Giving… I have a problem with it sometimes. The hardest thing is not deciding IF…..it is deciding what to give and who to give to.
I don’t consider myself stingy. I do struggle with my flesh and selfishness, yet I don’t think I am completely selfish. I know there is fault within me, and I pray “God, see what is in my heart. Know what is there. Put me to the test. Know what I'm thinking. See if there's anything in my life you don't like. Help me live in the way that is always right. (Ps. 139:24 NIrV)
Having spent quite some time this morning listening to some challenging messages about who Christians are and how they impact the culture they live in, I drove down a nearby street and was twice approached while at a stop light by people asking for money.
The accusing voice came. “so….are you going to give? You have a cross around your neck, may I remind you that Jesus said “Give to every man who asks you.” (Yes, He did say that, in John 6:30 and Rev. 12:10 speaks of the accuser.)
It is a dilemma.
I am thankful for the whole of scripture, and thankful for the teaching of Paul…
“For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.” (2Thes. 3:10)
There ARE people who need help.
Yet somehow, if a person can stand on a concrete sidewalk, beside lanes of hot asphalt with hundreds of cars going by, in the heat of a scorching Texas day,
…could they not be doing something besides asking for handouts? Seems to me like they are working awfully hard just to NOT work.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Face-to-face.....
Face-to-face…. I anticipate a face-to-face encounter.
In this age of technology, there are many people I call ‘friend’ with whom I have never had a face-to-face meeting. It is a concept I’ve wrestled with over and over. Do I ‘know’ these people? On the other hand, do I even ‘know’ the people I see and touch?
How do we come to ‘know’?
Do we need to ‘see’? Is seeing with our eyes the only way to ‘see’?
( If seeing with eyes is required, then blind people would ‘know’ absolutely no one! )
So….knowing someone has little to do with sight., perhaps even time and space. Relationships come in many ways, shapes, and forms.
As I anticipate this face-to-face meeting with a friend, I think about meeting Jesus face-to-face.
I ‘know’ Jesus. He is my Savior, and my very best friend. But I have never shook His Hand, never looked into His eyes. I ‘know’ Him thru the Words of scripture, and through the power of His Spirit. Our relationship is spiritual. It is genuine. It is real. And it’s the most treasured relationship I have…..
After this coming encounter with a friend, I will know him better. Our relationship will have a new facet….face to face.
How I anticipate a face-to-Face meeting with my Best Friend !! One day I will meet Him face-to-Face. One day, our relationship will be changed by a face-to-Face encounter. A physical encounter to enhance the spiritual relationship that exists now.
“ Now I see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then I shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” ( 1 Cor. 13:12 NIV personalized by me )
“ Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2 NIV)
Whether you know Him or not….you WILL meet Him face-to-Face. And you will bow…“all created beings in heaven and on earth--even those long ago dead and buried--will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father. (Phillipians 2:10 The Message )
Glory !!
In this age of technology, there are many people I call ‘friend’ with whom I have never had a face-to-face meeting. It is a concept I’ve wrestled with over and over. Do I ‘know’ these people? On the other hand, do I even ‘know’ the people I see and touch?
How do we come to ‘know’?
Do we need to ‘see’? Is seeing with our eyes the only way to ‘see’?
( If seeing with eyes is required, then blind people would ‘know’ absolutely no one! )
So….knowing someone has little to do with sight., perhaps even time and space. Relationships come in many ways, shapes, and forms.
As I anticipate this face-to-face meeting with a friend, I think about meeting Jesus face-to-face.
I ‘know’ Jesus. He is my Savior, and my very best friend. But I have never shook His Hand, never looked into His eyes. I ‘know’ Him thru the Words of scripture, and through the power of His Spirit. Our relationship is spiritual. It is genuine. It is real. And it’s the most treasured relationship I have…..
After this coming encounter with a friend, I will know him better. Our relationship will have a new facet….face to face.
How I anticipate a face-to-Face meeting with my Best Friend !! One day I will meet Him face-to-Face. One day, our relationship will be changed by a face-to-Face encounter. A physical encounter to enhance the spiritual relationship that exists now.
“ Now I see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then I shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” ( 1 Cor. 13:12 NIV personalized by me )
“ Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2 NIV)
Whether you know Him or not….you WILL meet Him face-to-Face. And you will bow…“all created beings in heaven and on earth--even those long ago dead and buried--will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father. (Phillipians 2:10 The Message )
Glory !!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Inoculation....
