Articles by Marty Kessler

I believe we do. While no passage addresses this question specifically, several point us in that direction. Jesus said we are to be salt and light, and like cities set on hills (Matthew 5:13-16). This means our lives are to have an obvious impact for good. Our vote, especially collectively, has great potential to impact our world for good when we elect those who will govern with justice and equity...

Sounds funny... but temptation is not a sin. Sometimes we forget that.  God allows us to be tempted (1 Cor. 10:13) ...but He doesn't cause nor allow us to sin.  Jesus was tempted more than once... in the wilderness, at the cross, and a 'better time', Luke 4:13..."And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season."  So why should we expect to be treat...

Traffic.  Driving in Oklahoma City you can see a never-ending hoard of vehicles going in every direction and at all hours……. and OKC’s traffic is small potatoes compared to that of many other cities all over the world. Does it make you wonder how much gasoline and oil is being consumed as you read this?  The logistics stagger the mind. The world’s present oil use is estimat...

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth telling them to stop dividing over mere men.  His point was that no matter who plants the gospel or who waters it, it is God who gives the increase (1st Corinthians 3:1-17). God provided the gospel as seed.  God commits the spreading of that seed to mere men and women, but he is the only one who can make it grow in the hearts of individuals. As spreade...

We usually think of someone else being gifted; someone smarter, faster, more talented or capable than ourselves. But you are gifted.  You have something to offer the world.  It is your gift, and the more you “give it away”, the more you enjoy it yourself.  Our gifts come so easily to us that we tend to downplay their value.  We think “if it’s so easy for me, it must be easy for...

Jesus had fasted for forty days and nights.  Can you even attempt to imagine how hungry he must have been?  Satan tempted him to command stones to become bread so that he could satisfy his hunger (Matthew 4:1-11).  Jesus could have easily done so.  I also believe it is perfectly reasonable to assume that Jesus wanted to turn the stones to bread just as Satan...

The definition of social justice offered by Wikipedia is as follows: “Social justice is a concept of fair and just relations between the individual and society. This is measured by the explicit and tacit terms for the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity, and social privileges.” Sounds good, right?  Sounds Christian, right?  Wolves.  Wolves in s...

You remember the horrible story from just over two years ago.  A little boy was killed by an alligator at Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida. I suppose the last thing on anyone’s mind, as this family was enjoying themselves in the water, was that a fearsome predator, lurking unseen, would rise up in a violent attack from the depths and forever change their lives.  No one t...

First, I believe the creation itself and our ability to make sense of it makes it abundantly clear that a mindful creator is the cause of our existence. Second, I believe that the internal evidence for the Bible testifies to its authenticity as the word of our creator given to mankind. About 40 writers working in perfect harmony over 1500 yearsAbundant accurately fulfilled prophecies, especially a...

You are a being of both flesh (your body) and spirit and one is constantly at odds with the other.  Each of us is a walking, talking dichotomy. Your spirit aspires to do what is right, but your flesh demands that its appetites be satisfied.  Your soul?  Your soul is the part of you that wills which one wins. Your body is made of the stuff of this present world and so ...

Be a parent rather than a friend to your children.  They will have many friends, but you are the only mom/dad they will have to lead them to the Lord. Don’t endanger your impact in fulfilling this huge responsibility by trying to be their friend.  If it turns out that you become friends, great!  But let it happen as a matter of course, only. Make your home a have...

Our nation’s Declaration of Independence has no fewer than four references to the God of the Bible.  But what of individual state documents, especially their constitutions? Each of the fifty states has a constitution.  Only three states (New Hampshire, Vermont and Virginia) have no preamble to their constitutions.  Forty-five of the states that do have preambles make ...

Why, even though I am a veteran, does it bother me to hear this? Perhaps my problem is that the new social practice of thanking veterans for military service subtly reveals that such service is not as normal as it once was. It was my privilege to grow up in a day when a high percentage of those in our communities were veterans of WWII or Korea. I also came to understand that it wasn’t only those w...

Generally speaking, the importance of our mother’s influence is so naturally understood, that it requires no explanation.  Appreciation for the profound impact made by our fathers, however, may not be realized at first. Perhaps this is at least partly because mothers connect us to home & hearth where we spend our early years, while fathers tend to be our guides into the world at large af...

It didn’t happen here, the things I should recall It was long ago and far away, and my memory is small It happened in Lexington, Princeton too and a place called Cowen’s Ford But none of it happened here, in my present comfortable world  Afloat on great Lake Erie, it happened late one morning And later in old Mexico, it set the tide a turning  Then thousands met at Gettysburg, ...

First she carried us for 9 months insider her body where we kicked, pushed and stretched to make room for ourselves among all her organs.  She carried our weight and suffered the changes our existence made to her life and body and then endured the pain of birth to bring us into this world.Then began the years of middle of the night wake-ups, runny noses, gross smelly diapers, bouts of cr...

For success in life, God is your greatest ally and his people your best friends – Few things will benefit you as much as seeking out God and his people wherever life takes you.  Evil companions will corrupt good morals (1st Corinthians 15:33), while those who associate with the wise will become wise (Proverbs 13:20).  Hang with people who will make you better tha...

Ever heard of the above?  Chaff is a “cloud” of foil strips or metal coated fibers ejected from an aircraft to help mask it from enemy radar.  Flares are just that, flares, hot and fiery and also designed to be ejected from an aircraft to decoy any possible heat-seeking missiles away from it. Like chaff & flares, there are many things in life that serve as distractions from wha...

I work on the premise that children know they are supposed to be corrected.  I believe that since their little minds are designed and created by God, they are divinely tuned to receive Godly instruction and correction in their behavior. Mind you, they are not mature enough to appreciate it, but they are wired to respond positively to it nonetheless.  Children will naturally com...

Solomon wrote a lot about the way fools behave in his book of Proverbs and also in Ecclesiastes.  Just skimming my concordance I counted at least 83 times in the Proverbs and 25 times in Ecclesiastes that he calls on the reader to consider the ways of foolishness. In Proverbs it seems the initial readers were intended to be Solomon’s own sons according to 4:1-5.  Solomon claims...