a good day to look closely at the face in the mirror.
“You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.” James 1:24 NLT
The Word of God contains powerful messages that we must learn in order to live our lives on earth in a manner that demonstrates our understanding of exactly what it is that we are looking at.
When James was speaking to Jewish Christians residing outside Palestine, he exhorted those who were listening to demonstrate that they were paying attention to God’s Word by obeying. Merely going through the motions of reading the Bible or listening to a sermon in church is of no value if we are just doing it out of habit or obligation. James told his listeners that there was action required.
“For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.” (James 1:23-24 NLT).
We should probably all take a look at how and when we study the Bible, pray, meditate, and read daily devotionals. Are we focused on what we are doing? Are we intent on using the time to feel God’s presence and ‘hear’ God’s voice? Do we pause and reflect on what we are reading and look for ways to apply what we are reading to today? Do we take time in the morning to ask God how we may be of service to Him today? Do we turn off the radio and television and seek the things that we will need to make this day a significant one for God?
Serving God requires constant, purposeful, focused attention.
Not only is it important that we set aside time just for God every day, we must take a moment several times throughout the day to thank Him or ask for His continued guidance.
Each and every day of our lives is a wonderful gift from God.
Using each day with God’s purpose in mind is pleasing to Him. Applying what we learn through reading the Bible and by listening for His ‘voice’ will show the Lord that we are not just giving a glancing look at what we see.
We will show that we are looking closely and we will work on what we see until we can also see what we have learned looking back at us.
a fine day to see possibilities through our fears and our tears.
“So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month of Elul, in the fifty and two days.”Nehemiah 6:15 KJV
A child struggles with the task of learning to tie his or her shoelaces.
Failure breeds frustration which unleashes a torrent of tears. We quietly comfort and gently encourage, trying to instill confidence. The frustration brings out an angry “I can’t!” followed by our gently positive response, “You can. It just takes practice, patience, and focus.”
Growing up is accompanied by repetitions of this scene with the only thing different being the ‘it’ that can be done.
Though the Jews had been back in Jerusalem for many years after being exiled, the walls surrounding the city, which had been torn down in many places, were still in need of rebuilding. The walls were intended to provide security and safety as well as a source of beauty to the city. Its many gates, which were massive, had been burned and were in need of rebuilding as well.
To many people, the task was so enormous as to be an impossible one.
Nehemiah knew that the answer could be found in prayer. He knew that seeking God’s approval and asking for His guidance would result in a plan that would restore the wall, the gates, and the beauty, safety, and security that they represented.
Many of us will give vocal acknowledgement that prayer is a powerful tool to employ in any task that may loom before us, but simply saying it doesn’t make it so.
The power of prayer to seek the approval and gain the assistance of God is real and it is only our faith that can unleash its power. It is not enough to mouth the words or go through the motions, but true faith will produce a prayer that is sincere. God will hear it and we will find the path to our objective stretched before us with all that we need to arrive at our destination or to accomplish our task.
Remember the words of Jesus when the father of the boy who was ill expressed doubt. His response could not be any clearer:
“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?’ Jesus asked. ‘Anything is possible if a person believes.’” (Mark 9:23 NLT).
The challenges confronting us on a daily basis may be considerably more difficult than learning to tie our shoes. But if we pray with faith, God will turn the seemingly impossible into possibilities to be realized and will give us all that we need to realize them.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts…” Psalm 139:23 KJV
We examine the outsides of our bodies in many different ways and for many different reasons. We painstakingly keep an eye on blemishes to see if they change size or shape; women are encouraged to examine themselves for lumps that might be an indication of cancer; we examine our stomachs, our hair, our teeth; we poke and prod and do everything but look at ourselves through a magnifying glass – and sometimes we do that!
But what about a self-examination of our soul? How often do we examine our spiritual health?
The truth is, many of us do not perform this important task on anything resembling a regular basis, and that is a serious mistake. It is important that we ask God to help us perform a “spiritual spot check” frequently. In our busy lives it is all too easy to let ourselves go spiritually in much the same way that some of us allow ourselves to slip physically. Just as neglect can cause us to put on physical weight, we also put on “spiritual weight.” This comes in the form of burdens of sin that accumulate inside of us, weighing us down spiritually. And just as allowing ourselves to put on physical pounds slows us down and has a negative effect on our moods, the weight of our sins affects us in the same manner.
