Seeing Her Picture
With the death of my father-in-law and a saint from one of my churches as well, it has been difficult finding time to write. Father, bless my efforts as we come together, for Your glory. Amen.
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There seem to have been multiple tragedies in the last few weeks. Lord, You know I’ve had my share. But one that has touched my heart recently was the death of an 11-year-old child in a northwest suburb of the Columbus metro area. She and her mother were on their way to drop this 6th Grader off at school when they somehow collided with a semi – I have no idea how it happened or who was at fault. Regardless, it is heart-wrenching!
It’s bad enough to read of the incident, but early this morning a friend of mine posted a GoFundMe page to help the child’s family. As of this writing, they have more than tripled their goal! It is a great blessing for her family, but nothing compared to their loss…
But what impacted me most today was seeing her picture – a beautiful young lady whose life came to an end much too prematurely. Before this morning, I didn’t even know her name, much less know what she looked like. But that picture…
It’s way too easy in life to shrug off tragedy. We read a headline (and it seems like every headline from the one TV station I follow speaks of death – shootings, accidents, and the like…). We read a headline and they are so frequent that we hardly think twice about the people involved. But every single one of them are real people in real-life situations.
But here is the hope, when hope is to be found nowhere else.
God sees us one and all. He knows our name. He knows what we look like, for He created us. He knows us intimately!
Do you remember the passage of Scripture where Jesus was speaking with the disciples? He was telling them not to be afraid and He asked them,
What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. Matthew 10:29,31 NLT
In today’s workplace in the state of Ohio, the minimum wage is $10.10 an hour. If you worked eight hours, that would earn you $80.80 (before taxes of course!) The copper coin Jesus referenced equaled 1/16 of a day’s wages. So, doing the math, two sparrows would cost you $5.05.
If God cares if a single sparrow falls to the ground, He cares infinitely more when we do.
Elia. Her name was Elia. God knew Elia and He knew, and He cared that she fell.
Don’t feel worthless. No matter how small or insignificant you may feel, God knows you and cares about You. Call out to Him today…He will hear, and He will answer.
Apr 4th, 2023, Thurs, 12:50 pm
Love Is Mightier!
Father, as I look out over my life You have truly blessed me in so many ways. I have done nothing to deserve Your blessings, but You do so because You love me. May I be generous in sharing that love and blessing with others around me. Amen.
1 John 2:7-8 (<<click here to read the passage)
Wow! So many thoughts from just two verses! My thoughts from the initial reading – thoughts from the study Bible notes – thoughts even from a sermon close to the time these things were noted– AND thoughts of how once again You have taken my opening thoughts and prayer and meshed it together with today’s passage of Scripture! Thank You, Lord!
It really all just boils down to love. I realize that I wrote about love just yesterday, but love has to be at the core of who we are and how we live. If love is not there everything we do is for naught! The foundation upon which we must build our lives is expressed in a passage of scripture that You, Lord, identify as the greatest of the commandments – the most important one. You quote it in Matthew 22. You gave it to Moses in Deuteronomy 6:5 to give to us,
“…you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.”
You also stated that that was the “first and greatest commandment” but that a “second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” which You quoted from Leviticus 19:18.
“The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
The command to love is old but it is new. It has been around for millennia but when we give ourselves over to You, You create it new every day – every moment – in our lives.
The final line in John’s passage this morning gives me renewed hope.
“For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.”
Darkness is rampant! It seems to be in control…but it is not! Darkness is in its death throes! Its days are numbered for love is mightier because it is YOU! You, Lord, have already won! You are victorious! And we are truly blessed to be counted as Your children! May we carry on, bearing the torch of light and love!
(Apr 10th, 2017, Mon, 5:15 am)
May 3rd, 2023, Wed, 12:33 pm
He IS Coming Back!
Father, it has already been a hectic week and we are just halfway through with much more to do. Strengthen me in mind, spirit, and body to accomplish what needs doing. Amen.
2 Peter 3:1-18 (<<click here to read the passage)
Roughly 2000 years ago, Lord, while living here amongst us, You spoke of Your eminent return. That has been quite a while, but the length of time that has passed or that has yet to pass has no bearing on the truth or validity of Your words.
People like to argue that there is nothing to Your promise because it was made so long ago. They could not be more wrong. You are coming back when You decide to return. Our timetable is not Your timetable. Peter admonishes us to not forget that “a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.” v8b
Lord, You are not slow or hesitant – You are patient – You are long-suffering…and it is for our sake.
“[You do] not want anyone to be destroyed but [You want] everyone to repent.” v9c
You yourself said,
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Several years ago, an old friend, Renita Koehn, and her husband Daniel ministered to my joint congregations through music. Daniel also dramatically delivered chapters 12-17 of the Gospel of John. After the service one of our young ladies came and asked me about John 12:25, wanting to know what it meant. It reads,
“Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.”
Absolutely nothing we accumulate here of a physical nature will remain. As the old adage goes, we can’t take it with us. Peter emphasized that everything on this earth will pass through the fires of judgment – it will all be destroyed. Only our souls and the things of the heart we have stored up will continue to exist.
I told this sweet young lady that when we lose a loved one that everything physical about it will one day be gone and that all that will remain will be our love and memories of them. Only what we do for Christ will remain. Lord, help me to live out Peter’s admonition.
“And so, dear friends, while You are waiting for those things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives than are pure and blameless in his sight.” v14 NLT
Amen. So be it.
