Take care—

I look at my front yard from my deck, what do I see? Some days what I see is up to me. 
Literally I see grass that is crying out to be cut, or used for a small pasture. Flowers--I love flowers, and there are flower leaves waving at whoever will rescue them. Roses that need pruned and...
Well, there you go. Always some opportunity.

Opportunity?

Well, yes opportunity.

"To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 'Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.' His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." 

(Matthew 25:15-23 ESV)

If you notice the scripture above, the lesson is of a person with a fortune that 'gives' his servants money (that's what talents are here) and leaves on a journey. Each servant does something with the money he received. Two are wise, and one is foolish. 

A number of people have taken offense to Donald Trump. They say he 'was a rich kid, and what he has he inherited'. He has said repeatedly, no, my dad gave me a 'million dollars' to make my fortune. I did not inherit what I have today. 

Something people don't understand is a millionaire, even Donald Trump, can go broke. If you are doing 'deals' in real estate and what not, you can lose it all. A million dollars can evaporate fast if you don't make the right choices, or if you make the wrong choices too many times. 

What Mr. Trump has and/or how he made his fortune is not what I'm concerned with here. Look around you at your fortune. That's what I'm talking about. 

We are the servants. Our treasure is our lives. If we don't take care of what we've been given, God won't give us more. As Dave Ramsey has said, more money doesn't make you rich, it just makes you more of what you already are.

What Dave Ramsey says is people that have to have the latest gadget hardly ever become 'rich'. No matter how much money that comes into their possession, it has soon flown out the window on something newer, and in their eyes at least, better.They aren't wise with their resources.They may 'have' more money, but to no avail.   

"He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his master answered him, 'You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?" (Matthew 25:24-26 ESV)

What he's saying is, if person is a lousy person putting more money in their pocket, or fancier clothes on their outside is like putting lipstick on a pig. 

And what God tells us is take care of your internal character.

Build sturdy relationships 

• With God first
• Family (spouse, children, parents/siblings, friends, neighbors)
•  Take care of your home, car, possessions--it shows a personal, internal honor, a sense of self-worth

In one sense we are all born a millionaire. We are born with a vast treasure given to us by a loving God. Let's not hide our treasure in the ground, but let us take care, and be busy looking for opportunities to be about our Father's business. 

Hallelujah! What a Savior. 

Beggars in the Kingdom

I get it. Most Christians do as well. At least those that have been Christians for awhile. I see quite a few posts on different subjects as to Christian living. Some are on general topics such as can a Christian do such and so activities. For example, can a Christian smoke tobacco, drink 'adult beverages', curse, fight, attend x-rated movies, participate in—well there is quite a general list for male and female Christians. 

There are some do's and don'ts for men (that don't apply to women, ie. "Ye husbands, in like manner, dwell with your wives according to knowledge, giving honor unto the woman, as unto the weaker vessel, as being also joint-heirs of the grace of life; to the end that your prayers be not hindered." 
(1 Peter 3:7 ASV)). There are do's and don'ts for women (that don't apply to men). Herein lies the problem. 

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But all these things are the beginning of travail. Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all the nations for my name's sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold." 
(Matthew 24:6-12 ASV)

Many talk and write of 'end times', and these things have happened for centuries, the famines, wars, earthquakes in many places, so that, to point to these things as occurring in these days doesn't mark end times, but the last phrase is chilling  And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold.

For the past—at least forty-five years—many that call themselves Christians have been infiltrated by those who know the will of Christ, but who really don't care. Those who can read the will of God in scriptures and will still deny and rebel against that will. 

"Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief: for this were unprofitable for you." 

(Hebrews 13:17 ASV)

If people don't like what the elders of the congregation tell them, all they need to do is find a congregation that will allow them to do what they choose to do. Who cares about the Word of God, or the Elders. We have too many folks who just don't care. The mission has been side-tricked, side-swiped, or sabotaged.    

When Jesus became relegated to a lilly-livered, wuss, most laugh and scorn, but they seem to have forgotten what John the Baptizer said of Jesus Christ: 

I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. 
(Matthew 3:11-12 ASV)

These people need to mark well that the unquenchable fire is not something they will want. This post originally came from the scripture in Luke that tells the lesson of the King and His feast. It had to do with the fact that Christ went first to His fellow Jews, but most of them rejected the new Kingdom, so He turned to a people not His own:

"and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." 
(Hosea 2:23 ASV)

In this aspect the Church or Kingdom of today is a Kingdom of beggars from the highways and byways. It is the poor, maimed, and blind and lame, but also it is the people who bow before the great I AM, and confess "I was blind, but now I see":

"And the servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor and maimed and blind and lame. And the servant said, Lord, what thou didst command is done, and yet there is room. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, that none of those men that were bidden shall taste of my supper." 
(Luke 14:21-24 ASV)
Hallelujah! What a savior! 

Rules That Cannot Be Broken

Write ye also to the Jews, as it pleaseth you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring; for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse. 
(Esther 8:8)

The book of Esther is an ancient type of Novella. The story of a young orphan girl, in a foreign land, chosen to be queen of the land by powerful King Ahasuerus. It chronicles her rise to the throne, and her necessity to hazard her life for her people. In the end she triumphs over the plot to commit genocide of her people. Her great enemy is slain, and her people are given the ability and right to defend themselves against others who would seek to take their lives.

  

The reason for her dilemma came about through a grudge a man named "Haman" had toward Esther's Uncle Mordecai. Haman, a confederate of the King, used that power to decree that all the Jews in the kingdom were to be killed on a certain day. 

With Esther's intervention King Ahasuerus strives to change it enough that the people affected (Esther and her nation) will be saved. He sends a second set of letters that give the Jews the ability to defend them self. The commentary makes these points: 

• why the king, Mordecai, and Esther are writing and sealing the present letters-
• why the earlier letters can't be reversed (it doesn't appear that Haman's letters were reversed, merely an addendum added)
• now the people could still rise up against their Jewish neighbors, but the Jews now had the right of self defense against said attempts upon their lives
• so, although the second letters did not reverse the first (the Persian law once made could not be broken) these letters rendered them moot and void--

We can view these forays into Biblical history and learn from them. Here are some things we can learn from this:

• we have laws over us written by mere humans, if those are important we need to recognize Jehovah's laws are much more important
• The laws of Jehovah God, unlike man made laws, are not something we can vote into, or out of vogue. 
• Jehovah's laws are not made on a whim. He knows what's best for us, He desires the best for us, and those laws are best for us.
• The Old Law was nailed to the cross; done away. The New Law, brought into existence and paid for by Jesus on the cross, gives us hope. He is our advocate against our enemy Satan. 

Under the Mosaic Law a person was born Jewish then they were taught how to live according to that law. To become a Christian we are taught first then choose to become a Christian. The Mosaic Law was written on tablets of stone; Christian Law is written on tablets of the heart. The Law of God is not like the law of men; 

Matthew 16:19  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 

The Law of God cannot be broken—Hallelujah, What a Savior!

Magic Bullet

I'm not sure why it is referred to as a magic bullet. Maybe because we want some one thing that will cure everything that is wrong in our lives. Do you ever look for the 'aha' moment in some area?

It might be we desire a cure for an illness, or a cure for a bad relationship. It might be a solution for financial woes, spiritual woes, or societal woes. Whatever we are seeking release from we often feel that the sooner we are released from the stress of the situation the better. And, if  with the wave of a hand, we could be free how much better that would be. Or so we believe.

Most have read the story of the person watching a butterfly trying to struggle out of the cocoon who 'lends a hand' only to realize the butterfly needed that time of struggle to finish their maturing process. And the poor creature, because of the person's help comes out deformed, never to fly, never to finish developing fully.

I have often heard and said many times, 'There aren't any free lunches.' When someone gives you something what do they want in return? It may be a friendly gesture, and all they want is a simple thank you. However, in our today and now, often giving someone something is like fly paper, the molasses catches the fly and they can't get loose.

That brings us back to the original thought of a 'magic bullet'. People get caught up in the frenzy of the moment looking for the cure all for the problem. They get sucked into more problems by looking for an easy answer.

Do you have a problem? There aren't any free lunches. Someone has to pay for it somehow and somewhere. There is no such thing as a magic bullet; an easy answer for all problems. All answers aren't hard per se, but there aren't any that are magic.

"But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!"
(Luke 12:28)

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Every Day

The sun is bright this morning, birds are singing, and the wind is blowing. There is a definite feel of spring and new life beginning to stir. 

