Matthew's Very Short Stories

You have heard it all before…       Christians are hypocritical, racist, bigoted, immoral, judgmental, unkind, etc. The list could go on and on. May I be the first to tell you that everything you have heard is absolutely correct! Christians are all of that and a whole lot more! Every believer has it within their old heart to be the most hateful person imaginable. Notice the expression I just used—within their old heart. Every single individual is born into this world with an old heart that is fractured and unregenerate. People are capable of doing much good, on the one hand, and great evil, on the other. The lie is that if you only do good, and repress all of your evil tendencies, you will polish up your old heart and make it acceptable to God. This couldn’t be any further from the truth. The Gospel of Jesus Christ tells us something entirely different. Let me divulge:        Every good deed I perform springs from a deep, often unseen, corrupt ...

  Sunday Morning When Marc Brod was ten years old, he was given an assignment by his Reading teacher to read an interesting and unusual story.  It was about a Greek god named Sisyphus, who was given a most burdensome task.  That task was to push a massive boulder up to the top of a very high mountain, and if he could get it to the top, push it over the other side. Then and only then, could he forever be released from his burden.  But as it turned out, he was only able to make it up halfway before the boulder became just too heavy, and he started rolling backwards with it; about 100 yards or so.  He would push it back up 50 more yards, and then roll back down with it another 100.  50 more up, 100 more down.  On and on it went for all of eternity.  Steadily he declined into a deep dark abyss. “This,” Marc’s teacher exclaimed to the class, “is the way life can feel sometimes.  But take heart!  There is a Sunday morning coming…” “There i...

Nero        In the city of Rome, there is a statue of Nero located near a school on the Via Silla Avenue. Antonio Gallo walked past it on his way to school, every day. He knew nothing of Nero, the historical figure who ruled his people mercilessly, and he passed by the statue every morning, totally oblivious. However, on one particular cold January morning, he somehow felt a strange presence all around the statue enigmatically drawing himself to it. He walked straight up to it and stared into its marble face. Its eyes burned black with the most contemptible, hateful glare one could ever give another human and the expression on its face was utterly absurd and deranged. It looked like a freak, a monster, a murderer. Antonio leaped and walked off to school in a startled state. Each day, he walked past the statue and each day felt drawn to it. He looked into its eyes which became more peccant, more sadistic, more ruthless every time he looked. Antonio’s soul was ...

Eric and Erich        “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.        “And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.       “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.        “And he called out 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.'        “But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. Luke ...

  The Philosopher and the Dogmatician There was once a very strange man who believed that he alone understood the secrets of the Universe—that the mysteries of everything were understood solely by him.  A much more reasonable young man was living out his life, doing the best he could for himself and others.  Let us call this man P (Philosopher).  The man who claimed absolute and exclusive knowledge, we will call D (Dogmatician).  P believed reality in a nutshell was—“Follow Christ and the doors of heaven will open unto you.”  D, on the other hand, dealt in the realm of hair-splitting specifics .  He believed that P's general understanding of reality was based off of wrong assumptions.  D was concerned for P, thinking that he was embracing a heresy which would ultimately damn him.  So he did all he could to persuade him of his unique view of life.  P believed in the simplicity of Christ’s teachings, whereas D believed in an extreme ve...

  Christmas in 1902 Alexei, Matryona, and Natalia, along with their parents, Anya and Nikolai Petrov, had just settled down for a special December Shabbat dinner.  It was a very cold, snowy, and blustery Siberian night.  The Petrov's lived just six miles outside of the city of Tyumen, and though they were practicing Jews, they each had a special love for the Savior, Jesus Christ, in their hearts.  On this particular Shabbat meal, as on all Shabbat meals they had celebrated in the past, they sought to honor their Hebrew customs, as well as invite the presence of the glorious Christ into their home.  The Petrovs, though they had weathered many a fiery trial and grueling tribulation, were always made better by such things, more joyful, and more loving.  They were not at all hesitant to welcome the most uncomely of strangers into their home, and their hospitality surpassed that of even that of the greatest saints of old.  So they lit the candles, broke bre...