You Scratch My Back…
Father, I acknowledge that tonight, as in every moment of my life, I am dependent upon You. You keep me safe, and I am gratefully encased in Your love. Amen.
Romans 15:1-13 (<<click here to read the passage)
Today’s picture is very interesting, don’t you think? I’ve never seen giraffes do this. I was searching for a picture to capture the idea of “you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours”. I felt that concept was reflective of today’s Scripture, especially verses 1-2 and verse 7,
Now we who are strong [in our convictions and faith] ought to [patiently] put up with the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not just please ourselves. Let each one of us [make it a practice to] please his neighbor* for his good, to build him up spiritually. vs1-2 AMP
*i.e., all those with whom we have contact.
Therefore, [continue to] accept and welcome one another, just as Christ has accepted and welcomed us to the glory of [our great] God. vs7 AMP
Christ has done for us the unimaginable – the absolute greatest gift of all time, and we in turn should do to others – our neighbors or as the note in the Amplified Bible states all those with whom we have contact.
I think we all would readily agree that we in no way, shape, or form deserve anything from God. Well, except condemnation and punishment – eternal punishment. But that is not what He gave us. Instead, Jesus paid our debt through His life, suffering, and death. We owed it, He paid it. No argument. No discussion. Those are the facts.
There was no way for us to accomplish what was needed for our forgiveness. There is nothing we could do or say to deserve the grace and mercy so freely extended to anyone who sincerely seeks that forgiveness, humbly admitting and confessing our sin to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Christ has accepted and welcomed us so…we, as His followers, must [continue to] accept and welcome one another, and as verse 1 stresses,
Now we who are strong [in our convictions and faith] ought to [patiently] put up with the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not just please ourselves.
…just like Jesus did for us – We are weak, but He is strong!
Back to our interesting giraffe picture. They are not scratching each other’s back, they are fighting! This beautiful photograph, shot in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, was taken by photographer Dana Allen. These two young bucks are standing side-by-side, pushing and shoving to judge which is the strongest. They are testing the other’s prowess. They aren’t looking to help each other out – they’re both out for the girl! It’s not about those with whom they have contact…it’s all about themselves…
Lord Jesus, help us to set others above ourselves. Help us to love each other as You have loved us. You first, others second, ourselves last. Amen.
Sept 3rd, 2023, Sun, 8:34 pm
Granddad, Conviction and Picks
Father, I’ve not said it for a while, but I am grateful for Your presence. Throughout the ebb and flow of my day, I know You are there every guiding, ever loving.
Romans 14:20-23 (<<click here to read the passage)
Thomas S. Fowler, Sr. was my grandfather, or as he preferred, my granddad. He was a faithful servant for many, many years ministering as a pastor and as an evangelist traveling with his musically inclined family. (They actually released a couple of records!)
He was raised in a spiritually divided home. His father was a hellion, putting it mildly…but his mother was a saint on earth. As a young man, he waivered in his faith. He even came close twice to taking his own life, but his ever-praying mother petitioned Heaven with her pleas, and the Lord graciously – miraculously! – intervened wooing him back to Himself.
In those early days, he by no means was a saint himself and one of his passions was playing the guitar with a straight pick – which is the way most everyone plays the guitar. He loved to entertain those around him, and more than willingly joined in their revelry – a drunk playing drunken songs on the beaches of Hawaii while in the service. After he gave his life over to Christ he felt convicted in regard to why and how he had played guitar, bringing only glory to himself. He acted on that conviction and from that time on, set aside his straight pick, switching to a thumb pick. Granddad faithfully played the guitar for the Lord’s glory throughout the many years of his ministry.
Reading that story, you may think his decision trivial – maybe even silly. But to him, it was an important difference. His change of focus had changed his life. His decision made a lifelong impact on the lives of thousands!
Verse 23, the last verse in this chapter, reads,
…if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.
