Overview of 2014 newsletters
January 2014
Peace by Cynthia Saladin
Coming to Know God, Part 9 by Bill Rollins
New Year, Same God by Cynthia Saladin
Niptoe or Nipto by Cynthia and Christopher Saladin
February
Be Kind by Diane Kleeschulte
Coming to Know God, Part 10 by Bill Rollins
That I May See by Cynthia Saladin
March
We Hired on Tough by Sally Rollins
Passover's Coming by Cynthia Saladin
Watch Out for the Thorns by Cynthia Saladin
Coming to Know God, Part 11 by Bill Rollins
April
Accents and Impressions by Cynthia Saladin
Examining Examine by Ron Saladin
Peace, Be Still by Cynthia Saladin
May
What Are Weeds Good For? by Cynthia Saladin
Dogs! by Cynthia Saladin
What Is Right in Your Own Eyes by Cynthia Saladin
June
The Story of a School Bus by Sally Rollins
Prepare Your Minds for Action by Cynthia Saladin
July
Time by Cynthia Saladin
No Looking Back by Cynthia Saladin
August
Cicada Killers and Oncoming Traffic by Cynthia Saladin
Is it Right or Is it Easier? by Cynthia Saladin
A Great Dad by Cynthia Saladin
September - October
Perfect Endurance by Nate Rollins
The Weeds of Life by Patricia Manning
Baptism for the Dead by Bill Rollins
Rest Stops and Holy Days by Cynthia Saladin
November
The Wilderness and the Dry Land by Cynthia Saladin
Outreach by Charlotte McKenzie
December
The First Creation of God? by Dave Manning
Ten Thousand Reasons by Cynthia Saladin
January 2014
Peace by Cynthia Saladin
Coming to Know God, Part 9 by Bill Rollins
New Year, Same God by Cynthia Saladin
Niptoe or Nipto by Cynthia and Christopher Saladin
February
Be Kind by Diane Kleeschulte
Coming to Know God, Part 10 by Bill Rollins
That I May See by Cynthia Saladin
March
We Hired on Tough by Sally Rollins
Passover's Coming by Cynthia Saladin
Watch Out for the Thorns by Cynthia Saladin
Coming to Know God, Part 11 by Bill Rollins
April
Accents and Impressions by Cynthia Saladin
Examining Examine by Ron Saladin
Peace, Be Still by Cynthia Saladin
May
What Are Weeds Good For? by Cynthia Saladin
Dogs! by Cynthia Saladin
What Is Right in Your Own Eyes by Cynthia Saladin
June
The Story of a School Bus by Sally Rollins
Prepare Your Minds for Action by Cynthia Saladin
July
Time by Cynthia Saladin
No Looking Back by Cynthia Saladin
August
Cicada Killers and Oncoming Traffic by Cynthia Saladin
Is it Right or Is it Easier? by Cynthia Saladin
A Great Dad by Cynthia Saladin
September - October
Perfect Endurance by Nate Rollins
The Weeds of Life by Patricia Manning
Baptism for the Dead by Bill Rollins
Rest Stops and Holy Days by Cynthia Saladin
November
The Wilderness and the Dry Land by Cynthia Saladin
Outreach by Charlotte McKenzie
December
The First Creation of God? by Dave Manning
Ten Thousand Reasons by Cynthia Saladin
January 2014
“My mind contains many good ideas, but it is not always easy to squeeze one out.”
Peace by Cynthia Saladin
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26
Think of how many times have you heard a harried mom say, “I just want some peace and quiet.” It’s not just harried moms who long for peace. It’s people suffering from illness. It’s business owners with too many bills and problems, but not enough workers to cover all the tasks that must be accomplished. It’s the child who’s bullied on the recess playground. It’s everyone, at one time or another, who lives in this fallen world. We long for peace.
There are imitations of true peace, just as there are imitations of true love, true joy, the true God. So it’s not surprising to hear Jesus say: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you (John 14:27). There is a peace that can be found in the world, but it’s not real peace. It’s false. It’s just an imitation.
What does that imitation peace look like? It’s the harried mom who sends her children to bed so she can have some peace. That’s not true peace because the misbehaving children will be awake again tomorrow. It’s a temporary reprieve from noise and chaos and conflict, but it’s not peace.
False peace is the business man who cuts corners, fudges on his taxes, does less than his best for each of his customers. It might help him cross his tasks off his to-do list, but it doesn’t give him peace inside and doesn’t make the business prosper long-term.
Worldly peace is the child who doesn’t do his homework, who gets into trouble - anything - to earn the punishment of not having to go outside for recess. Rather than letting someone in authority know about the bullying on the playground, he becomes a problem for the teachers, which only compounds the problem and doesn’t bring the peace he had hoped.
Peace of the world for those who are suffering from pain and illness can be overmedication by drugs or alcohol. Sometimes they even contemplate suicide, thinking they’ll finally be at peace.
True, godly peace isn’t the immediate cure to all pain and trouble; it’s contentment in the midst of pain and trouble. Remember Jesus telling his disciples, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Jesus didn’t say we would be free from trouble if we are in Him. Rather, He said that we would have trouble. Yet in the midst of that trouble, we would have hope - hope of salvation, hope of eternal life, hope of life in God’s kingdom where there is no more pain, crying, sorrow, or death. That hope gives the Christian incredible, deep, abiding peace.
True, godly peace comes from . . . wait for it . . . the Prince of Peace! (Isaiah 9:6) It’s the evidence that you have the Holy Spirit within (Galatians 5:22). Peace comes from keeping your eyes on your Savior. Don’t become distracted by the things of this world, the trouble around you, the evilness of a society in rebellion against God. Keep your eyes on God.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3
“Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot. But all too often the greedy eyes are only deceived; the fruit that seemed so precious is still green on the inside, and disrespected hands ungratefully toss aside what has so disappointed them.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Coming to Know God, Part 9 by Bill Rollins
Were you ever told, at some time in your life, that it was OK to tell a lie? Perhaps someone used the term “little white lie” and told you this was all right. We humans have a strange ability to convince ourselves that some of the wrong things we do are really not that bad. We get ourselves in a jam and decide it is all right to tell one of these “small lies.”
On the other hand, have you ever been the victim of a lie? Somehow I wonder if there is anything that hurts the heart more than to know a friend has lied to you. There really is no justification for lying.
The word of God has quite a bit to say about the act of lying. The Ninth Commandment is perhaps the focal point on this subject and so I’ll quote it here: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Later on in the book of Psalms, David says, “You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Eternal abhors” (Psalm 5:6). Did you notice that God lumps liars (deceitful men) in with the bloodthirsty?
In the book of Revelation, liars are lumped together with some very unsavory sinners: “The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, will find their place in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). “Outside [the city of God] are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying” (Revelation 22:15).
The Bible makes it plain that God hates the lie. Jesus Himself calls Satan the “father of lies” and said he was a “liar from the beginning.” He also condemned the Pharisees for lying.
There is no two ways about it; lies hurt and there is no easy way to recover from them! Once individuals are labeled as liars, there is no trusting them and their credibility is gone. If I tell you a small lie today, how will you ever know if I will lie in another, more important area tomorrow? We really have no other option but to be glad that God, in His wisdom and love, warned us about this insidious sin. He told us not to lie!
I really believe one of the greatest lessons a individual can learn is that, even if the truth hurts, it is better to be up front now than to dig oneself out of a pit of lies later. To impress this on our children is a great act of kindness and love that every parent should strive to accomplish. Children learn best from example and we, as parents, must realize if we tell our children lies, they will grow up to tell us lies.
On the positive side of all this stands the word “truth!” The one thing that shall never fail as truth is the Word of God. Jesus said He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). He called the Spirit of God “the Spirit of Truth.” “Sanctify them by the truth, for Your word is Truth” (John 17:17).
*****************************
We have come to the last of the commandments in our study of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or
anything that belongs to your neighbor.” To comprehend just how it is we break this law may sometimes be very difficult for us to do! Where do you draw the line, for example, in simply admiring your neighbor’s house or car and truly coveting it?
The word coveting itself is an interesting word because although here it means “to wrongly desire something,” in other contexts it can mean “to eagerly desire.” The way in which we may determine the difference is through understanding the entirety of the Commandment. “You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
There are many things in this life God has given to mankind that we should desire. He has given to us freedom from the bondage to sin, and this we should “eagerly desire.” He has given us the promise of His Spirit dwelling in us if we repent, and this we should “eagerly desire.” He has given us, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, many wonderful gifts and Paul tells us we “should eagerly desire the best gifts” (I Corinthians 12:31). As parents, we may very well “eagerly desire” to see our children succeed, to have them to come to a knowledge of who God is in their lives.
It is when we begin to look to other people and to desire the things they have that we come in contact with this sin. As in all the Commandments we have looked at, we can see this Tenth Commandment is a gift from God that will help us to get along in society much better. God knows the motivations of a person and so He knows when a person starts to covet something that belongs to someone else, that coveting will lead to other more dangerous thoughts. James, in his book, put it this way: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You eagerly desire something but you don’t get it, so you kill. And you covet, but you cannot have what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:1).
On a large scale, this sin of coveting is what causes wars around the world. One country’s leader or people covet the land and/or resources of another country, and this leads to conflict and war.
On the positive side of this Commandment we might look at the word “contentment.” The apostle Paul, knowing the problem of this sin in the hearts of man, tells the Philippian Church this: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” And then Paul gives us the ultimate advise in overcoming coveting: “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13).
Coveting is a sin that takes self-examination. Many of the sins we have talked about previously are outward and can be seen by others. This sin is inward; it is a sin of the heart and must be purged. Just consider for a moment, please, what would happen to all the other sins in a person’s life if just this one sin were to be completely held in check. God has saved a very important consideration for us until the last of His Ten Commandments.
Collected on the Internet
* Every morning is the dawn of a new error.
* Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.
* My wife and I had words, but I didn't get to use mine.
* Aspire to inspire before you expire.
* My pillow is my hair stylist.
* Sleep: There's a nap for that!
* Calling someone average is mean.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. ---- Stephen William Hawking (1942- ) British theoretical physicist
New Year, Same God by Cynthia Saladin
Succinctly stated on a church marque in St. Clair, this phrase simply and profoundly expresses an obvious truth. And yet, it’s an appropriate reminder: we may be starting a new year. We may be resolving to change our lifestyle in some manner. We may be making concrete plans to do something new. But, our God remains the same. We know that. We know that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And yet . . . in the midst of our changing lives, society, world, we desperately need that reminder.
One of the principles taught in child psychology in teaching methods courses is the concept of cognitive dissonance. That is, if there’s nothing which makes the learner uncomfortable, there’s no motivation to change, to learn, to grow. Therefore, a good teacher will intentionally create a cognitive dissonance within the students to motivate them to learn. This theory of teaching/learning has some powerful implications: 1) We all like where we are and we resist change. Inertia is a much-studied topic, not only in education, but also in physics and in society as a whole. 2) Change is uncomfortable. Learning something new, modifying our behavior, growing is not always - or perhaps often - pleasant. 3) Staying the same and avoiding change is not good for anyone. Oh, we can see the truth of that statement for others. But when it comes to our own lives, we weigh the difficulties of upgrading to a new computer system, the angst of learning a new skill, or the discomfort of changing our cooking and eating habits so we can be more healthy - we weigh all of that, and sometimes we put off making the change until it’s reached a critical state. We think, “What’s going to cause me less pain - staying where I am or doing the new thing that will actually be better for me in the long run?”
Change is part of the life of a Christian. If we’ve been justified by Jesus Christ, then we cannot remain as a babe. We must go on to maturity in Christ. We must begin the process of sanctification. We must become perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Becoming perfect looks like an overwhelming proposition to Christians who know who and what they are. There’s a long way to go. There’s a lot of changing and shaping and molding and purifying ahead.
But it’s worth it.
The best part, furthermore, is that we’re not doing it on our own. Our God is changing us from the inside out, molding us into the image of His Son, purifying for Himself a people for His own possession. And the goal is set. We don’t change only to find that the goal has varied, that our God has evolved. No! Our God, the great God of the Universe, the One who created all things, is perfect and unchanging and righteous and gracious. He is altogether Wonderful.
So we don’t have to weigh the pros and cons of changing, of being sanctified. We already know that the One who made us is perfecting us for our good. Our goal, rather, is taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ - that the Holy Spirit can have full rein in our lives to effect the change necessary to become like our Elder Brother.
Yes, it’s a new year. And praise God, we worship the same God!!
Niptoe or Niptō by Cynthia Saladin
Recently Ron was contrasting the two words used for “wash” in Mark 7. Verse 3 uses niptō which means to wash a part of the body. Verse 4 uses baptizō which has more of a ceremonial application. Christopher gave us an unforgettable image to connect with niptō. I doubt we’ll soon forget what that particular Greek word means.
How do you hide God’s word in your heart? In what intentional practice do you engage so that you won’t forget these words of life? And do you recognize the value of God’s people around you to help you learn and grow? You never know who God will use. Selah!
“My mind contains many good ideas, but it is not always easy to squeeze one out.”
Peace by Cynthia Saladin
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26
Think of how many times have you heard a harried mom say, “I just want some peace and quiet.” It’s not just harried moms who long for peace. It’s people suffering from illness. It’s business owners with too many bills and problems, but not enough workers to cover all the tasks that must be accomplished. It’s the child who’s bullied on the recess playground. It’s everyone, at one time or another, who lives in this fallen world. We long for peace.
There are imitations of true peace, just as there are imitations of true love, true joy, the true God. So it’s not surprising to hear Jesus say: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you (John 14:27). There is a peace that can be found in the world, but it’s not real peace. It’s false. It’s just an imitation.
What does that imitation peace look like? It’s the harried mom who sends her children to bed so she can have some peace. That’s not true peace because the misbehaving children will be awake again tomorrow. It’s a temporary reprieve from noise and chaos and conflict, but it’s not peace.
False peace is the business man who cuts corners, fudges on his taxes, does less than his best for each of his customers. It might help him cross his tasks off his to-do list, but it doesn’t give him peace inside and doesn’t make the business prosper long-term.
Worldly peace is the child who doesn’t do his homework, who gets into trouble - anything - to earn the punishment of not having to go outside for recess. Rather than letting someone in authority know about the bullying on the playground, he becomes a problem for the teachers, which only compounds the problem and doesn’t bring the peace he had hoped.
Peace of the world for those who are suffering from pain and illness can be overmedication by drugs or alcohol. Sometimes they even contemplate suicide, thinking they’ll finally be at peace.
True, godly peace isn’t the immediate cure to all pain and trouble; it’s contentment in the midst of pain and trouble. Remember Jesus telling his disciples, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Jesus didn’t say we would be free from trouble if we are in Him. Rather, He said that we would have trouble. Yet in the midst of that trouble, we would have hope - hope of salvation, hope of eternal life, hope of life in God’s kingdom where there is no more pain, crying, sorrow, or death. That hope gives the Christian incredible, deep, abiding peace.
True, godly peace comes from . . . wait for it . . . the Prince of Peace! (Isaiah 9:6) It’s the evidence that you have the Holy Spirit within (Galatians 5:22). Peace comes from keeping your eyes on your Savior. Don’t become distracted by the things of this world, the trouble around you, the evilness of a society in rebellion against God. Keep your eyes on God.
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Isaiah 26:3
“Waiting is an art that our impatient age has forgotten. It wants to break open the ripe fruit when it has hardly finished planting the shoot. But all too often the greedy eyes are only deceived; the fruit that seemed so precious is still green on the inside, and disrespected hands ungratefully toss aside what has so disappointed them.”
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Coming to Know God, Part 9 by Bill Rollins
Were you ever told, at some time in your life, that it was OK to tell a lie? Perhaps someone used the term “little white lie” and told you this was all right. We humans have a strange ability to convince ourselves that some of the wrong things we do are really not that bad. We get ourselves in a jam and decide it is all right to tell one of these “small lies.”
On the other hand, have you ever been the victim of a lie? Somehow I wonder if there is anything that hurts the heart more than to know a friend has lied to you. There really is no justification for lying.
The word of God has quite a bit to say about the act of lying. The Ninth Commandment is perhaps the focal point on this subject and so I’ll quote it here: “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Later on in the book of Psalms, David says, “You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Eternal abhors” (Psalm 5:6). Did you notice that God lumps liars (deceitful men) in with the bloodthirsty?
In the book of Revelation, liars are lumped together with some very unsavory sinners: “The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, will find their place in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death” (Revelation 21:8). “Outside [the city of God] are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices lying” (Revelation 22:15).
The Bible makes it plain that God hates the lie. Jesus Himself calls Satan the “father of lies” and said he was a “liar from the beginning.” He also condemned the Pharisees for lying.
There is no two ways about it; lies hurt and there is no easy way to recover from them! Once individuals are labeled as liars, there is no trusting them and their credibility is gone. If I tell you a small lie today, how will you ever know if I will lie in another, more important area tomorrow? We really have no other option but to be glad that God, in His wisdom and love, warned us about this insidious sin. He told us not to lie!
I really believe one of the greatest lessons a individual can learn is that, even if the truth hurts, it is better to be up front now than to dig oneself out of a pit of lies later. To impress this on our children is a great act of kindness and love that every parent should strive to accomplish. Children learn best from example and we, as parents, must realize if we tell our children lies, they will grow up to tell us lies.
On the positive side of all this stands the word “truth!” The one thing that shall never fail as truth is the Word of God. Jesus said He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6). He called the Spirit of God “the Spirit of Truth.” “Sanctify them by the truth, for Your word is Truth” (John 17:17).
*****************************
We have come to the last of the commandments in our study of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or
anything that belongs to your neighbor.” To comprehend just how it is we break this law may sometimes be very difficult for us to do! Where do you draw the line, for example, in simply admiring your neighbor’s house or car and truly coveting it?
The word coveting itself is an interesting word because although here it means “to wrongly desire something,” in other contexts it can mean “to eagerly desire.” The way in which we may determine the difference is through understanding the entirety of the Commandment. “You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
There are many things in this life God has given to mankind that we should desire. He has given to us freedom from the bondage to sin, and this we should “eagerly desire.” He has given us the promise of His Spirit dwelling in us if we repent, and this we should “eagerly desire.” He has given us, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, many wonderful gifts and Paul tells us we “should eagerly desire the best gifts” (I Corinthians 12:31). As parents, we may very well “eagerly desire” to see our children succeed, to have them to come to a knowledge of who God is in their lives.
It is when we begin to look to other people and to desire the things they have that we come in contact with this sin. As in all the Commandments we have looked at, we can see this Tenth Commandment is a gift from God that will help us to get along in society much better. God knows the motivations of a person and so He knows when a person starts to covet something that belongs to someone else, that coveting will lead to other more dangerous thoughts. James, in his book, put it this way: “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You eagerly desire something but you don’t get it, so you kill. And you covet, but you cannot have what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:1).
On a large scale, this sin of coveting is what causes wars around the world. One country’s leader or people covet the land and/or resources of another country, and this leads to conflict and war.
On the positive side of this Commandment we might look at the word “contentment.” The apostle Paul, knowing the problem of this sin in the hearts of man, tells the Philippian Church this: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” And then Paul gives us the ultimate advise in overcoming coveting: “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11-13).
Coveting is a sin that takes self-examination. Many of the sins we have talked about previously are outward and can be seen by others. This sin is inward; it is a sin of the heart and must be purged. Just consider for a moment, please, what would happen to all the other sins in a person’s life if just this one sin were to be completely held in check. God has saved a very important consideration for us until the last of His Ten Commandments.
Collected on the Internet
* Every morning is the dawn of a new error.
* Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.
* My wife and I had words, but I didn't get to use mine.
* Aspire to inspire before you expire.
* My pillow is my hair stylist.
* Sleep: There's a nap for that!
* Calling someone average is mean.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. ---- Stephen William Hawking (1942- ) British theoretical physicist
New Year, Same God by Cynthia Saladin
Succinctly stated on a church marque in St. Clair, this phrase simply and profoundly expresses an obvious truth. And yet, it’s an appropriate reminder: we may be starting a new year. We may be resolving to change our lifestyle in some manner. We may be making concrete plans to do something new. But, our God remains the same. We know that. We know that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And yet . . . in the midst of our changing lives, society, world, we desperately need that reminder.
One of the principles taught in child psychology in teaching methods courses is the concept of cognitive dissonance. That is, if there’s nothing which makes the learner uncomfortable, there’s no motivation to change, to learn, to grow. Therefore, a good teacher will intentionally create a cognitive dissonance within the students to motivate them to learn. This theory of teaching/learning has some powerful implications: 1) We all like where we are and we resist change. Inertia is a much-studied topic, not only in education, but also in physics and in society as a whole. 2) Change is uncomfortable. Learning something new, modifying our behavior, growing is not always - or perhaps often - pleasant. 3) Staying the same and avoiding change is not good for anyone. Oh, we can see the truth of that statement for others. But when it comes to our own lives, we weigh the difficulties of upgrading to a new computer system, the angst of learning a new skill, or the discomfort of changing our cooking and eating habits so we can be more healthy - we weigh all of that, and sometimes we put off making the change until it’s reached a critical state. We think, “What’s going to cause me less pain - staying where I am or doing the new thing that will actually be better for me in the long run?”
Change is part of the life of a Christian. If we’ve been justified by Jesus Christ, then we cannot remain as a babe. We must go on to maturity in Christ. We must begin the process of sanctification. We must become perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Becoming perfect looks like an overwhelming proposition to Christians who know who and what they are. There’s a long way to go. There’s a lot of changing and shaping and molding and purifying ahead.
But it’s worth it.
The best part, furthermore, is that we’re not doing it on our own. Our God is changing us from the inside out, molding us into the image of His Son, purifying for Himself a people for His own possession. And the goal is set. We don’t change only to find that the goal has varied, that our God has evolved. No! Our God, the great God of the Universe, the One who created all things, is perfect and unchanging and righteous and gracious. He is altogether Wonderful.
So we don’t have to weigh the pros and cons of changing, of being sanctified. We already know that the One who made us is perfecting us for our good. Our goal, rather, is taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ - that the Holy Spirit can have full rein in our lives to effect the change necessary to become like our Elder Brother.
Yes, it’s a new year. And praise God, we worship the same God!!
Niptoe or Niptō by Cynthia Saladin
Recently Ron was contrasting the two words used for “wash” in Mark 7. Verse 3 uses niptō which means to wash a part of the body. Verse 4 uses baptizō which has more of a ceremonial application. Christopher gave us an unforgettable image to connect with niptō. I doubt we’ll soon forget what that particular Greek word means.
How do you hide God’s word in your heart? In what intentional practice do you engage so that you won’t forget these words of life? And do you recognize the value of God’s people around you to help you learn and grow? You never know who God will use. Selah!
February 2014
The idea that all men are created equal loses everything if you believe that men were not created. (cybersalt)
Be Kind
by Diane Kleeschulte
Teenagers have a way of building relationships that can look a little strange to innocent bystanders. I’m not one of those innocent bystanders, however. I’m their teacher. The teacher is responsible for monitoring the tone and climate of the classroom. It can be a challenge, especially because I have committed my life to Jesus Christ.
During the week I observe my students by listening and watching their conversations, and that sometimes includes teasing, but not of the bullying sort. You know, the gotcha moments; the relentless puns. The teasing conversation usually happens in a matter of a quick minute or two. And because they are gifted students, they can be like a dog with a bone. Tenacity kicks in. They just won’t quit until they get the reaction that they’re looking for from their target. I admit that most of the time the teasing is done in fun. The girls laugh and giggle; the boys jab one another either with their arm or binder, depending on which is the larger of the two; usually it’s the binder! Everyone goes their own way and class begins; all is well. Friendships remain intact; feelings are not hurt.
But there are also times when I think that I need to intervene. The student being teased has gotten a little quiet, and their body language reads “Uh oh, now what do I say/do?” It’s time to hit the re-set button on this situation. I interrupt the situation by asking a favor of a student in the group: I need someone to _________. I ask a question that distracts them for a moment: who saw that awesome ________ game last night? Believe it or not, this tactic usually works and I don’t think anyone even notices my role in the situation. Afterwards, I do a quick mental and spiritual evaluation: was it a smooth intervention? Were hurt feelings spared? Has my image of the teaser changed? Will I hold this situation against them? Was I kind in my intervention? Will I remain kind to everyone involved? Did my light shine for Jesus?
There are times, however, when other thoughts creep into my mind- unkind thoughts- I don’t have time for this silliness! These kids are so distracted and unfocused. Why can’t they just come in and sit down and leave all the social stuff in the hallway? Some kids are such babies! Why can’t they just learn to ignore each other? Do I have to pay attention to every little thing going on in this room? Add to that my deep sighs and head shaking, and my light just keeps getting dimmer and dimmer by the moment. I could use excuses like the students don’t know what I’m thinking but Jesus does; I could try to justify my thoughts by saying they provoked me. I could try to convince myself that my facial expressions don’t give me away and they probably don’t notice them anyway, but Jesus does.
First Thessalonians 5:15b says-
… but always try to be kind to each other, and to everyone else. (NIV)
Since I’m the grown up, the adult in the room, my actions are on display and monitored by groups of teenaged students that look for me to be in control. I’m not talking about the hammer-wielding power type of control, of course. It’s the self-control that they’re looking for in me. If I choose to exact revenge on a student, I have an audience that will be sure to spread the word as soon as the bell rings. Whatever sort of intervention needs to be done, it must be done with a kind disposition. That, my friend, is the challenge, isn’t it? Remember, we are to be kind “to everyone else”. Scripture doesn’t qualify that the person we are dealing with has to be a Christian for us to be kind. The verse in First Thessalonians says “everyone”. The New American Standard version says “all people” and is the Greek word “pas”, meaning each, every, any, and all, the whole, and everyone. It sounds conclusive to me.
My stage is the classroom, grocery store, cleaners, library, and yes, even church and home. It includes anywhere and everywhere that people exist. Don’t forget, phone calls count, too! I offer the following brief examples from my everyday life: The clerk at the grocery store is slow. She’s visiting with the customer ahead of me. I don’t want her to visit and now I don’t want to be nice to her when it’s my turn. She made me wait! Doesn’t she realize there are other things that I need to do so that I can cross off them off my to-do list? The clerk tells me to have a good day. Do I have to offer the same response to her? Another day, the teenage girl at the cleaners is texting away when I walk in and tells me to hold on a minute; really? My previously sunny disposition just became cloudy. When she finally helps me and her service is excellent, am I willing to let go or hold a grudge because she asked me to hold on a minute? At the library my books are checked out to me without even a hello and how are you. Do I have to say thank you when he’s finished?
