Am I?
A busy day, Father, that was full of responsibilities. I am glad these days only come a couple of times a year. But with some venting on my part, I have completed my tasks. Thank you for enabling me to get it all together!
Luke 12:35-40 (<<click here to read the passage)
The way our house is situated, if I sit on the east side of our dining room table, I get a clear view of our driveway. So, when we are expecting company, be it family or people providing us with their services, I will sit here and be aware of their arrival.
I could sit in the living room where my line of vision is obscured by curtains or I could work in the office which is at the back of the house. But if I want to really be ready for my guests I have to be in the right spot at the right time.
One thing Jesus spoke of repeatedly was in regard to His return. I’m sure it was a little confusing for His followers. He talked of leaving often, and they didn’t really understand that either. But His desire was for them – and for us – to be ready when that day comes. We don’t know when He will come back but we know for sure that He will return. He speaks only truth; we can bank on that!
So, what do we need to do to be ready? Like when I sit at my dining room table, there are things that we can do to be alert and ready for when that time comes. Here’s a great list from the notes of my study Bible*,
People who are ready for their Lord’s return are
(1) not hypocritical but sincere (12:1)
(2) not fearful but ready to witness (12:4-9)
(3) not worried but trusting (12:25-26)
(4) not greedy but generous (12:34)
(5) not lazy but diligent (12:37)
Everything He has said has been leading up to this point. His speaking has been chock-full of hard-hitting, attention-grabbing illustrations. And now He wraps it all up by emphasizing that we need to apply all of these things in preparation for His arrival to come back for us!
So, Lord Jesus, I have to ask myself, “Am I sincere? Am I ready to witness? Do I trust You? Am I generous? Am I diligent?”
It’s easy to be flippant and spout off, “Yep, I’m ready!” But these are all serious actions on our part. The hard part is that we can’t pick and choose what we want to abide by and what we would rather not worry about. We can’t abide by His directives on occasion when we feel like it, and then do what we want all the rest of the time.
This last illustration involved a servant being ready for his master whenever he returned. He didn’t know when that was going to be, he just knew the master was going to be coming. Don’t you think it would be easy to fiddle around with other things or maybe take a nap at the very least? At my age staying up late is a challenge, even if something interesting is going on but just waiting on someone would be tough.
Lord Jesus, help me to focus. Help me not to be slack in my following You. May I be consistent throughout every day of my life, with every person I encounter, in every circumstance in which I find myself. May my life be more like Yours so that when You come, I’ll be ready to greet You joyfully! Amen.
*Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation
Aug 11th, 2020, Tues, 9:27 pm
What’s in Your Wallet?
A lot of hard labor today, Father, but You got me through it! Thank You for the strength and the drive to see it through. Amen!
Luke 12:33-34 (<<click here to read the passage)
If I asked you the infamous question, “What’s in your wallet?”, what would your answer be? First of all, many of our minds would first go to the credit card company that uses that line in their advertising. But when I asked the question of Google, I also got a link for List Challenges where you could take a quiz to see where you fall amongst other participants with what you carry in your wallet. (If you’d like to take the quiz, click on it.)
Of the 77 items on their list, I only carry 11 in my wallet. I ranked 8,186 out of 11,402 users on that particular list. The average items carried is 17. I’m not going to lose any sleep over my ranking!
I have a debit card, a couple of credit cards – one of which I use regularly, bonus cards, a library card, a little bit of cash, and a couple of other things. Some items I have never carried in my wallet are a teabag, matches, or earplugs – all on the list.
I benefit quite a bit from my study Bible. I’ve referred to it numerous times over the years – it’s a Life Application Study Bible and mine happens to be in the New Living Translation. It is available in several translations. But the Life Application part often gets my mind going.
For example, when I read through this passage the very last note posed a question, “Does God’s love touch your wallet?”
Hmmmm…well, it made me stop and think. I’m not sure that I am always successful. In some ways, I would say yes. We are faithful givers to our churches. We support parachurch ministries, one, in particular, is Wycliffe Associates who are striving to translate God’s word into every language in the world! When we go out to eat, I feel that it is important to give a worker his/her due, so I try to be a good tipper. If we have unwanted gently used goods, I try to make sure we donate them to institutions that help the less fortunate. Those are a few good and important things.
But I don’t always part with our money so freely. I struggle with panhandlers standing on the corners asking for handouts. I hang up on robocalls from organizations soliciting donations, even if they are calling from law enforcement or political affiliates I support or for cancer research. I keep the return address labels with my name on them from those who send them to me asking for money, but everything else goes in the trash.
