Shine It, Don’t Hide It!
A full day, Father, and I am weary of body and mind. May I hear your voice as I sit here in this early evening. Amen.
Mark 4:21-25 (<<click to read the passage)
One thing every school bus driver is supposed to do every day you drive your bus is to thoroughly inspect the major components of your engine and all the major pieces and parts under your bus. There’s much more to your “pre-trip” than that but in those early morning hours – 5:30 am for me – you have to have a decent flashlight to illuminate that at which you are looking. Nothing is to be bent or broken or leaking or missing. Any problems, if ignored or missed, could be recipe for disaster and I don’t know anyone who would want to be stuck on the highway attempting to keep a bus full of kids safe in potentially dangerous conditions.
The light is of utmost importance. If I left it on the bus what good what it do me? Our learnings from Jesus are very similar. The more time we spend with Him, the brighter our light grows. And as it grows brighter we are better able to find problems that need to be addressed – in our lives and in the lives of others, as well. When we see things for what they really are, we can deal with them.
So, Lord, if I am striving to be all You need me to be, I must be diligent in using the light You have given me. I can’t hide it “under a basket or under a bed” or magnetically stuck inside my bus! AND, when I do use it, I can’t ignore what the light shows me. If something needs to be dealt with, may I not hesitate to do so. If it is something difficult may I not be slow to address it. This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine! Help me to shine it, not hide it!
Mar 3rd, 2019, Sun, 6:33 pm
Good Soil
Father, neither Karen nor I are feeling our best tonight. We would ask for a good sleep, that we may wake well rested and ready for the tasks ahead. Amen.
Mark 4:10-20 (<<click to read the passage)
My Life Application Study Bible gives me a different way to think about this passage. It says,
“The four soils represent four different ways people respond to God’s message. Usually we think that Jesus was talking about different kinds of people. But he may also have been talking about…how we willingly apply God’s message to some areas of our life but resist applying it to others. For example, you may be open to God about your future but closed concerning how you spend your money. You may respond like good soil to God’s demand for worship but respond like rocky soil to his demand to give to people in need. Strive to be like good like good soil in every area of your life at all times.”
We realize that we are very complex individuals. Some things are easy to address. Some things we can say no – or yes – to very readily. I don’t have to deal with murder – or hate, I don’t have to deal with stealing, or lying. But I struggle with anger. I struggle with taking proper care of the “temple” God has given me – I really (I mean really) like to eat! And in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 the Apostle Paul states,
19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.NLT
Do I do that when I eat more than I should or more often than I should? Being diabetic I need to be careful of how many carbohydrates I consume but my will quite often rules the day and then I rue the day… I am sorry that I did what I did…
Lord Jesus, You know and You understand my struggles – and there are many. I would ask that more and more I would just find those things unacceptable and that I would stop making excuses – everybody does it, I only live once, how can one more peanut M&M hurt? May I see me as You see me. May things like anger and diet and time management and all the other things become a point of concerted effort to bring under Your control. For with Your help I can do so. Amen.
Feb 28th, 2019, Thurs, 8:14 pm
Love Covers a Multitude
Father, I would ask that You would enable me to speak what You have laid upon my heart. It mulled about in my mind all morning and there just wasn’t enough time to write it out this afternoon…so here I humbly sit, waiting patiently for the inspiration that only You can give. Amen.
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God hates sin. Truth.
God loves each of us. Truth.
Who we have been, who we are, who we will be,
what we have done, what we do now, what we have yet to do.
Do these factor into God’s love for us?
Does God love us more or less because of them?
God loves us because of and in spite of all of those things. Truth.
Ephesians 1:4, yet again!
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. NLT
Let that sink in. We can do absolutely nothing that will make God love us any less or any more. Before God took the nothingness of space and made the world and everything in it – including us! – He loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes!
Every single one of us is born separated from God. Truth.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23 NLT
Are we loved any less because of this? No. Truth. (see above)
Can we stay that way and have an eternal relationship with God? No. Truth.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 NLT
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NLT
Sin separates us from God. We are all guilty of sin. We cannot fix ourselves. Only God can fix us. Only God can save us from our sin.
Sin is sin. It is our undoing unless it is dealt with – unless it is eradicated we are damned.