And so I ask you, where and what is your stage? Who is your audience? How do you display a kind attitude, a Christ-like love towards others? When you step back and examine your actions toward others, do you sometimes cringe and wish something different had taken place? Me,too. But a slow read of James 3 is in order for all of us if we still need a course on taming the tongue; or Galatians 5:22-26 if we need a reminder and checklist of fruit of the spirit.
Indeed, the Holy Spirit will convict us through our conscience whether we’ve said or done something unkind to someone. But it always helps to allow time for reflection after a situation where you acted or spoke in haste, or perhaps you responded kindly, but need time for self-examination. In both instances, I believe it is time well spent. So, where do we begin to remedy an unkind attitude towards others? Perhaps some or all of the following are worth a try-
B- Bow before the Lord in prayer and leave the attitude of unkindness at His feet. Take everything to Him in prayer.
E- Eliminate the focus of “me, myself, and I”. When we become Christ-followers, we leave ourselves behind.
K- Keep company with others who will hold you accountable for your Christian walk. Be sure to thank them for keeping you on track.
I- Ignore reactive impulses and potentially unkind thoughts and words by substituting scripture verses instead. Stay close to the Word!
N- Never allow an opportunity pass you by to say a please, thank you, your welcome, or to be helpful to someone in need. Let your light shine to His glory!
D- Do you know of any examples of men and women in the bible that you would describe as kind? Search the scriptures for their names and stories, remember them, and then pass them on to others!
We will always find ourselves in situations where we have a choice to be kind or not. The world reacts quickly, aggressively, and angrily to one another. But we are not the world. We belong to the God family and as such we are to display His attributes of love and mercy. We have an elder Brother, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself for us so that we may live and have life eternal. Can we sacrifice our needs and wants to serve others in kindness? Our acts of kindness my friends, should not be random. Do you want to get a fire of kindness started? It only takes a spark. So I challenge you to be that spark of kindness so that it can be passed on to others. To paraphrase a message that I hear each day at school-
Make it a kind day or not. The choice is yours.
Coming to Know God, Part 10
by Bill Rollins
It seems as though we have spent a great deal of time looking into the Ten Commandments. But it was time well-spent (for those of you who read each section) because of the foundational nature of the Commandments. This foundation will help us in considering our next topic in coming to know God.
Have you ever considered holiness? This is probably not one the subjects that you find yourself musing about over morning coffee. It is a subject many Christians today seem to relegate to the very far “back burner” of their lives. “That’s a subject that the clergy deals with, but I’m not going to burden my life thinking about it,” some people might say. Or, “that’s too much a religious subject for me to handle.”
The reality of holiness, if you will have it, is of utmost importance to anyone who would call himself a Christian. If you have any interest in seeking God, any thought for doing God’s will, any inclination for pleasing your Father in heaven, who gives you all that you need for life on this planet and sustains that life through the power of His will, then you must understand and seek holiness.
The Apostle Peter, in his first epistle, puts it this way: “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’ ” (I Peter 1:14-15). Peter, writing not just to some group of believers in the middle of the first century, but to all of us who believe that these words are “living words” of God, suggests that at some time in our past, we lived in ignorance! But now, considering we desire to do those things that please God, we live no longer in this ignorance and as such we must be obedient and this obedience leads us to holiness.
Have you ever asked yourself to what it is we must be obedient? Is there some connection to the Law of God here or is it just that we have “grace” and therefore need not pay any attention to the word “obedience?” Do you also realize that what Peter is quoting here is not a suggestion that we become holy, but that it is a command? This is a very potent statement
Peter is making; it should knock you out of that comfort zone that going to church each week can lull you into.
Peter is saying that this whole idea of desiring a relationship with God is not just a once a week thing, but it is a way of life! The word “holiness” means to set apart or separate, to devote to God, to be pure and clean and consecrated to God. These are not idle words and yet sometimes we take our interest in God in a idle manner. This we must not do!
How important is holiness? Well, the apostle Paul tells us: “Finally brothers, we instructed you how to walk in order to please God, as in fact you are walking. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be holy” (I Thessalonians 4:1-3).
The writer of Hebrews (in 12:14) put it this way: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Wow! Would you read that again: “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” This seems to be a subject we must pay closer attention to. And so we shall.
********************************
It has been said one of the primary reasons for God to have created mankind was so He might have fellowship with His creation. The word fellowship connotes companionship, friendship, the sharing of things or times that are of a mutual concern. We know from the Bible God created man in His image and so we share certain traits with our Creator. Built into each and every one of us is the desire to fellowship with God.
Some of you reading this may be thinking you don’t even believe in God, so how could you want to fellowship with Him? I might ask then, why are you reading this article? There is today, and always has been, a fascination with the reality of God. Many differing cultures and societies have invented or devised a god that fits the way they wish a god to be. In a sense, they have created god in their image, instead of the other way around.
Earlier, I said, “Biologists explore the minute details of a blood cell, physicists explore sub-atomic particles, astronomers explore the outer reaches of the universe where millions of galaxies reside. Even an artist explores the subconscious for expressions of something within. Why? What drives this exploration?” It is a desire for God.
I find it a fascinating thought to ponder the fact that God, the Almighty, all powerful Creator, wishes to fellowship with me, an almost insignificant speck on this planet of 6.5 billion people. God cares for His creation. God so loves us He sent His only Son to die for us that we might be reconciled to Him and thereby have this opportunity to fellowship with God, to have a conversation with Him in prayer, and to get to know Him through the word He has given to us.
But why am I talking about this topic of fellowship when I said I would discuss the topic of “holiness?” Because if you will remember, the scripture I quoted said no one would see God without holiness. And so holiness goes hand in hand with fellowship.
Let us take a look at some of the things God’s word tells us about the whole concept of holiness. For, those who wish to know Him and to draw near to Him must understand these very pertinent scriptures. If you have no desire for this, then you may as well quit reading right now.
“For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you [fellowship with you]. I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God (II Corinthians 6:16 ff).
God wants to be our Father; He wants to hold us in His arms, as any loving father would want to do with his child. His love for us knows no bounds. He wants to spend time with us and, indeed, He will if we will let Him. But He wants us to come out from the ways of the world. He wants us to be separate. He wants us to be holy as He is holy. And so the Apostle Paul tells us to purify ourselves and to perfect holiness out of a reverence for God. This we must do.
*******************************
“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
I have mentioned that this scripture would be one that would be of great importance in our coming to know God. Think about it for a minute; do you really understand what is being said? This is a very tough scripture to grasp and a tougher one to apply to one’s life. “Make every effort to live in peace” and “make every effort to be holy.” There is no one I know of who pursues holiness, who makes every effort to be holy!
I have heard it said that “old ‘so-and-so’ is really a good person; they are an example of a Christian.” Does being a “good person” qualify you as a disciple of Jesus Christ? What is the definition of a Christian and does it have anything to do with holiness? Does it mean you are a Christian if you spend an hour or so in church each week?
Somehow I feel we in the twentieth century have lost the concept of what it is to “believe” in the Savior Jesus Christ. We have so much technological superiority to our ancestors that a word like “holiness” is just so much religious fluff that doesn’t apply to us. We have taken the term “Christian” and twisted it to fit whatever we want it to be. Somehow we have given ourselves permission to define the concept of discipleship to our Lord and Savior and no one looks at the definition He gave us.
If you want to call yourself a Christian, you must acknowledge you are His disciple and you are on the road to becoming holy. Friends, this is a tough subject to write about because I speak to myself as well as to all of you reading. I want to see my Lord in the “world tomorrow,” and I must come to grips with holiness in my life.
If you have read this far, I must assume you are somewhat interested in this subject and you wouldn’t mind reading what it was Jesus Himself said were the three prerequisites to being His disciple. They are found in the Gospel of Luke and come from the mouth of our Savior Himself. If you would read them, they are in the 14th chapter and start in verse 25. The first prerequisite is found in verse 26, the second is in verse 27, and the third is found in verse 33. I know it would be quite handy if I would type them out for you here, but sometimes it is more worthwhile to see the scriptures for yourself.
This whole process of coming to know our God is worthwhile; it is exciting; and it takes effort. Salvation is the free gift of God, but if we truly understood what it is that salvation brings to us, then we would “make every effort to be holy.”
That I May See
by Cynthia Saladin
The children and I had eye appointments last week, and it was thoroughly delightful to not only have a report of healthy eyes, but four sets of eyes that see at least 20/15. The technician was amazed that all of us could pick out at least one letter in the 20/10 line; Jennifer got all seven of them. She said she’d never actually met anyone who could see that well. So I’ve been thinking about eyes and vision.
Concurrently, my children are loving listening to Christian radio. One popular song right now goes, “Give me your eyes for just one second . . . give me your love for humanity.” (Brandon Heath) The singer effectively points out how self-centered we all can be - and how we would act so differently in this world, if we just could see as God sees for one second. It reminded me of another song, this one by Amy Grant: “My Father’s Eyes.” The song underlines the importance of compassion and being able to encourage people compared with being popular for worldly reasons.
I agree with both of these songs; we definitely need to have compassion for others. We need to be aware of the needs of the people with whom we come into contact. That’s part of being an ambassador for Christ. However, I couldn’t help thinking about several verses in the Bible which talk about having the eyes to see something else:
1. To see God’s ways more clearly: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). I love to see the things of God and when He opens my “eyes” to understand more of who He is, it’s truly a delight.
2. To see God’s involvement in my life: “Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man” (Psalm 66:5). Sometimes I don’t have the eyes to see God’s hand in my life. But sometimes He opens my eyes to see how He has acted on my behalf, blessing me in ways I would never have imagined.
3. To see God: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Like the blind beggar who just wanted to see Jesus, like Zacchaeus who climbed a tree that he might see Jesus, the greatest desire of a Christian is to see Jesus.
So Matthew 5:8 says we must be pure in heart. We know that God is purifying for Himself a people for His own possession (Titus 2:14), but how do we know if we are among those who are being purified?
God gives us the eyes to see. He shows us how far He has brought us from where we were. He works mighty works in our lives, blessing us for our obedience, comforting us in our troubles, guiding our steps when we rely on His directions. God opens our eyes to see His word more clearly so that we can apply it in our lives. He gives us the words to speak when we need them. He gives us a heart to seek Him and to be delighted when we see something new (to us) in the Bible. God gives us eyes of compassion for the people around us, and sometimes the wisdom to know what to do to help.
As our physical eyes grow dim, or our arms get too short, our spiritual eyes grow stronger. We are more able to behold the Lamb of God. We know that the work begun in us is ongoing. We are confident that “He who began a good work in [us] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). We will be purified. We will see God . . . “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:52).
As the song goes, “What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, And I look upon His face - the One who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and leads me thro’ the Promised Land; What a day, glorious day that will be!”
I can hardly wait to see it!
Parting Thought:
POLARIZE: What penguins see with
The idea that all men are created equal loses everything if you believe that men were not created. (cybersalt)
Be Kind
by Diane Kleeschulte
Teenagers have a way of building relationships that can look a little strange to innocent bystanders. I’m not one of those innocent bystanders, however. I’m their teacher. The teacher is responsible for monitoring the tone and climate of the classroom. It can be a challenge, especially because I have committed my life to Jesus Christ.
During the week I observe my students by listening and watching their conversations, and that sometimes includes teasing, but not of the bullying sort. You know, the gotcha moments; the relentless puns. The teasing conversation usually happens in a matter of a quick minute or two. And because they are gifted students, they can be like a dog with a bone. Tenacity kicks in. They just won’t quit until they get the reaction that they’re looking for from their target. I admit that most of the time the teasing is done in fun. The girls laugh and giggle; the boys jab one another either with their arm or binder, depending on which is the larger of the two; usually it’s the binder! Everyone goes their own way and class begins; all is well. Friendships remain intact; feelings are not hurt.
But there are also times when I think that I need to intervene. The student being teased has gotten a little quiet, and their body language reads “Uh oh, now what do I say/do?” It’s time to hit the re-set button on this situation. I interrupt the situation by asking a favor of a student in the group: I need someone to _________. I ask a question that distracts them for a moment: who saw that awesome ________ game last night? Believe it or not, this tactic usually works and I don’t think anyone even notices my role in the situation. Afterwards, I do a quick mental and spiritual evaluation: was it a smooth intervention? Were hurt feelings spared? Has my image of the teaser changed? Will I hold this situation against them? Was I kind in my intervention? Will I remain kind to everyone involved? Did my light shine for Jesus?
There are times, however, when other thoughts creep into my mind- unkind thoughts- I don’t have time for this silliness! These kids are so distracted and unfocused. Why can’t they just come in and sit down and leave all the social stuff in the hallway? Some kids are such babies! Why can’t they just learn to ignore each other? Do I have to pay attention to every little thing going on in this room? Add to that my deep sighs and head shaking, and my light just keeps getting dimmer and dimmer by the moment. I could use excuses like the students don’t know what I’m thinking but Jesus does; I could try to justify my thoughts by saying they provoked me. I could try to convince myself that my facial expressions don’t give me away and they probably don’t notice them anyway, but Jesus does.
First Thessalonians 5:15b says-
… but always try to be kind to each other, and to everyone else. (NIV)
Since I’m the grown up, the adult in the room, my actions are on display and monitored by groups of teenaged students that look for me to be in control. I’m not talking about the hammer-wielding power type of control, of course. It’s the self-control that they’re looking for in me. If I choose to exact revenge on a student, I have an audience that will be sure to spread the word as soon as the bell rings. Whatever sort of intervention needs to be done, it must be done with a kind disposition. That, my friend, is the challenge, isn’t it? Remember, we are to be kind “to everyone else”. Scripture doesn’t qualify that the person we are dealing with has to be a Christian for us to be kind. The verse in First Thessalonians says “everyone”. The New American Standard version says “all people” and is the Greek word “pas”, meaning each, every, any, and all, the whole, and everyone. It sounds conclusive to me.
My stage is the classroom, grocery store, cleaners, library, and yes, even church and home. It includes anywhere and everywhere that people exist. Don’t forget, phone calls count, too! I offer the following brief examples from my everyday life: The clerk at the grocery store is slow. She’s visiting with the customer ahead of me. I don’t want her to visit and now I don’t want to be nice to her when it’s my turn. She made me wait! Doesn’t she realize there are other things that I need to do so that I can cross off them off my to-do list? The clerk tells me to have a good day. Do I have to offer the same response to her? Another day, the teenage girl at the cleaners is texting away when I walk in and tells me to hold on a minute; really? My previously sunny disposition just became cloudy. When she finally helps me and her service is excellent, am I willing to let go or hold a grudge because she asked me to hold on a minute? At the library my books are checked out to me without even a hello and how are you. Do I have to say thank you when he’s finished?
And so I ask you, where and what is your stage? Who is your audience? How do you display a kind attitude, a Christ-like love towards others? When you step back and examine your actions toward others, do you sometimes cringe and wish something different had taken place? Me,too. But a slow read of James 3 is in order for all of us if we still need a course on taming the tongue; or Galatians 5:22-26 if we need a reminder and checklist of fruit of the spirit.
Indeed, the Holy Spirit will convict us through our conscience whether we’ve said or done something unkind to someone. But it always helps to allow time for reflection after a situation where you acted or spoke in haste, or perhaps you responded kindly, but need time for self-examination. In both instances, I believe it is time well spent. So, where do we begin to remedy an unkind attitude towards others? Perhaps some or all of the following are worth a try-
B- Bow before the Lord in prayer and leave the attitude of unkindness at His feet. Take everything to Him in prayer.
E- Eliminate the focus of “me, myself, and I”. When we become Christ-followers, we leave ourselves behind.
K- Keep company with others who will hold you accountable for your Christian walk. Be sure to thank them for keeping you on track.
I- Ignore reactive impulses and potentially unkind thoughts and words by substituting scripture verses instead. Stay close to the Word!
N- Never allow an opportunity pass you by to say a please, thank you, your welcome, or to be helpful to someone in need. Let your light shine to His glory!
D- Do you know of any examples of men and women in the bible that you would describe as kind? Search the scriptures for their names and stories, remember them, and then pass them on to others!
We will always find ourselves in situations where we have a choice to be kind or not. The world reacts quickly, aggressively, and angrily to one another. But we are not the world. We belong to the God family and as such we are to display His attributes of love and mercy. We have an elder Brother, Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself for us so that we may live and have life eternal. Can we sacrifice our needs and wants to serve others in kindness? Our acts of kindness my friends, should not be random. Do you want to get a fire of kindness started? It only takes a spark. So I challenge you to be that spark of kindness so that it can be passed on to others. To paraphrase a message that I hear each day at school-
Make it a kind day or not. The choice is yours.
Coming to Know God, Part 10
by Bill Rollins
It seems as though we have spent a great deal of time looking into the Ten Commandments. But it was time well-spent (for those of you who read each section) because of the foundational nature of the Commandments. This foundation will help us in considering our next topic in coming to know God.
Have you ever considered holiness? This is probably not one the subjects that you find yourself musing about over morning coffee. It is a subject many Christians today seem to relegate to the very far “back burner” of their lives. “That’s a subject that the clergy deals with, but I’m not going to burden my life thinking about it,” some people might say. Or, “that’s too much a religious subject for me to handle.”
The reality of holiness, if you will have it, is of utmost importance to anyone who would call himself a Christian. If you have any interest in seeking God, any thought for doing God’s will, any inclination for pleasing your Father in heaven, who gives you all that you need for life on this planet and sustains that life through the power of His will, then you must understand and seek holiness.
The Apostle Peter, in his first epistle, puts it this way: “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’ ” (I Peter 1:14-15). Peter, writing not just to some group of believers in the middle of the first century, but to all of us who believe that these words are “living words” of God, suggests that at some time in our past, we lived in ignorance! But now, considering we desire to do those things that please God, we live no longer in this ignorance and as such we must be obedient and this obedience leads us to holiness.
Have you ever asked yourself to what it is we must be obedient? Is there some connection to the Law of God here or is it just that we have “grace” and therefore need not pay any attention to the word “obedience?” Do you also realize that what Peter is quoting here is not a suggestion that we become holy, but that it is a command? This is a very potent statement
Peter is making; it should knock you out of that comfort zone that going to church each week can lull you into.
Peter is saying that this whole idea of desiring a relationship with God is not just a once a week thing, but it is a way of life! The word “holiness” means to set apart or separate, to devote to God, to be pure and clean and consecrated to God. These are not idle words and yet sometimes we take our interest in God in a idle manner. This we must not do!
How important is holiness? Well, the apostle Paul tells us: “Finally brothers, we instructed you how to walk in order to please God, as in fact you are walking. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be holy” (I Thessalonians 4:1-3).
The writer of Hebrews (in 12:14) put it this way: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” Wow! Would you read that again: “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” This seems to be a subject we must pay closer attention to. And so we shall.
********************************
It has been said one of the primary reasons for God to have created mankind was so He might have fellowship with His creation. The word fellowship connotes companionship, friendship, the sharing of things or times that are of a mutual concern. We know from the Bible God created man in His image and so we share certain traits with our Creator. Built into each and every one of us is the desire to fellowship with God.
Some of you reading this may be thinking you don’t even believe in God, so how could you want to fellowship with Him? I might ask then, why are you reading this article? There is today, and always has been, a fascination with the reality of God. Many differing cultures and societies have invented or devised a god that fits the way they wish a god to be. In a sense, they have created god in their image, instead of the other way around.
Earlier, I said, “Biologists explore the minute details of a blood cell, physicists explore sub-atomic particles, astronomers explore the outer reaches of the universe where millions of galaxies reside. Even an artist explores the subconscious for expressions of something within. Why? What drives this exploration?” It is a desire for God.
I find it a fascinating thought to ponder the fact that God, the Almighty, all powerful Creator, wishes to fellowship with me, an almost insignificant speck on this planet of 6.5 billion people. God cares for His creation. God so loves us He sent His only Son to die for us that we might be reconciled to Him and thereby have this opportunity to fellowship with God, to have a conversation with Him in prayer, and to get to know Him through the word He has given to us.
But why am I talking about this topic of fellowship when I said I would discuss the topic of “holiness?” Because if you will remember, the scripture I quoted said no one would see God without holiness. And so holiness goes hand in hand with fellowship.
Let us take a look at some of the things God’s word tells us about the whole concept of holiness. For, those who wish to know Him and to draw near to Him must understand these very pertinent scriptures. If you have no desire for this, then you may as well quit reading right now.
“For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God and they will be my people. Therefore come out from them and be separate. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you [fellowship with you]. I will be a Father to you and you will be my sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God (II Corinthians 6:16 ff).
God wants to be our Father; He wants to hold us in His arms, as any loving father would want to do with his child. His love for us knows no bounds. He wants to spend time with us and, indeed, He will if we will let Him. But He wants us to come out from the ways of the world. He wants us to be separate. He wants us to be holy as He is holy. And so the Apostle Paul tells us to purify ourselves and to perfect holiness out of a reverence for God. This we must do.
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“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
I have mentioned that this scripture would be one that would be of great importance in our coming to know God. Think about it for a minute; do you really understand what is being said? This is a very tough scripture to grasp and a tougher one to apply to one’s life. “Make every effort to live in peace” and “make every effort to be holy.” There is no one I know of who pursues holiness, who makes every effort to be holy!
I have heard it said that “old ‘so-and-so’ is really a good person; they are an example of a Christian.” Does being a “good person” qualify you as a disciple of Jesus Christ? What is the definition of a Christian and does it have anything to do with holiness? Does it mean you are a Christian if you spend an hour or so in church each week?
Somehow I feel we in the twentieth century have lost the concept of what it is to “believe” in the Savior Jesus Christ. We have so much technological superiority to our ancestors that a word like “holiness” is just so much religious fluff that doesn’t apply to us. We have taken the term “Christian” and twisted it to fit whatever we want it to be. Somehow we have given ourselves permission to define the concept of discipleship to our Lord and Savior and no one looks at the definition He gave us.
If you want to call yourself a Christian, you must acknowledge you are His disciple and you are on the road to becoming holy. Friends, this is a tough subject to write about because I speak to myself as well as to all of you reading. I want to see my Lord in the “world tomorrow,” and I must come to grips with holiness in my life.
If you have read this far, I must assume you are somewhat interested in this subject and you wouldn’t mind reading what it was Jesus Himself said were the three prerequisites to being His disciple. They are found in the Gospel of Luke and come from the mouth of our Savior Himself. If you would read them, they are in the 14th chapter and start in verse 25. The first prerequisite is found in verse 26, the second is in verse 27, and the third is found in verse 33. I know it would be quite handy if I would type them out for you here, but sometimes it is more worthwhile to see the scriptures for yourself.
This whole process of coming to know our God is worthwhile; it is exciting; and it takes effort. Salvation is the free gift of God, but if we truly understood what it is that salvation brings to us, then we would “make every effort to be holy.”
That I May See
by Cynthia Saladin
The children and I had eye appointments last week, and it was thoroughly delightful to not only have a report of healthy eyes, but four sets of eyes that see at least 20/15. The technician was amazed that all of us could pick out at least one letter in the 20/10 line; Jennifer got all seven of them. She said she’d never actually met anyone who could see that well. So I’ve been thinking about eyes and vision.
Concurrently, my children are loving listening to Christian radio. One popular song right now goes, “Give me your eyes for just one second . . . give me your love for humanity.” (Brandon Heath) The singer effectively points out how self-centered we all can be - and how we would act so differently in this world, if we just could see as God sees for one second. It reminded me of another song, this one by Amy Grant: “My Father’s Eyes.” The song underlines the importance of compassion and being able to encourage people compared with being popular for worldly reasons.
I agree with both of these songs; we definitely need to have compassion for others. We need to be aware of the needs of the people with whom we come into contact. That’s part of being an ambassador for Christ. However, I couldn’t help thinking about several verses in the Bible which talk about having the eyes to see something else:
1. To see God’s ways more clearly: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). I love to see the things of God and when He opens my “eyes” to understand more of who He is, it’s truly a delight.
2. To see God’s involvement in my life: “Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man” (Psalm 66:5). Sometimes I don’t have the eyes to see God’s hand in my life. But sometimes He opens my eyes to see how He has acted on my behalf, blessing me in ways I would never have imagined.
3. To see God: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Like the blind beggar who just wanted to see Jesus, like Zacchaeus who climbed a tree that he might see Jesus, the greatest desire of a Christian is to see Jesus.
So Matthew 5:8 says we must be pure in heart. We know that God is purifying for Himself a people for His own possession (Titus 2:14), but how do we know if we are among those who are being purified?
God gives us the eyes to see. He shows us how far He has brought us from where we were. He works mighty works in our lives, blessing us for our obedience, comforting us in our troubles, guiding our steps when we rely on His directions. God opens our eyes to see His word more clearly so that we can apply it in our lives. He gives us the words to speak when we need them. He gives us a heart to seek Him and to be delighted when we see something new (to us) in the Bible. God gives us eyes of compassion for the people around us, and sometimes the wisdom to know what to do to help.
As our physical eyes grow dim, or our arms get too short, our spiritual eyes grow stronger. We are more able to behold the Lamb of God. We know that the work begun in us is ongoing. We are confident that “He who began a good work in [us] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). We will be purified. We will see God . . . “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:52).
As the song goes, “What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, And I look upon His face - the One who saved me by His grace. When He takes me by the hand and leads me thro’ the Promised Land; What a day, glorious day that will be!”
I can hardly wait to see it!
Parting Thought:
POLARIZE: What penguins see with
March 2014
We Hired On Tough by Sally Rollins
There is a saying among the old-time cowboys in western Nebraska that goes like this: “We hired on tough.” What it means is that when the boss asked the cowboy who was seeking employment if he was willing and able to put up with the long hours (without overtime pay) and the hard work (and contrary to the Hollywood version, ranch work was very hard) the cowboy, if he wanted the job, would reply that he was tough enough to do the job; whatever that entailed. He hired on with the understanding that he was tough enough to handle whatever needed to be done, whatever the boss wanted him to do.
Likewise, when God in His mercy, led us to repentance (Rom. 2:4) and offered us positions as kings and priests in His kingdom, we were first admonished to “count the cost” (Luke 14:25-33) - to make sure that we were willing and able to do the job, whatever that might be, wherever that might lead. And I think that we all agreed that we would endure to the end. In other words, we hired on tough.
Why is all this being brought up now? Because it seems that every year just before Passover, troubles increase. Satan will do anything and everything to get us in a rotten attitude so that we don’t come before God on these holy times with rejoicing; so that when we come to the Holy Days we are distracted by the things that are going on in our lives, whether it is health problems, money problems, job problems, etc. But, you know, when God called us to follow Him, He also gave us a lot of promises. Promises like: “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Heb. 13:5); “ . . . nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39); “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, . . .” (Psalm 46:1 & 2).
By the time you read this, Passover will be less than five weeks away. So when you see and feel the thorns growing up around you and starting to prick you with the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things (Mark 4:18, 19) then “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Eternal will bring you today” (Exodus 14:13). And remember, we hired on tough!
"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."
Josh Billings, the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw
Passover’s Coming by Cynthia Saladin
How many times have you heard someone say, “Passover’s coming,” in response to the trials and tribulations another is enduring? While some shake their heads and say that life has a way of bringing trials and tribulations all year long, yet there seems to be quite a bit of truth in the idea that you are going to have more trouble than normal just before Passover. Now why do you suppose that would be? Do you suppose that your enemy, the Devil, would love to see you immersed in your struggles, focused on extracting yourself from your problems, and completely diverted from preparing yourself, examining yourself, for the Lord’s Passover? Don’t you think for even one minute (or nanosecond, if you prefer) that Satan wouldn’t want to get your mind off Jesus Christ!!
Maybe you are saying, “But I don’t have any more stress than normal. Things seem to be going fine.” Okay. What is distracting you from improving your relationship with your Savior?
I had an interesting conversation with a friend some time ago. As we talked about an email he’d sent, I remarked to him about the incredible amount of time the computer consumes each day. But it’s really not the computer, in and of itself. It’s the internet. And I don’t even surf the net. I don’t have time!! Just keeping up with the emails which flow into my mailbox can occupy way too much time each day. And they’re good things - homeschooling news, Christian new source, and emails from various friends. But they all take time - and, if you do anything with them (other than delete them), it takes even more time. What about the feel-good email stories that we like to pass along to each other? Surely they aren’t bad! Are they true? Some are billed as true, and we forward them as true. I can remember the first time my heart was wrenched by the heart-breaking story of a little girl dying of some illness. The family simply asked that I forward the prayer request, and I could check on her progress on their website when I wanted to. To my horror, they did have a website, complete with photo - all of which was a hoax! It makes you cautious. So you check out the stories on one of the hoax websites. That takes some more time, but having been burned, you don’t want to pass along something false. But what if it isn’t false? What if this particular email has merit? Oh, I admit, I like having email capability. I like being able to stay in close contact with people. But I can see why Mom and Dad have wisely opted out of the internet/email rat race.
Okay. So maybe the internet isn’t a distraction and time-drain for you. What is? What is it that keeps you from picking up your Bible daily and communing with your Lord? Is it television? Is it working at a job which requires so much overtime? Is it working on a house - something that will eventually burn anyway? Where do you allocate your time?
Satan would love to so distract you from what’s really important, and he can use important things, worthwhile activities, necessary tasks, and seemingly innocuous pastimes to get Christians off-track. It’s the idea that he will make sure we are so busy with seemingly good activities that we don’t have time to pray, to study the Bible, to meditate, to fast. When you stop to think about it, that is one of Satan’s most effective strategies for drawing us away from God! We can find more things to occupy our time than you can shake a stick at! And they are all good things; they’re just not as important as seeking God first.
I remember the gist of a sermon Ron Dart gave at the Feast in 1992. He talked about how busy we all are. He amused us with his imitation of an answering machine which said the people he wanted to call weren’t at home; if it was Monday, they were at soccer; Tuesday, they were at ballet and swimming lessons; Wednesday, they were at piano lessons, etc. Then he went back to the Israelites leaving Egypt. After the plagues, the Passover, the passing over of the Death Angel, the spoiling of the Egyptians - after all of these activities, the Israelites had to leave Egypt in haste. This great multitude of people with all their animals needed to leave now! They didn’t have moving trucks in which to put all of their possessions. They had to carry whatever they wanted to take with them. They carried their possessions on their backs. If they took too much, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the group. They had to choose wisely.
You’re quick. I’m sure you’ve already got the point. We have come out of Egypt - out of this world and out of our bondage to sin. Thanks be to our merciful Savior! But we are still in the process of being made holy, the process of sanctification, the process of distinguishing between the holy and the common, the clean and the unclean in our lives. Part of that process is learning to prioritize what God has given us to do, what we’re going to carry as we travel through this life. It is tempting to take too much with us. We want to do it all.
I’m going to entreat you, as Ron Dart did so eloquently in that sermon, to take some time before this Passover to lay your life out on the floor before you. Pick up Jesus Christ first! Can I repeat that? Pick up your relationship with your Savior first! Then pick up only what you can carry. And then hurry up and get busy with whatever God has given you to do.
May you have a blessed Passover and Spring Holy Day season.
Watch Out for the Thorns!! by Cynthia Saladin
“Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” (Matthew 13:7)
I remember as a little kid, I liked to hear the story of Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Bear, and Br’er Fox and the Briar Patch. It always tickled me how Br’er Rabbit was able to outwit the Bear, convincing him that the Briar Patch was the most awful place. Whatever Br’er Bear did, Br’er Rabbit would beg, he didn’t want to be thrown into the Briar Patch. The joke, of course, was that the Briar Patch was Br’er Rabbit’s home. It was exactly where he wanted to be. Well, you know what? If we’re not careful, we can find ourselves in the middle of the Briar Patch.
Jesus said, “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22) That verse certainly makes me perk up my ears, especially the phrase “the worries of this life.” I worry. Oh, I don’t mean the normal concern that is prudent and necessary to keep things going on an even keel. I mean the worry where you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night, tossing and turning and unable to get back to sleep. There are so many verses in the Bible which admonish us to “take no anxious thought,” to refrain from worrying, to be at peace. This is more than sound advice to keep us from worrying ourselves into an early grave. As the scripture in Matthew 13 points out, the worrying that I do can keep me out of the kingdom of God - because it chokes the Word of God, making it unfruitful.
Bearing fruit. Oh, like love, joy, peace . . . peace . . . There it is again. Worrying robs me of my peace, one of the characteristics of having the Holy Spirit. (Gal. 5:22) This makes me stop and think. Is worry an activity which quenches the Holy Spirit? (I Thessalonians 5:19) I would submit that is does!! If I’m worrying about a problem, then I’m not going to God with it, making my petition to Him with thanksgiving, and leaving the problem in His capable hands. I’m not resting in Jesus Christ. Worrying means that I’m not trusting God to work out all things for my good. (Romans 8:28) It means I don’t believe, positively act upon, that promise of God.
Satan has a couple of tools that he can use against us. First, he can divide and conquer. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12) If Satan can make us believe that we are the only ones to have experienced a given situation, then he can lead us to believe that no one would understand and be able to give wise counsel. If we don’t share our troubles with others, believing they have been through something similar, then we fight the battle alone. Furthermore, if Satan can make us feel that we are not handling the situation the way we should, and unable to confide in a brother (or sister) in Christ, then he can make us feel guilty. Once we feel guilty, we’re ashamed to go before our Heavenly Father. He’s divided us from our brothers and sisters in Christ. He’s also divided us from our Heavenly Father. The mental battle is a huge part of the war against worrying.
The second tool Satan uses is our own carnal nature. We are taught from the time we are little kids to be independent. We need to learn to do things on our own. So when we have a problem in our adult lives, we tend to try to work it out on our own. We don’t ask advice or physical help from brothers and sisters who may have been there. And we don’t ask God for help. It’s funny, because there are so many times when I see Jonathan struggling with something. I know he wants to do it on his own, so I let him fumble through it. But there is never a time when he asks for help that I am not willing to help him. Is our loving Heavenly Father any different? (Matthew 7:11)
“See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.” (Song of Solomon 2:11-12)
Yes, winter is almost over. Spring is almost here! (YEA!) But have you noticed that with spring comes more commitments, more demands on our time, more things which have to be done? Uh oh! I think our briar patch is growing!! Seriously!! With spring and all of the many activities which intrude upon our thoughts and our time, we must be mindful of the upcoming Lord’s Supper, Passover, and Days of Unleavened Bread. We can’t afford to allow the worries of this life to choke our relationship with our God and Savior. When you stop and think about it, the only thorns which should be pressing in on our thoughts are the ones which Jesus Christ wore for you, and for me, so that we don’t have to be subject to worry. Stay out of the briar patch this spring. Unlike Br’er Rabbit, it isn’t your home. Selah!
Coming to Know God, Part 11 by Bill Rollins
Did you know salvation is a free gift of God? “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8).
There is so much that we take for granted. Consider, if you will, this free gift of God; how do you look at salvation? Is the word salvation a reality in your life or is it just a “religious term”? Do you know what it is you have been saved from? Or have you even accepted this free gift of God, claiming the righteousness Jesus died to give us.
First of all, let me make this statement, “our God is a gracious God!” The great God who created Adam and Eve, who saved Noah and his family from the waters of the flood, who promised Abram and his descendants the land of Canaan, who delivered the children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, who delivered the giant Goliath into David’s hand, who saved Daniel from the lion’s den and his three friends from the fiery furnace, He is our God who delivers us from the bondage to sin and its consequences. The great Almighty God who came to earth as a man to be the Savior of all mankind is a gracious God.
What is grace? One very good definition of grace is “the love that one has for another, put into an action.” Someone once defined it in terms of an acronym “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.”
So many of the world’s religions, past and present, make it a requirement to appease their gods in order to obtain some gift. Ancient pagans used to sacrifice their children in the fire in order to gain some favor with their gods. Even in modern times, some religions practice certain rituals in order to make their gods happy and thereby have a good crop or a healthy baby.
The one true God is not at all like this. He has given to us first. In fact, His word tells us He first loved us; “at the appointed time, when we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).
Someone may say, “This is all well and good for mankind in the new testament times, but God wasn’t like that in old testament times.” How wrong that statement is! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has always been a gracious God. What did He do when Adam and Eve turned from Him by sinning in the garden of Eden? “The Eternal God made garments of animal skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). He could have erased the human race in short order at that time but chose to show His grace to His creation. When His creation turned away from Him in the days of Noah and became exceedingly wicked, once again God might have wiped out His creation, but instead He saved mankind through His servant Noah, and the Bible says, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Eternal.” David sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, and God spared the repentant king of Israel although he deserved to die.
The stories of God’s mercy and grace and love go on and on in the Old Testament.
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We have taken a couple of quick snapshots of the Old Testament and so looked at the grace and mercy of God. This “grace of God” is in deference to the idea some Christians espouse that “the God of the Old Testament is a harsh God and Jesus Christ is the merciful God of the New Testament.”
God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This is true; and the scripture that speaks this way is referring to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is found in the book of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
What does it mean He is always the same? When was His beginning, that point from which He never changes? What were His duties and responsibilities before He came to earth to be the Savior of all mankind?
I believe it can be proven that much of what we read in the Old Testament has to do with the one who was to become the Christ in the New Testament. If we look at John chapter one: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, without Him, nothing was made that has been made . . . and the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:1-14). Here we see that the one who came to earth a human being (namely Jesus Christ) was the one through whom all things were created.
In the book of I Corinthians, chapter 10, we see Paul talking about the nation of Israel and how they are examples for us today. Starting in verse one: “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them and that rock was Christ.”
Did you catch that? The spiritual Rock that accompanied the Israelites through the wilderness was the Christ. And so that One who was so involved in the lives of the Israelites was the same one of whom it is said, “He is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
What does all this have to do with the topic of grace? Well, I feel it is very important to see that in the Old Testament, the grace of God was very much in evidence. How often the Israelites turned away from God and yet He was willing to forgive them. He continually brought them back into fellowship with Him after they went astray, rebelled, sought other gods, and broke the covenant they had made with Him. He was faithful to His chosen ones, but Israel was completely unfaithful.
If we are coming to know a God like this, who is so merciful, so loving, so patient, so generous with His grace, how much effort should we exert in seeking Him, asking for His forgiveness, coming to Him in prayer and meditation? He wants us to come to Him. He wants to fellowship with us, His creation. He wants us to come out from the ways of this world and dedicate ourselves to Him. He wants to show us His grace and mercy. And He desires (yes, desires!) that we come to know Him.
We Hired On Tough by Sally Rollins
There is a saying among the old-time cowboys in western Nebraska that goes like this: “We hired on tough.” What it means is that when the boss asked the cowboy who was seeking employment if he was willing and able to put up with the long hours (without overtime pay) and the hard work (and contrary to the Hollywood version, ranch work was very hard) the cowboy, if he wanted the job, would reply that he was tough enough to do the job; whatever that entailed. He hired on with the understanding that he was tough enough to handle whatever needed to be done, whatever the boss wanted him to do.
Likewise, when God in His mercy, led us to repentance (Rom. 2:4) and offered us positions as kings and priests in His kingdom, we were first admonished to “count the cost” (Luke 14:25-33) - to make sure that we were willing and able to do the job, whatever that might be, wherever that might lead. And I think that we all agreed that we would endure to the end. In other words, we hired on tough.
Why is all this being brought up now? Because it seems that every year just before Passover, troubles increase. Satan will do anything and everything to get us in a rotten attitude so that we don’t come before God on these holy times with rejoicing; so that when we come to the Holy Days we are distracted by the things that are going on in our lives, whether it is health problems, money problems, job problems, etc. But, you know, when God called us to follow Him, He also gave us a lot of promises. Promises like: “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Heb. 13:5); “ . . . nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39); “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, . . .” (Psalm 46:1 & 2).
By the time you read this, Passover will be less than five weeks away. So when you see and feel the thorns growing up around you and starting to prick you with the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things (Mark 4:18, 19) then “Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Eternal will bring you today” (Exodus 14:13). And remember, we hired on tough!
"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself."
Josh Billings, the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw
Passover’s Coming by Cynthia Saladin
How many times have you heard someone say, “Passover’s coming,” in response to the trials and tribulations another is enduring? While some shake their heads and say that life has a way of bringing trials and tribulations all year long, yet there seems to be quite a bit of truth in the idea that you are going to have more trouble than normal just before Passover. Now why do you suppose that would be? Do you suppose that your enemy, the Devil, would love to see you immersed in your struggles, focused on extracting yourself from your problems, and completely diverted from preparing yourself, examining yourself, for the Lord’s Passover? Don’t you think for even one minute (or nanosecond, if you prefer) that Satan wouldn’t want to get your mind off Jesus Christ!!
Maybe you are saying, “But I don’t have any more stress than normal. Things seem to be going fine.” Okay. What is distracting you from improving your relationship with your Savior?
I had an interesting conversation with a friend some time ago. As we talked about an email he’d sent, I remarked to him about the incredible amount of time the computer consumes each day. But it’s really not the computer, in and of itself. It’s the internet. And I don’t even surf the net. I don’t have time!! Just keeping up with the emails which flow into my mailbox can occupy way too much time each day. And they’re good things - homeschooling news, Christian new source, and emails from various friends. But they all take time - and, if you do anything with them (other than delete them), it takes even more time. What about the feel-good email stories that we like to pass along to each other? Surely they aren’t bad! Are they true? Some are billed as true, and we forward them as true. I can remember the first time my heart was wrenched by the heart-breaking story of a little girl dying of some illness. The family simply asked that I forward the prayer request, and I could check on her progress on their website when I wanted to. To my horror, they did have a website, complete with photo - all of which was a hoax! It makes you cautious. So you check out the stories on one of the hoax websites. That takes some more time, but having been burned, you don’t want to pass along something false. But what if it isn’t false? What if this particular email has merit? Oh, I admit, I like having email capability. I like being able to stay in close contact with people. But I can see why Mom and Dad have wisely opted out of the internet/email rat race.
Okay. So maybe the internet isn’t a distraction and time-drain for you. What is? What is it that keeps you from picking up your Bible daily and communing with your Lord? Is it television? Is it working at a job which requires so much overtime? Is it working on a house - something that will eventually burn anyway? Where do you allocate your time?
Satan would love to so distract you from what’s really important, and he can use important things, worthwhile activities, necessary tasks, and seemingly innocuous pastimes to get Christians off-track. It’s the idea that he will make sure we are so busy with seemingly good activities that we don’t have time to pray, to study the Bible, to meditate, to fast. When you stop to think about it, that is one of Satan’s most effective strategies for drawing us away from God! We can find more things to occupy our time than you can shake a stick at! And they are all good things; they’re just not as important as seeking God first.
I remember the gist of a sermon Ron Dart gave at the Feast in 1992. He talked about how busy we all are. He amused us with his imitation of an answering machine which said the people he wanted to call weren’t at home; if it was Monday, they were at soccer; Tuesday, they were at ballet and swimming lessons; Wednesday, they were at piano lessons, etc. Then he went back to the Israelites leaving Egypt. After the plagues, the Passover, the passing over of the Death Angel, the spoiling of the Egyptians - after all of these activities, the Israelites had to leave Egypt in haste. This great multitude of people with all their animals needed to leave now! They didn’t have moving trucks in which to put all of their possessions. They had to carry whatever they wanted to take with them. They carried their possessions on their backs. If they took too much, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with the group. They had to choose wisely.
You’re quick. I’m sure you’ve already got the point. We have come out of Egypt - out of this world and out of our bondage to sin. Thanks be to our merciful Savior! But we are still in the process of being made holy, the process of sanctification, the process of distinguishing between the holy and the common, the clean and the unclean in our lives. Part of that process is learning to prioritize what God has given us to do, what we’re going to carry as we travel through this life. It is tempting to take too much with us. We want to do it all.
I’m going to entreat you, as Ron Dart did so eloquently in that sermon, to take some time before this Passover to lay your life out on the floor before you. Pick up Jesus Christ first! Can I repeat that? Pick up your relationship with your Savior first! Then pick up only what you can carry. And then hurry up and get busy with whatever God has given you to do.
May you have a blessed Passover and Spring Holy Day season.
Watch Out for the Thorns!! by Cynthia Saladin
“Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” (Matthew 13:7)
I remember as a little kid, I liked to hear the story of Br’er Rabbit, Br’er Bear, and Br’er Fox and the Briar Patch. It always tickled me how Br’er Rabbit was able to outwit the Bear, convincing him that the Briar Patch was the most awful place. Whatever Br’er Bear did, Br’er Rabbit would beg, he didn’t want to be thrown into the Briar Patch. The joke, of course, was that the Briar Patch was Br’er Rabbit’s home. It was exactly where he wanted to be. Well, you know what? If we’re not careful, we can find ourselves in the middle of the Briar Patch.
Jesus said, “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22) That verse certainly makes me perk up my ears, especially the phrase “the worries of this life.” I worry. Oh, I don’t mean the normal concern that is prudent and necessary to keep things going on an even keel. I mean the worry where you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night, tossing and turning and unable to get back to sleep. There are so many verses in the Bible which admonish us to “take no anxious thought,” to refrain from worrying, to be at peace. This is more than sound advice to keep us from worrying ourselves into an early grave. As the scripture in Matthew 13 points out, the worrying that I do can keep me out of the kingdom of God - because it chokes the Word of God, making it unfruitful.
Bearing fruit. Oh, like love, joy, peace . . . peace . . . There it is again. Worrying robs me of my peace, one of the characteristics of having the Holy Spirit. (Gal. 5:22) This makes me stop and think. Is worry an activity which quenches the Holy Spirit? (I Thessalonians 5:19) I would submit that is does!! If I’m worrying about a problem, then I’m not going to God with it, making my petition to Him with thanksgiving, and leaving the problem in His capable hands. I’m not resting in Jesus Christ. Worrying means that I’m not trusting God to work out all things for my good. (Romans 8:28) It means I don’t believe, positively act upon, that promise of God.
Satan has a couple of tools that he can use against us. First, he can divide and conquer. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12) If Satan can make us believe that we are the only ones to have experienced a given situation, then he can lead us to believe that no one would understand and be able to give wise counsel. If we don’t share our troubles with others, believing they have been through something similar, then we fight the battle alone. Furthermore, if Satan can make us feel that we are not handling the situation the way we should, and unable to confide in a brother (or sister) in Christ, then he can make us feel guilty. Once we feel guilty, we’re ashamed to go before our Heavenly Father. He’s divided us from our brothers and sisters in Christ. He’s also divided us from our Heavenly Father. The mental battle is a huge part of the war against worrying.
The second tool Satan uses is our own carnal nature. We are taught from the time we are little kids to be independent. We need to learn to do things on our own. So when we have a problem in our adult lives, we tend to try to work it out on our own. We don’t ask advice or physical help from brothers and sisters who may have been there. And we don’t ask God for help. It’s funny, because there are so many times when I see Jonathan struggling with something. I know he wants to do it on his own, so I let him fumble through it. But there is never a time when he asks for help that I am not willing to help him. Is our loving Heavenly Father any different? (Matthew 7:11)
“See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.” (Song of Solomon 2:11-12)
Yes, winter is almost over. Spring is almost here! (YEA!) But have you noticed that with spring comes more commitments, more demands on our time, more things which have to be done? Uh oh! I think our briar patch is growing!! Seriously!! With spring and all of the many activities which intrude upon our thoughts and our time, we must be mindful of the upcoming Lord’s Supper, Passover, and Days of Unleavened Bread. We can’t afford to allow the worries of this life to choke our relationship with our God and Savior. When you stop and think about it, the only thorns which should be pressing in on our thoughts are the ones which Jesus Christ wore for you, and for me, so that we don’t have to be subject to worry. Stay out of the briar patch this spring. Unlike Br’er Rabbit, it isn’t your home. Selah!
Coming to Know God, Part 11 by Bill Rollins
Did you know salvation is a free gift of God? “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8).
There is so much that we take for granted. Consider, if you will, this free gift of God; how do you look at salvation? Is the word salvation a reality in your life or is it just a “religious term”? Do you know what it is you have been saved from? Or have you even accepted this free gift of God, claiming the righteousness Jesus died to give us.
First of all, let me make this statement, “our God is a gracious God!” The great God who created Adam and Eve, who saved Noah and his family from the waters of the flood, who promised Abram and his descendants the land of Canaan, who delivered the children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, who delivered the giant Goliath into David’s hand, who saved Daniel from the lion’s den and his three friends from the fiery furnace, He is our God who delivers us from the bondage to sin and its consequences. The great Almighty God who came to earth as a man to be the Savior of all mankind is a gracious God.
What is grace? One very good definition of grace is “the love that one has for another, put into an action.” Someone once defined it in terms of an acronym “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.”
So many of the world’s religions, past and present, make it a requirement to appease their gods in order to obtain some gift. Ancient pagans used to sacrifice their children in the fire in order to gain some favor with their gods. Even in modern times, some religions practice certain rituals in order to make their gods happy and thereby have a good crop or a healthy baby.
The one true God is not at all like this. He has given to us first. In fact, His word tells us He first loved us; “at the appointed time, when we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).
Someone may say, “This is all well and good for mankind in the new testament times, but God wasn’t like that in old testament times.” How wrong that statement is! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has always been a gracious God. What did He do when Adam and Eve turned from Him by sinning in the garden of Eden? “The Eternal God made garments of animal skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21). He could have erased the human race in short order at that time but chose to show His grace to His creation. When His creation turned away from Him in the days of Noah and became exceedingly wicked, once again God might have wiped out His creation, but instead He saved mankind through His servant Noah, and the Bible says, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Eternal.” David sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, and God spared the repentant king of Israel although he deserved to die.
The stories of God’s mercy and grace and love go on and on in the Old Testament.
***********************************
We have taken a couple of quick snapshots of the Old Testament and so looked at the grace and mercy of God. This “grace of God” is in deference to the idea some Christians espouse that “the God of the Old Testament is a harsh God and Jesus Christ is the merciful God of the New Testament.”
God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This is true; and the scripture that speaks this way is referring to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is found in the book of Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
What does it mean He is always the same? When was His beginning, that point from which He never changes? What were His duties and responsibilities before He came to earth to be the Savior of all mankind?
I believe it can be proven that much of what we read in the Old Testament has to do with the one who was to become the Christ in the New Testament. If we look at John chapter one: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, without Him, nothing was made that has been made . . . and the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:1-14). Here we see that the one who came to earth a human being (namely Jesus Christ) was the one through whom all things were created.
In the book of I Corinthians, chapter 10, we see Paul talking about the nation of Israel and how they are examples for us today. Starting in verse one: “For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them and that rock was Christ.”
Did you catch that? The spiritual Rock that accompanied the Israelites through the wilderness was the Christ. And so that One who was so involved in the lives of the Israelites was the same one of whom it is said, “He is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
What does all this have to do with the topic of grace? Well, I feel it is very important to see that in the Old Testament, the grace of God was very much in evidence. How often the Israelites turned away from God and yet He was willing to forgive them. He continually brought them back into fellowship with Him after they went astray, rebelled, sought other gods, and broke the covenant they had made with Him. He was faithful to His chosen ones, but Israel was completely unfaithful.
If we are coming to know a God like this, who is so merciful, so loving, so patient, so generous with His grace, how much effort should we exert in seeking Him, asking for His forgiveness, coming to Him in prayer and meditation? He wants us to come to Him. He wants to fellowship with us, His creation. He wants us to come out from the ways of this world and dedicate ourselves to Him. He wants to show us His grace and mercy. And He desires (yes, desires!) that we come to know Him.
April 2014
Accents and Impressions
by Cynthia Saladin
Jonathan and Christopher were talking about the Newsboys, a Christian musical group, the other day. Three of the four members are from Australia and have that distinctive accent. But the boys were wondering about Michael Tate. Is he from Australia too? He seems to have an accent. So I told them that even if you aren’t from a particular location, you can pick up the accent of that region if you spend a lot of time with people from that place. Accent acquisition also depends upon how impressionable you are. For instance, some people can pick up accents very easily. Then I started to talk about how Grandpa picks up accents extremely quickly. Jonathan said, “Yeah, he can do Donald Duck really well.” That wasn’t quite what I was thinking of, but it’s true: my dad does a wonderful Donald Duck.
I chuckled over Jonathan’s observation the rest of the day, and even now, it makes me grin. But it also got me to thinking about how impressionable each of us is . . . or isn’t. How easily do I change behaviors, speech patterns, eating habits, likes and dislikes based on the people around me?
For instance, my sweet Jennifer is not the one you’d expect to talk about NASCAR. But she’s been influenced enough by Jonathan’s passion that her answer to this math problem, twenty-four to the second power, was FAST FAST. Really! That’s what she wrote in her math book. Of course, I had to ask for an explanation. Jeff Gordon’s number is 24 - and he’s fast. So 24 squared would be fast-fast. It made all the sense in the world to Jonathan and Jennifer.
