Looking unto the Master

Scout resting in the sunshine

I think we may have learned more from our family’s pet Lab than he learned from us. Last month, our beloved pet, Scout, passed away at the age of fourteen and a half. Since his passing, I’ve often thought about his sweet temperament and what made him so special to us. 

    His love – he loved us whether we deserved it or not. Scout was content as long as he was close to one of us. As long as he could look at us, in reality, as long as he could gaze at us long and lovingly. He adored us with his eyes. I’m reminded of this beautiful verse in Psalms. 

  Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us. 
Psalm 123:2 KJV 

    Scout stayed close by us until his last breath. His faithfulness and loyalty were unmerited, as was the unexpected blessing of his unconditional love. 

    It makes me wonder how it is a dog can love his master so much and show his devotion come what may, yet we human creatures fail so miserably to show the same fidelity and devotion to our Lord and Master. How much more should we, God’s creatures, serve and adore Him. Most of us are ungrateful creatures. Yet while we do not show God the gratitude and filial love our pets show us, He still promises to be more than a mother to her child.

 
    When Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me,” God answered and said, "Can a woman forget her nursing child, or have no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these mothers may forget; But as for me, I'll never forget you!” (See Isaiah 49:13-16 ISV) He has engraved His children as a mark upon His hands. We are ever before Him and never to be forgotten. What a promise of compassion, loyalty, and love, even more unmerited and remarkable than any gift of love or devotion we might receive from man or beast.

Scout's sweet hug

Almighty God, Master and Lord, by your grace help us to love You as we ought. Let all our happiness come from loving You, oh most gracious and worthy Lord. In Jesus’s name. Amen. 

Thank you for visiting Write Moments with God. I hope you have a lovely day. 

Time to Seek the LORD

 

Google image. This reminds me of my daddy plowing 
corn and cotton fields. 

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. 

Hosea 10:12 KJV

Hosea preached and prophesied to the Jewish nation and Israelites, in particular. Israel had grossly corrupted themselves with idolatry and many sins against God. Hosea warns them of the consequences of their sins and calls them to repentance.

 

In these words, we hear the eternal themes of sowing and reaping, and of repentance.

 

In the days of Jesus and the Apostles, repentance is a recurring part of the Gospel message. Indeed, John the Baptist came preaching repentance.

 

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 3:1,2).

 

Jesus began his earthly ministry preaching repentance.

 

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is a hand (Matthew 4:17).

 

Repentance—a change of mind or purpose--is no less urgent today than it has ever been. What must be our response to this message? 

 

Break up your fallow ground. The hardened barren ground of our hearts needs to be cleared of the thoughts and attitudes that prevent the good seeds of God’s Word from springing up in fruits of mercy. We need to turn away from sinful behaviors that reap chaos and learn to live according to the Lord’s ways.

 

It’s time to seek the LORD until he comes and rains righteousness upon you. Not some half-hearted, double-minded search, but one fueled by a sincere firmly held decision to search for God until He is found. As Christians, we must make our stand with the Lord and fulfill our calling to be the light of the world, showing the way to truth and love, peace and mercy.  The public spirit and public life in general, art and entertainment, and institutions, even our churches, are under a corrupt cloud of darkness. The only realistic hope for ourselves and for stemming the evil tide is to seek the Lord while He may be found. 

 

I leave you with this Scripture on the eternal law of reaping and sowing from Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

 

Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting  (Galatians 6: 7-8). 

 

Sow in righteousness, and trust that you shall reap the fruits of mercy and life everlasting. 

Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God (Psalm 146:5 ISV).

My granddaughter reading books
by my friend Kathleen Ruckman.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a blessed day and please visit again. 

 

 

 

Christian Influence: Light of the World

Lighthouse near Beauford, SC

Ye are the light of the world. Matthew 5:14a

 

 

Jesus Christ is speaking to his disciples.  He calls them light. He ordained this to be. Light. That pure, penetrating element with power to reveal all the truth hidden and obscured beneath a cloak of darkness. 

