Contrast

Mark 10:32 They were on their way up to Jerusalem with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid.

The contrasting reaction to events leading up to this verse stood out to me as I read this.  Those around Jesus, His disciples and those who were following out of interest and/or curiosity, reacted so differently to seeing and hearing the exact same things.  My mind immediately went to what I see in my own lifetime – the contrasts of response to God’s principles of living found in Scripture.  Things that I find amazing, astonishing, or invigorating are the source of fear and anger and mockery by those who do not believe.  What I find encouraging and empowering, spiritual nay-sayers find limiting and backward.  I am learning to understand that the reason is based in the contrast of our relationship to Jesus, just as it was in this verse in Mark.  I am a committed disciple whereas the unbelievers around me are followers, interested from a distance, so their interpretation of what they see and hear will be skewed.

As I go

Luke 17:14b, 19 And as they went, they were cleansed. … Rise and go, your faith has made you well.

It has always struck me a quite significant that the lepers were healed as they went.  They evidently were not healed while they stood there in front of Jesus, talking to Him, asking Him to heal them.  It was when they started down the road to obey Jesus’ command to show themselves to the priest that the healing actually took place.  When they took that first step, they still had leprosy!  But as they continued down the road (in faith) their healing took place.  This is a valuable lesson/example for me all these years later.  This was written for my edification, for my learning, so I know that God wants me to just go, just act upon what I know He can do, even if I don not see the final result at the very start.  Sometimes He may want to do the miracle I am looking for after I begin to obey Him in whatever it is that He is leading me into.  I cannot afford, spiritually, to wait to see what the end result of my obedience will be.  I just need to start out on my path of obedience and see what God will do as I go.

Cause for celebration

Luke 15:10 … there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Scripture tells us that the angels marvel over what God has done out of love and mercy for man.  They cannot understand in the same way as we, as sinful people, understand, but here we are told that they celebrate our repentance.  It is really special to know that when I, as a six-year-old child accepted Christ, the angels in heaven celebrated!  I was important enough to cause that celebration!  It has been said that if I were the only sinner on earth, Jesus still would have been willing to die for me and the fact that the angels celebrate over just one repentance confirms that for me.  It is invigorating spiritually to know how important my salvation is to God, to Jesus, and to the angels.  The angels are so focused on glorifying God that what I do in response to Him is pleasing to all of heaven and is cause for celebration.

Be dressed and ready

Luke 12:35 Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning.

This is a picture of readiness for whatever may come or whatever may happen.  There is a sense here that if I am ready, then I won’t have to stop and think how to respond when a call comes for service.  When I am confronted by a need I will be able to respond favorably because I am dressed and have my lamp already burning.  Being dressed is my picture of personal preparation; having a personal relationship with God means I am clothed with the garment of salvation and the shoes of the gospel of peace.  Having my lamp burning means I am able to see where and how to walk because the light of the Word is lighting my path.  With my clothing and my lamp already both in place, then I am automatically ready for service.

Full of joy

Luke 10:21 Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.  Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.”

This prayer of Jesus makes me feel “weepy” as I consider the delight He had in His spirit over watching His disciples and listening to their excited accounts of how God had blessed their ministries as they had gone out two-by-two.  He was full of joy, this verse says, and I see a couple sources of that joy:

            1. He had joy because the disciples were so excited over their ministry;

            2. He had joy because God had been willing to use such simple men for His purposes;

            3. He had joy because the disciples had grown so much in their knowledge and understanding of spiritual things.

This encourages me because I can picture His joy over me when I grow spiritually as well.

He knows my name and uses it!

John 10:3b-4 He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

I see two wonderfully encouraging things in these verses that give me courage for the day ahead, so full of unknowns.  First of all, God knows my name and leads me by name.  My leading from God is personalized for me as an individual.  He knows my name!  Then, because I am known by Him, He leads me.  Secondly, I know Him by His voice.  Because He has called me by name, I recognize His voice and am able to follow Him.  When I am lagging behind, He calls my name so I can catch up.  When I get distracted He calls my name so I can get refocused.  When I become afraid, He calls my name and when I hear His voice I am comforted that He is near-by and is leading me because I am one of His own.

Who gets the praise?

