Time
It has been a taxing last couple of days, Father, and with the time change and it being dark already I am ready to crash. Help me to focus, not on my weariness, but on You. Amen.
********
This past Sunday saw the end of Daylight Savings Time for this year. I couldn’t help but think of the comment an old Native American made when told the reason for it. He said, “Only a white man would believe you could cut a foot off the top of the blanket, sew it onto the bottom of the blanket, and you’d be left with a longer blanket.”
I know at one point in time (over 100 years ago) there were reasons for setting it up and that in the not-too-distant future, there is some movement in our federal government to bring it to an end. Only time will tell…
Time… It consumes our lives…literally. From the moment we are born, the clock begins ticking. Our days are numbered and none of us, for the most part, knows when our time will be up.
We are obsessed with time. We wish difficult times would pass quickly. We wish enjoyable, fulfilling times would never end.
But all of our wishes are to no avail. As they say, “Time waits for no man.”
The Bible, in the book of Ecclesiastes, talks about time.
For everything there is a season,
….a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
….A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
….A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
….A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
….A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
….A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
….A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
….A time for war and a time for peace. 3:1-8
It’s hard to comprehend but at one time, there was no time, and I’m a firm believer that there will come a time when time, as we know it, will be no more.
MoreThanUseless’s key verse is Ephesians 1:4,
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. NLT
Before the world, there was no time. God has existed for eternity past…and He will never cease to exist. He is eternal. He is calling us, one and all, to life eternal.
In this world, we are bound by time. We run out of time. Our time is cut short. But in eternity, there will not be an absence of time, but rather endless time.
Lord Jesus, we may be bound by time here in this life, on this planet of Your creation but help us to use the time we have wisely. It is a priceless commodity, and we waste so much of it. May we invest in Your Kingdom. May we accomplish this by investing in others. Enable us to make the most of our time as we aim for the eternity that is before us and we are determined to bring along as many as we possibly can to join You in that endless time together. Amen.
Nov 7th, 2022, Mon, 6:24 pm
Computer Brains
The last post of the week, Father, may what comes forth from my mind through my fingertips find Your blessing, in its writing and its reading. Amen.
********
How much time do you spend in front of computers? And yes, your phone counts.
I readily admit that I spend a good part of my day doing just that – Sunday service prep includes getting all the aspects of my sermon together, many of its components are honed from sources on my computer, it’s typed on my computer, Scripture, PowerPoint, hymn slide storage and formatting. Nothing is done with pen and paper.
The same goes for this blog. I use a hands-on printed Bible, but everything else is done on the computer.
I could go on and on with the many things I do. I browse Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (to very small degrees), and TikTok, as well. I do a bit of gaming, though at this point I limit myself to just one game – I have to be careful, for it can be very addictive!
I read some – though not nearly enough with everything else that’s on my plate. (The last time I read to any degree, most of it was via a library app on my phone and a tablet!)
Something on my bus route triggered a thought of an old Contemporary Christian song. I knew it was old – not Charles Wesley or Fanny Crosby old, mind you – but old enough that I was out of high school…ugh. The song was on an album put out by a group called Petra, entitled Computer Brains.
It was released in 1984 and it makes me smile to think how much computers have advanced and, really, have taken control of our lives. (I still used a typewriter then, though it was electric!)
Here are the lyrics of the chorus:
Computer brains, put garbage in
Computer brains, get garbage out
Computer brains, programming you
Computer brains, what can you do?
Break out
It is an ongoing battle to safeguard our brains and ultimately our hearts. What we ingest feeds our hearts and as Jesus said in Matthew 15:18-19,
But whatever [word] comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what defiles and dishonors the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts and plans, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slanders (verbal abuse, irreverent speech, blaspheming). AMP
What goes in, is what is going to come out.
Lord Jesus, may we be keenly aware of what we are feeding our hearts. May You alone be the programmer of our hearts. Amen.
Nov 3rd, 2022, Thurs, 7:04 pm
Wiped Clean
Fog blanketed our area this morning, Father – another one of the majesties of Your creation! Thank you for keeping us safe!
Romans 3:21-26 (<<click here to read the passage)
One thing that I do a lot on my bus is to extend grace. Now for some things a penalty must be paid – my first year I had a 5th Grade boy punch a 4th Grade boy…he was suspended from the bus for several days. A middle school student exhibited telltale signs of vaping – wispy smoke coming from the seat she was tucked behind and was suspended as well. But for many other things my students get regular warnings – sticking their heads out in the aisle, as well as their arms or legs, standing up while I’m moving or at a stop…those kinds of things.
Repeated infractions can be hard for me to let go of – frequently crawling under the seats, for example – but for the most part, I don’t keep a running ticket of wrongs if you will.
I feel, in many ways, that because God has repeatedly (and that number would be astronomical!) extended grace to me, the least I can do is extend it to my students and others, too.