 

Recall Jesus said He was the light. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

 

So that light shining through us as Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ comes from the Source of all Light.  Our light shining will exhibit the spirit of Jesus. 

 

Would we ever be so bold to identify ourselves as light? Jesus said, we are the light of the world.

 

Had He said, the earth, we might have been able to narrow our influence’s focus on wherever our feet might tread.  Having specified, the world, our Christian influence is meant to radiate light like the stars and enlighten the world.

 

Keep in mind, the world is Satan’s domain. Under Satan’s influence, the world is made of systems built on God’s earth, systems of society, religion, civilization, that rarely or never take into account Jesus Christ and His gossip of the Kingdom of God. 

 

Jesus says we are to be the light in those places.

 

And the devil, taking him (Jesus) up into a high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. Luke 4: 5-7 KJV

 

The devil attempted to buy out Jesus, not unlike the manner in which he had tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden, and not unlike the way he entices men and women today to worship him rather than God.

 

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’Luke 4:8

 

Hold fast to Him so that you may become blameless and pure, Children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. (See Philippians 2:15)

My son with his little nephew (my grandson) picking strawberries

Thank you for visiting Write Moments with God. I hope your day is blessed by the light of God's love. 

 

 

Pruning Time

 

Every branch of mine that bears no fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. John 15:5

    Gardening is one of my simple pleasures. The plants, shrubs, and trees in my yard reward our collective and my unskilled efforts. I rely on help from the family and a monthly guide for my geographical region written by horticultural experts. My principal dilemma is when and how best to prune the shrubs and trees. Dead branches and wayward limbs and shoots that weaken the energy of the plant and retard its growth must be removed. When pruning is properly done at the right time, the plants produce healthier blossoms and fruit. I am rewarded by a beautiful thriving garden.

As Christians, our branches are in the True Vine, Jesus Christ. Could anything be more needful to us as part of the body of Christ than pruning by the Master Gardener? For a season, trials and suffering serve to perfect us. We read in Romans 5: 2-5:

…we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

    As God prunes away the useless and the sinful things that draw our focus and strength away from Him, the fruits of the Holy Spirit, such as love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) – sprout forth and grow. Beautiful fruit indeed. Renewed fellowship and joy awaits as well.

Dear God, help us not despise your pruning but trust in your loving care. May the fruits of the Holy Spirit grow in abundance in our lives and bless the body of Christ. Amen.

Thanks so much for visiting Write Moments with God today. I appreciate you.

The Divine Standard: Holy and Blameless

Shutterstock image

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48 ESV

 

The disciples must have been surprised by these words of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the standard He sets before them is God Himself. Jesus doesn’t say tryto be perfect: He says be ye perfectas your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Jesus enjoins them and thus, all believers, to imitate God’s perfect kindness, mercy, and holiness.

Impossible indeed, but with God all things are possible (See Matthew 19:26). Besides, Jesus wouldn’t tell his disciples to be perfect if it were not possible. Through one man, Adam, the curse of sin entered the world. Through Jesus’s life and sacrificial death on the Cross, He took away the sins of the world.

 

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 1:29 ISV

 

Through the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sins, redemption, right standing with God is available to all those who believe in Him. By His grace, we can grow in unity with Him when we endeavor to keep his commandments and honor Him as the Lord of our lives. 

When asked which is the greatest commandment, Jesus speaks right to the heart of the matter.

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and will all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22: 37-40. ESV

Does it seem the whole of God’s moral law is comprised in these commandments? Although this seems like an unreachable ideal, it stands nevertheless as the ideal to which we must aspire. Our relationship with God is a process which works itself out in the details of our lives. Endless opportunities avail themselves for us to conform to the image of Christ in our thoughts, words, and deeds. A believer’s heart transformed into a heart of love, seeks God’s will, identifies with His interest in others, and extends His love and mercy to the world around him.

