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      • 37. The Whiner
      • 38. Reckoned Righteous by Works
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      • 40. One of the Greatest Need America
      • 41. Your Memorial Table
      • 42. George W. Bush Verses Saddam Hussein
      • 43. Learning to Listen
      • 44. The Problem with Gambling
      • 45. Memorial Day
      • 46. My Ecounter with an Orthhodox Jew
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      • 48. What My Auto Accident Taught Me
      • 49. The Decline in Family Living
      • 50. Give Me a Problem
      • 51. Decoding the Da Vinci Code
      • 52. Thanksgiving is not a Holiday
      • 53. What a Christmas Present!
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      • 54. What Do You Mean by that?
      • 55. What are Parents to Do?
      • 56. "The Passion of Christ"
      • 57. Martha Stewart's Greatest Lesson
      • 58. Same Sex Marriage
      • 59. A Tribute to a Servant
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      • 62. Kerry's Logic
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      • 67. Tribute to My Mother
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      • 68. Real Spiritual Growth
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      • 70. The Ten Commandments Controversy
      • 71. Do We Need a Pope?
      • 72. Everybody Loves Raymond
      • 73. Examples Worthy of Note
      • 74. How Two Different People Learned to Get Along
      • 75. "The God who Wasn't"
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      • 78. "In God We Trust"
      • 79. The Redemption of Tookie Willaims
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      • 80. Is Religion a Problem?
      • 81. The Rights of the Born
      • 82. Did You Hear What She Said about Muslims?
      • 83. Judas: Betrayer or Best Friend?
      • 84. Weekend or Week--Beginning?
      • 85. A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father
      • 86. Your Relationship to the Word of God
      • 87. What an Opportunity!
      • 88. America's Four Gods
      • 89. How to Deal with Your Enemies
      • 90. The Case for Systematic Exposition
      • 91. Don't Miss the Message
    • 2007 Articles 92-104 >
      • 92. I can Afford it!
      • 93. The Gospel according to Patricia
      • 94. The Functional Church
      • 95. Who wants to Deal with a Taxman?
      • 96. Vital Virtures
      • 97. Have You Grown up Yet?
      • 98. A July 4th Reminder
      • 99. The Volume of Silence
      • 100. Biblical Illiteracy
      • 101. A Modest Political Propospal
      • 102. How to Handle Credit Cards
      • 103. When it is Tough to be Thankful
      • 104. Romney's Religion
    • 2008 Articles 105-114 >
      • 105. Continue
      • 106. A Tribute to Jack
      • 107. Why Good Ftiday?
      • 108. Happy Birthday
      • 109. The Most Important Room in the House
      • 110. The 80-20 Rule
      • 111. Be Sensible
      • 112. To Be Like Christ
      • 113. Sweet Reasonableness
      • 114. The Other Benefit of Christmas
    • 2009 Articles 115-126 >
      • 115. What Determines who Obtains Eternal Life?
      • 116. The Healing Touch
      • 117. The Function of Dysfunction
      • 118. When Your World Falls Apart
      • 119. 24-7-365
      • 120. To Complain or not to Complain
      • 121. "Suggestions"
      • 122. Making a Mark
      • 123. God's Timing
      • 124. Jesus Wept
      • 125. Andrew
      • 126. The Cost of Service
    • 2010 Articles 127-138 >
      • 127. Don't Ask; Don't Tell
      • 128. A Forest Dark
      • 129. The Rule of Law
      • 130. The Hits and Miss of Grace
      • 131. People Need the Lord
      • 132. Examples Worthy of Notes
      • 133. A Hassle Reduction Strategy
      • 134. Gossip
      • 135. My Favorite Poem
      • 136. Let's Put the Cross in its Place
      • 137. "Don't Spare Me"
      • 138 The Unseen Message of Christmas
    • 2011 Articles 139-147 >
      • 139. What Parents Should Teach their Children
      • 140. How to Avoid Having to Serve
      • 141. What Happen to Mike?
      • 142. An Atheist Recommends God
      • 143. Surprise
      • 144. Socialism
      • 145. Union, Unity, and Uniformity
      • 146. Get in the Way
      • 147. "Let George do it."
    • 2012 Articles 148-160 >
      • 148. Truth or Consequences
      • 149. Don't Leave Home without it
      • 150. Take a Break
      • 151. The Worth of an Individual
      • 152. A Tribute to Nana
      • 153. Jesus Crossed the Line
      • 154. Thomas Jefferson
      • 155. Taxes
      • 156. You Must be Present to Win
      • 157. A Grandfather's Wish
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      • 159. Is There a Santa Claus?
      • 160. A Tribute to Sumner Wemp
    • 2013 Articles 161-172 >
      • 161. How to Finish Well
      • 162. Rewards
      • 163. Spiritual Binging
      • 164. There is no way out of this one
      • 165. Half Empty or Half Full
      • 166. Nones
      • 167. Greet One Another with a Holy Kiss
      • 168. God's Answer to Atheism
      • 169. Obedience
      • 170. The Problem of Fellowship with God
      • 171. Character Development
      • 172. For Mercy's Sake
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      • 173. Lies
      • 174. Endure to the End
      • 175. Teaching Children How Money Grows
      • 176. The Principle of Delay
      • 177. By Their Fruit
      • 178. Sermons that Changed My Life
      • 179. If Paul Harvey were the Devil
      • 180. The Principle of Practice
    • 2015 Articles 181- >
      • 181. In Wrath Remember Mercy
      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
      • More articles will be added as they are written
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"Suggestions"