(Mar 21st, 2017, Tues, 6:26 am)
Apr 26th, 2023, Wed, 7:04 pm
Of Charlatans Beware!
My body is rebelling, Father. Picking up branches this weekend, I used muscles that I haven’t used in a while. That along with another funeral for which to prepare is wearing on me. May this time produce good fruit for You, as well as, my preparations for services later in the week. Amen.
2 Peter 2:1-3 (<<click here to read the passage)
Did you realize that snake oil was originally a real-deal, legitimate thing? Between 1849 and 1882, 180,000 Chinese immigrated to the United States and one thing they brought with them was snake oil. It was made from the oil of the Chinese water snake, which is rich in omega-3 acids. It helped reduce inflammation. Snake oil, in its original form, really was effective, especially when used to treat arthritis and bursitis.
Of course, entrepreneurial individuals saw a market and since there weren’t any Chinese water snakes in the American West, many “healers” began using rattlesnakes to make their own versions of snake oil. This set the stage for entrepreneur Clark Stanley, aka The Rattlesnake King. He began reeling in the money at the 1893 World’s Exposition in Chicago when he took a live snake and sliced it open before a crowd of onlookers. But in 1917, federal investigators found that it primarily contained mineral oil, a fatty oil believed to be beef fat, red pepper, and turpentine. And the image of snake oil charlatans was born! (The NPR article is pretty interesting. Check it out! A History Of ‘Snake Oil Salesmen’)
Many were led astray buying into easy fixes for what ailed them!
Switching gears, another reason we must be diligent in reading Your word and speaking with – and listening to – You is to ensure that we are not led astray. Most definitely those who proclaim Your word are not infallible, we have our struggles, we make mistakes. Because of this, we as Your people must be discerning. We should pray for and lift up Your servants.
Yet another reason we should pray for discernment is that for millennia there have been charlatans who have been driven not by desires to further Your Kingdom but instead are all about fulfilling their own agendas of power or prosperity – some, at their core, have as their goal to undermine Your Kingdom. They are all about discrediting Your Church and Your name.
Some started with their hearts in the right place, but those first tastes of power and control moved things from their hearts to their heads. They were in charge after all. They deserved their portion of the “profits.” They, little by little, came to see themselves as above the Law.
Lord, first of all, may we all be diligent in keeping ourselves true to You – striving to immerse ourselves in the Bible and spending quality time in Your presence. Then may we fervently pray for those who lead us. May we pray for their purity of heart. May we not hesitate to go to them if realignment is necessary for their lives. May we do so in Your love, but may we not shy from the responsibility. And Lord, if they will not change may we not hesitate to remove ourselves from their influence on our lives.
Lord Jesus, help us to not be led astray into easy fixes for what ails us spiritually. Help us to seek Your face and to live pure and holy lives in Your power and strength. Amen.
(Mar 17th, 2017, Fri, 6:33 am)
Apr 25th, 2023, Tues, 6:15 pm
Use Me in My Imperfection
(2CDYH3N Kintsugi beige bowl. Gold cracks restoration on old Japanese ceramic.)
Father, I’m struggling to get my head all here. Help me reel in my thoughts and heart as we come together. May I do what is pleasing in Your eyes. Amen.
Romans 8:31-34 (<<click here to read the passage)
I haven’t spoken of this for a while, but do you know why this blog is titled “More than Useless”? Well, it all began with a dissatisfaction in my life. I accepted Jesus as my Savior at a very early age – so early in fact that I don’t remember the exact act of asking Him to do so. I will back that up by saying that this does not make me a super saint or anything close. I have stumbled and fallen too many times to count throughout my 60+ years. But where my faith has lagged, Jesus’ faithfulness has never wavered – not once!
The thing is though He has been my Savior for so long, in a lot of ways, I don’t feel I live up to what a believer in Christ should be. Yes, I preach. Yes, I have faithfully put this blog out for almost eight years now…but those things are just ways I express my thoughts and heart in my relationship with Him.
Thinking back to my youth, I have stood back in awe of what God has used me to accomplish. I have done things. I have touched lives. And all with the sincerest desire to do them for Him. Where my struggle has been is that my humanity has slowed me down. My lack of effort or enthusiasm has weighed upon me. My thoughts, both in the past and yet today, basically boil down to this: what more could I have done if I had really put my mind to it? How much greater of an impact could I have made?
Many times, I have felt useless in that there is so much more I could have done…
I see the lives of many around me and I stand back in awe of what they are doing – churches growing, lives being changed left and right under their ministry. And here I am just plodding along. I wonder not so much that they may think poorly of my efforts, but what weighs upon my heart and mind is what the world thinks. And by that, I mean, in their minds are they thinking, “Is that all this Christianity stuff adds up to? If so, what’s the big deal? Whoop-de-do! Is that all that this dead-and-gone Jesus person can accomplish? I’m really not impressed…”
But then I read the words of the Apostle Paul in these verses, and my perspective changes.
If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. NLT
I don’t have to please the world; I just have to point the world to Him. I can’t worry about, what they think; I just have to concern myself with what He thinks. And let Him take care of the rest. That doesn’t mean I’m off the hook as to how I live, for what I say and do does reflect on Him but when I falter – and I do – I just have to trust that He is bigger than me. I, myself, am not the one they must follow. I am merely the pointer to the One they must follow.
Lord Jesus, continue to use me in my imperfection as only You can. Draw others to You for only then can they too be changed. Amen.
Apr 2nd, 2023, Sun, 8:07 pm
For more on the beginnings of More than Useless check out these two links: