No Tell, No Sell!

Tom Miller was the general manager for Mammy’s Bread in St. Catharines, Ontario, where I worked as a retail bread salesman during the summers of 1951-1958. A marketing mastermind, Tom motivated us salesmen with pep talks, personal discussions, and chalkboard sales pitches. After completing our routes and entering the room where we totaled our receipts and filled out order forms for baked goods, we would read Tom’s latest chalkboard sales slogan.
“No tell, no sell” stands out in my memory. Every Saturday Mammy’s Bread featured a special cake, and Thursday was the day to tell our customers about it and then take their orders. The following day, Tom would list the names of the salesmen with the highest number of orders. His “No tell, no sell” pitch was pithy and practical.
The current “Happy Holidays” greeting may be indicative of an increasing secularism in our culture. We may attach the blame for this secularism at the feet of public education, the media, or pluralistic thinking, but are we Christians willing to shoulder some of the blame? Have we chosen to cloister behind church walls rather than carry the gospel into the workplace and neighborhood? When we count our friends, how many non-Christians are among them? Do we share the true meaning of Christmas with those who need to hear the good news, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ, the Lord” (Luke 2:11)?
No tell, no sell!

The Bad, the Ugly, and the Good

The trail of human history doesn’t lead up from the beast, as evolution supposes, but down from the best, as the Bible teaches. The human race originated in a perfect environment. God created our first parents and placed them in a peaceful, productive, and pristine environment—the Garden of Eden. But Adam and Eve sinned, defying God’s authority. Their sin incurred judgment. Planet Earth fell under a curse, and death, and misery and mortality befell the humanity.
Sin’s ugly nature took an early toll on Adam’s descendants. Envy, hate, and murder sprang from the heart of Adam and Eve’s son Cain. Cain killed his brother Abel, and before long man’s wickedness on the earth had become so rampant and putrid “that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5).
God destroyed that evil-obsessed civilization with a flood, but spared Noah and his family because Noah had found “favor in the eyes of the LORD” (verse 8).
After the Flood, a new day dawned for the human race. Would it worship and obey the God of grace? It would not. It soon pursued an evil path.
The human race continues on that path today. It is characterized by self-centeredness, and it leads to eternal death (Isaiah 53:6; Proverbs 14:12).
The recent shootings in Arvada and Colorado Springs that claimed several young lives points out once again that the human heart is “deceitful and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV).
But Good News in the midst of such bad news shines like a diamond against the backdrop of a black cloth. Nearly 2,000 years ago, Jesus, the Second Adam, led a sinless life and intentionally took a path that led to Calvary. Unlike the self-centered path sinful humanity has taken since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, the path Jesus took was one of selfless devotion to God’s will. At Calvary, He died to rescue us from sin and eternal judgment, and to reconcile us to God.
About 725 years before Jesus died on the cross, the prophet Isaiah diagnosed the chronic human condition and prescribed the only cure. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
While secularists wish one another “Happy Holidays,” Christians can share the greeting, “Merry Christmas.” We can’t impose peace on a troubled world, but we can honor the Christ who came into the world to seek and to save us and to instill God’s peace in our hearts.

Snow Removal in Colorado

A winter storm struck Colorado Saturday, making my Sunday morning drive to Penrose slower than usual. Highway 115 between Colorado Springs and Penrose was icy and snow packed under cloudy skies. The temperature was 12 when I left home and 14 when I reached the church in Penrose. Brrr!
Unless you live in Colorado or know someone who lives here, you may not be aware of our normal snow removal method. Snow-fighting crews spread sand sporadically on the roadways but liberally at intersections. The next step is to wait for the sun to melt the ice and snow.
While driving o’er the snow, I was thinking, “During a snowstorm in Illinois, IDOT spreads tons of salt on the state’s roads, and before long motorists can drive on wet, snow-free roads.”
On my trip home from Penrose, the temperature had climbed to 19 degrees, but ice and snow had vanished from the highway. The surface was dry and safe. What made the difference? The sun had appeared, and its intense rays had melted the ice and snow.
That’s typical of Colorado weather. The brilliant sun quickly melts whatever snow falls east of the mountains.
It is also typical of the Son to melt cold hearts. Let’s pray that He will melt many cold hearts this Christmas. The temperature may fall throughout the nation, but His love can burn in our hearts and radiate to others.