April
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
💐 💐 💐 💐 💐 💐 💐
Lambkins
by Ron Saladin
Lambs are not popular as icons for sport teams. There’s a good reason for that, of course: it is difficult to get excited about the winning probabilities of a team named the Frisky Lambs. Paired against bears, tigers, or panthers, lambs would always seem to be at a disadvantage. Even ducks would look mighty by comparison.
Nevertheless, in God’s creation lambs occupy a position of great importance. They had His attention before anything of this world even existed.
Revelation 13:8 - “And all that dwell on earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
The Greek word for “lamb” there is arnion, meaning “a lambkin.”
Many years before, the Apostle John quoted John the Baptist referring to Jesus as the Lamb of God. The Greek there is amnos, the Lamb of sacrifice, provided by God. Through the amnos of God, we are spared from destruction as the Israelites were spared through the Passover lamb of the Exodus. A synonym to amnos is aren from which comes the diminutive arnion, a lambkin.
Throughout Revelation, it is the little lamb that is so often referred to, arnion. Perhaps this is simply a reflection of a language changing over the years. Nevertheless, Jesus used arnion when He told Peter to “Feed my lambs.”
There is something so endearing about a small lamb, so painful to think of it being killed. Yet the plan of God for the salvation of mankind would involve the painful death of a special lamb of sacrifice.
Exactly when this plan came about, we don’t know, just that it was there at the beginning of this creation. Did the Father originate the plan and reveal it to the Son? Or was it a simultaneous realization? We don’t know such things. But the Mighty God the Son would become weak, or become perceived as weak, a vulnerable creature in a world of predators.
By choice.
Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, apprehended by the wolves of this world, the Lamb could have called for thousands of angelic backups. One would have been more than enough.
But He didn’t make that request, and He went on to suffer at the hands of vicious men and die as a sacrificial creature.
We as Christians are called to imitate His submission, to take His icon of a lambkin upon ourselves. At times it means appearing near defenseless in a world filled with aggressive carnivores. It means being gentle in a world where violence is often seen as the better option. It means being discounted and seen as having little or no value by the secular worldview at large. It means being seen as a loser by those who know how to effectively manipulate others to their own advantage.
Let’s pick a number. Say one million. I believe some reading this will exist as transformed children of God a million years from now. They will be blessed to interact with God face to face, to see Him as He is.
On the other side of this seeing is God looking at us.
In the book of Revelation, the Lamb is presented as the conquering warrior, the Lion of Judah, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. The church, shaped into the image of the Lion of Judah, will be glorious beings to behold, sharing in the inheritance of Christ, shining like the stars, everliving beings of light and power.
Nevertheless, when God looks at His children even then, I suspect He will see past the lion personages to the foundation of the lambs which came first so long ago. It is needful for the lessons learned as
lambkins to shape the behaviors of the forever lions.
Take heart, team of lambs, we are still in spring training. The real season has not begun yet. Opening day doesn’t start until the Captain shows up.
Prominent prognosticators in the past such as Isaiah, Daniel, Paul, Peter, and even our Captain predict the lambs will be ultimately undefeatable. So far many of their other predictions have come true with uncanny accuracy.
Learning to be lamblike now is a forever trait blended in with the eternal strength and dominance of being a lion. Many little lambs are being shaped into the image of Jesus Christ, Lamb of God, Lion of Judah.
Go lambkins.
🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑
“Religion says, ‘I obey;
therefore I am accepted.’
Christianity says, ‘I’m accepted, therefore I obey.’”
—Timothy Keller
The Attraction of Rotting Carcasses
by Cynthia Saladin
When Jennifer walked Pepper and Virginia up the easement a week or so ago, she was dismayed to see a decaying carcass. It would have been disgusting even if she’d been alone, but having a dog along made it so much worse. And you know why! A dog is naturally attracted to carrion. if they don’t roll in that “luscious” (to them) aroma, they’re likely to want to partake of the banquet. It’s their nature! You can’t really do anything about it. If you’re with the dog, you can scold, but you know at the first opportunity, he’ll likely be back to the smorgasbord to indulge.