I encourage you to have confidence in God. The Apostle Paul said, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.(See Ephesians 1:4) 

Can we presume to seek perfection? How can we not when Christ gave so much?

 

My granddaughter Evie, November 2020.

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The Evidence of Things

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. James 2:26 KJV 

 Faith drops the letter into the mailbox and relies on its reaching its destination. Faith sits in the dentist’s chair and trusts it is for his good. Faith plants the bulbs and waits for blooms in due season. In each case, the outcome is out of our hands, but we’ve taken the first step. We’re put our trust in some unseen operation to accomplish something that we cannot accomplish for ourselves. Faith is the action that sets it all into motion. 

 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 KJV 

 Faith is irrelevant to feelings or impressions, or even improbabilities. Faith takes God at His word and believes Him to be true and unchanging. God can work in my life when I commit myself to Him. When I hand my petitions over to Him, confident in His infinite wisdom and power, He brings about whatever is good in His sight. If you are a Christian, you already have faith. Pray with the faith you have. Ask God to increase your faith. 

 Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! (See Mark 9:24) 

 Abide in Him, trust Him, and you’ll see the evidence of things hoped for. 

 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13a ERV

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TREASURE in CLAY VESSELS

Photo by gerti gjuzi on Unsplash

Helping Hurting Hearts

My Daddy's Bible

Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad. Proverbs 12:25 KJV 

Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up. Proverbs 12:25 NIV 

Throughout the Proverbs, Solomon has much to say about the power of words to bring comfort. He likens them to silver, refreshing water, food, medicine, and a tree of life. Good words bring good to others and lift the hearts of those weighed down with depression or worry. 

I am reminded of the inscription written in the front of my daddy’s little black bible. It reads as follows:

    People need from us nothing so much as good cheer and encouragement. Life is hard for most of us and needs inspiration. The best friendship is that which inspires us to do better, to do our best. 

The tiny New Testament was a gift from his Sunday school teacher, signed sincerely in 1937. Her heart-felt words left a wise and enduring message. 

Someone near you could be blessed by your words of good cheer and encouragement. You never know the impact your words might make on a person’s day, on a person’s life. They may bring sweetness to that soul and heal a hurting heart. Maybe your words will even soften a sin-hardened heart and make it ready to receive God’s redeeming grace. Be ready to speak healing words to hurting hearts. 

   Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul and health to the bones. Proverbs 16: 24 KJV

Image acquired from Shutterstock

Thank you for visiting Write Moments with God. I hope you'll be inspired to speak pleasant words today to those around you. Feel free to share this blog post and leave your comments.

Fret not: you are not forsaken

Photo courtesy of Eileen DeCamp

Fret not thyself. Psalm 37:1

 

So begins David’s 37^th Psalm, one of my favorites for encouragement. David forbids the believer to fret over evil-doers and their prosperity.  The state of the godly person (who we hope to be ourselves) is juxtaposed with the short-lived prosperity of the wicked. As we often see, folks who care not a twit for God’s laws flourish and prosper by worldly standards. Rather than be perplexed, don’t fret.

 

Emotional turmoil is suggested by the word fret, one of its meanings being to gnaw away at or devour. Fretting over little matters or significant ones, personal disappointments or wrong-doing in general, wears away at contentment and peace of mind. Even for legitimate cause, fretfulness is not a wise state of mind. David extols us three times not to fret.

 

Instead,

Trust in the Lord, 

delight in Him and his ways, 

commit your way to Him, 

rest in Him, 

wait patiently for Him, and 

cease from anger and wrath. 

 

God is aware of the state of the world and everyone in it. He knows our days (v.18). I’d rather commit my way to Him, take my worries and concerns to Him, do the duty which lies nearest, and trust Him. That’s not always easy. Even devoted Christians fight spiritual battles with self and the world daily. But no day goes by that God doesn’t take account of our petitions and our actions.

 

For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints. Psalm 37:28.