John 8:54 If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.  My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.

Although I must admit I have struggled to truly understand this verse, I do see a basic principle of life here that is good for me to be reminded of regularly.  It is always better for another other than yourself praise you, and Jesus even used this principle on Himself.  If we let God be the One Who brings praise to us through another person, then we can allow ourselves to be praised because then the glory is God’s and not ours alone.  When we can accept praise from others in the spirit of humility, then receiving that praise will be “safe” for us.  To accept praise in any other spirit will destroy its good effects by drawing people’s attention away from God.

Fully explained

Mark 4:34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable.  But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

The disciples were those who were fully committed to Jesus and as that, Jesus knew they needed a deeper level of knowledge and understanding than the regular crowds of His followers.  For that reason, Jesus took extra time and effort to explain spiritual truths to them.  The crowds of people got parables to open their understanding, but the disciples got in-depth training of spiritual principles.  This reminds me of a verse in Proverbs 28:5: “Evildoers do not understand what is right, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.”  I see that same principle in this verse about Jesus and His disciples and it gives me encouragement for myself and my desire to understand God’s Word and the Christian walk “fully.”  When that is my desire, God will give me extra understanding, not just tell me a story to illustrate a truth.

Be seated

John 6:11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.

I have never noticed this turn of phrase until today … the bread and fish were distributed to THOSE WHO WERE SEATED.   That caught my eye as I was reading and meditating on this well-known story of the feeding of the five thousand.  The emphasis has always been on the miracle of the multiplication of the food on hand, but today what struck me was that it was given to those who were seated.  Not to those milling around, not to people standing on the fringes of the groups, and certainly not to the skeptics standing apart from the groups.  No, the food was given to those who were ready to receive a part of the food being distributed.  They were seated, waiting for their portion, ready to eat what was handed to them.  It made me realize once again that as I (spiritually) sit quietly, listening for the voice of God, I will hear from Him.  We hear God’s still small voice in our quietness before Him, not in the hustle and bustle of activity, as good as that might be.  For the food that will give us the energy we need to continue, we must take time to sit.

I am satisfied

Matthew 14:20 And they all ate and were satisfied.

As I was reading the accounts in Matthew, Mark and in Luke of the feeding of the thousands this morning, I was struck by the phrase appearing in all three accounts,” They all ate and were satisfied.”  When Jesus miraculously multiplied the food available for the crowds, they did not just get enough to tide them over until they could get their own food.  They had enough to be satisfied.  That gives me the impression there was no lingering need or desire for more than what they got.  It made me think of the many times I have found myself feeling so satisfied, so fulfilled by what God has provided for me spiritually.  My relationship to God through Jesus has given me fulfillment that I do not see in many around me who are struggling with life.  It is not that I have “arrived” to some kind of perfection, or have a life without its challenges.  No, it is the fact that I have found satisfaction in knowing God and living close to Him.   I want more, but not because of not having had enough of God.  I have eaten and am satisfied.  All who ate were satisfied.

The good stored up in me

Matthew 12:35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

This verse reminded me vividly of an important principle that is very obvious but somehow does not get noticed as often as it probably should.  What comes out of a person (whether good or bad words, or good or bad deeds), comes out of a heart filled with that.  If I have spent my time and energy filling my mind and life with God-based things, then that is what is stored up in me and that is what comes out.  But the opposite is also true, and that is why we see and hear of acts of violence or meanness, or immorality, that is what will come out if I fill my life and mind with such things.

My sphere of influence

Matthew 11:11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

I was struck by the reminder in this verse that for every great/famous/renowned person who serves God, there are many unknown faithful people as well, people like my parents and those who mentored them and me, particularly in the early years of our Christian walk.  These were people who loved the Lord and served Him faithfully in their small sphere of influence.  Each had an impact on the Kingdom of God, just not a big public venue as do those like John the Baptist’s.  Their reward is the same as the famous person if they have been faithful.  I need to stand guard against wanting anything other than the sphere of influence God has given me.  It is that sphere that I will find God’s work for me for which I will be held accountable to God.  It is there that I will find my greatness.

Golden birthday tree

Sister Pam's birthday is coming up and I wanted to do something special for her card, so I decided to use some of my gilding flakes to copy this tree stencil onto black card stock, then populate the golden/silvery tree with some sparkling red hearts.   Then I lined the card front with some silver Wink of Stella pen, and I was pleased with the final result.  The tree is really beautiful with the gold, silver and copper flakes although they don't show up well in my picture.

Anyway, I hope she likes it.

Shall I come?

Matthew 8:7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

I see two interesting implications I can learn from in this one simple question Jesus asked the centurion.  For one thing, when the centurion came to Jesus, he just said his servant was ill.  He did not say, “Please heal him.”  By asking this question, Jesus was asking the centurion if he thought Jesus could heal, so if the centurion said yes, he was declaring his faith in Jesus’ ability to heal an illness.  Secondly, in this question the centurion was declaring his acknowledgement of Jesus’ authority as more powerful, more important, than his own as a centurion.  Both implications were important to the centurion but also to everyone who witnessed this exchange and its outcome.  And that importance carries on to me, today, in the 21^st century.  Do I declare my faith in His ability to heal?  And more importantly, am I acknowledging His authority in my daily life?

Another OSW

I enjoyed doing the "One Sheet Wonder" the other day that I decided to give it another try and make some thinking of you and get well cards to have on hand.  I found a scrap of two sided paper that proved to be just the right thing to add to my bargain wood-grain background paper I had found while shopping at Jo-Ann's Fabrics one day a while back.

And here is a closer look at one of them:

And another one:

And the last two:

These last two have different messages on the inside.
I am definitely going to try this again, next time with a larger piece of paper than 6" x 6" as I have used these two times this past week.  It stretches my creativity to figure out how to use the individual cuts of paper.

Don't be like "them"

Matthew 6:8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

The previous verse tells us what “like them” means: babbling lots of words in prayer, and in earlier verses it is praying in a way so as to be noticed by others.  These two things constitute what I see as two basic principles in prayer: humility and simplicity.  Humility in recognizing that we have nothing except our humility to offer to God, and there is no other “public” to offer Him.  And Simplicity in recognizing that He already knows our needs and our praise but He just wants us to  express that to Him … more for our benefit than His!

Thanks to Olive, Shirley, Doris, Joe and Elizabeth

Luke 6:40 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

There is no doubt about the effect a good teacher has on his students.  As I look back over my own experiences with teachers, I can see how much influence some of them had on me, either in how I understand a fact or in how I respond to an issue.  Miss Olive Tuck, my 7^th grade English teacher, is the main reason I pursue correct grammar.  Miss Shirley Wood, my librarian mentor, is the one who instilled in me the desire to use my profession as a tool to serve the Lord.  Mrs. Doris Burkett, my Gideon Auxiliary mentor inspired me with confidence to be a leader of discipleship of other women through my Auxiliary ministry opportunities.  And my parents are the ones who showed me how to be willing to do, to TRY, anything as a way to honor God, even if I wasn’t the best at a particular activity.  All of these teachers or mentors influenced me and I see a bit of each of them in me now, which reminds me that as I allow Christ to teach me, I will emulate more and more of Him as well, and THAT should be my main goal.

Canning cake?

In a Guidepost magazine recently there was a recipe for "Jar Cake" baked in pint jars.  The recipe said that if you put the lids on the jars immediately upon taking the cakes out of the oven, they would seal as they cooled and the cake would keep for up to a year.  Soooo,... I thought to myself that if that is true, you could have dessert in with your emergency canned good supply, so why not?! 

They all sealed except one which turned out to be our taste-test.  I filled it too much and could not get the lid on, but we needed to see how it tasted anyway.

It was really good!  Pretty much like pound cake in taste and consistency.  So now we have some canned cake to put in our cupboard for emergencies!

World Cardmaking Day

I am pleased to have gotten so much done on this World Cardmaking Day!  I had started a set of cards to send to each of the full-time leadership/pastoral staff at church a couple of days ago, and got them all finished today.  That was ten cards:

Here are a couple of them up close:

I don't usually like to make lots of the same thing, but with the different colors, it wasn't so hard, plus I thought about the individuals who would be receiving the cards as I made them and that made it more personal.
Then I tried another new thing, a One Sheet Wonder (OSW) set of cards, where I used one piece of paper that was 6" x 6" then cut into several smaller pieces.  Each piece was used on a card, making 4 different cards.  It was more fun than I had anticipated and here again I felt like it was not doing the same thing over and over, even though I used the same "ingredients" for each card.  You can see what I mean here:

I had four non-family birthdays this month to make cards for but I feel like each one is still getting her "own" card!  I'll definitely try this methodology again!