The Apostle Paul speaks here of food, but it is equally applicable to many other areas of our lives. I cannot show you any passage of Scripture that speaks of guitar picks but many times in our lives we come upon decisions that the Holy Spirit must guide us as to how to go about addressing them. Paul here clearly states that if we go ahead and do what our convictions tell us we must not do – if we are striding firmly ahead knowing we are doing things that are not right, then we are sinning.
Guitar picks may not be important to you, but they were to Granddad and when he gave his life to Christ, he did just that. Tom Fowler gave his all to the Lord who had given His all for him. May we all do the same.
Aug 31st, 2023, Thurs, 8:43 pm
Is That a Chip on Your Shoulder?
Father, it’s been a fairly busy day on different fronts, but now I would ask that You quiet my heart as we come together. May I be attentive to Your words. Amen.
Romans 14:1-23 (<<click here to read the passage)
One of the most disturbing things about today’s Church, at least in these United States, is that many seem to walk around with a proverbial chip on their shoulder. Reading today’s passage got my thoughts going in that direction and then I looked to see exactly where that old idiom came from.
Wikipedia states that the chip-on-shoulder idiom traces its roots back to a custom that was known in North America since the early 19th century. The New York newspaper Long Island Telegraph reported on 20 May 1830 “when two churlish [surely] boys were determined to fight, a chip [of wood] would be placed on the shoulder of one, and the other demanded to knock it off at his peril”.
It just seems that our dander is up and that we’re just itching to have someone cross us. Our theological concepts are cast in stone and, boy, you better not say anything different! That chip on our shoulder is there for all to see and you betcha we are going to defend it! It’s (whatever “it” is, is our hill to die on!)
I wonder, do we truly read God’s word, or do we just pick and choose what we think is important?
Verse 1 of today’s passage reads,
Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. v1 NLT
Good grief, people, we should be all about cutting people some slack! Love has to factor into our lives as followers of Christ, or all we do is in vain. Everything said or done outside of the parameters of love is worthless…
The statement “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in everything love.” is fairly well known in Christian circles. But who said it is a bit ambiguous. Some attribute it to St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430). Others attribute it to Rupertus Meldenius (1582-1651) or to John Wesley (1703-1791). Regardless, it is an important state of mind. Yes, I realize that it is difficult to differentiate between what is essential and what is nonessential, but unity is called for, as well as, liberty…but what needs driven home is the overriding concept of love!
What it all boils down to is this. We are sinners – every single one of us. Jesus Christ is Savior – of every single one of us. Of course, it is up to us to accept that salvation, but it does not change the fact that He is our Savior.
Right now, if I were able to ask for a show of hands, how many of us would acknowledge that we have been forgiven? For one sin? Two? Two hundred? Two hundred and fifty million? I lost count a long time ago… (though I hope and pray I’ve not reached being forgiven a googol number of times – that’s the number 1 followed by 100 zeroes!) The thing is over and over and over again, Jesus continues to forgive us – to cast our sins into the depths (Micah 7:19) of the sea. Why? Because He loves us! Enough to die for us!
No chips on shoulders…just love for one another! Amen and amen!
Aug 30th, 2023, Wed, 7:53 pm
Spiritual Hurdles
It is the end of another full day, Father. It is also almost the end of another month, and at least for us, the final days of summer break are upon us. But time rolls on. May we make the best of our time. Fill us. Use us, oh, Heavenly Father. Amen.
********
Back in July of this year, I spoke of the log splitter that Karen’s father helped put together, which we now have. I referred to it in the post, The Importance of Maintenance.
I mention it again, in that 6 weeks later, it is still a work in progress to address its many issues! It’s crazy how things have not readily come together in the process. Pretty quickly I found someone willing to replace the hydraulic lines and fluid. The problem arose in trying to get it to him.
First of all, the tires are shot. Long story short, they have 14” rims. I ordered tires online but could only get one wheel off the splitter and when I finally got the tire in to be replaced, the rim was too rusted to use. In looking for replacement rims, the junkyard I checked with said it came from a 1970s Dodge. You can’t find them. I ended up buying two new 15” tire and rim combos. And, I still can’t get the other tire off…it is seized up something awful.
