn of man’s inhumanity to man.  The more we know about ourselves the more knowledgeable we become of our defects and natural depravity.  If one is speaking of the end result of much education and study then Solomon is absolutely right.   With knowledge comes despair because injustice and pain just keeps on going.

However, it is imperative to say Solomon is not completely right and had he known Jesus he surely would have added an exception.  To know Jesus is to know what God is really like.  To know Jesus is to know there is hope for a better tomorrow.  Not all tomorrows will be like all our yesterdays. The sun will not always come up and go down with the same wearisome effects. To know Jesus is to know that character growth and godliness are contributive to a better eternity with God and it is not merely something that will decay in the ground with those who never bothered to better themselves.

Had Solomon known Jesus he most likely would have amended       Ecclesiastes 1:18 to read something like this.  “In most wisdom there is much grief, and he who increases worldly knowledge will increase sorrow.  But he who learns much about Jesus will grow in wisdom and joy.”   Jesus was a game changer. He took the human experience and turned it from futility to purpose.  Jesus showed us that life is full of pain but only for now because a richer, better, fuller future awaits those who grow in Him.

Written by Roger Bothwell on March 4, 2010

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She was a contradiction, a walking irony.  As she waited on me at the checkout counter I could not help but notice her lack of grooming which was accentuated by the title under her name: Beauty Consultant.   She almost hurt my eyes.  I looked around to see if I was on Candid Camera and maybe I was.  There are so many security cameras these days one cannot tell for sure.

While driving away I couldn’t help but think about my calling myself a Christian. The irony of encouraging and exhorting while failing to be that which we proclaim is often excruciatingly painful.  Almost the entire chapter of Matthew 23 is a record of Jesus attacking the religious establishment for their hypocrisy.   I chose the word “attack” because that is exactly what it is.  There is no gentle Jesus meek and mild in Matthew 23.  He pronounces seven woes upon the religious leadership for “traveling all over the world to make a convert and then making that person twice the son of hell as you are.”  Ouch.  He tells them they are like white-washed tombs, lovely on the outside and stinking rotten on the inside.

I am so thankful for Matthew 5:6 which says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled.”  Often the desire to be a good person is as powerful as any hunger for food.  Without Romans 1:17 I would be overwhelmed with despair but Scripture is very sure on this. “The just shall live by faith.”  Righteousness is not a matter of doing.  It is a matter of being.  And the being is a gift.  Paul assures us in Romans 5:17 that righteousness is a gift.   It is a gift God is so pleased to give.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 27, 2010

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One of my favorite books when I was a boy was Secret of the Cave by Uncle Arthur Maxwell.  It was about some boys who used a cave as a base from which they secretly did good deeds for their community.  I used to fantasize how very neat that would be.  Now the story has been reversed on me.  My electric lawn mower ceased to do its job.  The electric motor would whir but the blade did not go around.

Unbeknownst to me my very observant engineer neighbor absconded with, repaired, cleaned, sharpened the blade and then returned my mower.  It appears to be brand new.  Now how’s that for living in a great neighborhood?

While I would like very much to do something for him as repayment, I have come to realize that would devalue his gift.  Sometimes the finest thing we can do is to allow another to help us. We do not have to respond in kind when a “Thank You” will be just fine.

And then there is the following problem.   There is a memorable line from the musical “Annie, Get Your Gun.”  It says, “Anything you can do I can do better; I can do anything better than you.”   In my situation the words would be “Anything I can do; he can do better.  He can do anything better than I.”   I’m not trying to be modest. He really can.  He is a gifted engineer.

Sometimes it is difficult for us to sit back and allow another to give.  But that is an important part of life.  If we were not gracious receivers when would the gracious givers have an opportunity to shine?   See Luke 10.

Written by Roger Bothwell on July 23, 2010

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We have some dear friends we like to diner with each Sunday morning.  This morning while sipping on a hot drink I watched our waitress top off one of my friend’s hot drink.  Immediately she had to try to conjure up the right balance of drink, cream and sugar.  The added top off upset her prior perfect mix.  As I watched I realized how much this was like our lives.  We can have the perfect balance.  We enjoy our jobs, our health is good, our children and grandchildren are doing well, the weather is great and the bills paid.   Then something happens.  The mix is changed and the balance is gone.  Life’s challenge then is to seek to regain the prior perfect mix. It’s not easy.  Often there are just too many variables and one of them might be gigantic.

It’s on these occasions we would be wise to seek divine help.  God is only a prayer away and though it might not often seem so He is eager to help.  When Jesus told us to pray “Our Father” Jesus was not using a metaphor.  God is most anxious to have us consider Him to be the best Father we could desire.  He has unlimited resources but wisely doesn’t just dump upon us our requests.   He’s much smarter than we are and knows exactly what we need to restore the balance.

Balance is not easy.  I am always impressed to see a trapeze artist walk a wire without a balance pole.  That’s a tough act.  The bigger the pole the easier the walk.  So it is with us.  God provides a pole that is just the right length.  Too long would make it too easy and we wouldn’t grow.   Too short and we would fall.   He knows exactly what we need.

Written by Roger Bothwell on November 1, 2010

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