Inoculation…. The idea is to get just a little bit of it, enough to make you have a few symptoms, but not have the real thing…
I was inoculated for small pox when I was a child. I remember the needle, and I remember having a giant scab on my arm.
I was inoculated for flu a few years ago. I also remember that needle, and I remember that it made me feel so bad I decided not to do that again. Why be sick on purpose? (That may be unwise. The real flu can be deadly.)
What have you been inoculated for?
Have you been inoculated against sin? Or, have you been inoculated against the gospel of Christ?
It’s not an original thought. It is a concept I heard from an evangelist. I was a little taken back, but the point is very valid. Many people have been inoculated against the gospel of Christ by ‘religion’. They have had a small dose, enough to give them a few symptoms, but they don’t have the real thing.
Are you ‘going to church’ and getting a tiny little dose? Only to leave the building unchanged? "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." (2 Peter 2:22)
Maybe you leave the building having swept away a little of the dirt in your life. Did you decide to stop some behavior that is sinful? But you have nothing in its place? Do you operate on your own willpower? Jesus warned….
"When a corrupting spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn't find anyone, it says, 'I'll go back to my old haunt.' On return, it finds the person swept and dusted, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits dirtier than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse than if he'd never gotten cleaned up in the first place." (Luke 11:24-26 The Message)
Operating on your own willpower, however strong it is, will fail. Eventually. Permanently. If you don’t have His Presence within you, you have no inoculation against sin. And sin WILL kill you. Eternally.
Praise God, I am inoculated…. against sin! But I had a dose of religion for many years, and it kept me from having the full blown relationship with Christ that I enjoy today.
Jesus, The Christ, came so I can be healed from the rampant disease of sin, the disease that kills.
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” ( Luke 9:24)
Thank You Jesus, I didn’t just get a few symptoms and live thru it.
I was sick, and died….in order to live!
And live eternally….in the Presence of Almighty God.
I was inoculated for small pox when I was a child. I remember the needle, and I remember having a giant scab on my arm.
I was inoculated for flu a few years ago. I also remember that needle, and I remember that it made me feel so bad I decided not to do that again. Why be sick on purpose? (That may be unwise. The real flu can be deadly.)
What have you been inoculated for?
Have you been inoculated against sin? Or, have you been inoculated against the gospel of Christ?
It’s not an original thought. It is a concept I heard from an evangelist. I was a little taken back, but the point is very valid. Many people have been inoculated against the gospel of Christ by ‘religion’. They have had a small dose, enough to give them a few symptoms, but they don’t have the real thing.
Are you ‘going to church’ and getting a tiny little dose? Only to leave the building unchanged? "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." (2 Peter 2:22)
Maybe you leave the building having swept away a little of the dirt in your life. Did you decide to stop some behavior that is sinful? But you have nothing in its place? Do you operate on your own willpower? Jesus warned….
"When a corrupting spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn't find anyone, it says, 'I'll go back to my old haunt.' On return, it finds the person swept and dusted, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits dirtier than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse than if he'd never gotten cleaned up in the first place." (Luke 11:24-26 The Message)
Operating on your own willpower, however strong it is, will fail. Eventually. Permanently. If you don’t have His Presence within you, you have no inoculation against sin. And sin WILL kill you. Eternally.
Praise God, I am inoculated…. against sin! But I had a dose of religion for many years, and it kept me from having the full blown relationship with Christ that I enjoy today.
Jesus, The Christ, came so I can be healed from the rampant disease of sin, the disease that kills.
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” ( Luke 9:24)
Thank You Jesus, I didn’t just get a few symptoms and live thru it.
I was sick, and died….in order to live!
And live eternally….in the Presence of Almighty God.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Reunion....
Reunion…. I attended one this evening with my husband. His 40th classmates gathered, remembering and reuniting…
Many weren’t really friends 40 years ago. They shared a classroom and teachers…walked down the same hallways, attended the same school functions and sporting events but never really knowing one another. Not really…
But as adults, we look back with different perspective. We see what we had in common all along….youth.
Some classmates were absent because of choice…simply choosing not to participate. Others just could not because of circumstance. Others still were absent because they are simply gone on. Whether by accident or illness, or even on purpose….
As young graduates, we leave high school and teenage years.. Then what? Life choices get harder and harder.
So it is with life on this earth. Receiving that diploma is only a beginning
And so it is with our life with Christ. Receiving Jesus Christ is a beginning…..