For many of us, too much time is spent searching our exteriors for imperfections when our attention really needs to be focused on the inside. When we ask God to regularly help us give ourselves a spiritual checkup, we are taking an important step in ensuring excellent spiritual health.
We have mirrors to help us examine our skin, hair and other exterior components of our physical makeup. We have God to help us examine the inside. Unfortunately, the mirror does nothing beyond helping us to see flaws. God, on the other hand, not only helps us to see the things that are wrong with us spiritually, but He is there to help us fix whatever needs fixing.
Ask God to help you give yourself a “spiritual spot check” today.
a superb day to thank God for His gift of friends.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 KJV
There is much that has been written, and said, about friendship throughout history.
We can probably all remember times in our lives in which friends have played a critical role: a spouse passes suddenly, or a tragedy befalls one of our children; we have a car accident and are injured; we go through the unfortunate unpleasantness of a divorce. The list goes on and on but the action taken by friends in times of need is always the same: a friend is immediately and unquestionably there for us when we need them.
Hopefully none of us will be required to lay down our life for a friend, although this very thing has been done many times and in many places. The world truly is filled with individuals who place a high value on the friendship of another human being.
Do we include ourselves in that group?
Friends are there for us even when we may not think we need them. Our friends will tell us when we are wrong. They will speak up and try to help us to avert disasters that we refuse to see looming before us. In fulfilling the obligations of friendship, sometimes the truth will hurt. However, our friends will never tell us anything but the truth.
After all, “Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.” (Proverbs 27:6 NLT).
Jesus spoke very powerfully about friendship, and the love that is required for it to flourish and grow. His instructions were clear and left no room for misinterpretation.
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12 NIV).
After He spoke of laying down one’s life for a friend, He offered His friendship to us. “You are My friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:14 NIV).
What an incredible gift He is offering to us. Not only has He blessed us with the gift of friendship from those around us, He blessed us with the gift of His friendship for being friends to others.
Offer the gift of your friendship to those around you. Live your life in the manner directed by God, and thank Him for the gift of friendship that you receive.
Author’s Note (4/29/2020): This message holds very special meaning with me as i begin this cancer journey I am on. The outpouring of offers of rides, meals, errands and anything else I may need makes my head swim. Especially during times such as these where people are definitely facing their own personal difficulties during the pandemic, to offer of yourself to another is truly a gift.
My friends are all very important and special to me, and I am humbled that I have so many. I have never felt so loved in my life, and it moves me to tears.
“So I say, live by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” Galatians 5:16 NIV
Whatever the condition or circumstances of our lives, we arrived at this point under the watchful eye of the Lord.
Some of us are not going to be very happy with that knowledge because we are not in a good place. We might develop a tendency to blame God, but God did not place us where we are, He simply watched over us and allowed us to choose the path that brought us to this point.
If life appears to be wonderful, we have used the talents God gave us to our personal advantage. This, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. But God is watching to see what we will do with our good fortune and how we will use it to help others. He will watch over us to see that we work diligently at understanding His word and applying the wisdom and guidance found there to our daily lives. He looks into our hearts to see if we are in the correct place there.
If life has not been so good to us; if we find ourselves surrounded by storm clouds, trials, and tribulations; if nothing ever seems to go right and all the world seems to be against us: this journey as well has been made under the watchful eye of the Lord. It is at this point that many will wring their hands in despair and look to heaven and ask God, “Why me?”
Perhaps the answer is not as complicated or mysterious as we might think. It is possible to live into our 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and beyond believing that we are “basically” good people. OK, so maybe we drink a little too much, or we might take illegal drugs “once in a while” or abuse prescription ones; we might spend some time on the computer looking at pornography, but “only after everyone has gone to bed”; perhaps we just spend a lot of time watching television or playing video games. But we’re “basically good,” right?
God did not place us where we are.
He allowed us to get there on our own. If we have a “good” life God expects us to share what we have and know that the means of our success came from Him. If we have an abundance of negativity in our lives, God is right beside us, waiting for us to reach out to Him for guidance. All we must do is ask and be sincere in our efforts to know Him and to live in a manner that is guided by the Holy Spirit within us, and the wisdom contained in the Bible.
