This morning when reading the paper (El Paso Times, Feb. 10th, Living Section) I came across two articles which caught my eye. The heading read, ”Connection with Divine to be found in Everyday Life.” That’s true enough. Then I kept reading.
The first article was written by a devout Muslim. It made sense….how to seek God in every aspect of our daily life….how to praise and worship God. In fact it could have been written by a Christian…..that is, until the last sentence. He writes that we are either “lucky or unlucky” in seeing the opportunities presented to us. The “unlucky” ones will “throw themselves into hellfire”. Lucky……..Unlucky??
The second article was written by a Hindu. He too, had a message of recognizing the Divine in all of nature and the Divine that resides within each of us. Through Yoga and contemplation we are able to reach the Divine and become one with him.
These well written articles appeal to many spiritual seekers. But one must read carefully to fully understand their impact.
As a Christian, I am not deceived into thinking that we ourselves can either have “good luck or be unlucky”. We don’t depend on luck. God created us with an opportunity for moral choices, yes….but not because of luck. We have options. Unfortunately, most of us make wrong choices in life. But wait….there’s more.
The Hindu in turn, says that we must open our minds to the Divine Spirit to become one with the Divine Nature. “Yoga means the union of the individual soul with the universal soul.” Then surely all happiness will be ours!
Is man really capable of obtaining and recognizing the Divine by simply focusing our thoughts in meditation? Neither article mentioned “sin”.
If I am reading the Bible correctly, the writers tell us that Man through his own will, defied God and sin entered the world. Sin is a result of our disobedience to the perfect will of our Creator. We ourselves cannot realize God’s perfect will for man, because we live in a world corrupted by sin. Elevating our thoughts….even with prayer and meditation will never take away sin. It’s here to stay until the Sinless One comes again, with a New Heaven and New Earth.
Our attempt to “climb to heaven” on the ladder of reason, morality, and experience cannot get us one step closer to the Divine Perfection. Biblical faith emphasizes that we cannot ascend to God on our own, but that the God of the Bible descends down to us. However, we look for a God that fits in with our world view. We remake God in our image.
The apostle Paul when writing to the Romans (3:21-24) “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
When the God/man Jesus entered our world it was for one reason. To save Mankind (that’s us) through faith in Him…..God imputes his perfection to us!! That’s the way it is.
In pride, we try to rise to heaven through our own creative processes, but God descends to us in humility, and self sacrifice. We seek truth within ourselves or in universal laws derived from moral intuition, but God has surprised us…His name is Jesus, the Messiah and Savior of all mankind.
John 14:6…. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
A friend of mine recently told me about the death of his dearly beloved little pet dog, who had been part of their family for 14 years. In human terms this little critter would have been 84 years old. Not bad for a dog. Regardless of that, the family was very sad to lose their little friend.
I also have lost two dogs. Both of whom were sick and we felt it necessary to relieve their suffering. Of course we cried. We missed them terribly and would retell stories of their cute habits and their devotion to our family. Each one had a distinct personality.
While raising my four children we had a variety of pets…rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, turtles, fish, lizards, birds, cats, dogs, horses……have I left any out?
Yet what was always amazing to me is that each of these creatures was endowed with an individual spark of the Divine. Each one had a little personality….if I might call it that. One lizard loved bananas while the other one wanted only meal worms. The fish always knew when it was feeding time by swimming up to the top of tank. The horses would whinny when they saw my daughter pull her truck up to their stall. Have you ever seen a rabbit chase a dog?
All of the animals are God’s special creation. And no, they didn’t enter the world through some evolutionary processes. They have distinct genetic characteristics within their own species. A horse is still a horse whether black, brown, white…small or large. A hamster was never a fish.
Genesis 1:24-25, tells us God created His creatures, each after their own kind ….he didn’t need millions of years to do His work. Man (Adam) was given dominion over the earth. He was to care for the earth and all of the creatures under his control.
That means that we too are responsible for our use of the earth, its resources, and its creatures. This is our world and we are to handle it wisely. We are to use the resources that the Lord has provided with care and concern. These resources are not to be wasted but used with discretion for man’s benefit.
We are also to care for all of God’s creatures which are under our control. God even gave special instructions for us. Notice these verses and how the Lord wanted man to care for His special creatures.
Deuteronomy 22:7”If a bird’s nest happens to be before you along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, with the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; 7 you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself, that it may be well with you and that you may prolong your days.” The rabbis’ said to take the young birds or eggs only when there was no other food available, but that one must have respect for mother bird and her young.
Deut 25:4 “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain. In other words, the ox also deserves his share of the harvest when he is working. Paul mentions this well known principle to both Timothy and the Corinthians in regards to those who are doing the Lord’s work. (1Cor. 9; 9 and 1 Tim. 5:18)
Exodus 23:5 “If you see the donkey …of someone who hates you… fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help him with it.” In other words, we are not to leave the poor animal, which has fallen… even if it belongs to someone you dislike. We are to help an animal who is being unjustly treated. This demonstrates to that person that you have care and concern for both him and his animal. I am thinking about the poor thirsty and hungry horses that were recently found out in our desert.
Jesus said (Luke 12:6) “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God.”
God loves his creation. You and I are at the top of His list.
But until He returns to establish His new heaven and new earth, you and I are responsible for its care.
By the first of the year, my kitchen cabinets are a mess. Outdated spices, stale cereal; old cans and jars of unusual things (stuffed cabbage leaves or hot mushroom dip??} You probably have the same problem. I simply must clean those shelves.
But did you know that God also demanded a clean kitchen, although slightly different from ours. Pick up your Bible and read Exodus 12. It is about the first cabinet cleaning in history!
A quick review……
God told Moses it was time for the Hebrews to leave Egypt. They had been in that land for close to 500 years. Now God himself was going to help them leave. King Pharaoh was about to lose his best help. He had more pyramids to build. He was not going to free those slaves!! God, through his servant Moses, warned Pharaoh that unless he released the people drastic tragedies were about to happen.
You remember the story of the ten plagues? The last one was the worst of all. Every firstborn in the land would die, from the first born of the cattle to the King’s son. The only way for the Hebrews to escape the same fate was to follow the detailed instructions given to them. They were told exactly how to prepare the lamb for a sacrifice. They were told the blood of a perfect baby lamb was to be brushed on the sides and top of the doors. God even gave them instructions on the bread they were to prepare. Every detail was outlined for them. This was to be a memorial feast which was to be kept forever in remembrance of the freedom they were about to receive from God. This was the great sacrifice of the perfect lamb whose blood would save them from the same fate as the Egyptians.
In preparing their bread, God told them that it must be made without yeast. No self rising flour here! Yeast represented sin. Therefore there was to be no yeast in the bread. But not only that, they were to clean their cupboards. Sweep, wipe, dust, and clean again. No yeast was to be found in their homes. In other words, sin was to be swept away.
Yet the real story lays in that perfect little lamb of sacrifice. His blood was given so that when the Lord passed over the homes, He would see the blood of the innocent lamb and the first born child would not die.
Couldn’t God see inside those homes? Didn’t He know who lived there? Why did He insist on that little lamb’s blood? An innocent lamb that had done no wrong would die for others.
This night was to be special in the lives of all people. But this was only the beginning of God’s plan. Thousands of years later, Jesus would become that perfect lamb of sacrifice. His blood makes it possible for us to escape the death which will come upon all people. God will see His blood and “pass over” us just as the Lord passed over those homes with the blood on the doors.
We will live a life pleasing to God, because Jesus became the perfect sacrifice. Believing on Him, also takes away the yeast of sin. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-10 KJV)
Of course that can only happen when we accept His sacrifice. We must do what we are told. Just as those early Hebrews had to obey orders we must do the same. It’s not our way but God’s way. Confessing is a necessary part of our forgiveness. And that includes………..
Cleaning out our own “closets”.
This is our part. Yeast removal!!! Search those dark corners of your life. Sweep, and dust and scrub. Don’t hide the little yeast which you hate to give up. God knows where to find it. Yeast can grow and spread, just like the yeast of that bread in the oven. “A little yeast can leaven the whole lump,” (Galatians 5:9)
In other words, it doesn’t take much sin to disturb our life. Just a little. So start your housecleaning today.
Closet cleaning is good for our lives and for our souls……….
Genesis 2:7.7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (KJV).When reading those verses I am reminded of God’s perfect work in our lives. He turned dust of the ground into something wonderful and amazing. Godbreathed into Man the breath of life. It was God who formed man and gave him life. Man didn’t evolve from some primordial swamp. So here we are today.
When I was a little girl, my father’s hobby was to polish and smooth stones that we would pick up at along the road or when traveling through the woods. I often wondered how he knew which stones to choose……there were so many and none of them looked worth taking home. They were all ugly and dull. They were jagged and dirty I could see no use for any of them.
He bought a little machine that he loaded with sand and water. The machine had a round wheel and screws attached the wheel to a belt which caused it roar to life as it turned round and round…..When it was fully loaded with the sand, water and those ugly rocks, it would make a terrible noise.
Sometimes that little tumbling machine had to run day and night for several days before my father felt it was ready to unload. I would anxiously wait for him to open it up and see what had happened to those stones. I asked my father why he had to add all of that sand and water to the machine.