We, each of us, are changed to some degree by the people around us and their passions and aversions. When the kids were little, I tried to conceal my strong phobia of snakes from them. I didn’t want to prejudice them against snakes - any more than is a normal, natural aversion. But now that they are older, I’m more open - to the point that when a snake under the beans surprised me last summer, Jonathan knew exactly why I had that look of terror on my face - without me saying anything.
We know the power our friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors have on us. We’re well acquainted with the verse in 1 Corinthians 15:33: “Do not be misled, ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ ” We have learned, often to our discomfort and dismay, that hanging around the wrong people can get us into a boatload of trouble and sorrow. So we choose, if we’re wise, to hang around good people, moral people, godly people. But do we choose to spend time with the One who should influence us more than any other?
Seek the Eternal while He may be found; call upon him while he is near. (Isaiah 55:6)
There’s an implication that God won’t always be near. We need to seek Him now. And if we seek Him now with all of our hearts, we will find him. (Jeremiah 29:13-14) It can’t be emphasized enough that it’s in our best interest to seek him! Amos 5:4, 6 emphatically state: Seek the LORD and live.
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger. (Zephaniah 2:3)
Seeking God is enormously important, but it’s just the beginning of the equation. We need to stay in His presence. We need His influence to change us to be like Him! 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Did you catch this? When we spend time with God, we start to reflect His glory even as we are transformed into His likeness. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit works a change in our lives so that we begin to reflect the glory of Christ to those around us. But you can’t reflect something unless you’re close to it, looking at it, seeking it, passionate about it. The moon does not accurately reflect the sun when the moon hides behind the earth. Similarly, you can’t reflect Jesus Christ in your life if He is hidden by other pursuits you put first in your life.
Passover is just a short time away. Now is the time to examine your life and what you’re reflecting to the people around you. Now is the time to seek the Lord. Now is the time to be very influenced by Jesus Christ - now and forever. And you know what? That’s the sweetest accent there is.
Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear. - - - Dave Barry
If your foot slips, you can always recover your balance. But, when your tongue slips, you can never recover your own words.
Source: iliketoquote.com
Examining Examine by Ron Saladin
The American Heritage Dictionary gives three definitions for the word examine.
1) to inspect or analyze (a person, thing, or situation) in detail
2) to test knowledge or skills by questioning
3) to interrogate formally to elicit facts
We can see these definitions applied in the various places the word examine appears in the Old and New Testaments. A check of the concordance shows 5 scriptures in which the word examine appears with all 5 being different words in the Hebrew and Greek.
Ezra 10:16 has the nuance of a formal inquiry to obtain facts for the purpose of action. “And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.” The “matter” involved the unlawful intermarriages of Israelites with the people of the land. God had told Israel to remain separate. “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son” (Deuteronomy 7:3).
The Canaanites were a wicked, perverted lot, and Israel was not to learn their ways, much less embrace them as family. Most Christians are probably aware the Bible forbids Christians to marry non-Christians. Nevertheless, this often does not seem to matter when a decision is made to begin dating someone. As the relationship grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to do what God instructs us to do, to remain apart from situations which hinder our relationship with God. Missionary dating, the idea of a Christian dating a non-Christian with the intent of converting a non-believer to Christ, is just not a Biblical idea. Yet many who confess Christ do just that and end up seeming to be the one “converted” - converted, that is, to the ways of the world, living together, sexual involvement or marriage with the rearing of children in a family split as to what it means to love God. That’s why God said not to become involved. “For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly” (Deuteronomy 7:4).
And it’s not just marriage that turns us away from God; it’s our culture via the media that we can become emotionally wed to. We can vicariously live with the Canaanites through our sex-saturated, debased entertainment and become just like one of their family. The consequences will eventually be painful. Ezra records the sending away of wives and children as the Israelites attempted to get back to what God had originally instructed. It would have been much better to have heeded God’s advice from the start.
Let’s look at another examine.
Psalm 26:2: “Examine me, O LORD, and prove me, try my reins and my heart." Like our American Heritage Dictionary definition, David asks God to inspect and analyze in detail who he is. Controlling a horse while riding is accomplished by applying pressure to sensitive areas, i.e. the bit in the mouth controlled by the reins. The pressure applied through the reins to those sensitive areas motivates the horse to move in the direction desired by the one holding the reins. Most of us have plenty of pressure in our lives. How we usually respond to that pressure reveals our sensitive areas which motivate us to respond. Who holds your reins? How we use our time and money are good indicators of what our sensitive areas are. How much of our time and finances are devoted to honoring God? For most people - not much.
Here’s another examine.
In 1 Corinthians 9:3, Paul responds to criticism he was receiving from some at Corinth. He starts his response with “Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,” The Greek here is the idea of scrutinizing, interrogating, examining to make a judgment, i.e. American Heritage Dictionary: to test skills and knowledge, question. Even Paul the Apostle was falsely accused of wrong motives. Ever have that happen to you? How did you respond? When we are questioned about our motives or ability, we tend to respond in ways which reveal a level of pride or the lack of it, called humility. To be critically examined by someone else is a good opportunity to examine ourselves. It’s not so much how we respond outwardly but what we feel inwardly that makes our examination worthwhile.
Our fourth examination of examine is in 2 Corinthians 13:5 where Paul turns the focus of the examining back on the Corinthians themselves. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” A profession of faith is necessary for becoming a Christian, but real faith produces change, not immediate perfection, but a continuing growth away from the old way of living into the new. We start out as babes in Christ, but babes are expected to grow. Can you look back to your conversion and see any positive growth? The measuring stick is in The Book.
One final scripture which brings this focus on examine to the point. 1 Corinthians 11:28: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” Paul instructs the Corinthians and us to take a close look at ourselves before we participate in the New Testament Passover. Sharing in the bread and wine representing the body and blood of Jesus Christ is to be in covenant with Him. Paul warns this is not something to be done casually: vs. 29: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
The warning is not given to deter people from participating, but rather to come with an examined life. Confess the wrong, change what can and should be changed, and look to God for help with what you struggle with. For the Christian, this is the heart and soul of the word examine.
Peace, Be Still
by Cynthia Saladin
Over the past few months, or years perhaps, God keeps bringing me back to the same theme: Trust me! Take no anxious thought. Stand still and see the deliverance of the Lord! From several different directions and in various contexts, the message still comes: peace, be still.
As I worked on writing lesson plans for the story of Joseph’s life, I was struck again and again that Joseph had to trust God throughout his life! No matter what happened, no matter how bad things got, no matter that Joseph couldn’t see the end from the beginning, Joseph lived his life in trust and obedience to God! Or, think about Job. “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (Job 13:15) Regardless of the afflictions Job endured, he determined to trust God - no matter what. And these two are not the only Biblical examples. David with Goliath. Daniel in the lion’s den. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. I’m sure you have some personal favorites which come to mind too.
So why is it that we, in this age, feel so much stress, so little peace, so much turmoil? I believe it is a lack of trust in God. What causes this lack of trust? What can I do to remedy the problem?
I have been thinking a lot about the dynamics of trusting God. I think it is, in large part, a matter of making yourself completely vulnerable to Him. We don’t like making ourselves vulnerable to anyone in this society. We lock our car doors even when driving down the street. We lock our homes, sometimes with several locks on one door. We use caller ID because sometimes we want the warning of who it is on the other end of the phone before we pick up the receiver and open ourselves to the intrusion. We take precautions against the ever-increasing threat of identity theft. The workplace becomes a battle ground of competition - for promotions, bonuses, perks, ego. (Let’s not even talk about the damage the media does to us!) Unfortunately, churches are seldom havens and sanctuaries (ironic, isn’t it?!) from fighting, personal agendas, egos, stresses, conflicts, and the consequences of sin. All of this spills over into our family relationships. Sometimes we don’t even make ourselves vulnerable to our spouses - there’s much too much conflict to even think about being a united team. The idea of sharing each other’s burdens to make them lighter is one of the first casualties. So we guard ourselves on every hand. Is it any wonder we struggle to make ourselves vulnerable to God - so that we can truly trust Him?
What did David or Daniel or Joseph do? How were they able to trust God so completely? As in any relationship, communication is essential. If you don’t talk every day, you lose touch. If you talk three times a day, you share more intimate details then if you just talk once. If you talk while you’re reading a book or watching tv, the conversation becomes surface and empty. We’re talking about quality time and quantity time. I think David, Daniel, and Joseph (and the myriad of other examples) must have spent a great deal of time praying to God, meditating on His ways, and looking for Him in their lives. (I’d like to submit that it’s easier to find God when you are out in nature, away from the concrete, glass, and asphalt jungles!) The more you communicate, the more you open yourself up and the more you make yourself vulnerable. You learn to trust.
So why don’t we spend more time in prayer, meditation, and contemplation of God? What is eating up our time? In this age of labor-saving devices, we find ourselves with less and less time available to us for God.
Television is, of course, one of the greatest time-eating evils ever invented. The infiltration of carnal, worldly, evil, and sick aspects of this society into our thoughts and eventually actions is insidious. We don’t even realize what’s happening oftentimes. It’s mindless capitulation to the enemy! But, for those who don’t watch tv, what prevents them from the closer relationship with Jesus Christ? It could be any number of seemingly good occupations. If our goal is to KNOW Jesus Christ, to really learn to submit our will to God, and to become perfect, anything which prevents us from that goal is not good - no matter how attractive it looks and how good it makes us feel. Jesus tells us in the parable of the sower and the seed to be on guard against the cares of this world. We cannot become too wrapped up in this world, in our daily lives, in the “good works” we are doing! This life is only preparatory for God’s kingdom. We need to apply ourselves to His lessons for us.
Then as we communicate more frequently and meaningfully with our Heavenly Father, His will becomes much more evident in our lives. He makes our paths clear. As we see the evidence of His presence in our lives, we begin to trust Him more and more. We learn to rest in Him and follow His leading in our lives. Then as He continues to work in us, the fruit of the Spirit dwelling within becomes much more evident. The peace which so easily eludes me is right there - just on the other side of the door! Jesus Christ is my Peace. I just have to let Him in, invite Him into every corner of my existence.
As I feel stressed and find myself lying awake until the wee hours of the morning, I chide myself that I’m taking those anxious thoughts. Where is my faith that God is going to work things out? Why am I not trusting that He has my best interest at heart? And I reflect on the many times He has blessed me in the past and is blessing me right now! Because He has!!! I muse that if I’m going to be upset by such little things (walking with the foot soldiers, so to speak) how am I ever going to endure the really tough things (running with the horses - Jeremiah 12:5)? And finally, in those early morning hours, I sometimes learn to give all of my cares to Him to carry, praising Him for reminding me yet again that He is my God, my Father, my Savior, my Peace, my everything. Of what more do I have need? Then, like the raging storm and billowing waves, I feel the calmness settle over me. I can almost hear the words being spoken: Peace, be still.
Accents and Impressions
by Cynthia Saladin
Jonathan and Christopher were talking about the Newsboys, a Christian musical group, the other day. Three of the four members are from Australia and have that distinctive accent. But the boys were wondering about Michael Tate. Is he from Australia too? He seems to have an accent. So I told them that even if you aren’t from a particular location, you can pick up the accent of that region if you spend a lot of time with people from that place. Accent acquisition also depends upon how impressionable you are. For instance, some people can pick up accents very easily. Then I started to talk about how Grandpa picks up accents extremely quickly. Jonathan said, “Yeah, he can do Donald Duck really well.” That wasn’t quite what I was thinking of, but it’s true: my dad does a wonderful Donald Duck.
I chuckled over Jonathan’s observation the rest of the day, and even now, it makes me grin. But it also got me to thinking about how impressionable each of us is . . . or isn’t. How easily do I change behaviors, speech patterns, eating habits, likes and dislikes based on the people around me?
For instance, my sweet Jennifer is not the one you’d expect to talk about NASCAR. But she’s been influenced enough by Jonathan’s passion that her answer to this math problem, twenty-four to the second power, was FAST FAST. Really! That’s what she wrote in her math book. Of course, I had to ask for an explanation. Jeff Gordon’s number is 24 - and he’s fast. So 24 squared would be fast-fast. It made all the sense in the world to Jonathan and Jennifer.
We, each of us, are changed to some degree by the people around us and their passions and aversions. When the kids were little, I tried to conceal my strong phobia of snakes from them. I didn’t want to prejudice them against snakes - any more than is a normal, natural aversion. But now that they are older, I’m more open - to the point that when a snake under the beans surprised me last summer, Jonathan knew exactly why I had that look of terror on my face - without me saying anything.
We know the power our friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors have on us. We’re well acquainted with the verse in 1 Corinthians 15:33: “Do not be misled, ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ ” We have learned, often to our discomfort and dismay, that hanging around the wrong people can get us into a boatload of trouble and sorrow. So we choose, if we’re wise, to hang around good people, moral people, godly people. But do we choose to spend time with the One who should influence us more than any other?
Seek the Eternal while He may be found; call upon him while he is near. (Isaiah 55:6)
There’s an implication that God won’t always be near. We need to seek Him now. And if we seek Him now with all of our hearts, we will find him. (Jeremiah 29:13-14) It can’t be emphasized enough that it’s in our best interest to seek him! Amos 5:4, 6 emphatically state: Seek the LORD and live.
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger. (Zephaniah 2:3)
Seeking God is enormously important, but it’s just the beginning of the equation. We need to stay in His presence. We need His influence to change us to be like Him! 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Did you catch this? When we spend time with God, we start to reflect His glory even as we are transformed into His likeness. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit works a change in our lives so that we begin to reflect the glory of Christ to those around us. But you can’t reflect something unless you’re close to it, looking at it, seeking it, passionate about it. The moon does not accurately reflect the sun when the moon hides behind the earth. Similarly, you can’t reflect Jesus Christ in your life if He is hidden by other pursuits you put first in your life.
Passover is just a short time away. Now is the time to examine your life and what you’re reflecting to the people around you. Now is the time to seek the Lord. Now is the time to be very influenced by Jesus Christ - now and forever. And you know what? That’s the sweetest accent there is.
Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear. - - - Dave Barry
If your foot slips, you can always recover your balance. But, when your tongue slips, you can never recover your own words.
Source: iliketoquote.com
Examining Examine by Ron Saladin
The American Heritage Dictionary gives three definitions for the word examine.
1) to inspect or analyze (a person, thing, or situation) in detail
2) to test knowledge or skills by questioning
3) to interrogate formally to elicit facts
We can see these definitions applied in the various places the word examine appears in the Old and New Testaments. A check of the concordance shows 5 scriptures in which the word examine appears with all 5 being different words in the Hebrew and Greek.
Ezra 10:16 has the nuance of a formal inquiry to obtain facts for the purpose of action. “And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.” The “matter” involved the unlawful intermarriages of Israelites with the people of the land. God had told Israel to remain separate. “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son” (Deuteronomy 7:3).
The Canaanites were a wicked, perverted lot, and Israel was not to learn their ways, much less embrace them as family. Most Christians are probably aware the Bible forbids Christians to marry non-Christians. Nevertheless, this often does not seem to matter when a decision is made to begin dating someone. As the relationship grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to do what God instructs us to do, to remain apart from situations which hinder our relationship with God. Missionary dating, the idea of a Christian dating a non-Christian with the intent of converting a non-believer to Christ, is just not a Biblical idea. Yet many who confess Christ do just that and end up seeming to be the one “converted” - converted, that is, to the ways of the world, living together, sexual involvement or marriage with the rearing of children in a family split as to what it means to love God. That’s why God said not to become involved. “For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly” (Deuteronomy 7:4).
And it’s not just marriage that turns us away from God; it’s our culture via the media that we can become emotionally wed to. We can vicariously live with the Canaanites through our sex-saturated, debased entertainment and become just like one of their family. The consequences will eventually be painful. Ezra records the sending away of wives and children as the Israelites attempted to get back to what God had originally instructed. It would have been much better to have heeded God’s advice from the start.
Let’s look at another examine.
Psalm 26:2: “Examine me, O LORD, and prove me, try my reins and my heart." Like our American Heritage Dictionary definition, David asks God to inspect and analyze in detail who he is. Controlling a horse while riding is accomplished by applying pressure to sensitive areas, i.e. the bit in the mouth controlled by the reins. The pressure applied through the reins to those sensitive areas motivates the horse to move in the direction desired by the one holding the reins. Most of us have plenty of pressure in our lives. How we usually respond to that pressure reveals our sensitive areas which motivate us to respond. Who holds your reins? How we use our time and money are good indicators of what our sensitive areas are. How much of our time and finances are devoted to honoring God? For most people - not much.
Here’s another examine.
In 1 Corinthians 9:3, Paul responds to criticism he was receiving from some at Corinth. He starts his response with “Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,” The Greek here is the idea of scrutinizing, interrogating, examining to make a judgment, i.e. American Heritage Dictionary: to test skills and knowledge, question. Even Paul the Apostle was falsely accused of wrong motives. Ever have that happen to you? How did you respond? When we are questioned about our motives or ability, we tend to respond in ways which reveal a level of pride or the lack of it, called humility. To be critically examined by someone else is a good opportunity to examine ourselves. It’s not so much how we respond outwardly but what we feel inwardly that makes our examination worthwhile.
Our fourth examination of examine is in 2 Corinthians 13:5 where Paul turns the focus of the examining back on the Corinthians themselves. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” A profession of faith is necessary for becoming a Christian, but real faith produces change, not immediate perfection, but a continuing growth away from the old way of living into the new. We start out as babes in Christ, but babes are expected to grow. Can you look back to your conversion and see any positive growth? The measuring stick is in The Book.
One final scripture which brings this focus on examine to the point. 1 Corinthians 11:28: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.” Paul instructs the Corinthians and us to take a close look at ourselves before we participate in the New Testament Passover. Sharing in the bread and wine representing the body and blood of Jesus Christ is to be in covenant with Him. Paul warns this is not something to be done casually: vs. 29: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”
The warning is not given to deter people from participating, but rather to come with an examined life. Confess the wrong, change what can and should be changed, and look to God for help with what you struggle with. For the Christian, this is the heart and soul of the word examine.
Peace, Be Still
by Cynthia Saladin
Over the past few months, or years perhaps, God keeps bringing me back to the same theme: Trust me! Take no anxious thought. Stand still and see the deliverance of the Lord! From several different directions and in various contexts, the message still comes: peace, be still.
As I worked on writing lesson plans for the story of Joseph’s life, I was struck again and again that Joseph had to trust God throughout his life! No matter what happened, no matter how bad things got, no matter that Joseph couldn’t see the end from the beginning, Joseph lived his life in trust and obedience to God! Or, think about Job. “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (Job 13:15) Regardless of the afflictions Job endured, he determined to trust God - no matter what. And these two are not the only Biblical examples. David with Goliath. Daniel in the lion’s den. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. I’m sure you have some personal favorites which come to mind too.
So why is it that we, in this age, feel so much stress, so little peace, so much turmoil? I believe it is a lack of trust in God. What causes this lack of trust? What can I do to remedy the problem?
I have been thinking a lot about the dynamics of trusting God. I think it is, in large part, a matter of making yourself completely vulnerable to Him. We don’t like making ourselves vulnerable to anyone in this society. We lock our car doors even when driving down the street. We lock our homes, sometimes with several locks on one door. We use caller ID because sometimes we want the warning of who it is on the other end of the phone before we pick up the receiver and open ourselves to the intrusion. We take precautions against the ever-increasing threat of identity theft. The workplace becomes a battle ground of competition - for promotions, bonuses, perks, ego. (Let’s not even talk about the damage the media does to us!) Unfortunately, churches are seldom havens and sanctuaries (ironic, isn’t it?!) from fighting, personal agendas, egos, stresses, conflicts, and the consequences of sin. All of this spills over into our family relationships. Sometimes we don’t even make ourselves vulnerable to our spouses - there’s much too much conflict to even think about being a united team. The idea of sharing each other’s burdens to make them lighter is one of the first casualties. So we guard ourselves on every hand. Is it any wonder we struggle to make ourselves vulnerable to God - so that we can truly trust Him?
What did David or Daniel or Joseph do? How were they able to trust God so completely? As in any relationship, communication is essential. If you don’t talk every day, you lose touch. If you talk three times a day, you share more intimate details then if you just talk once. If you talk while you’re reading a book or watching tv, the conversation becomes surface and empty. We’re talking about quality time and quantity time. I think David, Daniel, and Joseph (and the myriad of other examples) must have spent a great deal of time praying to God, meditating on His ways, and looking for Him in their lives. (I’d like to submit that it’s easier to find God when you are out in nature, away from the concrete, glass, and asphalt jungles!) The more you communicate, the more you open yourself up and the more you make yourself vulnerable. You learn to trust.
So why don’t we spend more time in prayer, meditation, and contemplation of God? What is eating up our time? In this age of labor-saving devices, we find ourselves with less and less time available to us for God.
Television is, of course, one of the greatest time-eating evils ever invented. The infiltration of carnal, worldly, evil, and sick aspects of this society into our thoughts and eventually actions is insidious. We don’t even realize what’s happening oftentimes. It’s mindless capitulation to the enemy! But, for those who don’t watch tv, what prevents them from the closer relationship with Jesus Christ? It could be any number of seemingly good occupations. If our goal is to KNOW Jesus Christ, to really learn to submit our will to God, and to become perfect, anything which prevents us from that goal is not good - no matter how attractive it looks and how good it makes us feel. Jesus tells us in the parable of the sower and the seed to be on guard against the cares of this world. We cannot become too wrapped up in this world, in our daily lives, in the “good works” we are doing! This life is only preparatory for God’s kingdom. We need to apply ourselves to His lessons for us.
Then as we communicate more frequently and meaningfully with our Heavenly Father, His will becomes much more evident in our lives. He makes our paths clear. As we see the evidence of His presence in our lives, we begin to trust Him more and more. We learn to rest in Him and follow His leading in our lives. Then as He continues to work in us, the fruit of the Spirit dwelling within becomes much more evident. The peace which so easily eludes me is right there - just on the other side of the door! Jesus Christ is my Peace. I just have to let Him in, invite Him into every corner of my existence.
As I feel stressed and find myself lying awake until the wee hours of the morning, I chide myself that I’m taking those anxious thoughts. Where is my faith that God is going to work things out? Why am I not trusting that He has my best interest at heart? And I reflect on the many times He has blessed me in the past and is blessing me right now! Because He has!!! I muse that if I’m going to be upset by such little things (walking with the foot soldiers, so to speak) how am I ever going to endure the really tough things (running with the horses - Jeremiah 12:5)? And finally, in those early morning hours, I sometimes learn to give all of my cares to Him to carry, praising Him for reminding me yet again that He is my God, my Father, my Savior, my Peace, my everything. Of what more do I have need? Then, like the raging storm and billowing waves, I feel the calmness settle over me. I can almost hear the words being spoken: Peace, be still.
May 2014
What Are Weeds Good For?
by Cynthia Saladin
It’s that wonderful time of year when the earth is exploding with new life. The daffodils are, sadly, already done sigh, there are a few early iris, and the lilacs smell heavenly! The boys and I have already done our first lawn mowing, which is a huge undertaking given what we mow - with the push mower! And the ubiquitous weeds are steadily and stealthily encroaching upon my garden. Jennifer and I pulled several 5-gallon buckets of weeds out of the strawberries a couple days ago. And, as always, I found myself musing about the weeds.
Why do I have to fight a continual battle against weeds? What are the weeds good for anyway?
The weeds I pull are buried in the garden to turn into compost and help fertilize the rest of the plants I do want. So in that sense, they are good for helping the garden grow. But as for why I have to fight a continual battle against weeds, I have come to the conclusion that it’s bigger than just my garden. It’s bigger than just a physical battle. It has profound spiritual applications. Really!
First of all, the weeds are pretty small right now. The temptation is to let them go until they are bigger and more noticeable. But you know what? They are much easier to root out when they are small. You noticed that I intentionally used the word root! If I want to get rid of my weeds more permanently, I can’t just break them off at the surface; I have to root them out. In other words, I can’t just make it look like they’re gone. I have to actually get the whole thing. Do you see the spiritual application here? We’ve just come out of the Days of Unleavened Bread. We’re supposed to have learned the lesson of being unspotted by the world, of choosing God’s ways rather than those ways which lead to death. We’re supposed to have examined our lives and rooted out those things which are ungodly and unwanted prior to the Days of Unleavened Bread. It’s 2 Corinthians 7:1:
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
We have incredible promises from God. We’ve just commemorated the memorial of Jesus’ death on our behalf. We’ve participated in the symbols of the New Covenant, testifying to God, ourselves, and those around us that we are God’s people. We have spent seven days eating unleavened bread, symbolic of taking Jesus Christ into the very fabric of who we are and being that upon which we subsist. In light of these incredibly great promises, we’re supposed to continue on that path of being unleavened, eschewing those things which defile us, being completely holy to God. We are supposed to root out the weeds. We’re not supposed to just give the appearance of getting rid of the weeds by breaking them off at the surface. We’re supposed to completely eradicate them from our lives. And it’s much easier to eliminate the unholy and defiling things from our lives before they’ve had time to become set in our lives. It’s important to get those weeds while they’re small.
But why do I have to continue to fight the battle against the weeds? Why can’t I just pull them once and then be done with it? You know what would happen if I gave in and just let the weeds grow. Soon they would choke out the more refined plants which I’m trying to cultivate. I would have lost my garden to the weeds. It requires determination and perseverance to grow a garden which will produce fruit. Similarly, it requires determination and perseverance if we’re going to be healthy, fruitful Christians. That’s why we have scriptures like Fight the good fight of the faith (1 Timothy 6:12), . . . let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1), and Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10). God expects us to work hard, to overcome obstacles, to persevere in pulling up the weeds in our lives.
Inherent in this whole discussion is the reality that nature abhors a vacuum. If I have bare ground in the garden, it won’t take long for it to be covered with something. I’d prefer it was the plants I want to cultivate, but if I’m lax in promoting those desirables, by weeding, watering, and mulching, the weeds will oblige by taking over the vacant spot. Similarly, if you root out the “weeds” from your life, but you don’t cultivate your relationship with God through prayer, Bible study, meditation, and fellowship with believers, you will find your life full again of things which will tend to be ungodly, those things which you will again have to root out when you recover your desire to be a fruitful servant of our Lord.