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Col. 2:6-8)
As I sat looking out over a room full of middle aged people who received a high school diploma on the same night some 40 years ago, I thought about the years since I received Christ..
In both cases, mistakes have been made, lessons have been learned, lots of growing up and maturing have taken place, perspectives and priorities have been altered…..
I pray we continue to live, and that we continue to be built up in Him.
“….School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving….”(Col 2:7 The Message)
“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other……. let the Word of Christ--the Message--have the run of the house….. Give it plenty of room in your lives…….let every detail in your lives--words, actions, whatever--be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way…”
(Col. 3:15-17 The Message)
Tonight's reunion was great. But there will be a greater reunion. One day....
Many weren’t really friends 40 years ago. They shared a classroom and teachers…walked down the same hallways, attended the same school functions and sporting events but never really knowing one another. Not really…
But as adults, we look back with different perspective. We see what we had in common all along….youth.
Some classmates were absent because of choice…simply choosing not to participate. Others just could not because of circumstance. Others still were absent because they are simply gone on. Whether by accident or illness, or even on purpose….
As young graduates, we leave high school and teenage years.. Then what? Life choices get harder and harder.
So it is with life on this earth. Receiving that diploma is only a beginning
And so it is with our life with Christ. Receiving Jesus Christ is a beginning…..
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” (Col. 2:6-8)
As I sat looking out over a room full of middle aged people who received a high school diploma on the same night some 40 years ago, I thought about the years since I received Christ..
In both cases, mistakes have been made, lessons have been learned, lots of growing up and maturing have taken place, perspectives and priorities have been altered…..
I pray we continue to live, and that we continue to be built up in Him.
“….School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving….”(Col 2:7 The Message)
“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other……. let the Word of Christ--the Message--have the run of the house….. Give it plenty of room in your lives…….let every detail in your lives--words, actions, whatever--be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way…”
(Col. 3:15-17 The Message)
Tonight's reunion was great. But there will be a greater reunion. One day....
Friday, July 22, 2011
Birthday...
Birthday… We count them. We celebrate…..
We have cake, give gifts, sing songs. We mark the occasion of time having passed.
Every one of the days I gave birth to my children is a day that I count and remember.
Today is a friend’s birthday. It is also the day her father is laying in a casket awaiting a different occasion tomorrow.
I am sad for her, sad for her loss. I am saddened that her birthday will have this shadow cast on it. But I am happy that she knew the love of her father and for the relationship she had with him.
Birth days are exciting. New babies arrive on birth days. Birthdays are fun. We party and feast on family and great food. They are days that we greet new life and recognize the passing of the years.
Funerals are of a different sort, yet for those who belong to Jesus, they are days we recognize the passing of time in this realm, and greet new life in the next.
We will all pass thru the veil from this realm to the next. Unless Jesus comes back first…and even then, “…..a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die--but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes--it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. (1 Cor. 15:51-53 The Message)
My friend’s father will have a funeral. I may have one too.
Or maybe He will come before then…..
Either way, I’m a winner.
We have cake, give gifts, sing songs. We mark the occasion of time having passed.
Every one of the days I gave birth to my children is a day that I count and remember.
Today is a friend’s birthday. It is also the day her father is laying in a casket awaiting a different occasion tomorrow.
I am sad for her, sad for her loss. I am saddened that her birthday will have this shadow cast on it. But I am happy that she knew the love of her father and for the relationship she had with him.
Birth days are exciting. New babies arrive on birth days. Birthdays are fun. We party and feast on family and great food. They are days that we greet new life and recognize the passing of the years.
Funerals are of a different sort, yet for those who belong to Jesus, they are days we recognize the passing of time in this realm, and greet new life in the next.
We will all pass thru the veil from this realm to the next. Unless Jesus comes back first…and even then, “…..a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die--but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes--it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. (1 Cor. 15:51-53 The Message)
My friend’s father will have a funeral. I may have one too.
Or maybe He will come before then…..
Either way, I’m a winner.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Nip it....
Nip it… Barney Fife’s advice to Andy was always to “Nip it in the bud. Nip it! Nip it! Nip it!!!”
There is much wisdom in that, though Barney was always a bit excitable and had a tendency to over react….
I thought about Barney as I read Song of Songs this morning. (You may know the book as Song of Solomon…and I know, that’s hard to imagine Barney and that book of the Bible in the same thought!)
