Sticks and Stones, and Broken Bones

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me...

So the saying went when I was growing up. We all know of course, that this is a childish phrase, and it is very far from the truth.  Sticks and stones can hurt our body, but words can hurt our soul.
 
There are many clever sayings that encourage us to put past hurts, past encounters, as well as past transgressors...in the past.

 Ecclessiastes 7:21 "Also take not heed unto all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee; 22) for oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others."

You may not have 'cursed' others as we consider the word curse, but at times we all tend to have thoughts--yes, unkind thoughts about others--and those thoughts do sometimes find themselves expressed in words.  Consequently, take account that we need to give others room for complaint against ourselves.

 Philippians 3:13  "Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before..."

The Apostle Paul was a man with a past.  He had persecuted the church, condemned Christians to prison, and even unto death, but that all changed when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus...


Paul was a committed person.  He, from what we can read through the scriptures, didn't do anything half way.  It was all or nothing; either for or against.  When he found he was wrong, he did a complete turn.

There are several things we need to carry away from this.   Be careful what you say.  You cannot control what others say--kind or unkind.  However, we should strive always to control, or better yet let Jesus control what we say. Keep our own thoughts and words pleasant.



We should move on.  We need, for our own self, to move past the hurts, the poor encounters, and the transgressors of the past.  Whether our failures, or the failure of others, move on.  Other wise we allow these things to control our future, at least in part.

Philippians 3:14 "I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Our ultimate goal is to be fit for the 'high calling' in Christ Jesus; the  high calling of heaven.  Heaven--a prepared place for a prepared people...



Philippians 3:10 " that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death; 11) if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead."

Hallelujah!  What a Savior!

How Do You Do?

It feels like spring today.  I feel like I sprung today...
Ever have one of those days?  The older I get the more of them I seem to have, but...

Attitude--attitude of gratitude.  The old woman hobbled up to the Church house doors.  "Well, Sister Dorcas, I thought you weren't feeling so good," the preacher says.
"I'm not, but my heart came to Worship this evening, and my feet just had to follow."

Sunshine dapples my desk.  It is late afternoon and a Friday.  And not quite officially spring, but close enough I could almost begin spring cleaning...almost.  Smile

In some places the frost has gone out of the ground, and the standing water has disapeared.  Soon the cold winter will be a thing of the past.  We will begin our garden, and our crops in the field.  Cows will be birthing calves.  A new life to the new year.

The birds arrived this morning.  The air was filled with them screaming at the top of their little beaks as if they just had to tell some one!

It was a day to sit on the porch in the afternoon sunshine and watch.  Watch the world go by.  Something else that the older I get the more I could do...

Ever wonder why we are in such a hurrry?  Where do we think we are going?  Which brings me to heaven.

We sat across the table from the mother daughter pair.  We had come for a Bible study.  "Are you a Christian?  they read the first question.

A few moments of thought and explanation came next.  The mother (who was about our age, give or take a few years) told of her youth, and religious experience, and concluded that, yes, indeed, she was a Christian.  The daughter, who was in her late twenties, decided that she also was a Christian because she believed in Jesus.

Everyone believes they are going to heaven, but they seem to believe it is somewhere you just happen to find yourself in.  No preparation, no worry, just someday after an aimless life of wandering (in the wilderness of sin, usually) they will wake up and voila!  They are there.

1Corinthians 9:26 "I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air: 27)  but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected."

The Apostle Paul here says (and this is my paraphrase) he didn't run his race aimlessly, he didn't fight as just beating the air: but he brought himself into bondage in order that after all was said and done, after all of his work he would be acceptable.

Yet here we have folks thinking they will aimlessly wander through life doing what ever they please, and just wake up --in heaven.

Matthew 22:11 "But when the king came in to behold the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment: 12)  and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless."

There are a number of places that emphasize the fact that heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. The commentary from Barnes says this about this scripture:
        "A man which had not on a wedding garment - In ancient times, kings and princes were accustomed to make presents of changes of raiment to their friends and favourites, to refuse to receive which was an expression of highest contempt, (Genesis 45:22; 2Kings 10:22; Esther 6:8; Esther 8:15). It was, of course, expected that such garments would be worn when they came into the presence of the benefactor. The garments worn on festival occasions were chiefly long white robes, and it was the custom of the person who made the feast to prepare such robes to be worn by the guests. This renders the conduct of this man more inexcusable. He came in his common and ordinary dress, as he was taken from the highway: and though he had not a garment of his own suitable for the occasion, yet one had been provided for him, if he had applied for it. His not doing it was expressive of the highest disrespect for the king."

So we see from this that the guest had chosen not to wear a garment that was provided, and we can understand why he was speechless.

We won't show up in heaven if we haven't prepared; heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.  Today is a new day.  A day to prepare for that day when you want --to wake up in heaven.