Each one of us must ask ourselves, “Am I in a place that God wants me to be in or am I in a place of my choosing?”
These words appear in some form throughout the Bible in whichever translation one decides to keep close to them. The words carry with them an admonishment to not do something.
The words, simply, mean “no.”
And, oh, how we hate that word or any phrase that instructs us to stop, or not begin, a particular action. Somehow we became programmed as children to exhibit a little more curiosity when we hear it, or to want what we want with a little more intensity. And when the shoe transfers to the other foot and it is our turn, as parents, to be the ones delivering the dreaded “no” to our children, it is often done with that peculiar “do as I say, not as I do” manner that we adopt as adults.
We are all aware that the largest single list of things that mean “No!” in the Bible would be the Ten Commandments.
God gave each of us the breath of life.
Breathing comes naturally to us and is something to which we do not normally give much thought. However, the act of living the life that God gave us requires instruction. Just as we instruct our children, God instructs us. Unlike many of us, however, God never tells His children to do one thing only to turn around and do something entirely different. He is the perfect example.
While we can never be perfect, we must strive for perfection from a very early age and we must impart the fact to our children that ‘No!’ really means only one thing: ‘No!’ Of the utmost importance is for each one of us to understand and obey without making excuses, finding loopholes, thinking there are exceptions or simply disregarding the “No!” that we don’t like.
“Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus 20:15 KJV). No taking things that do not belong to us. What part of that is complicated? Yet, Dad comes home with paper and printer cartridges from work and the kids hear Mom ask, “Do you really think you should be doing that?”
We can all hear the response, “They won’t miss it.”
Or “They don’t pay me enough.”
Or, a favorite excuse of many of us, “Everybody does it.”
How about one that may not be so readily discussed in front of the kids? “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” (Exodus 20:14 KJV). This is a tough one for many, many of us, unfortunately.
But ‘No!’ means ‘No!’ does it not?
Therefore, it is critical that each one of us take a step back from ourselves and examine who we are, how we live our lives, and what sort of example we are setting for our children. We must also demonstrate to God that we “hear” His words and we know their meaning.
Our children do not always like it when we say ‘No!’ to them, nor do we like it when God says ‘No!’ to us. But children of all ages need to understand without question that ‘No!’ is not another way of saying ‘Go ahead and do it if you want to.’
“He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” Job 8:21
According to the American Cancer Society, in 2020 there will be an estimated 1.8 million new cancer cases diagnosed and 606,520 cancer deaths in the United States. It is second only to heart disease in numbers, and not by much.
Without a doubt, cancer is not a laughing matter.
At the same time, God gave us the ability to laugh, and the gift of a sense of humor, and I do not think it possible to face a future that involves living with cancer without thanking God for that ability and the gift and putting them to use frequently during the course of treatment, and every day while living a life with cancer.
It’s scary, folks. I won’t lie. God and I have had some serious conversations about it.
Well, my prayers have been very serious, and I let Him know I do have my moments where I just feel like sitting down and having a good cry. I know it’s OK to feel that way, and I know it’s OK to cry, and there have been tears shed.
But it’s important we find that ability to laugh and put it to work for us.
God gave us another gift to use, and that is the gift of wisdom, and that particular gift is well-suited to help us find the humor in serious situations.
For instance:
A long time ago, in a faraway land (OK, it was just Lewisville, Texas, but it was a long time ago) my Son, Anthony, was getting ready to complete his first year of elementary school. As a way to close out the year, each child was tasked with constructing a ‘car’ out of a box, or boxes. They had to be constructed in a way that the child could stand inside and walk the car through a course laid out in the parking lot.When the cars (and trucks – it was Texas, after all) were built, the children maneuvered their vehicles through the course. The Lewisville Police Department was there to hand out ‘tickets’ to the 5 and 6 year olds who ran the stop signs (which was about all of them.)
Anthony and I decided to build a McDonald’s dragster.
As you can see, our project got a little out of hand.