Having been invited to speak in Macon, Georgia, Patricia and I decided to go a few days early to do some sightseeing. We flew to Atlanta, rented a car, and headed for the Smoky Mountains. After driving through the beautiful Smoky Mountains thoroughly enjoying the trip, we had to decide to either retrace our steps back through the Smokys or take the long way back through western North Carolina and South Carolina. We opted for the latter. We drove through Ashville, North Carolina, and the Cove, the Billy Graham Training Center. We also drove through Greenville, South Carolina, and Bob Jones University.

One of the things that impressed us the most was the traffic. We connected with the interstate system while we were still in Tennessee. Over the last 40-plus years I have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles on interstate highways. I always do the same thing. I set the speed control about four miles above the speed limit and sit back and enjoy the trip. When I do that, every car going my way passes me like I am sitting still. The surprise on this trip was that as soon as I entered North Carolina no one passed me! I was shocked. To add more intrigue to the trip, as soon as I crossed the border into South Carolina, everything on the road flew passed me.

We stopped for the night in Anderson, South Carolina. The next day I asked someone why nobody passed me in North Carolina and everybody passed me in South Carolina. He did not know about North Carolina (I never did get an explanation), but he did have an explanation for what was happening in South Carolina. He informed me that the good citizens of South Carolina thought that the speed limit signs on the interstate highway were suggestions!

We have all heard it said that God did not give Ten Suggestions. My experience in South Carolina reminded me of that as well as of the fact that the Bible is full of commands we treat as suggestions. Did God command or suggest that we “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17)? That we “In everything give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:18), and “Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16)? Those three are all in one short passage. To the list could be added “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16:15), “Love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (Jn. 13:34) and “be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord (Jas. 5:7). As you well know, there are many, many more.

May I suggest that you compile your own list? Select a book of the Bible. Read it with a highlighter in your hand and highlight all the commands. Make it easy on yourself. Chose a short book, such as James, Philippians, or Colossians. Then, focus on obeying each one of them one at a time. I would also highly recommend that you ask God for His grace to enable you to do what He asked you to do (Heb. 4:16).

I do not know, but I suspect that the people in North Carolina obey the speed limit because they discovered the hard way that it is costly to disobey.

Oh, by the way, when done by trusting Him for the grace and power, “His commandments are not burdensome” (1 Jn. 5:3)

                                 © G. Michael Cocoris, 7/30/2009
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