Some of those reactions are wise but where I feel that I need to be careful is that I don’t allow my heart to be calloused to the point where it is dead to the need of others. Sometimes giving is risky.
My one church is on a main highway heading out of our area. We’ve had so many people stop and ask for assistance – it is usually for gas money – that we keep a couple of gas gift cards on hand to help when asked. They are not for huge amounts, but we pray that we impact them with our gift. Are they spent on gas? Or wasted on something else? Or traded for something else? We don’t really know but we do it because we know it is the right thing to do. God knows our intentions and He honors them.
Lord Jesus, may we all take the time to ponder the question “Does God’s love touch your wallet?” May we be generous to Your kingdom no matter what it looks like or who it is. Amen.
Aug 10th, 2020, Mon, 8:65 pm
Look at the Ravens
Father, an up and down kind of day but I would ask that You would enable me to move forward. I would humbly ask that Your word would pass from your heart to my mind to this keyboard before me that, despite this earthen vessel, people may clearly hear what You have to say. Amen.
Luke 12:22-34 (<<click here to read the passage)
It is not unusual for me to witness a murder behind my house. Oh, not that kind of murder but a murder of crows! Quite a few of them live in the wooded areas around our home. They are loud but serenely beautiful in their solid black plumage.
Ravens are in the same family as crows and are technically known as corvids. (A little side note: a group of ravens is called an “unkindness” or “conspiracy” – fitting since they are traditionally considered creepy. Not much better than a murder!)
In today’s passage from Luke’s Gospel, Jesus refers to ravens. He says in the first portion of verse 24,
Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. NLT
To my knowledge, I’ve never seen a raven in the wild (though they do live in the Appalachians, so I might have seen one and not realized it) but I see lots of crows. I’ve never seen a thin, malnourished crow. They all seem to be well-rounded, well-fed, and full of mischief. They don’t have a care in the world for their Creator cares for them.
It’s strange that though we know that God loves and cares for us, too, that we seem to be full of worry, care, and anxiety. We can stress over just about anything!
Interestingly enough, Andy Andrew’s The Noticer comes to mind once again. In chapter four, one of the main characters – Jones – is sharing his wisdom.
“Forty percent of the things you worry about will never occur…. Thirty percent of the things you worry about are things that have already happened – in the past. And all the worry in the world ain’t gonna change what’s already happened, right? Twelve percent of all worries have to do with needless imaginings about our health. My leg hurts. Do I have cancer? My head hurts. Do I have a tumor? My daddy died of a heart attack when he was sixty, and I’m fifty-nine…. Ten percent would be petty-little-nothing worries about what other people think. So if my math is right, that leaves eight percent…. Eight percent for legitimate concerns … these legitimate concerns are things that can actually be dealt with. Most people spend so much time fearing the things that are never going to happen or can’t be controlled that they have no energy to deal with the few things they can actually handle.” – Andy Andrews (The Noticer, pg.54-55)
So, what are we to do? Jesus goes on to say,
And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things? v24b-26 NLT
Lord Jesus, faith factors in greatly here. Once again, there is wisdom in planning ahead but worrying about all the what-ifs and maybes eats away at us bit by bit consuming our time, energy, and mental faculties. Help us to trust You with it all, for the crows and ravens do it each day and flourish. We can do the same! Amen.
Aug 7th, 2020, Fri, 8:43 pm
Don’t Forget the Nails!
4 Show me the right path, O Lord;
….point out the road for me to follow.
5 Lead me by your truth and teach me,
….for you are the God who saves me.
….All day long I put my hope in you. Psalm 25:4-5 NLT
Luke 12:13-21 (<<click here to read the passage)
Something new that I tried on our time away was that I checked out an eBook from my library. I think I would still like to purchase a hard copy in that I enjoyed it so much but reading on our tablet was different and I enjoyed doing that, too.
The book I chose was The Noticer by Andy Andrews. He is a New York Times best-selling author and in-demand speaker. I had not heard of him until I saw a post on a Christian group’s Facebook page referring me to a YouTube show he hosts called Andy Andrews Blue Plate Special (it’s great, too!) On the show I watched, he read from his third book of The Noticer series…and I was hooked!
So back to the topic at hand… As I read through today’s passage once more an illustration Andy had used in his book came to mind. It’s too long to share here but I can summarize the story with it’s impacting “moral” and would encourage you to check out the book, it’s short and well worth your time.
He spoke of Napoleon’s victory at Waterloo. Of course, we know Napoleon lost at Waterloo, horribly so. But first, he won. Andy does a great job of telling the story but what lead to Napoleon’s ultimate defeat was that his victorious troops had forgotten, of all things, nails – headless nails.
