Speak Sweeter

The mosquito has a long mouth called a proboscis.  On the proboscis are sharp cutting tools called stylets.  The stylets purpose is to cut open the victims skin. Then she pushes in her long mouth and injects saliva into the wound to increase the blood flow and sucks the victims blood.  She leaves a small wound that starts to itch within two minutes which is an allergic reaction to the mosquito's saliva.
   Our mouths can be even more hurtful than the mosquitoes.  Our tongues can be very sharp and cut deep like a knife.  The effects can last a lot longer than a mosquito bite and they can hurt much more.

There's a beautiful story of 'Speaking Sweetly,' found in Luke 13:10-17. The Bible says Jesus is teaching in the synagogue one day when He saw a woman sitting in the audience. She had been crippled and bent over for the last 18 years, and was unable to stand up straight. The eyes of Jesus locked with hers and his heart was moved with compassion so He called her forward and reached out to touch her. When He does, the Bible says, she was instantly healed. She stands up straight and begins praising God.  What a wonderful moment.  Yet, in the middle of all the excitement and praise, the leader of the synagogue steps forward and blasts Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. When Jesus defends his actions, he references the woman he had just healed,  but this time when He speaks of that lady he doesn't call her "woman," this time Jesus calls her a "daughter of Abraham." He doesn't see her as an elderly, crippled, woman. He sees her as a child of the great patriarch of the Jewish people, Abraham.

I have this picture of her walking home that day...she is standing up straight, feels ten feet tall, and is seeing things she hasn't seen in years. Going through her thoughts, ringing like the sounds of a bell, are those life and value building words "daughter of Abraham." Those were sweet speaking, life-giving words, Jesus spoke of her. 

Verbal grenades and shrapnel have left multitudes of scars on a lot of people, haven't they? They became like mosquito bites and caused us to hurt. You could still be scratching that irritation even now, maybe, huh?!  

 Jesus lesson in that story is so appropriate for all of us today. He spoke life-giving words to that woman and when He did; when He spoke sweetly, those words brought healing.  Now go and do the same!

Someday

Maybe the most dangerous word in the English language is the word 'some day.' Many of us here suffer from the "Some day Syndrome."  Some day I'll make things right with my mom or dad.  Someday I'll take that trip.  Someday I'll have more time for the kids.  Someday I'll build or paint or make that whatever. Someday I'll talk to my friend about Jesus.  Someday I'll go back to school.  In fact, why don't you fill in the blank I have provided for you.  Someday I will ___________________.  Ok. I hear you. If you can't think of what you would do 'some day,' just ask a friend, or spouse to fill in the blank for you.  What do you always say you will do some day?   Maybe for years you have been living with the illusion of 'some day." You sincerely plan to get around to it.  The problem with "some day," is that it can rob us of "this day."
We are all prone to procrastinate, aren't we?  There is a web site called procrastination.  If you type in the web address, when the site comes up, all that was there was a flashing sign that said, "coming soon." Well what can you expect from a site about procrastination?
Sometimes we have to live life with a little more urgency.  Living with urgency doesn't mean living faster or busier.  Frantic does not equal urgent!  To live with a sense of urgency means to live with an awareness
that you aren't promised "some day."  It means being alert to the fact that the clock is ticking.  No matter how careful you are; no matter how good your car's safety equipment is; no matter how much you 'play it safe'" or 'cover your tracks', 'touch all the bases,' or 'dot the eyes and cross the t's', there is still no guarentee. You see, life is fragile, uncertain, and in so many ways, it is out of your control. We need to live for today because tomorrow is not promised to us.  Think about it dear one, we asked Jesus into our heart to cover us from our past, (you know BC...Before Christ) and we have to have God's care and providence to cover our future. So, if our past is covered by God's grace and mercy and our future is covered by his care and providence where should we live life? We should live in the NOW.  We should live in the present, because that is really all we can do anything about. So our challenge is not 'some day," our challenge is to 'embrace today,' to seize the gift of this day, to live for the moments, we need to spend every hour with a sense of full appreciation for the time that we have.  And let us all turn the last page of our life and see that immortal fairytale phrase, "and they all lived happily ever after."

Unjustified Reaction

The beautiful thing about the Bible is that it tells the story meant to be told whether it's good or bad, courageous or cowardly, charming or repulsive, gentle or violent.