It is difficult to continue to fight the fight. I have to tell myself that I’m just going to work on this region, or I’m just going to pull one bucket, or I’m just going to work for 15 minutes. And I literally take my timer outside with me. That’s the mental gymnastics I go through in order to persevere against the weeds, because I’m tired. I’ve usually taken on more than I can reasonably accomplish. So taking the time to stay ahead of the weeds, to pull them while they’re small, can seem like a low priority on the to-do list. It’s the same in our lives. We’re so busy. We’ve so many projects and people pulling at our time. But we have to make it a daily priority to examine what’s going on in our hearts, to talk with God, to read His word, to allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate where a “weed” is starting to encroach into our lives.
The best part of pulling weeds is the finished product. Oh, I know I’ll never be done pulling weeds. But when Jennifer and I finished pulling weeds around the edge of the strawberry patch the other day, there was an immense satisfaction and joy that we had done something good. We’d eliminated the weeds which would soon become a problem, choking the strawberries and making them less fruitful. We’d
made the patch look clean and healthy. We’d been good stewards of the strawberry patch under our care. Even though it’s hard work, there is a similar satisfaction in knowing that we’ve submitted to the urging of the Holy Spirit to eradicate something from our lives which we knew needed to be eliminated. There’s a joy knowing that we’re walking the path towards God instead of directly in rebellion to Him. There’s a comfort in knowing that it is God who is purifying for Himself a possession - and we want to part of that purified possession.
I know that I’ll be spending a lot of time in the garden over the next few weeks, pulling weeds and encouraging my plants to be fruitful. I guess God knew that I was going to need that physical reminder to be as diligent in my relationship with Him. After all, we’re in the midst of the countdown to Pentecost. I very much want to have something to harvest for Him to His glory. I guess those weeds which I have to pull are good for something after all; they’re good for me.
They should send "Get Well Soon" cards to people who forgot to pay their water bill.
Dogs!
by Cynthia Saladin
I retreated to my room to read a book yesterday afternoon. I was tired from the day and just wanted some peace and quiet. And I wanted to read. The kids and Ron were otherwise occupied, and I was eagerly anticipating a few stolen moments of being off-duty. Literally, five minutes later Ebony came quietly padding up the stairs to find me. She rarely barks in the house. Instead, she skitters. Imagine a black lab’s tail waging back and forth, while she growls, crouches down on her front elbows - hind end up in the air, and wildly scratches her front feet on the hardwood floor. It’s a distracting sound - especially to someone who is trying to read. And I know what it means. Ebony wants to be let outside. So I called down to the kids, “Please let Ebony outside.” As soon as I said that, Ebony raced down the stairs. I settled back into my book.
When Ebony was let out, Velvet was let in. I could hear Velvet checking out her food dish, drinking at her water bucket, checking out her bed and the kids, and then the inevitable: Velvet came upstairs to check out what I was doing. Like Ebony, she padded quietly up the stairs and peeked into my room. When she saw me looking at her, she came over and waited to be petted. Unlike Ebony, Velvet will stand and wait for me to give her attention. If she doesn’t get it, she swipes my elbow with her tongue. That’s a little distracting to my reading. So I called Jonathan to call his dog. Ron came out of his study and told her to go downstairs.
Velvet went, sort of. She walked down the stairs far enough for Ron to close the gate at the top of the steps, then she turned around and settled herself on the top step, lying there, waiting for me to decide to do something fun.
I’m so glad God gave me these dogs. They are a reminder to me to look to my Master to supply my needs as well as a reminder to wait upon my Master for what needs to be done next. What a lovely reminder my dogs are!
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
- Melody Beattie
What Is Right in Your Own Eyes
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” ~ Judges 21:25
Judges is a hard book to read. It is a record of the cyclical history of Israel: They serve God; God blesses them; Israel forgets God; God allows their enemies to oppress Israel; Israel repents and turns to God; God saves them from their enemies; Israel serves God; God blesses them; Israel forgets God . . . and so on.
There are some particularly disturbing passages: Samson’s attraction to Philistine women, Gideon’s ephod, Micah ordaining a priest, the tribe of Dan stealing Micah’s idol and priest, the Sodom-like conduct in Gebeah, Benjamin’s refusal to turn over the criminals resulting in civil war, and Israel’s condoning kidnapping for Benjamin to acquire wives after the war.
In instance after instance, the people did what was right in their own eyes. They didn’t seek God. They didn’t ask for His direction. They didn’t follow His laws. But, you know, we’re not too different from Israel. Our carnal nature is enmity against God; we always seek our own way and our own pleasure. What’s worse is that we want to decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. (It always goes back to the Garden of Eden!) We want to do what is right in our own eyes.
Usually that translates to whatever gives us pleasure or makes us comfortable. I want to challenge you to think: is it right or is it just easier? Most of the time, we want what is easy, whether it is right or not. Again, we have a tendency to lean towards what makes us happy in the short term, what makes us feel good right now, what benefits us in the present.
But God’s perspective is for eternity and He knows what we need to get us there. It’s time to trust Him in all things. We need to do what is right in God’s eyes.
"A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog." - Jack London
What Are Weeds Good For?
by Cynthia Saladin
It’s that wonderful time of year when the earth is exploding with new life. The daffodils are, sadly, already done sigh, there are a few early iris, and the lilacs smell heavenly! The boys and I have already done our first lawn mowing, which is a huge undertaking given what we mow - with the push mower! And the ubiquitous weeds are steadily and stealthily encroaching upon my garden. Jennifer and I pulled several 5-gallon buckets of weeds out of the strawberries a couple days ago. And, as always, I found myself musing about the weeds.
Why do I have to fight a continual battle against weeds? What are the weeds good for anyway?
The weeds I pull are buried in the garden to turn into compost and help fertilize the rest of the plants I do want. So in that sense, they are good for helping the garden grow. But as for why I have to fight a continual battle against weeds, I have come to the conclusion that it’s bigger than just my garden. It’s bigger than just a physical battle. It has profound spiritual applications. Really!
First of all, the weeds are pretty small right now. The temptation is to let them go until they are bigger and more noticeable. But you know what? They are much easier to root out when they are small. You noticed that I intentionally used the word root! If I want to get rid of my weeds more permanently, I can’t just break them off at the surface; I have to root them out. In other words, I can’t just make it look like they’re gone. I have to actually get the whole thing. Do you see the spiritual application here? We’ve just come out of the Days of Unleavened Bread. We’re supposed to have learned the lesson of being unspotted by the world, of choosing God’s ways rather than those ways which lead to death. We’re supposed to have examined our lives and rooted out those things which are ungodly and unwanted prior to the Days of Unleavened Bread. It’s 2 Corinthians 7:1:
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
We have incredible promises from God. We’ve just commemorated the memorial of Jesus’ death on our behalf. We’ve participated in the symbols of the New Covenant, testifying to God, ourselves, and those around us that we are God’s people. We have spent seven days eating unleavened bread, symbolic of taking Jesus Christ into the very fabric of who we are and being that upon which we subsist. In light of these incredibly great promises, we’re supposed to continue on that path of being unleavened, eschewing those things which defile us, being completely holy to God. We are supposed to root out the weeds. We’re not supposed to just give the appearance of getting rid of the weeds by breaking them off at the surface. We’re supposed to completely eradicate them from our lives. And it’s much easier to eliminate the unholy and defiling things from our lives before they’ve had time to become set in our lives. It’s important to get those weeds while they’re small.
But why do I have to continue to fight the battle against the weeds? Why can’t I just pull them once and then be done with it? You know what would happen if I gave in and just let the weeds grow. Soon they would choke out the more refined plants which I’m trying to cultivate. I would have lost my garden to the weeds. It requires determination and perseverance to grow a garden which will produce fruit. Similarly, it requires determination and perseverance if we’re going to be healthy, fruitful Christians. That’s why we have scriptures like Fight the good fight of the faith (1 Timothy 6:12), . . . let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1), and Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2:10). God expects us to work hard, to overcome obstacles, to persevere in pulling up the weeds in our lives.
Inherent in this whole discussion is the reality that nature abhors a vacuum. If I have bare ground in the garden, it won’t take long for it to be covered with something. I’d prefer it was the plants I want to cultivate, but if I’m lax in promoting those desirables, by weeding, watering, and mulching, the weeds will oblige by taking over the vacant spot. Similarly, if you root out the “weeds” from your life, but you don’t cultivate your relationship with God through prayer, Bible study, meditation, and fellowship with believers, you will find your life full again of things which will tend to be ungodly, those things which you will again have to root out when you recover your desire to be a fruitful servant of our Lord.
It is difficult to continue to fight the fight. I have to tell myself that I’m just going to work on this region, or I’m just going to pull one bucket, or I’m just going to work for 15 minutes. And I literally take my timer outside with me. That’s the mental gymnastics I go through in order to persevere against the weeds, because I’m tired. I’ve usually taken on more than I can reasonably accomplish. So taking the time to stay ahead of the weeds, to pull them while they’re small, can seem like a low priority on the to-do list. It’s the same in our lives. We’re so busy. We’ve so many projects and people pulling at our time. But we have to make it a daily priority to examine what’s going on in our hearts, to talk with God, to read His word, to allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate where a “weed” is starting to encroach into our lives.
The best part of pulling weeds is the finished product. Oh, I know I’ll never be done pulling weeds. But when Jennifer and I finished pulling weeds around the edge of the strawberry patch the other day, there was an immense satisfaction and joy that we had done something good. We’d eliminated the weeds which would soon become a problem, choking the strawberries and making them less fruitful. We’d
made the patch look clean and healthy. We’d been good stewards of the strawberry patch under our care. Even though it’s hard work, there is a similar satisfaction in knowing that we’ve submitted to the urging of the Holy Spirit to eradicate something from our lives which we knew needed to be eliminated. There’s a joy knowing that we’re walking the path towards God instead of directly in rebellion to Him. There’s a comfort in knowing that it is God who is purifying for Himself a possession - and we want to part of that purified possession.
I know that I’ll be spending a lot of time in the garden over the next few weeks, pulling weeds and encouraging my plants to be fruitful. I guess God knew that I was going to need that physical reminder to be as diligent in my relationship with Him. After all, we’re in the midst of the countdown to Pentecost. I very much want to have something to harvest for Him to His glory. I guess those weeds which I have to pull are good for something after all; they’re good for me.
They should send "Get Well Soon" cards to people who forgot to pay their water bill.
Dogs!
by Cynthia Saladin
I retreated to my room to read a book yesterday afternoon. I was tired from the day and just wanted some peace and quiet. And I wanted to read. The kids and Ron were otherwise occupied, and I was eagerly anticipating a few stolen moments of being off-duty. Literally, five minutes later Ebony came quietly padding up the stairs to find me. She rarely barks in the house. Instead, she skitters. Imagine a black lab’s tail waging back and forth, while she growls, crouches down on her front elbows - hind end up in the air, and wildly scratches her front feet on the hardwood floor. It’s a distracting sound - especially to someone who is trying to read. And I know what it means. Ebony wants to be let outside. So I called down to the kids, “Please let Ebony outside.” As soon as I said that, Ebony raced down the stairs. I settled back into my book.
When Ebony was let out, Velvet was let in. I could hear Velvet checking out her food dish, drinking at her water bucket, checking out her bed and the kids, and then the inevitable: Velvet came upstairs to check out what I was doing. Like Ebony, she padded quietly up the stairs and peeked into my room. When she saw me looking at her, she came over and waited to be petted. Unlike Ebony, Velvet will stand and wait for me to give her attention. If she doesn’t get it, she swipes my elbow with her tongue. That’s a little distracting to my reading. So I called Jonathan to call his dog. Ron came out of his study and told her to go downstairs.
Velvet went, sort of. She walked down the stairs far enough for Ron to close the gate at the top of the steps, then she turned around and settled herself on the top step, lying there, waiting for me to decide to do something fun.
I’m so glad God gave me these dogs. They are a reminder to me to look to my Master to supply my needs as well as a reminder to wait upon my Master for what needs to be done next. What a lovely reminder my dogs are!
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
- Melody Beattie
What Is Right in Your Own Eyes
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” ~ Judges 21:25
Judges is a hard book to read. It is a record of the cyclical history of Israel: They serve God; God blesses them; Israel forgets God; God allows their enemies to oppress Israel; Israel repents and turns to God; God saves them from their enemies; Israel serves God; God blesses them; Israel forgets God . . . and so on.
There are some particularly disturbing passages: Samson’s attraction to Philistine women, Gideon’s ephod, Micah ordaining a priest, the tribe of Dan stealing Micah’s idol and priest, the Sodom-like conduct in Gebeah, Benjamin’s refusal to turn over the criminals resulting in civil war, and Israel’s condoning kidnapping for Benjamin to acquire wives after the war.
In instance after instance, the people did what was right in their own eyes. They didn’t seek God. They didn’t ask for His direction. They didn’t follow His laws. But, you know, we’re not too different from Israel. Our carnal nature is enmity against God; we always seek our own way and our own pleasure. What’s worse is that we want to decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. (It always goes back to the Garden of Eden!) We want to do what is right in our own eyes.
Usually that translates to whatever gives us pleasure or makes us comfortable. I want to challenge you to think: is it right or is it just easier? Most of the time, we want what is easy, whether it is right or not. Again, we have a tendency to lean towards what makes us happy in the short term, what makes us feel good right now, what benefits us in the present.
But God’s perspective is for eternity and He knows what we need to get us there. It’s time to trust Him in all things. We need to do what is right in God’s eyes.
"A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry as the dog." - Jack London
June 2014
The Story of a School Bus by Sally Rollins
On April 21st there was, of course, a substitute driver on Bill’s school bus route. This fact has nothing to do with the story. On Wednesday, when Bill returned home after driving the afternoon route, I asked him (as I normally do) how things went. He replied that there was something really strange about the ride home - he had never experienced anything like it in his almost two years of driving the bus. The kids all sat in their seats and there was very little talking - no noise, no one out of their seats, etc.! The next day was the same! When I asked him the normal question, “How did it go?”, he said, “I don’t understand it! They were really good!”
As you know, Bill does a lot of handyman work around town - especially in the summertime. Some time ago the principal of the school had asked Bill to come take a look at his kitchen floor - it needed to be replaced. He called and asked if Bill had time Thursday evening to come down to help him measure it and give him some advice. In the process of looking at the floor, they started visiting about school and some of the problems. The principal asked Bill if he had heard about the problems the substitute driver had the day Bill was gone keeping the Last Day of Unleavened Bread. It seems that there were three kids who had a problem - some verbal bullying - to the point that the parents called the school to complain.
Now I have to back up a little bit. On the Tuesday after the Holy Day, the principal had asked for the disc from the high-tech camera that is in the bus. As the principal viewed the pictures, he noticed not only the problems the three kids had, but also another little boy jumping from one seat to another, etc. So on Wednesday the principal had called the four kids that had misbehaved on the bus to his office. The little boy asked the principal how he knew - he knew that the bus driver had not been watching. The principal told him that he had watched the disc from the camera and it had showed him everything that had taken place on the bus. Then, Bill said, the light came on - it was Wednesday that the kids finally understood the ramifications of having been told that cameras had been installed in all the buses, and they knew they were being watched.
When we finished laughing and thought about it a little while, we said, “Perhaps this isn’t so funny.” On our bus trip through this life, as we are looking forward to our final home at the end of the day, do we comprehend, do we know, do we remember that every word is being heard and action is being watched by our Savior and our Heavenly Father? Would we, perhaps, behave a little better if we would kept that in mind?
Enjoy the trip - but obey the rules!
Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
Prepare Your Minds For Action by Cynthia Saladin
When you think of Joshua, Samuel, and Elijah, what stands out in your mind? Leaders, yes. Men of God, yes. Wholly devoted to God, yes. But do you think of them as warriors? You should. Consider the following passages:
Joshua 10:22-26: Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me from the cave.” And they did so, and brought those five kings out to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, “Come near; put your feet on the necks of these kings.” Then they came near and put their feet on their necks. And Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.” And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees. And they hung on the trees until evening.
1 Samuel 15:32-33: Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
1 Kings 18:40: And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.
We don’t think of Joshua standing on the necks of kings and then hanging them on trees. We don’t think of Samuel hacking Agag to pieces. We don’t think of Elijah slaughtering 450 prophets of Baal. We think of them leading and doing God’s will, but we don’t often think of them as warriors . . . at least, I haven’t in the past.
However, as we’ve been reading slowly through the Old Testament over the past year, I’ve been so struck with a new awareness of the struggles, battles, wars fought, and the identity of our God and Savior as a warrior, Jehovah Saboath, Commander of the Lord’s army (Joshua 5:13-15) and the Rider on the white horse (Revelation 19:11-16). Even Isaiah highlights this part of God’s nature: He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. Not only is our God interested and involved in the affairs of men, He also executes vengeance to the degree that Isaiah describes vengeance as God’s clothing!
It gives new meaning to the description in Judges 6:34: the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon.
And it also should make us stop and think about our own garments. We are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), and we’re to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-17). But what if, that armor is just the start? What if, in addition to the pieces of armor listed in Ephesians 6, we’re also supposed to put on zeal as a cloak, as God is described in Isaiah 59:17? What is it that God really wants from us? What is truly pleasing to Him?
God wants people to serve Him with wholeness of heart. God wants people who are zealous and passionate about their devotion to Him, who partner that fervent zealousness with righteousness - as He does. As the King James Version states in Job 38:3 and Job 40:7, God wants us to “Quit ye like men.” In 1 Peter 1:13, it’s translated literally from Greek this way: Gird up the lions of your mind. The ESV translates it “Prepare your minds for action.”
What action? Aren’t we, as far as it depends upon us, to live peaceably with all men? Absolutely. But we’re not talking about living peaceably with all men. We’re talking about the battle which faces every Christian, every day. We’re talking about taking our stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:12-13 says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
We focus on standing, being still and seeing the deliverance of the Lord. We tend to think of our job as occupying until He comes, being quiet, and waiting on the Lord. And that’s all true. But, in our quietness, in our waiting on God, we are also engaged in a struggle. That’s why it uses the word “wrestle.” I don’t think of being still and quiet and waiting as the same thing as wrestling. And if we don’t prepare our minds that we will need to wrestle, we won’t be on guard, we won’t be ready to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Sometimes, too, when we think about being still and getting along with everyone, then first thing which slips away from us is our passion. In our quietness, we allow the zeal to drain away from our actions.
But really, how important is it to God that we prepare our minds for action? Consider, if you will, Deuteronomy 20. The heading added by the ESV editors is “Laws Concerning Warfare.” In this section, God tells the priests to come out before the people when they’re heading to war and to basically give them a Levitical War Sermon. Tell them God is with them and will give them the victory. Then God tells Moses all of the people who are to be excused from fighting. Verse 5 cites the person with a new house which hasn’t been dedicated. Verse 6 cites a new vineyard from which fruit has not been enjoyed. Verse 7 cites a man with a betrothed wife. Each of these cases highlights a man whose mind is on what he’s left behind, what he may be forfeiting if he’s killed in battle. But then, there’s another category of men who are excused from the battle: the fearful. Verse 8 says that those who are afraid need to turn back lest their fear infect the entire army.
But what does this law about a fearful man have to do with being a warrior for God? What does it have to do with preparing your mind for action? What does it have to do with zealousness and passion for taking our stand against the schemes of the devil? Who knows what lies before us? Yet if economic, political, and environmental conditions are any indication, we have very little time left before Jesus Christ returns. That means we’re heading into a period of time when the beast is allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them (Revelation 7:13). It’s time to prepare our minds for actions, to be zealous warriors in the fight against evil, to take our stand against our own inclination to be fearful and unbelieving. We need to be ready to follow the God of Angel Armies, Jehovah Saboath.
Ron and Cynthia Saladin
The Story of a School Bus by Sally Rollins
On April 21st there was, of course, a substitute driver on Bill’s school bus route. This fact has nothing to do with the story. On Wednesday, when Bill returned home after driving the afternoon route, I asked him (as I normally do) how things went. He replied that there was something really strange about the ride home - he had never experienced anything like it in his almost two years of driving the bus. The kids all sat in their seats and there was very little talking - no noise, no one out of their seats, etc.! The next day was the same! When I asked him the normal question, “How did it go?”, he said, “I don’t understand it! They were really good!”
As you know, Bill does a lot of handyman work around town - especially in the summertime. Some time ago the principal of the school had asked Bill to come take a look at his kitchen floor - it needed to be replaced. He called and asked if Bill had time Thursday evening to come down to help him measure it and give him some advice. In the process of looking at the floor, they started visiting about school and some of the problems. The principal asked Bill if he had heard about the problems the substitute driver had the day Bill was gone keeping the Last Day of Unleavened Bread. It seems that there were three kids who had a problem - some verbal bullying - to the point that the parents called the school to complain.
Now I have to back up a little bit. On the Tuesday after the Holy Day, the principal had asked for the disc from the high-tech camera that is in the bus. As the principal viewed the pictures, he noticed not only the problems the three kids had, but also another little boy jumping from one seat to another, etc. So on Wednesday the principal had called the four kids that had misbehaved on the bus to his office. The little boy asked the principal how he knew - he knew that the bus driver had not been watching. The principal told him that he had watched the disc from the camera and it had showed him everything that had taken place on the bus. Then, Bill said, the light came on - it was Wednesday that the kids finally understood the ramifications of having been told that cameras had been installed in all the buses, and they knew they were being watched.
When we finished laughing and thought about it a little while, we said, “Perhaps this isn’t so funny.” On our bus trip through this life, as we are looking forward to our final home at the end of the day, do we comprehend, do we know, do we remember that every word is being heard and action is being watched by our Savior and our Heavenly Father? Would we, perhaps, behave a little better if we would kept that in mind?
Enjoy the trip - but obey the rules!
Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
Prepare Your Minds For Action by Cynthia Saladin
When you think of Joshua, Samuel, and Elijah, what stands out in your mind? Leaders, yes. Men of God, yes. Wholly devoted to God, yes. But do you think of them as warriors? You should. Consider the following passages:
Joshua 10:22-26: Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me from the cave.” And they did so, and brought those five kings out to him from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. And when they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua summoned all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, “Come near; put your feet on the necks of these kings.” Then they came near and put their feet on their necks. And Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.” And afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees. And they hung on the trees until evening.
1 Samuel 15:32-33: Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
1 Kings 18:40: And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.
We don’t think of Joshua standing on the necks of kings and then hanging them on trees. We don’t think of Samuel hacking Agag to pieces. We don’t think of Elijah slaughtering 450 prophets of Baal. We think of them leading and doing God’s will, but we don’t often think of them as warriors . . . at least, I haven’t in the past.
However, as we’ve been reading slowly through the Old Testament over the past year, I’ve been so struck with a new awareness of the struggles, battles, wars fought, and the identity of our God and Savior as a warrior, Jehovah Saboath, Commander of the Lord’s army (Joshua 5:13-15) and the Rider on the white horse (Revelation 19:11-16). Even Isaiah highlights this part of God’s nature: He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. Not only is our God interested and involved in the affairs of men, He also executes vengeance to the degree that Isaiah describes vengeance as God’s clothing!
It gives new meaning to the description in Judges 6:34: the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon.
And it also should make us stop and think about our own garments. We are to put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), and we’re to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-17). But what if, that armor is just the start? What if, in addition to the pieces of armor listed in Ephesians 6, we’re also supposed to put on zeal as a cloak, as God is described in Isaiah 59:17? What is it that God really wants from us? What is truly pleasing to Him?
God wants people to serve Him with wholeness of heart. God wants people who are zealous and passionate about their devotion to Him, who partner that fervent zealousness with righteousness - as He does. As the King James Version states in Job 38:3 and Job 40:7, God wants us to “Quit ye like men.” In 1 Peter 1:13, it’s translated literally from Greek this way: Gird up the lions of your mind. The ESV translates it “Prepare your minds for action.”
What action? Aren’t we, as far as it depends upon us, to live peaceably with all men? Absolutely. But we’re not talking about living peaceably with all men. We’re talking about the battle which faces every Christian, every day. We’re talking about taking our stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:12-13 says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.
We focus on standing, being still and seeing the deliverance of the Lord. We tend to think of our job as occupying until He comes, being quiet, and waiting on the Lord. And that’s all true. But, in our quietness, in our waiting on God, we are also engaged in a struggle. That’s why it uses the word “wrestle.” I don’t think of being still and quiet and waiting as the same thing as wrestling. And if we don’t prepare our minds that we will need to wrestle, we won’t be on guard, we won’t be ready to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Sometimes, too, when we think about being still and getting along with everyone, then first thing which slips away from us is our passion. In our quietness, we allow the zeal to drain away from our actions.
But really, how important is it to God that we prepare our minds for action? Consider, if you will, Deuteronomy 20. The heading added by the ESV editors is “Laws Concerning Warfare.” In this section, God tells the priests to come out before the people when they’re heading to war and to basically give them a Levitical War Sermon. Tell them God is with them and will give them the victory. Then God tells Moses all of the people who are to be excused from fighting. Verse 5 cites the person with a new house which hasn’t been dedicated. Verse 6 cites a new vineyard from which fruit has not been enjoyed. Verse 7 cites a man with a betrothed wife. Each of these cases highlights a man whose mind is on what he’s left behind, what he may be forfeiting if he’s killed in battle. But then, there’s another category of men who are excused from the battle: the fearful. Verse 8 says that those who are afraid need to turn back lest their fear infect the entire army.
But what does this law about a fearful man have to do with being a warrior for God? What does it have to do with preparing your mind for action? What does it have to do with zealousness and passion for taking our stand against the schemes of the devil? Who knows what lies before us? Yet if economic, political, and environmental conditions are any indication, we have very little time left before Jesus Christ returns. That means we’re heading into a period of time when the beast is allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them (Revelation 7:13). It’s time to prepare our minds for actions, to be zealous warriors in the fight against evil, to take our stand against our own inclination to be fearful and unbelieving. We need to be ready to follow the God of Angel Armies, Jehovah Saboath.
Ron and Cynthia Saladin
July 2014
Time
by Cynthia Saladin
Time is such a strange thing. We talk about having too much time on our hands.
A young man, fresh out of college, went to see his doctor one day.
"Doc, there's something wrong with me. Every time I stand in a baby's high chair and face southwest, and then touch my tongue to a piece of aluminum foil that's wrapped around an acorn, I get a strange tingle in my big toe. Can you tell me what the problem is?"
"Sure!" The doctor said. "You have way too much time on your hands!”
We talk about making time for something. Sometimes a task takes more time than we thought it was going to take. Time can drag - like when you’re working at a boring factory job. Time can fly - like when you wake up and it’s already the fifth day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Time is a valuable commodity granted to us by the Father. We must learn how to make “the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16).