He put me on his lap, would smile at me, and gently say, “My child, you go about your playing for awhile, and when the machine finishes its work, we will open it up and we shall find something wonderful inside…… It will be truly amazing!
When the time finally came to open that machine…….he carefully unscrewed the wheel. He took out the stones from the inside. They still looked ugly and rough and worthless. But he washed them carefully, and laid them on a soft towel, wiping each one with great care. It was then that I could see the real beauty of each stone. They were smooth and round and the colors, which at one time were obscured by the dirt, were brilliant and beautiful!
Then my Father would say to me, “My daughter, you see, when I took those rough and ugly stones and applied the proper materials to them, they become real gems. They have gone from worthless to priceless, but you did not realize that there was a beauty and design to each and every stone, but I knew the difference. “Now look at the end result and you can see what I was doing.”
I couldn’t help but wonder how my father knew that the water and sand would turn those ugly rocks into something wonderful! How could that be? After all, they were just plain, simple stones in the first place. They had no color or shine. What did he see in them that I didn’t?
I believe that is exactly what God does in our lives also. We aren’t smooth and beautiful gems when he finds us laying in the muck of life…..we are rough and ugly and have no visible shine. Why no one would look twice at us! But our Father knows that given the proper treatment, He will transform us into a person of beauty and worth. Why? He is the Master Jeweler!
Sometimes He has to use rough sand and water to do His work… to smooth and polish us. He sometimes has to use that special tumbling machine and let it toss us about for awhile, to take our rough exterior and form it into a beautiful and smooth gem…….He can transform our dull luster into a brilliant shine. He can cut and polish us so that we gleam and are transformed into a thing of beauty.
He takes the mud and sand and watery places in our life to work His wonders. Many times we are cut and bruised. Why, Lord, do you have to allow us to be so “roughed up”. Isn’t there another way to turn us into someone of worth? Surely our lives can be changed through a less painful process….
But the Master Jeweler knows that the cutting, and chipping and bruising will turn out well……..and only He can achieve the desired results……We cannot do it for ourselves. We would avoid all of that pain in our lives. We don’t want to be reshaped…….it is a painful process.
Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father and said, “Father, what are You doing?”
He has answered, “I am polishing your life.”
I say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The sand and dirt and water are just too much Why, can’t my life all be bright and shiny?”
The Father seems to tell me, “‘My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the perfect gem that you have become.”
So you see the end result of our Father’s work is amazing. We come out like perfect gems.!!! We are now fit for the Master’s Crown!
We Americans have always admired famous people who seem to possess that indescribable something we feel is missing in us. Perhaps they are beautiful, handsome, or intelligent. Even eloquent speakers… able to sway even those don’t necessarily believe in their views.
The TV show, American Idol, has captured an audience of millions. We usually pick one with the most talent but also they must possess a distinctive personality and as well as good looks. Occasionally, we are surprised. Someone who isn’t necessarily beautiful or handsome will knock us off our feet with a gorgeous voice or personality. We loved to be surprised.
In the first century, idols were easy to identify. They were statues of wood, stone or perhaps covered with gold and other precious metal. They were representative of the god’s to whom the people prayed. They possessed the personality of a human…and were just as capricious. Idols could do what most people wished they could do. They possessed great riches, could obtain beautiful women and could inflict punishment on those who opposed them. One dare not anger a god who might extract punishment. An idol was worshipped and feared.
Sorry to say, we still have idols among us…perhaps not the stone images that we see in the ancient ruins. No….however these idols of ours often interfere with our worship. In fact any one thing that stands between you and God becomes your idol.
Jesus told his followers about idols although he didn’t call them that as such. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”(Matthew 6:19-21)
Think about this. Our fear of losing wealth…..our mindset of the material rather than the spiritual….even our obsessive love of family… our jobs… our security!! Could these be our idols?
Yes, even family, the nearest and dearest to us take second place. Our Lord must come first. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37) How can that be possible?
The Torah (instructions given to Moses), told us to “honor our fathers and our mothers, that your days may be long….. (Deuteronomy 5:16). Yes, we love them, and obey them. We care for them. However much we love our parents, our children, our husbands, nothing must come before our faithfulness to Him. The first commandment is “You shall have no other God’s before me.” (Exodus 20:3)
Yes, we have our worries about job, finances, family. After all, this is our world.
They aren’t idols of course. But at the same time if we place anything or anyone above our love for the Lord then we are to reconsider our priorities. Examine your hearts.
Where are your treasures? Are you chasing after idols?