Two brothers fight and one is murdered; a man rapes a sister and the brothers devise a scheme to kill all the men in the town; a King looks at a women and decides an indiscretion is better then self discipline; a whole army is destroyed in a sea, Samson is a womanizer, bears come out of the woods and tear apart naughty kids.  It is the same in the New Testament, Herod bloodies some babies of Nazareth. A couple steals from the church and they are carried out dead.  I would be remise if I left out the Apostle Peter and how he cut off Malchus’s ear. It was one of the most magnificent miracles of Jesus before His death. It was the last divine surgery performed by Jesus. The event concerning Malchus was the climax of a long series of beautiful and gracious healing miracles; but still it is a very troublesome text.  An example of an unjustified reaction.

When Jesus did his first miracle at Cana, it was in the most joyous surroundings of a wedding but here in the garden of Gethsemane, this last miracle was done in the shadow of Calvary. It was a time and a place of sorrow, travail and anxiety of the soul.

Just like the comment made with his first miracle of turning the water into wine,(“every man at the beginning sets forth good wine, then that which is worse: but you have kept the good wine until now”, the same can be said about the miracles of Jesus.  He kept the best miracle, until the last.

There are four(4) very nice lessons concerning this particular miracle I want you to consider. 

First, when Peter drew his sword it was a violent response to a difficult situation.  It was the wrong thing to do.  Jesus never preached power through a sword!

Second, Peter made a huge mistake with that sword and Jesus had to repair the damage for that wrong. Jesus has been repairing the wrongs done by us, the church, ever since.  We goof up and still today He is making reparations to manage the damage.

Thirdly, it was an example of Christian forgiveness. Now at the end of His ministry, Jesus gave a perfect example of how men ought to love their enemies. The heaviest burden you will ever carry is the burden of an unforgiving heart. When you have an unforgiving heart it is a burden to which you cannot ask God to help you with because it is so contrary to the Spirit of the Lord.

Fourth, in the book of John, Jesus tells his disciples that he was to drink of, 'the cup of His Father'.  In other words, Jesus would do only what His Father's will was. If He would have picked up that sword it would have been His own will and not the heart of God.

So we see that Jesus had a choice to make didn't he?  What did He do? Jesus healed the soldier's ear and continued on in the permissive will of His Father to the cross. 

Which do you choose to use in response to things that happen in your life? A sword or a cup? 

Beginning to Sink

Matt 14:30 But when he(Peter) saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, "Lord, save me".  (KJV)

There is nothing in this world as tragic as someone who has sunk.  Someone with a world of promise and yet is a public mess, someone with pockets full of finances and yet they're are broke, someone with a body full of talent and yet is it spent. It's one of the greatest tragedies.  You cannot hide the fact that you have sunk. Everyone knows you are at the bottom.  Your clothes are soaked, you have seaweed in your hair, minnows wiggling in your pockets and you couldn’t hide it if you wanted. 

But my blog is not about people in total despair, my blog is about people who are in the "process" of sinking. They might be a working buddy or a treadmill girl friend.  They could be on the song team at church or the boy scout camping committee.  College level or 20 years as a CPA, stock broker or local laborer it doesn’t make any difference, they are sinking. A person sinking is very difficult to identify and yet they may be very dear or near to us. Their shoes are soaked, their stockings may be wet and yet we fail to even notice that in life, or faith, that very near person is sinking. 

In the above scripture, at least Peter was smart enough to yell to Jesus, ‘Save me, Lord.’ There are some interesting factors about Peter and how he started sinking that may help you or someone you love.

First.  Peter began to sink b/c of his personality... like most of us,he had some personality traits that weren’t always an asset to him.  The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4:2 that we are to be humble and make allowances for each others faults because of our love.

Second, Peter began to sink in familiar settings....He knew the lake, the surroundings, the people, and he knew his boat, but still the water was rising.  Make sure you look around at those most familiar to you and lend them some love if they are struggling.

Third, Peter was on a permitted path...Jesus was the One who told him to come. Yeah, people sinking are not always rebels. They may be 20 years on their chosen career, their dream job or favorite position. They may have 37 anniversaries behind them.  It is the path they took yet they are sinking.

Fourth, Peter began to sink because of fear. Fear is crippling, paralyzing. If you see someone in a battle with fear take them to the side, help them.
Fifth, Peter was a loyal disciple and he still began to sink. Rookies or veterans alike can sink. There was no doubt of Peter’s great love and loyalty to the Lord. He was no beginner.  He had done yeomen’s service to the Lord and yet, there he was slipping under.