Here we are, rapidly approaching the spring holy days. We’re supposed to examine ourselves (1 Corinthians 11:28) to recognize who we are in Christ and how very much we continue to need Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior. As part of our examination process, we should consider the depth of our devotion to Jesus Christ. How much do we trust Him? How much do we believe in Him? We’re not just interested in the verbal profession of belief - because words, like beauty, can be only skin deep. So we look at our actions. Our actions follow our belief; that is, what we habitually do is based on what we truly believe. Just as the dogs are naturally attracted to carrion, we will be attracted to that which is most desirable to us. Just as the dogs will take advantage of every opportunity to return to the dead carcass, we demonstrate what is nearest and dearest to our heart by where we spend our time and money. Oh, we are more devious than the dogs. (The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked! Jeremiah 17:9) When someone is watching, we may act like a Christian. But our habitual choices demonstrate our Christianity, our nature, the depth of our relationship with our Messiah. Just like the dogs, we can’t help it. It’s our nature.
So watch yourself. Consider your choices. Evaluate you reactions to what’s happening in your life, in your relationships with others, your response to what God is allowing to occur. When you’re alone, where do your thoughts default? When you have no one watching, is your standard as high as when you’re trying to impress someone? Do you agonize over giving an offering to God and think nothing of buying some expensive thing you don’t really need? What brings you the greatest peace and contentment? Is it God-centered?
If you’re like me, these questions make you cry out with intensity, “Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . .” (Romans 7:24-25) And thus I find myself on the road to an honest examination of myself so that I may discern the Lord’s body and how very much I need my Savior. It’s a sobering and humbling realization every year just how much we are attracted by the carrion in our lives.
🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋
“One hundred religious persons knit into
a unity by careful organization do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team.”—AW Tozer
⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰
You know children are growing up when they start asking questions that have answers.
All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.
💐 💐 💐 💐 💐 💐 💐
Lambkins
by Ron Saladin
Lambs are not popular as icons for sport teams. There’s a good reason for that, of course: it is difficult to get excited about the winning probabilities of a team named the Frisky Lambs. Paired against bears, tigers, or panthers, lambs would always seem to be at a disadvantage. Even ducks would look mighty by comparison.
Nevertheless, in God’s creation lambs occupy a position of great importance. They had His attention before anything of this world even existed.
Revelation 13:8 - “And all that dwell on earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
The Greek word for “lamb” there is arnion, meaning “a lambkin.”
Many years before, the Apostle John quoted John the Baptist referring to Jesus as the Lamb of God. The Greek there is amnos, the Lamb of sacrifice, provided by God. Through the amnos of God, we are spared from destruction as the Israelites were spared through the Passover lamb of the Exodus. A synonym to amnos is aren from which comes the diminutive arnion, a lambkin.
Throughout Revelation, it is the little lamb that is so often referred to, arnion. Perhaps this is simply a reflection of a language changing over the years. Nevertheless, Jesus used arnion when He told Peter to “Feed my lambs.”
There is something so endearing about a small lamb, so painful to think of it being killed. Yet the plan of God for the salvation of mankind would involve the painful death of a special lamb of sacrifice.
Exactly when this plan came about, we don’t know, just that it was there at the beginning of this creation. Did the Father originate the plan and reveal it to the Son? Or was it a simultaneous realization? We don’t know such things. But the Mighty God the Son would become weak, or become perceived as weak, a vulnerable creature in a world of predators.
By choice.
Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, apprehended by the wolves of this world, the Lamb could have called for thousands of angelic backups. One would have been more than enough.
But He didn’t make that request, and He went on to suffer at the hands of vicious men and die as a sacrificial creature.