Most of us have grown up with Mom or Dad reading those wonderful make-believe stories. The heroes were always, brave, strong and handsome. The young damsels were usual in trouble and needed to be rescued.
We loved hearing those stories again and again even though we knew the outcome.
Cinderella married the handsome prince; Snow White was revived with a kiss and carried off to the castle by her Prince Charming. Even Jack escaped the wicked giant by climbing down the beanstalk. Now, he and his mother had gold in abundance.
They all lived “happily ever after.”!!
Unfortunately, real life is not a fairy tale. Cinderella’s handsome prince is killed in battle; Snow White is left for another (younger) girl; and Jack’s money is stolen by robbers and he and his mother are left in poverty.
We know that “happily ever after” is just wishful thinking. There is unfaithfulness, death and poverty that surround us every day.
Even Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Yes, the dragons, and demons are still there. And no, He isn’t removing them.
It’s not the absence of the dragons……but how we face them. We have a Helper. He gives us the grace and courage to face these dragons head on.
He is our advocate. He is our Lord and Savior. He is also our real Prince Charming!
Matthew 6:25. “The eye is the lamp of the body.” This is a Jewish metaphor for being generous. The Lord is quoting an old proverb here. According to Messianic writer, David Stern, when a Jewish man had a good eye he was generous…..a bad eye meant he was stingy! In other words his “eye” determined his relationship to his fellows and to God.
Although I am extremely nearsighted (myopia) with help of my contact lenses I am able to focus on two things at once!! Well not quite. One eye is corrected for reading and the other for seeing at a distance. Sometimes my brain doesn’t cooperate and I have to practice closing one eye or the other for the objects to come into focus.
Perhaps we need to train our spiritual vision as well. One eye needs to focus on those around us. Those who are in need, not only physically, but spiritually. Give a kind word, a thoughtful card, a smile or perhaps just inquiring about their life. Something to show you care……do this because you are a Christian and tell them so.
Our other eye needs to focus on the spiritual. …on our personal relationship with God and how it will affect our eternal soul…the life that we live after this one. It is our distant vision but just as important as the here and now.
May the Lord open our “both our eyes”……. to those in need here and now… as well as our personal relationship to Him for eternity.
How many of us women wouldn’t love to have wrinkles removed, droopy jowls lifted or that saggy double chin eliminated? I have the solution. On TV there is a commercial for “Life Style Lift”. Time to get beautiful….that is on the outside.
But what about a real “life style lift”?……one that works on the inside and actually becomes better over time. This “lift” is absolutely free and yet cost the Physician His life! It comes with a guarantee. If one follows directions and stays in touch with the Physician forever, the results will be amazing. Our inward “lift” will be renewed every day. Great news!!
The apostle Paul tells us that “Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day .(2 Corinthians 4:16)
Paul knew about life style lifts and he stayed connected with the Great Physician who did the surgery. Paul was cut and bruised. He said he suffered beatings, stoning, and shipwrecks but through it all he became the man that the Physician intended him to be.
We all need a “life style lift. It might be painful at first….but the results will be worth it!
I did not write this but thought it very meaningful and wanted to share it with you
The greatest man
The greatest man in History, Jesus, had no servants, yet they called him master; Had no degree; Yet they called Him Teacher; Had no medicines yet they called him Healer; He had no army, yet kings feared Him; He won no military battles, yet he Conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet he lives today. WE feel honored to serve such a leader who loves us eternally.
John 3:16…..”for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
If I asked each of you to quote your favorite Bible verse……which one would you choose? I daresay that each person has a verse in mind because it gives a special message to their hearts.
How about John 3:16…….”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”.
There is enough in those few words for a year’s worth of devotionals.
The first assumption of course is that there is a God who is the Creator and Sustainer of the world. This God has a love for all of His Creation. He isn’t a “hands-off” God. He doesn’t just sit on some heavenly throne and look down at his people and say…”I gave them some guidelines for life and they have disobeyed every one of them. Now they will be punished.”
No, this God says, “I love these people I have created. I love them so much…. however, they must pay for their disobedience. I demand justice from them but at the same time, I love them. Only by giving of myself can I pay the punishment for their disobedience. No earthly man can offer himself because all humans are sinful. Therefore, I will give of myself in their place. I will offer myself as the blood sacrifice for them.”
So God himself took the form of a human and came to this earth and died as a justification for us. Because of our faith in this God/ man we no longer are under condemnation for all the sinful things we have done or thought or failed to do. We know that this God/ man came to die for us and that at our death; our souls are saved from the punishment we deserve.
And what is the name that God chose for himself when he came in human form? We all know it………..Jesus the Christ, or his Hebrew name, Jeshua, A Meshieach.
AbideLines 