Me and Oranges
I come to sit with You this morning, Father, and I am in need of Your touch. I am weary and slow of mind. Speak to me. Invigorate me. I need You, today.
James 5:10-11 (<<click here)
Lord, You definitely brought a smile to my face! I sit here pondering what You would have me learn from these verses the speak of “patience in suffering” and you toss me an orange!
Oranges are wonderful pieces of fruit. Their color is vibrant – bursting with life. They are intricate in their design. A bitter rind encases segments of fruit that are both tart and sweet. And it doesn’t just taste good, it’s good for you! A refreshing treat to say the least.
So what in the world does an orange have to do with “patience in suffering”? To get to the pleasing beneficial portion You have to get through the bitter portion. I realize the rind can be used in baking but most of us remove it to get to the fruit we cut through it or peel it off.
If you think of it from the orange’s perspective that whole process can’t be pleasant. If we were oranges – removing the rind of our situations would involve a fair amount of suffering. When I peel an orange I like to remove as much of that white membrane under the rind as well. And that takes patience.
Often in life, we go through difficult times. Quite often there is quite a lot of pain and suffering that we must endure – sickness, disease, death, relationship issues, job struggles, persecution for our faith, sometimes things turn out the way we want – other times we are left to pick up the pieces. We may even have to deal with great loss. But as we look back over our lives we don’t necessarily look at our suffering with smiles but on many occasions, we can see the fruit that came from those difficult times.
We are stronger. We are better able to empathize with others going through times of suffering. Hopefully, we have allowed those times to draw us closer to You, Lord. If anyone knows “patience in suffering”, it is You.
Oct 7th, Fri, 6:39 am
Don’t Grumble!
Draw my heart to You this morning, Father. May I hear Your voice and act on Your direction. May I go into this day determined to live out my life in ways that would be pleasing to You. Amen
I must share before moving on,
O heavenly Father…
Thou hast taught me
that faith is nothing else than receiving thy kindness;
that it is an adherence to Christ, a resting on him,
love clinging to him as a branch to the tree,
to seek life and vigor from him. – The Valley of Vision
James 5:9 (<<click here)
“Don’t grumble against each other…or you will be judged.”
Lord, as You look out over us, don’t we all do this? We grumble on a regular basis. He’s driving too slowly. My meat is undercooked. She doesn’t do her share of the work. I don’t care for that kind of music in worship. Why don’t they do something about that barking dog? And I’m sure each of us could add to this list without much difficulty.
Our society is full of grumblers. Very few of us are not guilty of being routine grumblers. But the rest of verse 9 should give us pause to think. “… you will be judged. For look – the Judge is standing at the door!”
As a child, there was nothing much worse than saying or doing something mean to a sibling and once it’s said or done realizing your mom or dad had just stepped into the doorway and witnessed the whole thing. No excuse could be made – you were caught red-handed… and punishment was inevitable.
Lord, help me… I know I grumble – I am guilty. Fill me with Your presence, Holy Spirit. Help me to hold my tongue before grumbling spills out. As the first grumbling thought enters my mind, help me to stop it dead in its tracks. Help me to love. Help me forgive. May I see others as You see them and respond as You would. Amen
Oct 4th, Tues, 7:03 am
A Farmer’s Patience
Senior hardworking farmer agronomist in soybean field looking in the distance.
Father, my Puritan prayer this morning expounds upon the joy of knowing You now, but it is a fraction of what will be.
I marvel that the finite can know the Infinite,
here a little, afterwards in full-orbed truth;
Now I know but a small portion of what I shall know,
here in part, there in perfection,
here a glimpse, there a glory.
To enjoy there is life eternal,
and to enjoy is to know.
Thank You, Father, for the here and now but my anticipation is great for what eternity holds!
James 5:7-8 (<<click here)
Lord, You’ve given another example of bringing things together into a perfect mesh! My opening reading of the blessings of the now and what is yet to be and Your word speaking of being “patient as you wait for the Lord’s return.”
Almost 2000 years ago the faithful were looking forward to Your imminent return…and we do the same today. We are not misled. You are not late. You are truth and You are patiently waiting in Your good time to move as You see fit.
James refers to the farmer’s patience as he waits for the harvest. It cannot be rushed. But the farmer must be attentive – he must maintain his fields in anticipation of what is to come. And he must be ready to act when it is time to reap the harvest as well.
Lord, help me to be busy about the work of Your kingdom. May I be diligent. May I be attentive. And when You do come, may I not be caught unawares but may I be found ready at Your call.
(Another great application here is Jesus’ parable after Ten Virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13 which concludes with the warning, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”)
Oct 3rd, Mon, 6:26 am
Mr. Fezziwig
Father, thank You for yesterday’s many blessings. I had a wonderful day with Karen. Thank you for watching over us and getting us safely home.
James 5:1-6 (<<click here)
After reading this passage and readying myself to write, two characters popped in my head – Scrooge and Fezziwig. These two beloved personalities from Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol, for me, flesh out what the scripture is saying.
Lord, in and of itself, there is nothing inherently wrong with money or wealth. As with many things in life it has a lot to do with balance. And we cannot lose sight of Your commands. If we love You with the entirety of our being and we love others as ourselves, there will be balance.
I don’t believe Fezziwig was exorbitantly wealthy but he surely was a man of some means. He was wise in his use of his wealth but he was not self-absorbed. His love for others is evident. He controlled his wealth but his wealth did not control him.
Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Money is not evil; the love of money is where trouble can begin. Our attitude toward money is the problem, not the money itself.
Lord, help me to be wise in my use of the many blessings You have given me. May I be able to provide for myself and my family – may our needs be met. But may I also be generous with others as You have been generous with me. May my love for You and others be the driving force in all I do. Amen.
Oct 2nd, Sun, 5:47 am
Doing What We Ought to Do
As I sit with You this morning, Father, I realize that today is full of possibility! Sure, it will be full of routine things but with You by my side literally anything could happen. May I be a witness of Your touch on this day. Bless me by being a component of Your awesomeness in my life today! Amen.
James 4:17 (<<click here)
“…it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”
Lord, we have this great tendency to label sin as things that we do that we are not supposed to do. But James reminds us that it is also sin to not do what we are supposed to.
My study Bible* has two very good examples.
“It is a sin to lie; it can also be a sin to know the truth and not tell it. It is a sin to speak evil of someone; it is also a sin to avoid that person when you know he or she needs your friendship.”
Life is replete with examples of where not doing the right became a wrong thing. I read a true story recently of a church where at the end of a service a wonderful Christian family came forward to express their desire to join as members of the church and at the same time a trouble young man came forward to pray and to be prayed with.
Over the next few weeks, the pastor was thrilled that the family joined the church and took up roles of responsibility. But the troubled young man, with whom the pastor had prayed, slipped through the cracks. Intentions had been there to follow up with him but he was forgotten.
A short time later the pastor stood in the pulpit and confessed his sin of not doing the right thing. He had picked up the local paper the day before and one of the headlines told of that troubled young man’s arrest. He had shot and killed an elderly woman in their community.
How could things have been different if the time had been invested in that young man’s life? What pain and loss and heartache might have been avoided?
Lord… I would pray that You would help me to avoid doing and saying and thinking things that are wrong. But equally as important, help me to say and do and think things that are right. Give me Your eyes and heart to see the world and myself. Amen.
Sept 30th, Fri, 6:26 am
Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation