Letting go

Exodus 35:22 So they came, both men and women.  All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and rings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord.

In chapter 33 we read of the children of Israel taking off their gold ornaments to show their humility and submission to God, a big step for them, and it is very revealing to read here of a main result of their doing so.  Recognizing the “unimportance” of those ornaments brought them to the place of being able to let go of them.  As a result of that rather momentous step, when the opportunity came, they were able to give away some of those ornaments, freely and generously I might add, towards the work of the Lord.  Their generosity made the building of the tabernacle possible.  And what a change that was for those people!  This is a great example of how God can work in our lives a we let go of the hold our “ornaments” have over us.

Take off your ornaments

Exodus 33:5b So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.

This was the message God gave Moses for the children of Israel.  As I was thinking about what this meant to them, I began to see a message for me in this as well.  So what ornaments was God referring to?  It probably referred to the gold and silver the Egyptians gave to the people as they were leaving Egypt.  It sounds like the people had taken to wearing a lot of that jewelry themselves.  It represented freedom from slavery and most likely new-found wealth also.  In that day, both men and women were jewelry for appearance as well.  To take it all off meant visually talking away pride in your appearance but also taking away things that kept you tied to Egypt in a sense.  God was telling them to take away all they thought or saw as important so He could work with them in mercy and grace rather than in anger or punishment.  In that I see a powerful reminder that whatever “ornaments” I have that make me feel valuable or useful or that keep me tied to my earthly life need to take second place – to be taken off – in order for God to be able to work in me.

Thinking of mew

I love the cute stamps that one of my newest discoveries, Newton's Nook, has to offer.  Of course, a big part of my reason for falling in love with their stamps is the delightful plays on words that they use.  For example, the stamps I used in the card I made yesterday using a "get well" set I purchased  recently.  Here is how it turned out:

Newton's Nook has a weekly challenge and I decided to submit this card as my take on that challenge.  This is the sketch for the challenge:

Fiesta birthday

I have been making cards like mad lately but not photographing many of them.  Don't know why except maybe I'm getting too lazy.  But I have found a great new source of stamps and materials for scrapping and card-making and am enjoying some shopping online at Simon Says Stamps.  I got a birthday fiesta set back in December and finally got around to using it today.  I thought I would combine the cute little animal holding a taco with some hearts since it is so close to Valentines Day and if you had ever told me I would combine pink with red and green and yellow I would not have believed it, but it did not turn out too bad!

In spite of my imperfections

Genesis 26:28 We see plainly that the Lord has been with you.

Isaac had gone to live in the area ruled by King Abimelech (Gerar) because of a famine in his area.  Not only had he gone there as someone in need, he had also lied to the king about Rebekah his wife, so he had not started out with a very good record of himself.  But God had blessed him with good crops and he had become a rich but peace-loving settler in that land, as can be seen by his experiences with the native inhabitants (Genesis 26:17-22).  When he let and went back home after the famine, Abimelech and his countrymen recognized God’s blessing on Isaac.  Even with the upheaval during Isaac’s time in Gerar, and Isaac’s lapse in lying to King Abimelech, it was still plainly visible to everyone that God’s blessing was on Isaac.  This is a good reminder to me that even in my imperfections God can still 1) bless me, and 2) make my life a testimony to others of His grace.  They can still plainly see God in my life.  I don’t have to be perfect for that to happen.  What a relief!

An eternal gospel to proclaim

Revelation 14:6-7 … an eternal gospel to proclaim … fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

I had never noticed these verses before that give us a “nutshell version” of the basic truths of the gospel, but as I think about it, there are several of those basic truths here:

            1. We should fear (have awe of, reverence for) God;

            2. We should give glory to God;

            3. We should worship God;

            4. God is the great Judge and will carry out necessary judgment;

            5. God is the great Creator, having created all things.

These five truths need to be proclaimed to the whole world.  The angel in this passage was told to proclaim this gospel to every nation, every tribe, every language, every people.  It is a message for everyone.  Jesus told His disciples to proclaim it (in Acts) and even at the end of the world, God will still want it proclaimed.

Adorn the doctrine of God

I think I finally figured out the problem that has kept me from posting for a month now!  So I will work on catching myself up on a few things now that the holidays and shingles are over.

My special verse for 2019 is Titus 2:10b: "... adorn the doctrine of God our Savior."  Or, as it is put in the NIV version, "make the doctrine of God attractive."  I was really struck by the picture of what God is asking of me, so here is what I wrote the first day I read this and was meditating on it.

Titus 2:10b … adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

So just how does a believer “adorn the doctrine of God?”  Paul told Titus to encourage, teach and exemplify for the believers in Crete how to do this, so just what should they do?  I see several things mentioned in the letter to Titus:

           

            1. be self-controlled.  Everyone is included, beginning with the leaders (1:7) to older men (2:3), then women/wives (2:5) and younger men (2:6).

            2. be submissive and “well-pleasing” with others.  This is mentioned for servants   in particular (2:9), but can easily be applied to everyone when Paul ends the statement with the exhortation to “show all good faith.”  Besides, everyone has someone who is of greater authority than themselves and to whom he/she must submit, whether it be employment, home, church, government, etc.

            3. be pure and true to your faith.  Paul tells Titus that only to the pure all things will be pure (1:15).  This is what gives a believer the ability to accomplish things   for God (1:16 and 3:14).