We as Christians are called to imitate His submission, to take His icon of a lambkin upon ourselves. At times it means appearing near defenseless in a world filled with aggressive carnivores. It means being gentle in a world where violence is often seen as the better option. It means being discounted and seen as having little or no value by the secular worldview at large. It means being seen as a loser by those who know how to effectively manipulate others to their own advantage.
Let’s pick a number. Say one million. I believe some reading this will exist as transformed children of God a million years from now. They will be blessed to interact with God face to face, to see Him as He is.
On the other side of this seeing is God looking at us.
In the book of Revelation, the Lamb is presented as the conquering warrior, the Lion of Judah, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. The church, shaped into the image of the Lion of Judah, will be glorious beings to behold, sharing in the inheritance of Christ, shining like the stars, everliving beings of light and power.
Nevertheless, when God looks at His children even then, I suspect He will see past the lion personages to the foundation of the lambs which came first so long ago. It is needful for the lessons learned as
lambkins to shape the behaviors of the forever lions.
Take heart, team of lambs, we are still in spring training. The real season has not begun yet. Opening day doesn’t start until the Captain shows up.
Prominent prognosticators in the past such as Isaiah, Daniel, Paul, Peter, and even our Captain predict the lambs will be ultimately undefeatable. So far many of their other predictions have come true with uncanny accuracy.
Learning to be lamblike now is a forever trait blended in with the eternal strength and dominance of being a lion. Many little lambs are being shaped into the image of Jesus Christ, Lamb of God, Lion of Judah.
Go lambkins.
🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑 🐑
“Religion says, ‘I obey;
therefore I am accepted.’
Christianity says, ‘I’m accepted, therefore I obey.’”
—Timothy Keller
The Attraction of Rotting Carcasses
by Cynthia Saladin
When Jennifer walked Pepper and Virginia up the easement a week or so ago, she was dismayed to see a decaying carcass. It would have been disgusting even if she’d been alone, but having a dog along made it so much worse. And you know why! A dog is naturally attracted to carrion. if they don’t roll in that “luscious” (to them) aroma, they’re likely to want to partake of the banquet. It’s their nature! You can’t really do anything about it. If you’re with the dog, you can scold, but you know at the first opportunity, he’ll likely be back to the smorgasbord to indulge.
Here we are, rapidly approaching the spring holy days. We’re supposed to examine ourselves (1 Corinthians 11:28) to recognize who we are in Christ and how very much we continue to need Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior. As part of our examination process, we should consider the depth of our devotion to Jesus Christ. How much do we trust Him? How much do we believe in Him? We’re not just interested in the verbal profession of belief - because words, like beauty, can be only skin deep. So we look at our actions. Our actions follow our belief; that is, what we habitually do is based on what we truly believe. Just as the dogs are naturally attracted to carrion, we will be attracted to that which is most desirable to us. Just as the dogs will take advantage of every opportunity to return to the dead carcass, we demonstrate what is nearest and dearest to our heart by where we spend our time and money. Oh, we are more devious than the dogs. (The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked! Jeremiah 17:9) When someone is watching, we may act like a Christian. But our habitual choices demonstrate our Christianity, our nature, the depth of our relationship with our Messiah. Just like the dogs, we can’t help it. It’s our nature.
So watch yourself. Consider your choices. Evaluate you reactions to what’s happening in your life, in your relationships with others, your response to what God is allowing to occur. When you’re alone, where do your thoughts default? When you have no one watching, is your standard as high as when you’re trying to impress someone? Do you agonize over giving an offering to God and think nothing of buying some expensive thing you don’t really need? What brings you the greatest peace and contentment? Is it God-centered?
If you’re like me, these questions make you cry out with intensity, “Oh wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! . . .” (Romans 7:24-25) And thus I find myself on the road to an honest examination of myself so that I may discern the Lord’s body and how very much I need my Savior. It’s a sobering and humbling realization every year just how much we are attracted by the carrion in our lives.
🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋
“One hundred religious persons knit into
a unity by careful organization do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team.”—AW Tozer
⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰ ⍰
You know children are growing up when they start asking questions that have answers.
