Are You A Thirsty Horse?

Are You a Thirsty Horse?

You’ve heard the saying: You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

What does that mean? There are a lot of people that you can talk sense with and even though you’ve talked sense with them, and given them good advice, they still go and do ill advised things. !They know better but they still do them anyway! I had a roommate like that. He would ask advice and I’d give it, and he would go and do the opposite almost every time and regret it!

A cowboy was walking to the barn and another cowboy was sitting on the porch and asked, “Where ya goin?”

The first one said, “I’m going to go ride that new horse!”

The cowboy on the porch said, “Hold your horses! Shouldn’t you say, God willing, you’ll ride that new horse?”

The first one said, “No way, I’m determined and going to go ride that new horse!”

The cowboy on the porch said, “Oh, OK!”

A while later the first cowboy was limping the other way looking sort of ragged holding his arm.

The cowboy on the porch said, “Now where are you going?”

The cowboy said, “God willing, I’m going to go see the doctor.”

You know what’s the hardest thing about learning to ride a horse? The ground!

Has anyone ever given you good advice that you wish you would have taken and regretted it?

The Pharisees were the religious leaders of Jesus’ time. They were lovers of money!

They thought that if you were rich, then God approved of you (Blessed) and if you were poor then God did not approve of you (not Blessed). Seems simple enough, right?

Is that always true, tho? Is it true at all?

The Pharisees were getting the cart before the horse, so to speak.

Instead of being blessed by God, they would get money (ill gotten) and thereby act as tho they were blessed of God. Then those who were poor, instead of helping, they would just snob and say they were not blessed, so their logical conclusion was that they didn’t need helping either.

Is this how we should be? Jesus called out favoritism of the rich and dishonoring of the poor in James 2:1-9 where the Pharisees would give the rich the places of honor at the table and the poor had to sit on the floor by the footstool.

If God blesses someone and they become rich, then great. However, you can’t make yourself rich and then expect God to favor you because you are rich. This is where the Pharisees got it wrong and backwards. Being wealthy doesn’t matter for God’s favor or salvation.

Luke 16:19-31 Rich man and Lazarus

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

Here we have two fellows, one rich and one poor. Which does God love more? It doesn’t say. The Pharisees would say the rich man was blessed so God loves him more. But is it true?

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

So here we see that Lazarus, the poor man, went to be in paradise by Abraham’s side, but the rich man went to the torment of Hades. Now which do you say was blessed? Obviously the rich man was lacking something serious!

Matthew 19:23,24

And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

For the rich man, his riches didn’t help keep him out of H.E. double hockey sticks. It wasn’t true that his riches showed his approval with God. In fact, riches are a distraction and distract people from turning to God. Rich people think they don’t need God, they have riches! Don’t be that person who puts faith in money rather than God or else your money will burn up with you! The rich man’s faith in wealth was worthless, Lazarus believed in God which was priceless!

Continuing with Luke 16:19-31

24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’