But God has no hesitancies. As verse 24 in the New Living Translation states,
Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. (emphasis mine)
I like that but where it says, makes us right in his sight, other translations use the word justified.
The New International Version words it,
…all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. NIV
Then the Amplified Bible phrases it this way,
…all…are being justified [declared free of the guilt of sin, made acceptable to God, and granted eternal life] as a gift by His [precious, undeserved] grace, through the redemption [the payment for our sin] which is [provided] in Christ Jesus… AMP
One phrase that has stuck with me for many years is a sort of definition of the word justified. It goes like this – just as if I’d never sinned. Saying those four words together sounds like we’re saying justified and it gives us the definition at the same time!
Though I’m still using it, I haven’t quoted from my Life Application Study Bible in a while. Here’s a portion of the study note for verse 4,
When a judge in a court of law declares the defendant not guilty, all the charges are removed from his record. Legally, it is as if the person had never been accused. When God forgives our sins, our record is wiped clean. From his perspective, it is as though we had never sinned. He could do this because Jesus took the penalty that we deserved. Christ purchased our freedom from sin, and the price was his life.
What a wonderful gift we have been given!
Nov 2nd, 2022, Wed, 1:04 pm
Close Only Counts in Horseshoes…
Father, it is hard to believe that we are already two months into the school year and that the holidays are so very near. I would pray for direction as Thanksgiving and Advent are just around the corner. May I put forth what Your heart desires. Amen.
Romans 3:21-26 (<<click here to read the passage)
Anybody that knows me, knows that I am not a sports enthusiast. I can watch games with those who enjoy them and know enough about them to know what’s going on, but I would pretty much never sit down and watch something – anything – sports related all by myself.
Regardless, there’s a lot that sports and athletics can teach us. The Apostle Paul was one to use athletic references in his writings (Philippians 2:16, Galatians 2:2, Galatians 5:7, 2 Timothy 4:7).
That being said, there is a quote that we are all pretty much familiar with that has its origins in the game of baseball. Frank Robinson was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball, from 1956 to 1976. He was the first to say, “Close don’t count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” The quote appeared in Time magazine (July 31, 1973).
Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. You can fall short using those two items and still accomplish some of what you had intended.
To fall short of something means to be less than what you need, expected, or hoped for, or to fail to reach a satisfactory standard.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. v23
We are all – farmers, housewives, pastors, shoe salesmen, seminary professors, plumbers, schoolteachers, popes, doctors, baseball players, and anyone else you would care to add to that list – we are all sinners. And we all – every single one of us – fall short of God’s glorious standard.
There is nothing we can do about it. But verse 22 states,
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. NLT
We are all sinners and we all fall short, but we all can be made right. Jesus Christ is the key.
God’s word can most definitely speak for itself.
Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. vs24-26 NLT
Thank You, Jesus!
Nov 1st, 2022, Tues, 4:50 pm
A Perfect Circle?
A full weekend of physical labor but thank You Father for the ability to do what I did. My body was complaining some last night but today I’m doing well! Thank You for Your continued blessings!
Romans 3:20-21 (<<click here to read the passage)
Have you seen the videos where someone stands at a chalkboard and in one fell swoop draws a perfect circle? (Click here to see it!) It’s amazing! I know I couldn’t do it. I have seen skilled artists painting names on the glass of doors and drawing seemingly perfectly straight lines. I know I couldn’t do it. The thing is if those drawings were meticulously scrutinized, are they truly perfect? I would think it would be nigh impossible to be perfect…don’t you?
This verse from Romans 3:20 states,
For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. NLT
A lot of us sure seem to have our act all together when it comes to living upright before the Lord and the world. But if our ways were to be meticulously scrutinized against the Law, I think we would be found wanting. Actually, I know we would be found wanting. We cannot in our own efforts of diligently, carefully, painstakingly following the Law do so. It is not possible. Only one person ever did…Jesus.
The Law is a compass to the circle or a ruler to the line we have drawn. Our errors and our shortcomings are highlighted by true examples of straight lines or perfectly round circles. That’s what the Law accomplishes for us, it simply shows us how sinful we are.
But you may ask, then why have the Law at all? If we can never master it, why did God give it to us? Without it, we could not comprehend what sin is. The Law clearly spells out what sin entails. And we might shun admitting it, but the Law is a gift. If we did not have it to point out our sin, we might be tempted to argue that we are pretty good people. Goodness, we do that enough already don’t we? How many times have we exclaimed, “I’m not that bad!”
Again, the Law is the compass and ruler that shows just how crooked or out of line we are spiritually. God’s Law is the rule of right which proceeds from his own immaculate holiness.
The Law cannot save us but in showing us our sinful depravity, it points us to a path to righteousness that is available [independently and completely] apart from the Law… v21b…but Paul’s details on that will have to wait until next time!
Oct 31st, 2022, Mon, 12:30 pm