Anyway, during the construction of this beast, which included several boxes stuck together with panel adhesive, paper towel tubes, and wheels ‘borrowed’ from a shopping cart (hey, the thing weighed about 50 pounds! No way was he going to just walk around in it like the rest of the kids you can see in the background.)
At one point, when the body was all stuck together, I went to Home Depot and bought the paint and a bunch of disposable brushes so Anthony and his little friends could paint it. I placed it on a couple of metal trash cans in the garage and gave them the paint and brushes and went to go mow the lawn.
Fortunately, I failed to check the gas before I started, and I ran out after about 15 minutes which, of course, meant I had to return to the garage to refill the tank. As I rounded the corner, I was welcomed by the sight of the 5 of them (Kaitlin, Phillip, Nicole, Kyle, and Anthony) engaged in painting everything BUT the car – each other, the floor, the trash cans.
I hollered, “What in the heck (OK, I didn’t say ‘heck’ and, yes, I did cuss at a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds, but, hey, this was serious!) do you think you are doing!”
They all froze and dropped their brushes and looked down at the garage floor. I stood in the carport outside, pointed in the general direction of their houses, and yelled, “Everybody out!!”
In a single file, they all came out, never raising their eyes from the ground. Nicole, Kaitlin, Phillip, Kyle, and Anthony.
Anthony?
My arm dropped down in front of him and I said, “NOT you!”
As soon as the arm came down, the others took off running, and I was sure they would all hear about the paint on their clothes and in their hair. I knew that I probably would as well. Anthony looked up at me, certain he was facing punishment. I looked at the unfinished dragster and the mess around it, then my eyes came back to Anthony.
And I started laughing.
Anthony, thoroughly confused, but now pretty certain he was in the clear, looked at me and asked, “Why are you laughing?”
“Because that was the funniest thing I ever saw! I just wish I’d had a camera.”
“Then why were you yelling at us?”
“Because that’s my job. Yours is cleaning up that mess. Now get to it.”
As you can see in the picture, the car got finished and the picture appeared on the front page of “The Lewisville Times” which I framed and gave to Anthony. The picture you see is a picture I took a couple of years ago when I went to visit him in Bend, Oregon. It was hanging on the wall of his “office” where I slept while there, so I took a picture to remind me of kids being kids and how funny that can be.
I guess God knew I would need it to tell this story.
I had no relationship with Him at that time, but I’m glad He let me use that particular gift which prevented me from punishing my beloved Son for doing nothing more egregious than simply growing up and having fun with his friends.
It was serious, but it certainly was funny.
But now I do have a relationship with Him, which I cherish, and I have a greater appreciation for the sense of humor He gave me, and the ability to laugh, because it sure has come in handy lately.
Like yesterday.
Yesterday was my first day of chemotherapy.
When I took this selfie, I was not laughing, but there was a lot of laughter with my care nurse, Toya, throughout the several hours I was there. Because the situation was just so serious, I had to let her know that we were going to take care of business, but we were going to enjoy it, and laugh as much as we could, because the potential – and time – for tears was always there, lurking.
I told her I admired her for what she did because I was certain that there were times when battles were lost and people she had come to know passed away. It takes special people to do what Toya and her co-workers do, and they all deserve to laugh as much as they can, while they can.
Even though cancer is not a laughing matter, and acknowledging that this treatment I am going through is serious business, it is still critical that we use the gifts God gave us and thank Him while we do it.
“By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.” Hebrews 10:20 NLT
The Most Holy Place gives us direct access to God; to talk directly to God and to know that He will hear and answer us.
When we stop and think about it, this unfettered access to the One who created all that we can see, hear, touch, and smell is a truly remarkable gift given to us by Christ through His death on the cross.
If any of us were to have unfettered access to the President of the United States, we would be members of a very exclusive group and we would most likely develop a little bit of an attitude. After all, he’s a very important man and he has little time to waste on trivial matters. We would be very proud of our status and feel very special.
And yet, each and every human being has direct access to God, and most don’t even give it a thought. The giver of life and the creator of the world has all the time you need, and nothing is trivial to Him. He knows your heart and He knows the burdens you carry, and He wants to carry them for you if you will only let Him.