At the time, both the French and the English artillery utilized muzzle-loading cannons. They were made of bronze…and were fired by setting a…small flame to a narrow firing touchhole that was drilled through the solid bronze. Traditionally, when troops would overrun an opponent’s cannon, headless nails were hammered down into the touchhole, rendering the cannon useless…
…Nails! Just a few nails, and the British cannons would have been out of action. It was the smallest of elements in a massive clash of men and steel, but had that one detail not been overlooked, history books would now contain the record of a French victory…and of Wellington’s Waterloo. – Andy Andrews (The Noticer, pg.328-330)
The rich man in today’s passage made grandiose plans for his future. That was all well and good but unbeknownst to him his days were numbered…and his number was up. He invested greatly in this world, but we are given the distinct impression that his investments in the world to come were severely lacking.
So, what about us? Are we so caught up in life on this dusty globe that we forget the “nails”? In reference to yesterday’s post, are we so gung-ho to “dream big” that the benefits of allowing ourselves to “dream small” elude us? Life is not all about the four-score and ten that we may have here, but life is all about what we do in our lives here that prepares us for the life to come.
Lord Jesus, help us to not just focus on the heres and nows but help us to see beyond today. Help us to be wise with our resources today, both for our future life here but may we not neglect the investments we make that will carry over into eternity. Amen.
Aug 6th, 2020, Thurs, 8:17 pm
Dream Small
Father, it has not by any means been a perfect day, but You have brought us through it. We have not been alone but indeed, You’ve been by our side. We rejoice in Your presence and pray for a closer alignment of our hearts with Yours. Amen.
********
We just got back from some time away as we drove to Texas. We went to see Massey and help him move out of his apartment, as his doctoral work is soon coming to an end. In our travels, I heard a song on the radio that was new to me but has been out for a couple of years – Dream Small by Christian artist, Josh Wilson.
Several years ago, I knew of a song called Dream Big by the Martins (it is excellent, by the way), so when I heard the words “dream small”, it caught my attention. The first couple of times I didn’t catch all the lyrics, so I kept waiting for it to play again. I wondered, who in the world thinks dreaming small is a good idea? Where do you get by keeping your dreams small? At least by society’s definition – nowhere!
Finally, it came on and I opened an app on my phone that displayed the lyrics for me, and boy was it good! It made perfect sense!
This blog is called More than Useless, and this song is a perfect companion.
How many times do we feel that all that really matters is the big stuff? And how many times do we feel that we are only capable of the little things? Or even if we do strive for – and sometimes reach – the big things, how often do we sweep past little things in our lives because they just don’t seem that important?
I want to encourage you today! There is not a person reading this post that is not important in the Kingdom of God! Each of us regardless of our age or gender or however else we label ourselves; we all play a vital role in impacting the world for Jesus. No task is too small…for even the smallest of pebbles thrown into a mighty lake causes ripples in the water. Dream small. Live well.
“Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little, I will put you in charge of many things; share in the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:21 AMP
(Here are the lyrics for Dream Small and a video to watch at the end. Enjoy!)
It’s a momma singing songs about the Lord
It’s a daddy spending family time
That the world said he cannot afford
These simple moments change the world
It’s a pastor at a tiny little Church
Forty years of loving on the broken and the hurt
These simple moments change the world
Dream small
Don’t bother like you’ve gotta do it all
Just let Jesus use you where you are
One day at a time
Live well
Loving God and others as yourself
Find little ways where only you can help
With His great love
A tiny rock can make a giant fall
Dream small
It’s visiting the widow down the street
Or dancing on a Friday with your friend with special needs
These simple moments change the world
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with bigger dreams
Just don’t miss the minutes on your way, to bigger things, no
‘Cause these simple moments change the world
So dream small
Don’t bother like you’ve gotta do it all
Just let Jesus use you where you are
One day at a time
Live well
Loving God and others as yourself
Find little ways where only you can help
With His great love
A tiny rock can make a giant fall
So dream small
Keep loving, keep serving
Keep listening, keep learning
Keep praying, keep hoping
Keep seeking, keep searching
Out of these small things and watch them grow bigger
The God who does all things makes oceans from rivers
So dream small
Don’t bother like you’ve gotta do it all
Just let Jesus use you where you are
One day at a time
Live well
Loving God and others as yourself
Find little ways where only you can help
With His great love
A tiny rock can make a giant fall
Yeah, five loaves and two fish could feed them all
So dream small
Dream small
Aug 5th, 2020, Wed, 8:07 pm