 

Allow the wise counsel of the psalmist to inform your days and give you peace and courage. There’s no need to fret, child of God. You are not forsaken.

 

 

Some of my family at Plymouth Rock. November 2020

Thank you for visiting Write Moments with God today. I've resolved in the new year to post more regularly. We could all use some good cheer and inspiration. 

 

Hope while the Storm Rages: When No Signposts Light the Way

Sunset on Oahu - May 2018

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved. Acts 27:20 NIV

The story of Paul’s voyage to Rome is a prime example of the trials and tribulations on the walk of faith all through the human story. Although it is a common theme in modern Christianity that the pathway of faith is strewn with riches and all good things while God lifts all His faithful followers out of the plane of difficulties, real experience is quite the contrary. Every one of the “great cloud of witnesses” lived lives of alternating trials and triumphs. (See Hebrews 11).

Paul is an example of how much a child of God can suffer without losing hope. Paul boosts of his suffering (See 2 Corinthians 11:22-33 for the list.) Though broken in body, he was never broken in spirit. The account of this particular shipwreck tells of his being tossed upon a stormy sea for days on end. Yet during this time he encouraged the others, even when no common sign posts lit the way. The other seafarers gave up all hope of being saved. Paul knew he couldn’t save himself; his hope was in God.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1 KJV

For people to live in this everyday world in real surroundings with a hundred and one practical conditions which have to be met in practical ways, hope in God lifts us out of the plane of common sense and trials where our faith is perfected and His love and mercy see us through the storms. 

Like Paul, trust God, and many besides yourself will receive deliverance and salvation. 

For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4 NIV

Sunset on Oahu - May 2018

Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet: A Lesson of Mutual Love & Esteem

Photo courtesy of Eileen DeCamp ~ Parkstein, Germany

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. . . Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. John 13:1a,3 NIV

Jesus knew who He was, fulling comprehending the magnitude of His deity, God’s purposes, and the purpose of His life on earth as the Son of God and Man. I could stop reading at that verse and meditate on it until Christ returns, and still not grasp the fullness of it. 

But there is so much more here in this story of Jesus’ last hours before The Cross.

He was a man with no doubts about Himself. I’ve read entire books about achieving my authentic self. Many of us are taught to aim for self-realization, especially in some disciplines, such as psychology and counseling. The great aim of Jesus’ life was not self-realization, but the realization of 

God’s purposes.

For I am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. John 6:38 ASV

I’ve read John 13:1-17 over and over for the past month. I am astounded by our Lord’s great humility and His love. 

Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. John 13:1b

Jesus knew who would betray Him. That did not stop our Lord from washing Judas’ feet. He washed Judas’ feet, along with the other disciples’. Jesus loved him, also, even knowing. Knowing how He was loved greatly by the Father, and how the Father so loved the world, He loved generously and bestowed lavishly that great love on others. By His grace, by His mercy, through no merit of their own. 

So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. John 13:4,5

He voluntarily did this menial task, an act of servitude and humility. When he had finished, he asked them if they understood what He had done for them.

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. John 13:14-17

This principal is easier to understand than it is to implement in real life action. By His own admission, Jesus gave us an example. Washing the feet was an ordinary daily task for these men. It was a physical act, a drudgery. It was something that needed to be done. If Christ could do this, then who are we to disdain to do even lowly tasks for the good of someone and the glory of God. Jesus gave us a great lesson of mutual love and esteem.

I am reminded of the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) who showed compassion for the stranger who was naked and beaten in the ditch. He bandaged his wounds, took him to an inn, and paid for his care. (I might note that he didn’t just pray for him or hand him a gospel tract.) He endeavored to alleviate his suffering by concrete actions, and, according to Jesus, was a neighbor to the man.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Philippians 2:5-8 NIV

Thanks to Eileen DeCamp for her beautiful photography - dogwood tree

Thank you for visiting Write Moments with God. May God bless you with all spiritual blessings during this Holy Week 2018.