Yet so many of us think nothing of this unbelievably free access to the One who gives us all we have. So many of us look to ourselves, those around us, or even the president to solve our problems. The simple truth is that; we are too involved in the problem, those around us have their own problems, and the president is far too important to be bothered with our problems.
But God always has time, always has the patience, and always has the answers that we need.
So we have to ask ourselves: While it would certainly be pretty special to have the president on speed-dial, isn’t it much, much better to have direct access to God?
Embrace the gift of access that Jesus Christ gave us when He shed His blood for us and died on the cross. Be proud of the fact that anytime you need Him, God will be there to listen and to help.
Step through the curtain into the Most Holy Place and humbly thank God for always being there for you.
TODAY IS… the perfect day to conquer fear with love.
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18 NASB
The love that God has for us will protect us if we will only embrace it.
Just as the love we have for our children causes us to keep a watchful eye over them, God watches over us. Does God prevent every bad thing we can think of from happening?
No.
But then, good parents know that children will incur some bumps and bruises as a normal part of growing up. It is not wise to even attempt to protect those we love from events that help them to grow. They would have to be placed in a protective bubble, and that would hurt them in the long run more than the bumps and bruises their bodies and hearts will sustain along the path of life.
Our love will reassure them, give them confidence, and help them to set aside their fears. We will encourage them to get on a bicycle and attempt to ride on two wheels. We will do this knowing they may fall down a time or two and sustain a scrape, a cut, or a bruise. In our love, we will help them up, clean them off, comfort them, and encourage them to try again. This is the pattern of life, and the responsibility of a loving parent. The love we give our children gives them courage to do things they are afraid of: joining a drama club at school; learning ballet; becoming a member of a baseball team; speaking in public.
No matter what their interests, we know that there is an element of fear involved and it is our job to allay those fears, and we do this with love.
So it is with ourselves, our fears, and our God. He is the perfect parent, giving us perfect love, and He is always there for us. He will not remove every obstacle. He will not prevent us from falling down or failing. As the perfect parent, He will watch us, knowing that we will hurt ourselves, and then He will be there to pick us up, dust us off, and show us His perfect love.
And for those times when we get hurt, there is no better place to seek comfort than in the loving arms of God. Let the power of God’s perfect love give you all the courage you need to live to the fullest the gift of each new day He gives you.
*****
Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson
the day to search our hearts for signs of self-righteousness.
“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable…”Luke 18:9 NIV
….and then Jesus went on to tell the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. In telling the story, He compared the sincerity of their prayers. While the Pharisee thanked God that he was better than everyone else, the tax collector was honest and was ashamed to even ask God to hear his prayer, admitting honestly and humbly that he was a sinner.
Jesus was very clear as to which one earned God’s favor when He said, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14 NIV).
Sometimes it is very difficult for us to admit that we are sinners.
But God knows that we are, so when we admit it to Him, we are really admitting it to ourselves. We need to hear the words come from our own mouths: “Dear God, I am not worthy of the love You give me, but You love me anyway. I am a sinner, but You forgive me. I humbly thank You for Your love and Your forgiveness.”
We must resist the temptation to look down with self-righteousness on the sins, mistakes, and shortcomings of others. It is alright to pray for those around us, but it is certainly not alright to condemn another while expounding on our virtues.
When Jesus told the story of the prodigal son, the message was a little different but still warned against self-righteousness. Upon the younger son’s return from years of decadence, self-indulgence, and sin, the father welcomed him back with open arms. The key here is that while the younger son demanded his inheritance so he could leave home and live a life of sin, his return home was very humble and he was ashamed of what he had done and how he had lived.
“…and the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’” (Luke 15:21 NASB).
Of course, the father was having none of that and his welcome was warm, loving, and forgiving. However, the older brother felt slighted and self-righteously decided his brother did not deserve the love of the father. He felt that only he should receive that love since he had stayed, worked, and demonstrated loyalty while his younger brother was out partying.
Do not fall into this trap either.
When someone admits wrongdoing and seeks to return to the family or to the church, we must set aside any suspicions or negativity, eliminate our self-righteousness, and welcome them back with support, encouragement, and love.
Search your own heart today, and if you find any pockets of self-righteousness anywhere, empty them immediately.
The After-Oakdale Chronicles 