Esther made the best use of her time; Mordecai wondered if she had “come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
Even Jesus was crucified at the time appointed by the Father (John 7:6).
So how do we view time?
What Time Is It?
On some air bases, the military is on one side of the field and civilian aircraft use the other side of the field, with the control tower in the middle. One day, on just such a field, the tower received a call from an aircraft asking, "What time is it?"
The tower responded, "Who is calling?”
The aircraft replied, "What difference does it make?"
The tower replied, "It makes a lot of difference:
•If you are a commercial airlines flight, it is 3 o'clock.
•If you are an Air Force aircraft, it is 1500 hours.
•If you are a Navy aircraft, it is 6 bells.
•If you are an Army aircraft, the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 3.
•If you are a Marine Corps aircraft, it's Thursday afternoon.
•If you are in the National Guard, it's still a couple of hours until quitting time."
Sometimes time is our friend - like when the bell rings before the professor has time to make a final assignment. Sometimes time is not our friend, and everyone who is getting old understands exactly what I mean. Time has a way of speeding up as we accumulate years. But perhaps God designed it that way so that we’d understand how fleeting time is. Moses wrote, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). We are presently finite human beings whose end is coming more rapidly than we can really fathom.
Although we sing, “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time will be no more . . .” and regardless of whether time itself will cease to exist, we know that we are now still physical and very bound by time constraints. So it’s time to consider our ways, think of how we spend our time.
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12)
We have something very important to do with the time we have left; it’s time to seek the Lord. Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon him while he is near (Isaiah 55:6).
Think about it: Sheep may safely graze: bullets may not.
No Looking Back
Herb Vander Lugt
When I was a boy on the farm, my dad would tell me, “You can’t plow a straight row if you look back.” You can test this for yourself by looking back as you walk through snow or along a sandy beach. Your tracks won’t be straight.
A good farmer doesn’t look back once he has put his hand to the plow. Jesus used this analogy to teach us that if we are to be His disciples we must make a complete break with all loyalties that hinder our relationship with Him.
Total allegiance to God is a principle that is rooted in the Old Testament. The Israelites, after being freed from slavery and fed by supernatural means, looked back longingly to the days when they enjoyed fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic in Egypt (Numbers 11:5-6). God was greatly displeased, and He judged His people. Their looking back indicated a lack of commitment to Him.
Today, people who cling to old sins and the worldly pleasures they enjoyed before becoming Christians cannot be loyal disciples of Jesus Christ. When we repent and believe in Him, we become citizens of a new kingdom. We are to break with the sins of the past. Discipleship means no looking back.
I was thinking about this article by Herb Vander Lugt which I found in a July issue of “Our Daily Bread.” It is curious because this makes twice today that this particular theme was brought to my attention. That is, the theme of looking in the past and breaking with the sins of the past.
I’m sure that many of us are not guilty of wanting what we had before we became Christians. We are not like Lot’s wife who looked back longingly at Sodom (Genesis 19:26). We are not fondly thinking of the flesh pots of Egypt (Numbers 11:18-20). We don’t want to go back to what was pleasurable sin. Still, I think our morbid reflection deals with something which is likewise serious. I can hear you thinking “What could be as serious as wanting to go back into sin?” I believe it is the guilt we continue to carry as a result of those sins.
Perhaps you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Perhaps you were born in near poverty conditions and
struggled for every bite you ate. Perhaps you were somewhere in the middle. It doesn’t matter!! I mean that! Regardless of past circumstances and parental guidance (or lack thereof) and financial condition, each of us was a sinner. All have sinned and all have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Do we really understand that scripture? All, everyone, each of us committed sins in our past. We were deserving of death. Each of us was redeemed by the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf (1 Peter 1:18-19). That is precisely what it means to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. He died for you - and me - each of us on an individual level (Romans 5:8)! And He has taken our guilt, if we will let Him! (Isaiah 6:7)
Once we have accepted that fact, once we have committed our life to Jesus Christ, why do we still delve into our past and the mistakes we have made - as if Jesus Christ had not paid the penalty!!? Don’t we believe God has removed our sin from us as far as the East is from the West (Psalm 103:12)? Don’t we believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for each of us once for all (Hebrews 7:27)? Don’t we believe that the sins no longer come to the mind of our Heavenly Father (Hebrews 8:12)?! Then why? Why do we keep resurrecting our past sins and reminding God of them again? Who is more important to us anyway? Is God first in my life - or am I first in my life? We can’t allow our carnal nature and pride to take precedence in our life - especially when we think we are doing a good thing, being repentant for our sins.
Repentance is good. But once we have repented, we don’t need to continue to repent for the same past sins. Beating ourselves up and refusing to forgive ourselves for past mistakes when God already has forgiven us is absolutely counterproductive to our life as a Christian! I’m not talking about the casual remembrance and occasional reflection about how stupid we were at some point in our life. That’s called regret - and we all have regrets over our past sins. It is healthy to resolve not to make the same mistakes again - and how to avoid the pitfalls that may lead to a sin. No, I’m talking about the persistent cloud of gloom and guilt which encompasses our day, every day, for weeks on end. We convince ourselves that we are rotten sinners and deserve the natural consequences of our actions. We think maybe we deserve more besides. That is dangerous.
When we tie ourselves up in guilt and recriminations, we severely limit our usefulness to God. As a light to a darkened world, we are saying that God holds a grudge and never forgets, and never lets us forget, our mistakes. We know (head knowledge) that the opposite is true. God is love, and love bears no record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5). He promises to forgive us when we ask. So - when are we going to know in our heart that God is love, and He’s forgiven us?
Burdening ourselves with guilt that God has freed us from in Jesus Christ is an unnecessary heavy burden. Make a mental picture of someone carrying a heavy burden of guilt. Their shoulders are bowed, their head is looking down, their face is downcast (Psalm 38:4). That’s not the picture we want to present to this world, nor to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who need our encouragement. Now, make a mental picture of someone who has no burden. His burden has been taken by Jesus Christ. He is at peace. Think about what peace looks like on a person’s face. Their countenance is light. There is a calm to be gained just by being in their presence.
The really dangerous part comes in considering ourselves higher than our God. I’m serious!! If God has already forgiven us and has given His Son for our sins, what right do we have to continue to wallow in our guilt? It’s over. It’s forgiven. Now, let’s get on with becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. Don’t look back. As Paul said, forget what is behind! Look to Jesus Christ. Stay in the present and press onward toward the goal - our future in Him.
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14
Time
by Cynthia Saladin
Time is such a strange thing. We talk about having too much time on our hands.
A young man, fresh out of college, went to see his doctor one day.
"Doc, there's something wrong with me. Every time I stand in a baby's high chair and face southwest, and then touch my tongue to a piece of aluminum foil that's wrapped around an acorn, I get a strange tingle in my big toe. Can you tell me what the problem is?"
"Sure!" The doctor said. "You have way too much time on your hands!”
We talk about making time for something. Sometimes a task takes more time than we thought it was going to take. Time can drag - like when you’re working at a boring factory job. Time can fly - like when you wake up and it’s already the fifth day of the Feast of Tabernacles.
Time is a valuable commodity granted to us by the Father. We must learn how to make “the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16).
Esther made the best use of her time; Mordecai wondered if she had “come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
Even Jesus was crucified at the time appointed by the Father (John 7:6).
So how do we view time?
What Time Is It?
On some air bases, the military is on one side of the field and civilian aircraft use the other side of the field, with the control tower in the middle. One day, on just such a field, the tower received a call from an aircraft asking, "What time is it?"
The tower responded, "Who is calling?”
The aircraft replied, "What difference does it make?"
The tower replied, "It makes a lot of difference:
•If you are a commercial airlines flight, it is 3 o'clock.
•If you are an Air Force aircraft, it is 1500 hours.
•If you are a Navy aircraft, it is 6 bells.
•If you are an Army aircraft, the big hand is on the 12 and the little hand is on the 3.
•If you are a Marine Corps aircraft, it's Thursday afternoon.
•If you are in the National Guard, it's still a couple of hours until quitting time."
Sometimes time is our friend - like when the bell rings before the professor has time to make a final assignment. Sometimes time is not our friend, and everyone who is getting old understands exactly what I mean. Time has a way of speeding up as we accumulate years. But perhaps God designed it that way so that we’d understand how fleeting time is. Moses wrote, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). We are presently finite human beings whose end is coming more rapidly than we can really fathom.
Although we sing, “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time will be no more . . .” and regardless of whether time itself will cease to exist, we know that we are now still physical and very bound by time constraints. So it’s time to consider our ways, think of how we spend our time.
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12)
We have something very important to do with the time we have left; it’s time to seek the Lord. Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon him while he is near (Isaiah 55:6).
Think about it: Sheep may safely graze: bullets may not.
No Looking Back
Herb Vander Lugt
When I was a boy on the farm, my dad would tell me, “You can’t plow a straight row if you look back.” You can test this for yourself by looking back as you walk through snow or along a sandy beach. Your tracks won’t be straight.
A good farmer doesn’t look back once he has put his hand to the plow. Jesus used this analogy to teach us that if we are to be His disciples we must make a complete break with all loyalties that hinder our relationship with Him.
Total allegiance to God is a principle that is rooted in the Old Testament. The Israelites, after being freed from slavery and fed by supernatural means, looked back longingly to the days when they enjoyed fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic in Egypt (Numbers 11:5-6). God was greatly displeased, and He judged His people. Their looking back indicated a lack of commitment to Him.
Today, people who cling to old sins and the worldly pleasures they enjoyed before becoming Christians cannot be loyal disciples of Jesus Christ. When we repent and believe in Him, we become citizens of a new kingdom. We are to break with the sins of the past. Discipleship means no looking back.
I was thinking about this article by Herb Vander Lugt which I found in a July issue of “Our Daily Bread.” It is curious because this makes twice today that this particular theme was brought to my attention. That is, the theme of looking in the past and breaking with the sins of the past.
I’m sure that many of us are not guilty of wanting what we had before we became Christians. We are not like Lot’s wife who looked back longingly at Sodom (Genesis 19:26). We are not fondly thinking of the flesh pots of Egypt (Numbers 11:18-20). We don’t want to go back to what was pleasurable sin. Still, I think our morbid reflection deals with something which is likewise serious. I can hear you thinking “What could be as serious as wanting to go back into sin?” I believe it is the guilt we continue to carry as a result of those sins.
Perhaps you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth. Perhaps you were born in near poverty conditions and
struggled for every bite you ate. Perhaps you were somewhere in the middle. It doesn’t matter!! I mean that! Regardless of past circumstances and parental guidance (or lack thereof) and financial condition, each of us was a sinner. All have sinned and all have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Do we really understand that scripture? All, everyone, each of us committed sins in our past. We were deserving of death. Each of us was redeemed by the death of Jesus Christ on our behalf (1 Peter 1:18-19). That is precisely what it means to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. He died for you - and me - each of us on an individual level (Romans 5:8)! And He has taken our guilt, if we will let Him! (Isaiah 6:7)
Once we have accepted that fact, once we have committed our life to Jesus Christ, why do we still delve into our past and the mistakes we have made - as if Jesus Christ had not paid the penalty!!? Don’t we believe God has removed our sin from us as far as the East is from the West (Psalm 103:12)? Don’t we believe that Jesus Christ paid the penalty for each of us once for all (Hebrews 7:27)? Don’t we believe that the sins no longer come to the mind of our Heavenly Father (Hebrews 8:12)?! Then why? Why do we keep resurrecting our past sins and reminding God of them again? Who is more important to us anyway? Is God first in my life - or am I first in my life? We can’t allow our carnal nature and pride to take precedence in our life - especially when we think we are doing a good thing, being repentant for our sins.
Repentance is good. But once we have repented, we don’t need to continue to repent for the same past sins. Beating ourselves up and refusing to forgive ourselves for past mistakes when God already has forgiven us is absolutely counterproductive to our life as a Christian! I’m not talking about the casual remembrance and occasional reflection about how stupid we were at some point in our life. That’s called regret - and we all have regrets over our past sins. It is healthy to resolve not to make the same mistakes again - and how to avoid the pitfalls that may lead to a sin. No, I’m talking about the persistent cloud of gloom and guilt which encompasses our day, every day, for weeks on end. We convince ourselves that we are rotten sinners and deserve the natural consequences of our actions. We think maybe we deserve more besides. That is dangerous.
When we tie ourselves up in guilt and recriminations, we severely limit our usefulness to God. As a light to a darkened world, we are saying that God holds a grudge and never forgets, and never lets us forget, our mistakes. We know (head knowledge) that the opposite is true. God is love, and love bears no record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5). He promises to forgive us when we ask. So - when are we going to know in our heart that God is love, and He’s forgiven us?
Burdening ourselves with guilt that God has freed us from in Jesus Christ is an unnecessary heavy burden. Make a mental picture of someone carrying a heavy burden of guilt. Their shoulders are bowed, their head is looking down, their face is downcast (Psalm 38:4). That’s not the picture we want to present to this world, nor to fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who need our encouragement. Now, make a mental picture of someone who has no burden. His burden has been taken by Jesus Christ. He is at peace. Think about what peace looks like on a person’s face. Their countenance is light. There is a calm to be gained just by being in their presence.
The really dangerous part comes in considering ourselves higher than our God. I’m serious!! If God has already forgiven us and has given His Son for our sins, what right do we have to continue to wallow in our guilt? It’s over. It’s forgiven. Now, let’s get on with becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ. Don’t look back. As Paul said, forget what is behind! Look to Jesus Christ. Stay in the present and press onward toward the goal - our future in Him.
“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14
August 2014
Cicada Killers and Oncoming Traffic by Cynthia Saladin
Have you ever seen a cicada killer (wasp)? They are about an inch and a half long. They are black with some yellow on their bodies. They will aggressively buzz a person who is too close (that’s a relative term) to their nest. Or, according to the internet, they could be just curious. I have had a couple of these scary critters in my garden the past few years. The one who keeps buzzing me this year guarantees that I pick cucumbers quickly because it really is scary to have a wasp buzz very close to your head and face.
I have another story to tell you.
Last night after pulling a couple of 5-gallon buckets of weeds out of my strawberry patch, the kids and I walked up to the get the mail. As we approached the neighbors’ house, we saw a large pick-up leave. But as we got closer to the mailbox, that same truck had turned around and come back. We got out of its way and got the mail. But on the way back, I waved at our neighbors’ son-in-law. He said that his brother-in-law, in the pick-up, had just gotten sideswiped by a flatbed truck. The oncoming truck had hit his mirror. The mirror shattered and showered him with glass. He had cuts all over his face.
I was thinking about these two events this morning. Logic would tell you that spending time around anything that has killer in its name might not be a good thing. It could be detrimental to your health. But logic would likewise tell you that driving home from your in-laws’ house should be uneventful and safe. It wasn’t uneventful and safe last night for Rick.
Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” I think of this verse frequently. I am constantly choosing my way through life. Think about it for a minute. I make, and you make, thousands of decisions every day. They all have a ripple effect. Nothing happens in isolation. Picture in your mind the last time you threw rocks into a pond. Sometimes they just made a little plop. Sometimes they caused a huge splash and the subsequent waves rippled a long way! Sometimes, if you’re good at skipping rocks, the rocks made a series of seemingly isolated impacts before sinking into the murky depths. Nevertheless, that rock made some sort of impact; it disturbed some water to some degree. In a similar way, our choices make an impact in some way on our lives and the lives of the people around us. The scary thing is: we may not know until the kingdom how some of our choices impacted other people. A careless word, a thoughtless deed, an unspoken comment, a neglected activity - all of our actions, or lack of actions, have consequences. Furthermore, Proverbs 14:12 comes into play. What we think is a right way, a good course of action, can end up being the worst thing possible. We can think that we need to say something, we need to do something, our logic says it’s the right path to take, and yet, in the end, the consequences are terrible.
Ron and I have experienced enough of those negative consequences from making our own decisions that another passage in Proverbs is more than just a favorite passage, it’s how we try to live our lives: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
It’s a training process to go to God first before making a major decision. It’s a training process to put your life in God’s hands, leaving it there, as you walk down the path each day. It’s a training process which teaches us to acknowledge God as sovereign in our lives, not just in theory, not just in head knowledge, but in heart knowledge, with our whole being.
I’m still leary of cicada killers. I will still instinctively duck every time she buzzes over my head. And I’ll probably not flinch every time I see an oncoming car. Nevertheless, I love how God uses the everyday things in my life to teach me to look to Him for direction and guidance, for provision and protection.
Um, would any of you like to go pick my cucumbers for me today?
"Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” - Frederick Buechner
Is it Right or Is it Easier? by Cynthia Saladin
Sometimes raising children seems like an uphill struggle - a constant testing of limits, rules, and authority. “I don’t want to do my chores right now; I’d rather play Mindcraft.” “Why do I have to learn Algebra?” “I don’t like mowing the grass.” “I don't want to listen to Christopher’s music.” “Why, Mom, why?” “I’ll be there in just a minute.” And sometimes I get very weary and worn down. Sometimes I give in to the entreaties because I’m so tired of the battle. I make a deal; I hear myself saying, “O.K. you can vacuum the carpet tomorrow.” Sometimes it works; sometimes it just prolongs the battle. Later, as I am thinking about the struggle, whichever of the many daily contests of wills, I find myself second-guessing myself. Should I have given in? Was I too lax? Was I too strict? Was it right, or was it just easier?
I was thinking of that phrase particularly this week - is it right or is it easier - because Ron Dart gave a sermon several years ago with that title - and the concept has really stuck in my memory. Many times we are faced with choices. Which do we choose: the right one or the one which appears easier at the time? I firmly believe that we are a collection of God’s people who love Him, who consequently love the truth and who are striving to become perfect out of love for our Father (Matt 5:48). Because we are individually God’s children, He has designed an individual education plan (Phil 1:6) - a plan specifically designed for you and for me to maximize the strengths and gifts He has given to us in our unique situations. Obviously, my educational plan is not yours, nor vice versa - truly it is the greatest example of home schooling there is!! And we know this!! We recognize that we could joyfully live out our lives as hermits, learning at the feet of the Master, with no interference from any other of God’s children!!
However, once we understand that salvation is an individual matter and that no one can ride into the Kingdom on another’s coattails (Ezekiel 14:14, 18:20), we learn with other believers to allow for differences in understanding, to be flexible, to be loving and open-minded, and to realize that iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17) as we progress through our educational plan called life! And, to some degree we are successful - at least for a while.
The rub comes when we must come together to accomplish a specific goal. We have to figure out how to mesh these individual understandings into a working understanding with which everyone can live. It is at that point we find out that what we had considered basic isn’t basic to everyone - and we cautiously regroup, establish ground rules, and really work at keeping our patience. We know that God doesn’t want us to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25), so we try to find our way in love to maintain unity and love (1 Thessalonians 3:12, Ephesians 4:2-3), while not violating our own conscience in what we know God has shown to us on an individual level (Romans 14:23).
Many times, we let a lot of issues slide - knowing that it really wasn’t a big thing, even if we would have preferred a different outcome. But sometimes we hit that conscience head on. We cannot, in good faith, accept what someone else believes. What do we do? Do we, for the sake of unity, let “this” go too? Or do we quietly make our position and opposition known? Sometimes we take what appears to be the easier path - the one of acquiescing without comment. We don’t want to rock the boat. And we’re too weary to engage in yet one more conflict (Galatians 6:9). But that’s not good for us and it’s not good, ultimately, for the group. The right path is rarely the easy path. But it’s still the right path.
I know you are tired. Everyone I talk to is tired. We are all so busy. We are all so bombarded every day with things, conflicts, choices, and battles which wear us down (Matt 13:22; Daniel 7:25). But make the right choice, not the easy choice! I need you to. Don’t you know that you are part of my educational plan. God is using you to teach me His will and His way. As much as I don’t like the idea of having to learn at your feet instead of the feet of the Master, sometimes that’s the way it is. Don’t avoid the inevitable conflict because my ego gets in the way and I get mad because my will is thwarted. In many ways, you may feel that you’re dealing with a fourteen-year-old, and you’re just tired of it. I know it’s a thankless job, at least right now. Please persevere. I know it’s important to pick your battles, because you just can’t fight them all. Just hang in there and consider your choices. Fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12). Don’t give in because you’re tired and it’s easier (2 Thessalonians 3:13). Please make the right choice. You and I will both ultimately be the better for it. And God will give you the strength to keep doing what needs to be done (Phil 4:13).
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.
Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
A Great Dad by Cynthia Saladin
I’ve spent quite a bit of time this summer thinking about the many ways God has blessed me. I have a great husband and fantastic kids. I have the best job in the world - teaching my children. And I have incredibly wonderful parents!
Some of you are blessed to have a fantastic dad, like I do. Dad stepped into our lives at the most difficult of ages - teen-agers times three! Bob, Tricia, and I didn’t appreciate some of the things he injected into our lives, like the vegetarian pizza he brought for us to eat during the Feast 1979, but we loved the laughter that he added to our family: Throwing me into the icy waters of Lake Tahoe after I’d pestered him into it . . . tossing a snowball into the air as we walked up to Red Rock Amphitheater, and then nailing Bob with another when Bob was preoccupied with the first . . . and countless jokes, puns, debates, and physics discussions at various times and especially at the supper table or when we were helping Mom process vegetables from our garden. Dad made time for all sorts of things because he loved the three of us kids: building a room for me in our basement, remodeling Tricia’s room, teaching us how to drive a stick, volunteering to do teen sabbath classes and teen events at the Feast for several years in a row, driving carload upon carload of young teens to various events, hosting barn dances, mystery suppers, and cookouts, attending choir concerts and musicals (like “Fiddler on the Roof”) in which Tricia and I participated. And later, Dad baptized Tricia, Dave, and I. He also performed the marriage ceremonies for Bob and Judy, and Ron and I. He has anointed us at various times and led family prayers for the well-being of Jonathan, Benjamin, Christopher, Kathryn, and Jennifer before each was born.
Two scriptures come to mind right now: Matthew 7:11 says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Having a dad like mine helps me to appreciate my Heavenly Father. I thank God for bringing Dad into our lives. The other scripture is James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights . . .” Oh Dad isn’t perfect, but he’s improving with age!
Final Thought:
Why Some Countries CAN'T Go Metric! (crosswalk. com)
If the metric system did ever take over, we'd have to change our thinking to the following:
* A miss is as good as 1.6 kilometers.
* Put your best 0.3 of a meter forward.
* Spare the 5.03 meters and spoil the child.
* Twenty-eight grams of prevention is worth 453 grams of cure.
* Give a man 2.5 centimeters and he'll take 1.609 kilometers.
* Peter Piper picked 8.8 liters of pickled peppers.
Cicada Killers and Oncoming Traffic by Cynthia Saladin
Have you ever seen a cicada killer (wasp)? They are about an inch and a half long. They are black with some yellow on their bodies. They will aggressively buzz a person who is too close (that’s a relative term) to their nest. Or, according to the internet, they could be just curious. I have had a couple of these scary critters in my garden the past few years. The one who keeps buzzing me this year guarantees that I pick cucumbers quickly because it really is scary to have a wasp buzz very close to your head and face.
I have another story to tell you.
Last night after pulling a couple of 5-gallon buckets of weeds out of my strawberry patch, the kids and I walked up to the get the mail. As we approached the neighbors’ house, we saw a large pick-up leave. But as we got closer to the mailbox, that same truck had turned around and come back. We got out of its way and got the mail. But on the way back, I waved at our neighbors’ son-in-law. He said that his brother-in-law, in the pick-up, had just gotten sideswiped by a flatbed truck. The oncoming truck had hit his mirror. The mirror shattered and showered him with glass. He had cuts all over his face.
I was thinking about these two events this morning. Logic would tell you that spending time around anything that has killer in its name might not be a good thing. It could be detrimental to your health. But logic would likewise tell you that driving home from your in-laws’ house should be uneventful and safe. It wasn’t uneventful and safe last night for Rick.
Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” I think of this verse frequently. I am constantly choosing my way through life. Think about it for a minute. I make, and you make, thousands of decisions every day. They all have a ripple effect. Nothing happens in isolation. Picture in your mind the last time you threw rocks into a pond. Sometimes they just made a little plop. Sometimes they caused a huge splash and the subsequent waves rippled a long way! Sometimes, if you’re good at skipping rocks, the rocks made a series of seemingly isolated impacts before sinking into the murky depths. Nevertheless, that rock made some sort of impact; it disturbed some water to some degree. In a similar way, our choices make an impact in some way on our lives and the lives of the people around us. The scary thing is: we may not know until the kingdom how some of our choices impacted other people. A careless word, a thoughtless deed, an unspoken comment, a neglected activity - all of our actions, or lack of actions, have consequences. Furthermore, Proverbs 14:12 comes into play. What we think is a right way, a good course of action, can end up being the worst thing possible. We can think that we need to say something, we need to do something, our logic says it’s the right path to take, and yet, in the end, the consequences are terrible.
Ron and I have experienced enough of those negative consequences from making our own decisions that another passage in Proverbs is more than just a favorite passage, it’s how we try to live our lives: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
It’s a training process to go to God first before making a major decision. It’s a training process to put your life in God’s hands, leaving it there, as you walk down the path each day. It’s a training process which teaches us to acknowledge God as sovereign in our lives, not just in theory, not just in head knowledge, but in heart knowledge, with our whole being.
I’m still leary of cicada killers. I will still instinctively duck every time she buzzes over my head. And I’ll probably not flinch every time I see an oncoming car. Nevertheless, I love how God uses the everyday things in my life to teach me to look to Him for direction and guidance, for provision and protection.
Um, would any of you like to go pick my cucumbers for me today?
"Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” - Frederick Buechner
Is it Right or Is it Easier? by Cynthia Saladin
Sometimes raising children seems like an uphill struggle - a constant testing of limits, rules, and authority. “I don’t want to do my chores right now; I’d rather play Mindcraft.” “Why do I have to learn Algebra?” “I don’t like mowing the grass.” “I don't want to listen to Christopher’s music.” “Why, Mom, why?” “I’ll be there in just a minute.” And sometimes I get very weary and worn down. Sometimes I give in to the entreaties because I’m so tired of the battle. I make a deal; I hear myself saying, “O.K. you can vacuum the carpet tomorrow.” Sometimes it works; sometimes it just prolongs the battle. Later, as I am thinking about the struggle, whichever of the many daily contests of wills, I find myself second-guessing myself. Should I have given in? Was I too lax? Was I too strict? Was it right, or was it just easier?