Fair judgment

John 3:19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world , and people loved the darkness rather than the light …

Why is God’s judgment to punish sin fait?  Isn’t he a just God and not willing for anyone to perish eternally?  The answer is right here in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus.  The LIGHT is available for all to use, but if a person loves darkness more than light, and chooses to use his darkness instead of that light, then he faces the consequences.  It is judgment on him but not because he was ignorant.  Rather, the light was available and he just did not take advantage of that light.  For me, this statement in this verse eliminates any concern that there is somehow something unfair about God’s punishment of sin.

Temptation

Matthew 4:1, 5a, 8a, 11 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness … Then the devil took him to the holy city … Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain … Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

I never before noticed how much the locations of Jesus’ temptations represent the full gamut of our life experience.  The wilderness of our spiritually dry times presents us with obvious-to-us opportunities for temptation to sin.  Then, even while involved in church or religious activity I find times when I am tempted to be or to do something other than godly-based things.  And in a sense I am most vulnerable to temptation when I am experiencing a powerful and meaningful spiritual high because I am not thinking about the temptation, not expecting it.  Our enemy knows us well enough to hit us with temptation when we are least expecting it as well as when we are most vulnerable so we must be on guard always,  But when we stand against it, he will leave us and God will minister to our weak or wounded spirit.

The fruit of repentance

Luke 3:8a Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

John the Baptist was creating quite a sensation with his preaching and baptisms.  There were a lot of curious people following him in addition to the sincere ones.  He recognized the insincerity in them and was challenging that and in doing so gave us an opportunity to understand true repentance a little better.

1. True repentance puts aside any excuse for one’s pretense of righteousness on his/her own, such as heritage/background (v8b-9).
2. True repentance disregards what you have (v.11).
3. True repentance is not concerned with getting more (v.13) or with dishonesty.
4. True repentance is just that … true and honest (v14b).

When a person has true repentance it will be obvious from the results in his life.  The fruit in keeping with repentance will be fruit that will show its source

Still learning

Luke 2:50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

I do not feel like I can be too hard on Mary and Joseph for not understanding or fully comprehending who Jesus was or what he was.  After all, as I look back over my own life and spiritual experiences, I sometimes feel appalled at my lack of insight in many circumstances.  Even though Mary and Joseph lived with Jesus, and had occasion to observe him on a daily basis, they were only human, finite in their ability to comprehend spiritual things.  They had to grow and develop spiritually just like anyone else, and they had nothing in their background that measured anywhere close to this new experience and knowledge so they had to learn to “connect the dots” just as I have had to do … and am still doing.  My advantage is that I have the entire Bible plus 2000+ years of learning at my disposal and I still do not understand!  I can still learn a lot from Mary and Joseph.

What long range effect?

It is October already!  In my quest to read through the Bible chronologically, this brings me into the New Testament and as I began reading the very familiar stories of Jesus' birth and life on earth as a man, I found myself praying a lot that God will show me new insights into His message for me personally out of such familiarity, and I saw Him answer my prayer in this reading today as I pondered the effect of the miraculous birth on those privy to it at the time...

Luke 2:18 … and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.

The experience of the shepherds with the angels had an effect on them but I have been surprised at two things from this story:

1. There is no indication of what long range effect the experience had on those shepherds.  One can only hope that those who were still living 30 years later were/became believers in the man they had seen as a baby.  We don’t know, of course, how many of Jesus’ followers had been influenced in some way by one of the shepherds, but I certainly hope that was the case.
2. Scripture does not say that any of the people who were amazed at what the shepherds said ever did anything more than be amazed, which saddens me in a sense.  I don’t mind amazing people with my testimony of God’s grace in some way, but I sincerely want their amazement to stretch further into full-blown faith because of that testimony.