Life--what do we think of when we think of the word life? What images does it conjure up in our minds? Just like the song 'As Time Goes By' states there are some fundamental things that apply no matter what age you are living in. Good and evil still show themselves in the passions of life. Jealousy, hate, lust, balanced against purity, righteousness, and justice--these things are still as much a part of human nature as they ever were.

John 2:24 "But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, for that he knew all men, 25) and because he needed not that any one should bear witness concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man."

"Even the best of us, have the worst in us; and the worst of us have some good." 

With some people it is a real search for either. I have more than once said that we are each born with a void, as it were, for good or evil, and it depends on what we fill it with. It is our choice--we can fill it with either good or evil, and that is what we become. 

Matthew 12:43  "But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not. 44)  Then he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45)  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this evil generation." 

How many times do people overcome destructive habits only to fall back into the same old problems, or even worse? In order to do better a person needs to replace evil with good. 

However, even there Jesus' admonition carries a comfort in that Jesus knows what's in man. He knows the good potential each person carries. What a blessing that Jesus is on the Christian's team. More than that, he wants everyone to succeed in doing what is right. He is the author and perfecter of our faith, and leader of the 'great cloud of witnesses' that are cheering for us.

"Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls." 

(Hebrews 12:1-3 ASV)

Hallelujah! What a Savior! 

I

Traumatized

The book of Ecclesiastes is one of many conundrums.Wise sayings that cause me to shake my head and chuckle. Here for an example is the eleventh chapter of Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 11:1-10

1.  Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.

• Show hospitality, even though the corresponding return of hospitality you may never see. Do good for 'whatsoever ye sow, so shall ye reap.

2.  Give a portion to seven, yea, even unto eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth.

• Let your hospitality and your alms be extensive: for you know not what evil may befall either the person who by your liberality will be strengthened to meet them, or yourself who may come to need grateful friends.” 
• Luke 16:9  "And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles." 

3.  If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; and if a tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there shall it be.

4.  He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

5.  As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the work of God who doeth all.

6.  In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.

• Verses 3-6 : "Unforeseen events come from God; --the man who is always gazing on the uncertain future will neither begin nor complete any useful work: but bear in mind that times and circumstances, the powers of nature and the results to which they minister, are in the hand of God; and be both diligent and trustful.” The writer uses images to serve as our example which are connected chiefly with the occupation of an agricultural laborer: the discharge of rain from the cloud, and the inclination of the falling tree, and the direction of the wind, are beyond his/our control, though the result of his/our work is affected by them."  

7.  Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun.

• Savor the good, beautiful, and lovely things of today; the pleasant things of our lives

 8.  Yea, if a man live many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that cometh is vanity.

• Those pleasant things of today will comfort us during our dark days, which all lives experience

9.  Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

• Youth is a wonderful time of growing. A child's occupation of  'play' is for their learning.Likewise older children are encouraged as ones who posses certain gifts from God, to remember that they come from God and are to be used in accordance with His will. In the ways ... - These words are probably used in an innocent sense. Judgment - This includes a judgment beyond the grave; Even the sins of our youth is part of our record. Young people want to choose wisely--it will affect them in this life, and possibly beyond.

10.  Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh; for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

• Remember that to live as God directs (in His scriptures) from youth to the end of one's days will bless us with a guilt free life, and keep us from lives containing remorse and pain. 

Hallelujah. What a Savior!

What Would You Give?

The doctor asks me what he can do for me. I respond, asking, "do you have a magic wand?" 
Of course he doesn't, and I don't believe in magic anyway. However, do you ever wish for something so easy? Most everything in this life that is worth having is bought with effort, with our toil and tears. 
We know this, but sometimes it is nice to dream.

On the other hand we can also be thankful we don't have to pay for some of the things we've earned. Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;"
 
 No matter how good a person is, or has been they can never earn, or become good enough; we'll never be perfect. I've known some very good people, but those who are the best amongst us will be the first to tell us they are flawed human beings.

 Romans 3:24 "being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:"

"The only one who was perfect they crucified." My mother would share that bit of wisdom when someone would expect perfection fromher. She was right, of course. Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, a sacrifice for us. The sinless for the sinful.

Romans 3:25 "whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God;" 

Only if we take advantage of the offer that was proferred in our place will it take affect. Even the demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God. The demons know, but it won't do them any good. We have a chance at everlasting life--now.

Romans 3:26 "for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus."

What would you give to own the greatest treasure of all time?
That's why Jesus is the Savior, and hallelujah, what a Savior!