I was thinking of that phrase particularly this week - is it right or is it easier - because Ron Dart gave a sermon several years ago with that title - and the concept has really stuck in my memory. Many times we are faced with choices. Which do we choose: the right one or the one which appears easier at the time? I firmly believe that we are a collection of God’s people who love Him, who consequently love the truth and who are striving to become perfect out of love for our Father (Matt 5:48). Because we are individually God’s children, He has designed an individual education plan (Phil 1:6) - a plan specifically designed for you and for me to maximize the strengths and gifts He has given to us in our unique situations. Obviously, my educational plan is not yours, nor vice versa - truly it is the greatest example of home schooling there is!! And we know this!! We recognize that we could joyfully live out our lives as hermits, learning at the feet of the Master, with no interference from any other of God’s children!!
However, once we understand that salvation is an individual matter and that no one can ride into the Kingdom on another’s coattails (Ezekiel 14:14, 18:20), we learn with other believers to allow for differences in understanding, to be flexible, to be loving and open-minded, and to realize that iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17) as we progress through our educational plan called life! And, to some degree we are successful - at least for a while.
The rub comes when we must come together to accomplish a specific goal. We have to figure out how to mesh these individual understandings into a working understanding with which everyone can live. It is at that point we find out that what we had considered basic isn’t basic to everyone - and we cautiously regroup, establish ground rules, and really work at keeping our patience. We know that God doesn’t want us to forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Hebrews 10:25), so we try to find our way in love to maintain unity and love (1 Thessalonians 3:12, Ephesians 4:2-3), while not violating our own conscience in what we know God has shown to us on an individual level (Romans 14:23).
Many times, we let a lot of issues slide - knowing that it really wasn’t a big thing, even if we would have preferred a different outcome. But sometimes we hit that conscience head on. We cannot, in good faith, accept what someone else believes. What do we do? Do we, for the sake of unity, let “this” go too? Or do we quietly make our position and opposition known? Sometimes we take what appears to be the easier path - the one of acquiescing without comment. We don’t want to rock the boat. And we’re too weary to engage in yet one more conflict (Galatians 6:9). But that’s not good for us and it’s not good, ultimately, for the group. The right path is rarely the easy path. But it’s still the right path.
I know you are tired. Everyone I talk to is tired. We are all so busy. We are all so bombarded every day with things, conflicts, choices, and battles which wear us down (Matt 13:22; Daniel 7:25). But make the right choice, not the easy choice! I need you to. Don’t you know that you are part of my educational plan. God is using you to teach me His will and His way. As much as I don’t like the idea of having to learn at your feet instead of the feet of the Master, sometimes that’s the way it is. Don’t avoid the inevitable conflict because my ego gets in the way and I get mad because my will is thwarted. In many ways, you may feel that you’re dealing with a fourteen-year-old, and you’re just tired of it. I know it’s a thankless job, at least right now. Please persevere. I know it’s important to pick your battles, because you just can’t fight them all. Just hang in there and consider your choices. Fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12). Don’t give in because you’re tired and it’s easier (2 Thessalonians 3:13). Please make the right choice. You and I will both ultimately be the better for it. And God will give you the strength to keep doing what needs to be done (Phil 4:13).
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession.
Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
A Great Dad by Cynthia Saladin
I’ve spent quite a bit of time this summer thinking about the many ways God has blessed me. I have a great husband and fantastic kids. I have the best job in the world - teaching my children. And I have incredibly wonderful parents!
Some of you are blessed to have a fantastic dad, like I do. Dad stepped into our lives at the most difficult of ages - teen-agers times three! Bob, Tricia, and I didn’t appreciate some of the things he injected into our lives, like the vegetarian pizza he brought for us to eat during the Feast 1979, but we loved the laughter that he added to our family: Throwing me into the icy waters of Lake Tahoe after I’d pestered him into it . . . tossing a snowball into the air as we walked up to Red Rock Amphitheater, and then nailing Bob with another when Bob was preoccupied with the first . . . and countless jokes, puns, debates, and physics discussions at various times and especially at the supper table or when we were helping Mom process vegetables from our garden. Dad made time for all sorts of things because he loved the three of us kids: building a room for me in our basement, remodeling Tricia’s room, teaching us how to drive a stick, volunteering to do teen sabbath classes and teen events at the Feast for several years in a row, driving carload upon carload of young teens to various events, hosting barn dances, mystery suppers, and cookouts, attending choir concerts and musicals (like “Fiddler on the Roof”) in which Tricia and I participated. And later, Dad baptized Tricia, Dave, and I. He also performed the marriage ceremonies for Bob and Judy, and Ron and I. He has anointed us at various times and led family prayers for the well-being of Jonathan, Benjamin, Christopher, Kathryn, and Jennifer before each was born.
Two scriptures come to mind right now: Matthew 7:11 says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” Having a dad like mine helps me to appreciate my Heavenly Father. I thank God for bringing Dad into our lives. The other scripture is James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights . . .” Oh Dad isn’t perfect, but he’s improving with age!
Final Thought:
Why Some Countries CAN'T Go Metric! (crosswalk. com)
If the metric system did ever take over, we'd have to change our thinking to the following:
* A miss is as good as 1.6 kilometers.
* Put your best 0.3 of a meter forward.
* Spare the 5.03 meters and spoil the child.
* Twenty-eight grams of prevention is worth 453 grams of cure.
* Give a man 2.5 centimeters and he'll take 1.609 kilometers.
* Peter Piper picked 8.8 liters of pickled peppers.
September-October 2014
Perfect Endurance
Does God ever get up on the wrong side of the bed? No, I don’t think so. I know that there are accounts in the scripture that tell of God being angry, frustrated, discouraged with the behavior of His children – and then he receives a prayer from one of His faithful ones and His mood changes. God is real and compassionate. I have, at times, felt anger, frustration and discouragement because of the actions and words of a loved one. If that person, or another in the circle of loved ones, makes an intercession, a petition of repentance, gives a humble explanation, asks for forgiveness, then my heart is quickly softened and my harsh feelings are dissolved. I was created in His image – right?
But I also sometimes feel anger, frustration and discouragement seemingly just because I woke up. My guess is that these feelings are unique to us “sons-of-men.” My guess is that God doesn’t suffer from this phenomenon. Why does it happen to us? Oh, that likely has more than one answer. But I present the question to you as food for thought, a topic to meditate on for your own edification. I have given it a little thought lately and maybe those feelings are a consequence of our actions – no, not the action of waking up on the wrong side of the bed, but maybe going to bed too late, or eating the wrong foods, or procrastinating on a job and running out of time, or not managing stress properly, not exercising enough... Surely that list could go on and on. But there are also things in life that happen beyond our control that cause stress.
Those stressful things that happen every day can and do cause anger, frustration and discouragement. Those things are likened to the refiner’s fire. Isn’t that why we are here – to be refined, purified, perfected? Read Malachi 3.
I guess we have two basic choices of action when we’re suffering from those stressful burdens. They have many renditions:
Life or death
Light or dark
Good or evil
Yin or yang (!)
Patience or intolerance
Here’s a list some of you might recognize:
True – False
Honorable – Shameful
Right – Wrong
Pure – Corrupt
Lovely – Spiteful
Reputable – Notorious
Excellent – Terrible
Praiseworthy – Blameworthy
Romans 12 – Be transformed by renewing your mind. I pray regularly that I would have the mind of Christ. Acquiring that is a process that we need to work for – that gift is available to us, but accepting the gift requires action on our part.
2Ti 2:12 - If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
Even better is James 1:
Rejoice in your trials (anger, frustration and discouragement)
Testing produces endurance…
…and leads to perfection
Ask God for help and He will give it.
Be quick to hear, slow to anger.
Bridle your tongue.
~article by Nate Rollins
The summer band class was just getting under way when a large insect flew into the room.
The sixth-graders, eager to play their shiny new instruments, tried to ignore the buzzing intruder, but eventually one student, Tommy, could stand it no more.
He rolled up his music book and swatted the insect, then he stomped on it to ensure its fate.
"Is it a bee?" another student asked.
"Nope," Tommy replied. "Bee flat.”
The Weeds of Life
by Patricia Manning
I’m continually fascinated by the use of metaphors in the bible, metaphors where God uses something known in our physical existence here on this earth to teach us something about our spiritual walk with Him. One example is The Parable of The Sower found in Matthew chapter thirteen. In this case Jesus uses examples from planting seeds in a field or garden to illustrate what can result from hearing the Word of God.
“And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow and as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 13:3-9
Notice there are four different scenarios surrounding the fate of a seed communicated to us through this metaphor. The one good result happened when seeds fell on good soil. On the other hand, three possible results for the seeds were bad. In Jesus’ parable a seed could fall on the road to be eaten by birds, on rocky ground, or among thorns. Most of us around the latitude of 42oNorth are past the planting stage of the first two cases and well into the weeds/thorns or good soil stage, so today I’d like to make some observations about plants springing up among the weeds.
Jesus describes the spiritual meaning of the parable in this way: “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” Mat 13:22. Did you notice that these two, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches cover opposite ends of a spectrum? They are both distractions but the first causes us to be distracted from fruitfulness because we feel too weak, while the second causes us to be distracted from productivity because we have the illusion of strength.
It is important to always be mindful of how strong God is and at the same time how weak we are. It’s not that God makes us strong when he blesses us. Rather it is that he uses his strength on our behalf when we need him, because we are his covenant people. “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. …" 2 Ch 16:9
But why did Jesus choose thorns and weeds for this metaphor? What is he trying to show us from our experience in the physical world? Well, I’ve noticed some things about thorns. My first observation is that they have to continually be removed, year after year, week after week. They also pop up everywhere both in the gardens and yards we continually tend and in the ditches left unattended. It is a never-ending task.
Perhaps in this living metaphor, God is telling us to be constantly vigilant. “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” 1Co 10:12
My second observation is that thorns (in the form of wild raspberries around here) hurt to remove. It takes some protective gear, at a minimum leather gloves, long sleeves and long pants if you don’t want to get scratched and poked. Our spiritual protective gear may well be our constant praise of God in prayer with thanksgiving. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Php 4:6
It’s something to meditate on while working in the garden. Happy weeding!
Baptism for the Dead
by Bill Rollins
There are several chapters in God’s word that are sometimes titled according to the prominent teaching in the chapter. For instance, Hebrews 11 is often referred to as the “faith” chapter and 1 Corinthians 13 has become the “love” chapter, etc. I’m sure you could list several others.
Another chapter in 1 Corinthians that has merited a title is the 15th, the “resurrection” chapter, and it is not hard to see why. Paul begins writing about the “gospel he preached” (vs. 1), which includes the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah (vs. 3). The chapter comes to a conclusion mentioning the “last trumpet,” the raising to an imperishable state (vs. 52) and of course the fact that death will be swallowed up in victory (vs. 54).
This is all well and good, but what does it have to do with the “baptism for the dead”? I’m glad you asked; let me try to explain.
The topic for a good portion of the first half of the chapter deals with the question of whether or not Messiah has indeed been raised from the dead. Some in Corinth must have said that there was no resurrection, and Paul argues at length that “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Messiah has been raised” (vs. 13). For all of us reading this article, this is a moot point. But Paul is formulating his argument concerning the reality of the resurrection.
His argument goes like this: If there is no resurrection, then Messiah is dead, and if Messiah is dead, there is no reason to be baptized. We are being baptized for the dead.
We, today, know and understand that our salvation hinges on the fact that our Savior has been resurrected from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high! But Paul, in his reasoning, argues that if there is no resurrection, even his preaching is useless, and he should be considered a false witness.
Without belaboring the point (as Paul very adamantly does from verse 3 through verse 21), let us realize that the subject of Messiah’s resurrection from the dead is not changed, even up to verse 34. He even says that denying the resurrection is a sin!
The subject of this article, per the title, has to do with the “baptism for the dead,” which comes very near the end of Paul’s stringent reasoning. And so let us take a look at this statement which comes in verse 20: “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead?” This could be looked at in two differing ways, both of which spring from the same line of reasoning. That same line of reasoning consists of the question of why someone would be immersed if Jesus the Messiah were not raised and was still dead. The two differing ways to look at this would result in seeing how Paul was using the term “baptized.” In other words, what type of baptism was Paul talking about?
Generally speaking, we might consider the use of this word to have something to do with the immersion in water of a new, repentant believer. And of course, this application would fit the question of “why would someone want to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins and to be identified with the Messiah, if there were no hope of the resurrection and if the Messiah was dead?” Paul states at the end of verse 32, “ . . . if the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.’ ” In other words, this would be a useless ritual, a “baptism for the dead.”
But there is another way of considering the use of the word “baptized” in the context Paul puts forth. At the end of verse 29, Paul asks the question, “If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” We understand that this Greek word baptizo (Strongs #907) literally means “to immerse,” but the root bapto means “to overwhelm” and so thereby to cover entirely with a liquid. Paul’s next statement in verse 30 is the question, “And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour” (why be overwhelmed/baptized in danger)? He then asks why he would have fought wild beasts in Ephesus for no reason. In other words, why is he immersed (baptized) in trials (of fire) every day?
There are five forms of baptism mentioned in the apostolic writings (the New Testament). Without going into a lot of detail, they are:
1) the Baptism of purification (i.e. the mikvah). See John 2:6; 11:55
2) the Baptism of repentance (i.e. John’s baptism). See Mt. 3:1-6, Mk 1:4
3) the Baptism of identification (i.e. in the Messiah). See Acts 2:38, Rom. 6:3-8
4) the Baptism of the Spirit. See John 1:33, Mark 1:8, Acts 1:5 NOTE: In Acts 19:3-6, we see 3 of these baptisms mentioned: #’s 2, 3, and 4.
5) the Baptism of fire (i.e. suffering). See Mk 10:38, Mt 3:11
Paul literally immersed himself in danger because he knew the reality of the Messiah’s life in him. He met the Messiah, personally, on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9). He was shown how much he would suffer for Jesus’ name (vs. 16), and he was immersed into identification with the Messiah by Ananias (vs. 18).
This “baptism for the dead” has nothing to do with immersing oneself in water for some long dead relative as the Mormons do. But I do believe that as one considers the context of this resurrection chapter, it teaches us that there is a true baptism by fire that we will all encounter. And so we ask ourselves, why are we baptized by fire for someone who has been lying in the grave for the last 2000 years?
In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 1:3, he writes: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. for just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
In 1 Peter 4:12, we read, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ. And it is in Acts 14:22 that Paul preached, . . . it is through many hardships that we are to enter the kingdom of God.
Paul said, in this context of 1 Corinthians 15:31, “he died daily.” And it is a joy to know that in our daily walk as we encounter fiery trials, we are not undergoing a baptism of fire for the dead, for our Savior lives and reigns and is crowned with glory and honor. He has been given all power to authority, and one day in the future, He will return to set up the kingdom of His Father and our Father. It will be a kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor. 15:26).
As I see it, this comment by Paul has a simple explanation based upon the context of Paul’s refutation of a misguided statement by some brethren in Corinth.
Rest Stops and Holy Days
by Cynthia Saladin
“There’s a rest stop in about a mile. Does anyone need to stop?” What welcome words these are when you’re traveling! You’ve been on the road for a while, and you know you have a long way to go yet. You don’t want to make an overly long stop because you’ll never get home if you don’t keep going. Still, if you don’t relieve some pressure, both on your bladder and your cramped body, it’s going to be miserable to continue. Yes, a rest stop is a wonderful thing.
We have an annual rest stop rapidly coming up, “in about a mile.” This rest stop is called the fall feasts. We’ve been traveling at a good rate of speed, putting a lot of miles under our belt. We could likewise say: It’s been a good summer and we’ve gotten a lot of important things accomplished. But now it’s time to stretch our cramped bodies a little, refresh ourselves so we can continue the journey. In terms of our lives and our journey through life: It’s important that we take a few days to put our lives into perspective. We need to stop and consider where we are and where we’re going in our relationship with God.
The feast is a good place to stop for a few days. But we don’t want to permanently move to the Feast site any more than we want to take a lengthy break on our road trip. We don’t belong at the rest area any more than we belong, permanently, at the Feast site. But we need to take a break from our daily routine to praise God for how far He’s brought us, the protection He’s granted, and the blessings He’s bestowed. We need, in a word, to worship Him - because that’s key to keeping us on the right path in this life. He’s the focus, not us. Sometimes that mental and physical break of worship God at the Feast, as He commanded us to, moves us out of the mental and physical ruts we’ve allowed ourselves to grind into during the year. In our traveling analogy, the Feast break is the time we desperately need to stretch our cramped bodies.
The stretching of our cramped bodies, the rest stop, the worshiping of God at the Feast, refreshes us like no vacation ever could. Vacations are usually all about us; the Feast is all about Him. We are easily deceived into thinking we’re the most important thing in our lives - when really, God is the most important thing in our lives. So the Feast allows us to take some time to search our motives and our hearts to see if there is any wicked way in us and to ask God to lead us in the way everlasting.
When it’s time to get back on the road again, we travelers have been refreshed enough to continue the journey. We’re sharp and alert, watching for danger and enjoying the scenery.
Yes, a rest stop can be a very important and necessary part of the trip. I hope you have plans to stop at the rest stop just ahead.
"How do you know if you are a servant?
By how you react when someone treats you as one.”
- Dawson Trotman
Perfect Endurance
Does God ever get up on the wrong side of the bed? No, I don’t think so. I know that there are accounts in the scripture that tell of God being angry, frustrated, discouraged with the behavior of His children – and then he receives a prayer from one of His faithful ones and His mood changes. God is real and compassionate. I have, at times, felt anger, frustration and discouragement because of the actions and words of a loved one. If that person, or another in the circle of loved ones, makes an intercession, a petition of repentance, gives a humble explanation, asks for forgiveness, then my heart is quickly softened and my harsh feelings are dissolved. I was created in His image – right?
But I also sometimes feel anger, frustration and discouragement seemingly just because I woke up. My guess is that these feelings are unique to us “sons-of-men.” My guess is that God doesn’t suffer from this phenomenon. Why does it happen to us? Oh, that likely has more than one answer. But I present the question to you as food for thought, a topic to meditate on for your own edification. I have given it a little thought lately and maybe those feelings are a consequence of our actions – no, not the action of waking up on the wrong side of the bed, but maybe going to bed too late, or eating the wrong foods, or procrastinating on a job and running out of time, or not managing stress properly, not exercising enough... Surely that list could go on and on. But there are also things in life that happen beyond our control that cause stress.
Those stressful things that happen every day can and do cause anger, frustration and discouragement. Those things are likened to the refiner’s fire. Isn’t that why we are here – to be refined, purified, perfected? Read Malachi 3.
I guess we have two basic choices of action when we’re suffering from those stressful burdens. They have many renditions:
Life or death
Light or dark
Good or evil
Yin or yang (!)
Patience or intolerance
Here’s a list some of you might recognize:
True – False
Honorable – Shameful
Right – Wrong
Pure – Corrupt
Lovely – Spiteful
Reputable – Notorious
Excellent – Terrible
Praiseworthy – Blameworthy
Romans 12 – Be transformed by renewing your mind. I pray regularly that I would have the mind of Christ. Acquiring that is a process that we need to work for – that gift is available to us, but accepting the gift requires action on our part.
2Ti 2:12 - If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us.
Even better is James 1:
Rejoice in your trials (anger, frustration and discouragement)
Testing produces endurance…
…and leads to perfection
Ask God for help and He will give it.
Be quick to hear, slow to anger.
Bridle your tongue.
~article by Nate Rollins
The summer band class was just getting under way when a large insect flew into the room.
The sixth-graders, eager to play their shiny new instruments, tried to ignore the buzzing intruder, but eventually one student, Tommy, could stand it no more.
He rolled up his music book and swatted the insect, then he stomped on it to ensure its fate.
"Is it a bee?" another student asked.
"Nope," Tommy replied. "Bee flat.”
The Weeds of Life
by Patricia Manning
I’m continually fascinated by the use of metaphors in the bible, metaphors where God uses something known in our physical existence here on this earth to teach us something about our spiritual walk with Him. One example is The Parable of The Sower found in Matthew chapter thirteen. In this case Jesus uses examples from planting seeds in a field or garden to illustrate what can result from hearing the Word of God.
“And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow and as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 13:3-9
Notice there are four different scenarios surrounding the fate of a seed communicated to us through this metaphor. The one good result happened when seeds fell on good soil. On the other hand, three possible results for the seeds were bad. In Jesus’ parable a seed could fall on the road to be eaten by birds, on rocky ground, or among thorns. Most of us around the latitude of 42oNorth are past the planting stage of the first two cases and well into the weeds/thorns or good soil stage, so today I’d like to make some observations about plants springing up among the weeds.
Jesus describes the spiritual meaning of the parable in this way: “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.” Mat 13:22. Did you notice that these two, the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches cover opposite ends of a spectrum? They are both distractions but the first causes us to be distracted from fruitfulness because we feel too weak, while the second causes us to be distracted from productivity because we have the illusion of strength.
It is important to always be mindful of how strong God is and at the same time how weak we are. It’s not that God makes us strong when he blesses us. Rather it is that he uses his strength on our behalf when we need him, because we are his covenant people. “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. …" 2 Ch 16:9
But why did Jesus choose thorns and weeds for this metaphor? What is he trying to show us from our experience in the physical world? Well, I’ve noticed some things about thorns. My first observation is that they have to continually be removed, year after year, week after week. They also pop up everywhere both in the gardens and yards we continually tend and in the ditches left unattended. It is a never-ending task.
Perhaps in this living metaphor, God is telling us to be constantly vigilant. “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” 1Co 10:12
My second observation is that thorns (in the form of wild raspberries around here) hurt to remove. It takes some protective gear, at a minimum leather gloves, long sleeves and long pants if you don’t want to get scratched and poked. Our spiritual protective gear may well be our constant praise of God in prayer with thanksgiving. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Php 4:6
It’s something to meditate on while working in the garden. Happy weeding!
Baptism for the Dead
by Bill Rollins
There are several chapters in God’s word that are sometimes titled according to the prominent teaching in the chapter. For instance, Hebrews 11 is often referred to as the “faith” chapter and 1 Corinthians 13 has become the “love” chapter, etc. I’m sure you could list several others.
Another chapter in 1 Corinthians that has merited a title is the 15th, the “resurrection” chapter, and it is not hard to see why. Paul begins writing about the “gospel he preached” (vs. 1), which includes the death, burial and resurrection of the Messiah (vs. 3). The chapter comes to a conclusion mentioning the “last trumpet,” the raising to an imperishable state (vs. 52) and of course the fact that death will be swallowed up in victory (vs. 54).
This is all well and good, but what does it have to do with the “baptism for the dead”? I’m glad you asked; let me try to explain.
The topic for a good portion of the first half of the chapter deals with the question of whether or not Messiah has indeed been raised from the dead. Some in Corinth must have said that there was no resurrection, and Paul argues at length that “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Messiah has been raised” (vs. 13). For all of us reading this article, this is a moot point. But Paul is formulating his argument concerning the reality of the resurrection.
His argument goes like this: If there is no resurrection, then Messiah is dead, and if Messiah is dead, there is no reason to be baptized. We are being baptized for the dead.
We, today, know and understand that our salvation hinges on the fact that our Savior has been resurrected from the dead and sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high! But Paul, in his reasoning, argues that if there is no resurrection, even his preaching is useless, and he should be considered a false witness.
Without belaboring the point (as Paul very adamantly does from verse 3 through verse 21), let us realize that the subject of Messiah’s resurrection from the dead is not changed, even up to verse 34. He even says that denying the resurrection is a sin!
The subject of this article, per the title, has to do with the “baptism for the dead,” which comes very near the end of Paul’s stringent reasoning. And so let us take a look at this statement which comes in verse 20: “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead?” This could be looked at in two differing ways, both of which spring from the same line of reasoning. That same line of reasoning consists of the question of why someone would be immersed if Jesus the Messiah were not raised and was still dead. The two differing ways to look at this would result in seeing how Paul was using the term “baptized.” In other words, what type of baptism was Paul talking about?
Generally speaking, we might consider the use of this word to have something to do with the immersion in water of a new, repentant believer. And of course, this application would fit the question of “why would someone want to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins and to be identified with the Messiah, if there were no hope of the resurrection and if the Messiah was dead?” Paul states at the end of verse 32, “ . . . if the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.’ ” In other words, this would be a useless ritual, a “baptism for the dead.”
But there is another way of considering the use of the word “baptized” in the context Paul puts forth. At the end of verse 29, Paul asks the question, “If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” We understand that this Greek word baptizo (Strongs #907) literally means “to immerse,” but the root bapto means “to overwhelm” and so thereby to cover entirely with a liquid. Paul’s next statement in verse 30 is the question, “And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour” (why be overwhelmed/baptized in danger)? He then asks why he would have fought wild beasts in Ephesus for no reason. In other words, why is he immersed (baptized) in trials (of fire) every day?
There are five forms of baptism mentioned in the apostolic writings (the New Testament). Without going into a lot of detail, they are:
1) the Baptism of purification (i.e. the mikvah). See John 2:6; 11:55
2) the Baptism of repentance (i.e. John’s baptism). See Mt. 3:1-6, Mk 1:4
3) the Baptism of identification (i.e. in the Messiah). See Acts 2:38, Rom. 6:3-8
4) the Baptism of the Spirit. See John 1:33, Mark 1:8, Acts 1:5 NOTE: In Acts 19:3-6, we see 3 of these baptisms mentioned: #’s 2, 3, and 4.
5) the Baptism of fire (i.e. suffering). See Mk 10:38, Mt 3:11
Paul literally immersed himself in danger because he knew the reality of the Messiah’s life in him. He met the Messiah, personally, on the road to Damascus (see Acts 9). He was shown how much he would suffer for Jesus’ name (vs. 16), and he was immersed into identification with the Messiah by Ananias (vs. 18).
This “baptism for the dead” has nothing to do with immersing oneself in water for some long dead relative as the Mormons do. But I do believe that as one considers the context of this resurrection chapter, it teaches us that there is a true baptism by fire that we will all encounter. And so we ask ourselves, why are we baptized by fire for someone who has been lying in the grave for the last 2000 years?
In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 1:3, he writes: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. for just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
In 1 Peter 4:12, we read, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ. And it is in Acts 14:22 that Paul preached, . . . it is through many hardships that we are to enter the kingdom of God.