Bad weather (I had to be able to get my truck to where it was sitting and didn’t want it getting stuck!), sickness, and busy schedules ate up a lot of time. Then finally today, we decided to try and get it out. The bad tire inflated, and we rotated the splitter so I could back up and hook up to the hitch. Major problem #2 quickly made itself obvious. I had the wrong size ball on my hitch…
Again, a long story short, I ended up having a friend take a blowtorch to the ball – that was the only way to get it off. The heat loosened the rusted-up connection between the threads on the bolt and the nut allowing us to finally get it screwed off! Thankfully, Karen’s dad, God rest his soul, had the right-sized ball in their garage. So, finally, I got it all put together and hooked up and now I’m just waiting for my friend to let me know when I can get it to him. (He’s a farmer and farmers are busy, putting it mildly. I’m grateful he’s helping me out!)
Six weeks, and we’re almost there! It’s crazy how long this has taken.
There are times in life when, despite our best intentions, things do not proceed according to plan. Sometimes there are things in our lives that do that…and sometimes it is simply us.
Throughout my life, there have been spiritual hurdles that I have had to overcome. Sometimes they are from things beyond me that hinder my progress, but I’m sorry to say that far too often it is simply me that hinders my progress.
God calls me to follow His lead, and I do so obediently…for a time. Then something distracts me, and off I go, down paths of my own choosing that are not beneficial to my spiritual health. Gratefully the Lord does not give up on me. He continues to call me to come back to Him. Eventually, much due to the wooing of His Holy Spirit, I realize the futility of my actions and humbly…gratefully…come back into His loving arms – forgiven and free.
Too often it is a long time coming. But it is so worth whatever it takes to come back to Him. Don’t give up on yourself, even though you may have made the journey getting back longer than you intended, He is waiting. All you have to do is ask.
Aug 29th, 2023, Tues, 8:09 pm
Get Your Ducks in a Row…Today!
Outdoor responsibilities wear upon me this evening, Father, but as I have already read tonight’s passage, my mind is alert and ready for whatever You have for me!
Romans 13:11-14 (<<click here to read the passage)
Our lives are full of things for which we must be prepared. Each week I spend several hours readying myself for Sunday’s responsibilities. For this blog post to be ready first thing in the morning, I must set aside time today to work on it and have it all prepared to do so. Last week several days were set aside to work on my bus routes. With school starting next week, all my families must be contacted so they know when to be ready for me to pick their children up.
Another big part of being ready for these things in my life – and you have to ready yourselves for many things as well – is that to prepare myself only partially is not adequate preparation. If I got my sermon put together and neglected to pick out hymns for Sunday’s service would not do. I could write a blog post and even title it, but honestly, if I don’t find a good picture, many won’t even look at it – that’s what grabs peoples’ attention. And what good would it do to only contact half of my families? There would be a whole lot of unhappy parents!
The Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote his letter to the believers in Rome, approximately 25 years after Jesus’ resurrection. Verse 11 here reads,
This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
Get ready! Don’t wait until the last minute! Quickly, get all of your ducks in a row before it’s too late! Time is running out!
Readying ourselves for this world’s demands is important in the here and now, but readying ourselves for eternity is far more important!
So, here’s the part that we struggle with. In this world, there are many things that bring us satisfaction. In their proper place, many of those things are not wrong, or more precisely, sinful. It’s easy to yield – even for believers – because in the back of our heads, we know we will be forgiven for the sins we commit. God continues to forgive. Only at death is that gift no longer available.
Using Paul’s analogy, it’s easy to slip into the dirty clothes of our dark deeds. But doing that puts our preparation on the back burner…yeah, we want to be ready but, why not delve into a little extra-curricular “fun” along the way?
If we are true believers of Jesus we must do as Hebrews 12:1 commands us,
…let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.
The rest of today’s passage speaks volumes!
Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires. vs13-14 NLT
Get your ducks in a row… today!
Aug 28th, 2023, Mon, 8:07 pm