There are no lesser or greater sins. Honestly, we are all works in progress. Not a single one of us has to get to a certain point before God will accept us. He knows us and loves us right where we are.
No matter how we try to twist it, God’s word is solid and I, for one, hold it to inerrant. Society may change but God’s word does not. And I firmly believe that that is true on all sides.
Sin is sin, and we have no choice but to be held accountable for ours, but…
Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8 NLT
Sin must be dealt with but I am no better than anyone else. I have sin with which to deal. It may not be the same as that which with you struggle. You may be further down the path than I, but for those of us who are a part of the body of Christ, again we are all a work in progress – we are all in the same boat.
Love, don’t judge – love deeply! Embrace, comfort, accept, go above and beyond. Do as God does for us each and every day! Forgive. Forget. Don’t keep count. Move forward – one…step…at…a…time.
This past Sunday I concluded my sermon with a quote from St. Teresa of Avila, who lived from 1515 –1582. This is what she had to say.
Christ has no body on earth now but yours,
no hands but yours,
no feet but yours,
Yours are the eyes through which
he looks with compassion on the world,
Yours are the feet with which
he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands with which
he blesses all the world.
Be Christ to the world – oh, how we need it!
(This is what is on my heart following the General Conference sessions of the United Methodist Church this past week. Feedback welcome.)
Feb 27th, 2019, Wed, 6:18 am
Truth in the Details
Thank You, Father, for reminding me to spend time together early this morning. I love our conversations and it sets the tone for the day!
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Something else that came up in Bible study last night, was in my mind throughout my first bus run of the day. We’ve been going through 1st Corinthians and were working through chapter 15 and his particular portion of scripture brought up some interesting thoughts,
12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
These foundational truths – not myths, not imaginative writings, not wishful thinkings – these truths have not one reason to be doubted!
Think about it – God never does anything halfway. He does not try to get by with as little effort as possible. Everything God does goes above and beyond, it is over the top!
What spiked my thoughts this morning was the sunrise! I wish I could have gotten a picture – it was absolutely gorgeous! A multi-hued display of light as the darkness faded away. The clouds, the sun, the rolling hills, the barren fields, the starK tree line, all reflecting over a large farm pond. And this was just one moment, of one sunrise of the millions that have transpired since the beginning of time when God said, “Let there be light!” (Genesis 1)
Think of all the intricacy and detail of all that is in the world. We understand some of it but by no means all of it. And it’s not just the detail in one thing or two things or a thousand things! It is detailed in everything from the smallest bacteria to the expanse of the vast universe!
Nothing – absolutely nothing – is impossible for God! There is no excuse for unbelief! May we say along with the father who brought his son to be healed by Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24b
Feb 26th, 2019, Tues, 10:27 am
Don’t Just Listen, HEAR!
Well, Father, I got several things done today but sitting with You did not happen. Regardless, it is of utmost importance to do so before the end of my day. Thank You for Your presence in Bible Study tonight. Thank You for friends who can come together and learn and grow and encourage one another.
Mark 4:1-9 (<<click to read the passage)
And [Jesus] said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.” v.9 AMP
As I read through the notes in my Life Application Study Bible, it stated pretty much the same thing as was stated in our Bible Study, though we were not studying Mark but we were looking at 1 Corinthians 15. Verse 31 in particular says,
“I assure you, believers…I die daily [I face death and die to self].” AMP
How much of our life is made up of going through the motions of life – our daily tasks, things that need to be done, people with whom we need to talk, places we must go to, etc., etc.? I do that – regularly.
But there are quite a few days where I stop…and before anything gets too far along, I lay my life out before God and give everything over to Him. My thoughts are: use me, fill me, guide me, protect me, work through me. This day, my time – everything – Lord, it is all Yours to do with as You will. Then the challenging part is not just to listen…but to hear.
How many of us, throughout our day, have music playing or the TV on? We listen to it to some degree but don’t really “hear” it. We may absent-mindedly sing along but it is all very much on a surface level. If we don’t stop and “die daily” becoming a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1) for God to use, can we truly hear what He is saying to us?
This night, Lord Jesus, I would pray that I would remember every day to lay out my life before You. May I not just listen, but may I hear. Help me to “die daily” – may I “die to self” – so that Your will may be done, not just in my life but may I be used to impact Your kingdom here on earth. Amen.
Feb 25th, 2019, Mon, 8:46 pm