“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” (Song of Songs 2:15)
Little foxes were a problem for vine keepers. They nipped at the tender vines bearing new fruit. Not only did they eat the fruit, they could destroy the vine in the process. They would also dig holes, damaging the roots….just a major menace.
So….the vine keepers wanted to ‘nip it in the bud’. They purposed to catch the foxes, even the babies, and do away with them before the problem was even birthed. (…I can just hear the mournful ‘awwww….’ of all the animal lovers reading this….)
There is much wisdom in this teaching. There is much to be gained from catching the foxes before they dig the holes and tear up the vines….before they strip away the new fruit being grown on the vine.
Whether it is in our churches, in our businesses, or in our personal relationships, we are wise to do away with little foxes. Little foxes are a problem for all of us.
We are wise to agree with Barney Fife and ‘Nip it in the bud. Nip it! Nip it! Nip it!!’
There is much wisdom in that, though Barney was always a bit excitable and had a tendency to over react….
I thought about Barney as I read Song of Songs this morning. (You may know the book as Song of Solomon…and I know, that’s hard to imagine Barney and that book of the Bible in the same thought!)
“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” (Song of Songs 2:15)
Little foxes were a problem for vine keepers. They nipped at the tender vines bearing new fruit. Not only did they eat the fruit, they could destroy the vine in the process. They would also dig holes, damaging the roots….just a major menace.
So….the vine keepers wanted to ‘nip it in the bud’. They purposed to catch the foxes, even the babies, and do away with them before the problem was even birthed. (…I can just hear the mournful ‘awwww….’ of all the animal lovers reading this….)
There is much wisdom in this teaching. There is much to be gained from catching the foxes before they dig the holes and tear up the vines….before they strip away the new fruit being grown on the vine.
Whether it is in our churches, in our businesses, or in our personal relationships, we are wise to do away with little foxes. Little foxes are a problem for all of us.
We are wise to agree with Barney Fife and ‘Nip it in the bud. Nip it! Nip it! Nip it!!’
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Commitment....
Commitment…. It is not warm and fuzzy.
Feelings are often warm and fuzzy. At least to begin with…..
But commitment is a far cry from feelings.. The Bible teaches that love and commitment should develop together.
“Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” “Don't stir up love. Don't wake it up until it's ready.” (Song of Songs 3:5 NIV and The Message)
We should not just act out of ‘feelings’. What we feel is not always true.
“A human heart is more dishonest than anything else. It can't be healed. Who can understand it? The LORD says, ‘I look deep down inside human hearts. I see what is in people's minds….” (Jer 17:9-10)
So often we discover that truth painfully. Having learned the hard way, we have picked forbidden fruit from our own ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’. We chow down on it and have our eyes opened to the reality of evil. We look back on our mistakes and see that God’s way was right, and we were dreadfully wrong. Even though we ‘felt’ so sure.
And we bear the consequences….
God is Creator. He is The Designer. He is The Engineer. He drew up the plans and laid out the boundaries. Why is it we challenge His design?
Why are we so set against listening to Him? He wants so desperately to guide us. We are wise to follow His council.
Commitment and love must develop together. We should not arouse intimate relationships before there is a strong enough commitment to sustain the relationship.
Warm and fuzzy (....or hot and sweaty) won’t do it.
Feelings are often warm and fuzzy. At least to begin with…..
But commitment is a far cry from feelings.. The Bible teaches that love and commitment should develop together.
“Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” “Don't stir up love. Don't wake it up until it's ready.” (Song of Songs 3:5 NIV and The Message)
We should not just act out of ‘feelings’. What we feel is not always true.
“A human heart is more dishonest than anything else. It can't be healed. Who can understand it? The LORD says, ‘I look deep down inside human hearts. I see what is in people's minds….” (Jer 17:9-10)
So often we discover that truth painfully. Having learned the hard way, we have picked forbidden fruit from our own ‘tree of knowledge of good and evil’. We chow down on it and have our eyes opened to the reality of evil. We look back on our mistakes and see that God’s way was right, and we were dreadfully wrong. Even though we ‘felt’ so sure.
And we bear the consequences….
God is Creator. He is The Designer. He is The Engineer. He drew up the plans and laid out the boundaries. Why is it we challenge His design?
Why are we so set against listening to Him? He wants so desperately to guide us. We are wise to follow His council.
Commitment and love must develop together. We should not arouse intimate relationships before there is a strong enough commitment to sustain the relationship.
Warm and fuzzy (....or hot and sweaty) won’t do it.
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