Paul said, in this context of 1 Corinthians 15:31, “he died daily.” And it is a joy to know that in our daily walk as we encounter fiery trials, we are not undergoing a baptism of fire for the dead, for our Savior lives and reigns and is crowned with glory and honor. He has been given all power to authority, and one day in the future, He will return to set up the kingdom of His Father and our Father. It will be a kingdom of righteousness, joy, and peace. Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Cor. 15:26).
As I see it, this comment by Paul has a simple explanation based upon the context of Paul’s refutation of a misguided statement by some brethren in Corinth.
Rest Stops and Holy Days
by Cynthia Saladin
“There’s a rest stop in about a mile. Does anyone need to stop?” What welcome words these are when you’re traveling! You’ve been on the road for a while, and you know you have a long way to go yet. You don’t want to make an overly long stop because you’ll never get home if you don’t keep going. Still, if you don’t relieve some pressure, both on your bladder and your cramped body, it’s going to be miserable to continue. Yes, a rest stop is a wonderful thing.
We have an annual rest stop rapidly coming up, “in about a mile.” This rest stop is called the fall feasts. We’ve been traveling at a good rate of speed, putting a lot of miles under our belt. We could likewise say: It’s been a good summer and we’ve gotten a lot of important things accomplished. But now it’s time to stretch our cramped bodies a little, refresh ourselves so we can continue the journey. In terms of our lives and our journey through life: It’s important that we take a few days to put our lives into perspective. We need to stop and consider where we are and where we’re going in our relationship with God.
The feast is a good place to stop for a few days. But we don’t want to permanently move to the Feast site any more than we want to take a lengthy break on our road trip. We don’t belong at the rest area any more than we belong, permanently, at the Feast site. But we need to take a break from our daily routine to praise God for how far He’s brought us, the protection He’s granted, and the blessings He’s bestowed. We need, in a word, to worship Him - because that’s key to keeping us on the right path in this life. He’s the focus, not us. Sometimes that mental and physical break of worship God at the Feast, as He commanded us to, moves us out of the mental and physical ruts we’ve allowed ourselves to grind into during the year. In our traveling analogy, the Feast break is the time we desperately need to stretch our cramped bodies.
The stretching of our cramped bodies, the rest stop, the worshiping of God at the Feast, refreshes us like no vacation ever could. Vacations are usually all about us; the Feast is all about Him. We are easily deceived into thinking we’re the most important thing in our lives - when really, God is the most important thing in our lives. So the Feast allows us to take some time to search our motives and our hearts to see if there is any wicked way in us and to ask God to lead us in the way everlasting.
When it’s time to get back on the road again, we travelers have been refreshed enough to continue the journey. We’re sharp and alert, watching for danger and enjoying the scenery.
Yes, a rest stop can be a very important and necessary part of the trip. I hope you have plans to stop at the rest stop just ahead.
"How do you know if you are a servant?
By how you react when someone treats you as one.”
- Dawson Trotman
November 2014
A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition
to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.
~ George Washington
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
~Isaiah 35:1-2a
The Wilderness and the Dry Land
by Cynthia Saladin
After the Feast of Tabernacles was over, we took a small detour (only an extra 1000 miles) through Wyoming. It had been twenty years since I’d been in Wyoming and I eagerly looked forward to seeing places I hadn’t seen for so long. The kids, however, were not impressed with Wyoming, for the most part. They decried the lack of trees and the scarcity of water. Even the abundant numbers of antelope and prairie dogs soon grew commonplace and failed to provide a redeeming quality to the otherwise barren landscape, in their opinion. But I loved it; I could see for miles. It was invigorating and exciting. I found myself looking for the creeks, wondering if each one we passed would have any water this late in the year, just as I had as a kid. And I could help thinking of Isaiah 35:1.
In some places in Wyoming, the ranchers have tapped into the water supply and there are huge irrigation systems to grow crops of hay, possibly alfalfa. It was amazing to see hills covered with gray sagebrush and then a valley here and there of lush green where the water had transformed it.
It was an appropriate reminder of what we’d just experienced the previous week - the Feast of Tabernacles and especially the water ceremony of John 7. You see, unless we remain in the vine (John 15), we can do nothing. We are like that dry land which is not very productive. But the water in Wyoming makes an enormous difference, as does the Living Water within each of us. John 7:39 says the Living Water is the Holy Spirit. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are not the new creature in Christ; we’re still completely carnal. But once we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit (a result of repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands - Acts 2:38), the Holy Spirit does more than just change who we are. It changes the world around us. The more we follow Jesus, the more we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-15).
Whether you want to employ the symbolism of the light or the water, the effect on the world around us can be profound. As a light in this world, we have the ability (according to God’s will) to teach people God’s ways (Psalm 119:105; Psalm 96:2-3), to make the path plain before their feet. Similarly, the symbolism of the Living Water flowing from those who believe in Jesus Christ infers life - just as the water causes the arid land to bloom.
But what does all of this have to do with the Feast of Tabernacles? The Feast is that eight-day festival (seven days with the Last Great Day at the end) of tabernacling with Jesus Christ. As we spend eight days worshipping Him, coming before Him with praise and thanksgiving, we drink very deeply of the Living Water. We are renewed in our spirits, revived and refreshed, ready to return to our tasks until He returns.
But all of this involves a choice. When we are celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, it can be all about Him. Or it can be just a nice vacation and we just happen to spend a couple of hours each day listening to a sermon. It can be a time when we lay out our lives before us and consider the choices we’ve made and the direction we’re going. Or it can be a time when we go and do as much as possible so that the feast is “fun.” And when we get home, we can share what we’ve learned, we can tell people we were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles unto the Lord, or we can tell them we had a nice vacation in Colorado. We can respond to God’s invitation to draw near to Him. We can respond to God’s call to be a light in the world. Or not. But when I look at the miles of sagebrush in a dry land, and when I look at the people around me who need to have a relationship with the Savior, I know I need the Living Water to be flowing out of me - both for my benefit and for theirs.
There’s not much rejoicing and singing going on in our world today. But someday, someday “the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.”
*****************
While we were in Colorado Springs, we had the pleasure of spending the Feast of Tabernacles with Charlotte McKenzie, the talented pianist for the Church of God Colorado Springs. Charlotte uses her talent more than just for the local church. She likes to visit nursing homes and senior centers to brighten their days with the gospel through music. She also looks for opportunities to hand out her own gospel tract. She is doing her best to water the land around her. Here’s the tract she hands out:
With true respect for any religious belief that you may have other than Christianity, it is truly, all-important that you - and that all of us - consider our relationship with Jesus Christ. I’ll explain. You see, a perfect Holy God cannot tolerate sin. And, none of us is perfect. Since God cannot tolerate sin, it must be forgiven and then wiped away before any of us will be fit to stand before God and enter His perfect Holy Kingdom after we die.
None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. If you have not already done so, my prayer is that you’ll seriously consider this message and then take Jesus into your heart.
Dear Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. I take you into my heart to forgive me, cleanse me, and lead me in your Truth. However, I cannot live the Christian life and become victorious over sin and death in my own strength. I need your strength and the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit. I want you to be Lord of my life as I turn each and every area of my life over to your control. Please help me to continue to ask your direction and to be inspired to seek Your face by reading and meditating on Your Word. A-men.
Reflections on the Bible
A Bible in hand is worth two on the shelf.
The value of the Bible is not knowing it, but obeying it.
The Bible should more than inform us - it should transform us.
A home without a Bible is like a ship without a compass.
~Charlotte McKenzie’s outreach gospel tract
A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition
to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.
~ George Washington
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
~Isaiah 35:1-2a
The Wilderness and the Dry Land
by Cynthia Saladin
After the Feast of Tabernacles was over, we took a small detour (only an extra 1000 miles) through Wyoming. It had been twenty years since I’d been in Wyoming and I eagerly looked forward to seeing places I hadn’t seen for so long. The kids, however, were not impressed with Wyoming, for the most part. They decried the lack of trees and the scarcity of water. Even the abundant numbers of antelope and prairie dogs soon grew commonplace and failed to provide a redeeming quality to the otherwise barren landscape, in their opinion. But I loved it; I could see for miles. It was invigorating and exciting. I found myself looking for the creeks, wondering if each one we passed would have any water this late in the year, just as I had as a kid. And I could help thinking of Isaiah 35:1.
In some places in Wyoming, the ranchers have tapped into the water supply and there are huge irrigation systems to grow crops of hay, possibly alfalfa. It was amazing to see hills covered with gray sagebrush and then a valley here and there of lush green where the water had transformed it.
It was an appropriate reminder of what we’d just experienced the previous week - the Feast of Tabernacles and especially the water ceremony of John 7. You see, unless we remain in the vine (John 15), we can do nothing. We are like that dry land which is not very productive. But the water in Wyoming makes an enormous difference, as does the Living Water within each of us. John 7:39 says the Living Water is the Holy Spirit. Without the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are not the new creature in Christ; we’re still completely carnal. But once we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit (a result of repentance, baptism, and the laying on of hands - Acts 2:38), the Holy Spirit does more than just change who we are. It changes the world around us. The more we follow Jesus, the more we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-15).
Whether you want to employ the symbolism of the light or the water, the effect on the world around us can be profound. As a light in this world, we have the ability (according to God’s will) to teach people God’s ways (Psalm 119:105; Psalm 96:2-3), to make the path plain before their feet. Similarly, the symbolism of the Living Water flowing from those who believe in Jesus Christ infers life - just as the water causes the arid land to bloom.
But what does all of this have to do with the Feast of Tabernacles? The Feast is that eight-day festival (seven days with the Last Great Day at the end) of tabernacling with Jesus Christ. As we spend eight days worshipping Him, coming before Him with praise and thanksgiving, we drink very deeply of the Living Water. We are renewed in our spirits, revived and refreshed, ready to return to our tasks until He returns.
But all of this involves a choice. When we are celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles, it can be all about Him. Or it can be just a nice vacation and we just happen to spend a couple of hours each day listening to a sermon. It can be a time when we lay out our lives before us and consider the choices we’ve made and the direction we’re going. Or it can be a time when we go and do as much as possible so that the feast is “fun.” And when we get home, we can share what we’ve learned, we can tell people we were celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles unto the Lord, or we can tell them we had a nice vacation in Colorado. We can respond to God’s invitation to draw near to Him. We can respond to God’s call to be a light in the world. Or not. But when I look at the miles of sagebrush in a dry land, and when I look at the people around me who need to have a relationship with the Savior, I know I need the Living Water to be flowing out of me - both for my benefit and for theirs.
There’s not much rejoicing and singing going on in our world today. But someday, someday “the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.”
*****************
While we were in Colorado Springs, we had the pleasure of spending the Feast of Tabernacles with Charlotte McKenzie, the talented pianist for the Church of God Colorado Springs. Charlotte uses her talent more than just for the local church. She likes to visit nursing homes and senior centers to brighten their days with the gospel through music. She also looks for opportunities to hand out her own gospel tract. She is doing her best to water the land around her. Here’s the tract she hands out:
With true respect for any religious belief that you may have other than Christianity, it is truly, all-important that you - and that all of us - consider our relationship with Jesus Christ. I’ll explain. You see, a perfect Holy God cannot tolerate sin. And, none of us is perfect. Since God cannot tolerate sin, it must be forgiven and then wiped away before any of us will be fit to stand before God and enter His perfect Holy Kingdom after we die.
- Each of us is a sinner. Therefore, each of us needs a Savior from sin. “For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8). We cannot save ourselves.
- Jesus Christ has already provided the way of salvation. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus took each of our places on the cross. He was crucified, bled, and died for all sin, once and for all. Then, He was resurrected and rose from the dead to become victorious over sin and death. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:23). Also, God wants us to have the best life we can have by living for things that are important to Him - things of the Spirit that have eternal value. Living for things of the flesh just give temporary pleasure and reward and ultimately will lead to great destruction.
- However, we must confess our sins, repent (or turn) from them, and forsake them. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). “But, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus cleanest us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). It isn’t enough to just think in our minds that we are sinners and that Jesus came to save us. We need to ask Jesus to come and dwell within our hearts. Each of us needs to be sincerely sorry for our sins along with a sincere desire to turn from them and to abolish them. we come to discover that living for Jesus is really the best quality of existence we can have. We need to turn in faith to Jesus. Then, as we ask the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts to lead and to guide us, we are born again of the Spirit. Only by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can God’s love and light shine from us because the Holy Spirit works through us. Also, by living in faith to Jesus, any good deeds done in His Name are acceptable to Him. He can only accept good deeds that are wrought or begun in Him. Since only Jesus provided the way for sins to be forgiven and wiped away, then, it follows that He alone can be the only way to God. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6).
- Our acceptance of refusal of God’s Son, Jesus, will determine our eternal destiny. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and He that believeth not on the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him: (John 3:36). You see, any person whose sin has not been wiped away by Jesus, will still be in his sin and unrighteousness, therefore declaring the person himself unacceptable to God.
None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. If you have not already done so, my prayer is that you’ll seriously consider this message and then take Jesus into your heart.
Dear Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. I take you into my heart to forgive me, cleanse me, and lead me in your Truth. However, I cannot live the Christian life and become victorious over sin and death in my own strength. I need your strength and the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit. I want you to be Lord of my life as I turn each and every area of my life over to your control. Please help me to continue to ask your direction and to be inspired to seek Your face by reading and meditating on Your Word. A-men.
Reflections on the Bible
A Bible in hand is worth two on the shelf.
The value of the Bible is not knowing it, but obeying it.
The Bible should more than inform us - it should transform us.
A home without a Bible is like a ship without a compass.
~Charlotte McKenzie’s outreach gospel tract
December 2014
The First Creation of God?
by David Manning
Knock, Knock….Who’s there? Two Jehovah Witnesses. Two Jehovah Witnesses who? This is no joke but a real life occurrence. Two Jehovah Witnesses were actually at our front door. We opened the door, said hello, and began to discuss a bible tract they offered. This simple beginning led to many more meetings discussing the bible and JW teachings. Among the doctrines discussed, one that I found particularly disturbing was that they teach a created Christ. Specifically, they believe that Jesus was the first creation of Jehovah and then Jesus, acting as Jehovah’s agent, created everything else. They maintain that Jesus is “a god” (e.g. a spirit creature) in that he pre-existed but not the Almighty God (e.g. Jehovah or YHVH), the only Eternal. They teach that this spirit creature was born a perfect, sinless human and became the ransom for all mankind.
A created Christ has many implications regarding our personal relationship with our Creator and our commanded worship of Him. It is important to know the bible’s teaching on this matter as it will impact your Christian worldview and ultimately your actions and attitudes toward both Jesus and the Father.
The book of Revelation provides a good defense against the created Christ doctrine. It is a fascinating but often mysterious read. The purpose of the Revelation to John is to reveal (the Greek apokalupsis means to uncover). We see the “uncovering” relates especially to the glory of the risen Christ with the testimony being recorded through several amazing visions. One of my favorites is Revelation chapters 4 and 5 which describe a heavenly scene at the throne of God. I’ve included the section in full for your careful consideration. For the purpose of this study, I focus on the statements in Rev 5:3 and 5:13 and the actions of the twenty-four elders.
Rev 4:2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" Rev 5:3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, [emphasis mine] and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" Rev 5:13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped. [emphasis mine]
In the vision, the statement in Rev 5:3 prefaces the entrance of the Lamb (Christ) on the throne. “And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth [emphasis mine] was able to open the scroll or to look into it”. This odd yet rich phrase is similarly repeated in verse 13. If one were to look for this phrase elsewhere in the bible it may surprise you that it is found in the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and is repeated in Deuteronomy 5.
Exo 20:1 “And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them [emphasis mine], for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
It is no coincidence that this unusual phrase ties the second of the Ten Commandments with this remarkable vision in Revelation. The second commandment states that you may not bow down or serve an image (e.g. idol or other god) made from anything “in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth”. In other words, you may not bow down and worship any created thing. Certainly, this is the common interpretation of the first two commands. YHVH is God and no part of creation whether beast, bird, fish or angel or elder in heaven is his equal. None of these things are to be set up as objects of worship. Rev 5:13 supports this interpretation by adding the word “creature”. Rev 5:13 (emphasis added) And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea….
As the vision unfolds, we find John weeping greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it (Rev 5:4). Yet it subsequently says that the Lamb was in fact able to take and open the scroll. Why was the Lamb able to do so? The next scene in the vision has the twenty-four elders falling down before this lamb. This is an extraordinary act.
How can a lamb (a creature) be worshipped by the twenty-four elders in the very face of the Father on His throne? Doesn’t the second commandment prohibit lamb worship? Yes it does and that is the point. This imagery is provocative and would not have been acceptable to John without the information presented in Revelation 5:3. It helped John (and now us) understand and accept what he was about to witness in this special “uncovering”. It is evident that this particular lamb (Jesus) is not part of “every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea”. Jesus is in a different category. He is not part of the “created things”.
Turtle Accident
Two snails were standing on the side of the road, a turtle stopped and said, "Do you guys want a ride on my back"?
One of the snails took him up on his offer and off he went.
As the turtle reached the intersection another turtle came along and crashed into him. The poor little snail was thrown and killed. A cop investigating the accident began questioning the dead snail's buddy. "What happened?" he asked.
The little snail replied, "I don't know it all happened so fast.”
Ten Thousand Reasons
by Cynthia Saladin
I may have mentioned that I like to sing. O.K. I love to sing. There is rarely a time when I don’t have a song running through my head. This morning, appropriately, as I walked through the house in the early morning hours, I caught sight of the pink sky as the sun was coming up. Immediately, I started singing, “The sun comes up; it’s a new day dawning. It’s time to sing His song again.”
I was struck by the timeliness of that thought. Here it is, the day before Thanksgiving. Keith has mentioned that it’s a day of thankfulness to God; it’s an attitude of thankfulness to our Creator. Bill mentioned last week that not being thankful is the first step towards darkness, away from the light. Even JOY FM this morning was talking about having a thankful heart all the time; Thanksgiving is just the one day that we stop to reflect on what should be a reality in our hearts all the time. So the sun has come up; it’s time to sing His song again. No matter what. No matter if I’m spending the day cleaning house for tomorrow’s guests. No matter if I’m hurting from a recent injury. No matter if I’m concerned about the future. It’s time to sing His song again.
But it goes further than that. “Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.” Sometimes it’s easy to wake up in a good mood, especially if you’re a morning person. But the events of the day can sometimes drag you down, depress your mood, ruin your day, cause you to forget to be thankful for what you have and who you are in Jesus Christ. Instead of the cheerfulness you felt when you first saw the sunrise, you end the day grumpy over what’s gone wrong, what’s about to go wrong, or what you don’t have. I really like the line in the song: “Let me be singing when the evening comes.”
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, O my soul. I will worship His holy name.
Bill commented last week on the appropriateness of being thankful that God is God. I agree! Thankfully, our God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exodus 24:6). But the reality is, if He were not good, we could do nothing about it anyway. So the top of our list of blessings is the privilege of serving an awesome God who is so good. “You’re rich in love, and You’re slow to anger. Your name is great, and Your heart is kind. For all your goodness, I will keep on singing; ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.” Not only is our God incredibly good, but the more we fellowship with Him, the deeper our intimacy with Him becomes, the more we are in awe of who He is, the more we find to adore about Him.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, O my soul. I will worship His holy name.
Karl Marx wrote that religion is the opiate of the people. Perhaps he was thinking of the verse in 1 Corinthians 15:19: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” While it is true that having a relationship with God does cause people to heal from injuries faster, to endure pain and suffering more contentedly, to face adversity with a positive attitude, it is the hope that the Christian has which transcends whatever happens in this life. We know, and we know that we know, that Jesus Christ is coming back. He has prepared a place for His people where there will be no more pain or mourning, crying or death (Revelation 21:3). We have that blessed assurance that we will belong to Him forever. “And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come. Still my soul will sing Your praise unending - ten thousand years and then forevermore.” For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed . . . But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:52, 57).
At the end of the day, and at the end of my life, I want to finish strong. I want to be praising my God for who He is - no matter what.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, O my soul. I will worship His holy name.
The First Creation of God?
by David Manning
Knock, Knock….Who’s there? Two Jehovah Witnesses. Two Jehovah Witnesses who? This is no joke but a real life occurrence. Two Jehovah Witnesses were actually at our front door. We opened the door, said hello, and began to discuss a bible tract they offered. This simple beginning led to many more meetings discussing the bible and JW teachings. Among the doctrines discussed, one that I found particularly disturbing was that they teach a created Christ. Specifically, they believe that Jesus was the first creation of Jehovah and then Jesus, acting as Jehovah’s agent, created everything else. They maintain that Jesus is “a god” (e.g. a spirit creature) in that he pre-existed but not the Almighty God (e.g. Jehovah or YHVH), the only Eternal. They teach that this spirit creature was born a perfect, sinless human and became the ransom for all mankind.
A created Christ has many implications regarding our personal relationship with our Creator and our commanded worship of Him. It is important to know the bible’s teaching on this matter as it will impact your Christian worldview and ultimately your actions and attitudes toward both Jesus and the Father.
The book of Revelation provides a good defense against the created Christ doctrine. It is a fascinating but often mysterious read. The purpose of the Revelation to John is to reveal (the Greek apokalupsis means to uncover). We see the “uncovering” relates especially to the glory of the risen Christ with the testimony being recorded through several amazing visions. One of my favorites is Revelation chapters 4 and 5 which describe a heavenly scene at the throne of God. I’ve included the section in full for your careful consideration. For the purpose of this study, I focus on the statements in Rev 5:3 and 5:13 and the actions of the twenty-four elders.
Rev 4:2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" Rev 5:3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, [emphasis mine] and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" Rev 5:13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped. [emphasis mine]
In the vision, the statement in Rev 5:3 prefaces the entrance of the Lamb (Christ) on the throne. “And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth [emphasis mine] was able to open the scroll or to look into it”. This odd yet rich phrase is similarly repeated in verse 13. If one were to look for this phrase elsewhere in the bible it may surprise you that it is found in the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and is repeated in Deuteronomy 5.
Exo 20:1 “And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. "You shall have no other gods before me. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them [emphasis mine], for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
It is no coincidence that this unusual phrase ties the second of the Ten Commandments with this remarkable vision in Revelation. The second commandment states that you may not bow down or serve an image (e.g. idol or other god) made from anything “in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth”. In other words, you may not bow down and worship any created thing. Certainly, this is the common interpretation of the first two commands. YHVH is God and no part of creation whether beast, bird, fish or angel or elder in heaven is his equal. None of these things are to be set up as objects of worship. Rev 5:13 supports this interpretation by adding the word “creature”. Rev 5:13 (emphasis added) And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea….
As the vision unfolds, we find John weeping greatly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it (Rev 5:4). Yet it subsequently says that the Lamb was in fact able to take and open the scroll. Why was the Lamb able to do so? The next scene in the vision has the twenty-four elders falling down before this lamb. This is an extraordinary act.
How can a lamb (a creature) be worshipped by the twenty-four elders in the very face of the Father on His throne? Doesn’t the second commandment prohibit lamb worship? Yes it does and that is the point. This imagery is provocative and would not have been acceptable to John without the information presented in Revelation 5:3. It helped John (and now us) understand and accept what he was about to witness in this special “uncovering”. It is evident that this particular lamb (Jesus) is not part of “every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea”. Jesus is in a different category. He is not part of the “created things”.
Turtle Accident
Two snails were standing on the side of the road, a turtle stopped and said, "Do you guys want a ride on my back"?
One of the snails took him up on his offer and off he went.
As the turtle reached the intersection another turtle came along and crashed into him. The poor little snail was thrown and killed. A cop investigating the accident began questioning the dead snail's buddy. "What happened?" he asked.
The little snail replied, "I don't know it all happened so fast.”
Ten Thousand Reasons
by Cynthia Saladin
I may have mentioned that I like to sing. O.K. I love to sing. There is rarely a time when I don’t have a song running through my head. This morning, appropriately, as I walked through the house in the early morning hours, I caught sight of the pink sky as the sun was coming up. Immediately, I started singing, “The sun comes up; it’s a new day dawning. It’s time to sing His song again.”
I was struck by the timeliness of that thought. Here it is, the day before Thanksgiving. Keith has mentioned that it’s a day of thankfulness to God; it’s an attitude of thankfulness to our Creator. Bill mentioned last week that not being thankful is the first step towards darkness, away from the light. Even JOY FM this morning was talking about having a thankful heart all the time; Thanksgiving is just the one day that we stop to reflect on what should be a reality in our hearts all the time. So the sun has come up; it’s time to sing His song again. No matter what. No matter if I’m spending the day cleaning house for tomorrow’s guests. No matter if I’m hurting from a recent injury. No matter if I’m concerned about the future. It’s time to sing His song again.
But it goes further than that. “Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.” Sometimes it’s easy to wake up in a good mood, especially if you’re a morning person. But the events of the day can sometimes drag you down, depress your mood, ruin your day, cause you to forget to be thankful for what you have and who you are in Jesus Christ. Instead of the cheerfulness you felt when you first saw the sunrise, you end the day grumpy over what’s gone wrong, what’s about to go wrong, or what you don’t have. I really like the line in the song: “Let me be singing when the evening comes.”
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, O my soul. I will worship His holy name.
Bill commented last week on the appropriateness of being thankful that God is God. I agree! Thankfully, our God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Exodus 24:6). But the reality is, if He were not good, we could do nothing about it anyway. So the top of our list of blessings is the privilege of serving an awesome God who is so good. “You’re rich in love, and You’re slow to anger. Your name is great, and Your heart is kind. For all your goodness, I will keep on singing; ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.” Not only is our God incredibly good, but the more we fellowship with Him, the deeper our intimacy with Him becomes, the more we are in awe of who He is, the more we find to adore about Him.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, O my soul. I will worship His holy name.
Karl Marx wrote that religion is the opiate of the people. Perhaps he was thinking of the verse in 1 Corinthians 15:19: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” While it is true that having a relationship with God does cause people to heal from injuries faster, to endure pain and suffering more contentedly, to face adversity with a positive attitude, it is the hope that the Christian has which transcends whatever happens in this life. We know, and we know that we know, that Jesus Christ is coming back. He has prepared a place for His people where there will be no more pain or mourning, crying or death (Revelation 21:3). We have that blessed assurance that we will belong to Him forever. “And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come. Still my soul will sing Your praise unending - ten thousand years and then forevermore.” For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed . . . But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:52, 57).
At the end of the day, and at the end of my life, I want to finish strong. I want to be praising my God for who He is - no matter what.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name.
Sing like never before, O my soul. I will worship His holy name.