Last, this one really gets me - Peter sank while his friends were near.  Yep! There he was right near his buddies, 11 of them in a boat. There is not one mention in the scriptures that indicate that any of them began to help him when he started to slip into the water.

So, keep a sharp eye out for your friends and buddies or your other partners and pals.  Some of them may be sinking.

Spreading

 This blog is about are you as[preading or trying to spread problems

Beginning to Sink

Matt 14:30 But when he(Peter) saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  (KJV)

There is nothing in this world as tragic as someone who has sunk.  Someone with a world of promise and yet are a personal mess, someone with a pocket full of finances and they are broke, someone with a body full of talent and yet they are spent.

It is one of the great tragedies of life to see someone sunk. It is very difficult to hide the fact that you are sunk. Everyone knows you are at the bottom.  Your clothes are soaked, you have sea weed in your hair, minnows wiggling in your pockets and you couldn’t hide it from a blind person if you wanted.  People who have sunk in life are easy to recognize.

But people who are sinking thats a different story. People who are sinking are very difficult to recognize.  They might be a working buddy or a treadmill girl friend.  They could be on the song team at church or the Boy Scout camping committee.  College level or 20 years as a CPA, stock broker or local laborer it doesn’t make any difference they are sinking. A person sinking is very difficult to identify and yet all the time they may be very dear or near to us. Their shoes are socked and their stockings may be wet and yet we fail to even notice that in life, or faith that very near person is sinking.  In our scripture Peter began to sink and I have to hand it to him he at least was smart enough to yell to Jesus, ‘Save me, Lord.’

There are some interesting factors about Peter and how he began to sink and maybe some or one of them may help you or someone you love or know.

First.  Peter began to sink b/c of his personality...now everybody knows Peter like most of us had some personality traits that weren’t always an asset to him.  The bible tells us in Ephesians’ 4:2 that we are to be humble and to always make allowances for each others faults because of our love.

Second, Peter began to sink in familiar settings....He was a fisherman from youth and he knew his boat but still He was sinking.  Make sure you look around at those most familiar to you and lend them some love if they are struggling.

Third, Peter was on a permitted path...Jesus told him to come....yea people sinking are not always rebels they may be 20 years on their chosen career, their dream job or favorite position. They may have 37 anniversaries behind them.  It is the path they took yet they are sinking.

Fourth, Peter began to sink because of fear. Fear is crippling, paralyzing, if you see someone in a battle with fear take them to the side, help them.

Fifth, Peter was a loyal disciple and he still began to sink. Rookies or veterans alike can sink. There was no doubt of Peter’s great love and loyalty to the Lord. He was no beginner.  He had done yeomen’s service to the Lord and there he was sinking.

Last, this one really gets me! Peter sank while his friends where near.  Yep! There he was right near his buddies, 11 of them in a boat and there is not one mention in the scriptures that indicate that any of them even saw Peter beginning to slip in the water. Keep a sharp eye out for your friends and buddies or your other partners and pals.  Some of them may be sinking.

Might

I want to encourage all of you in your faith to day. There are so many detrimental factors slapping at our faith and love of God.  In Ephesians it tells us to 'be strong in the Lord and the power of His might'.  It doesn't say be strong in yourself, or be strong financially. There is no hint of positioning yourselves in the economy through your mutual funds or to go to the gym and exercise your body for the strength you will need to face the stresses of this world. It really is quite simple what the Good Book is telling us to be strong in. Not yourself, but, 'be strong in the Lord' 
  You are to block out all the things in your life that would replace God as your leaning post.  God is the one that your strength is to be found in. When you nurture your love of God, when you know and understand the power of His Word, when you can say "yes and amen" to His promises and know they are sure and when you can claim the blood of Jesus and all it benefits.....that is the strength you are to have.  Only the Lord can provide that.
 Only God can foresee the future and prepare you for it.  Only God can carry the weight of worldly news and concern. Every other type of strength will collapse. Dollars collapse to financial rumors, bodies fall to sickness and diseases, minds collapse to worry and fear, automobiles collapse to rust and ruin and under the right conditions everything in this world that we hold dear for security will fail us. But God's strength, praise the Lord, gets stronger as the leaning on it gets heavier. (Psalms 49 is an awesome chapter about what to trust in and what NOT to trust in.)
It says the 'power of His might'. To me that is really an awesome statement.   How much power is in God's might? If you told me God has might I would say that is enough to keep me. Yes, He is mighty, Amen...but the Bible adds this adjective - 'power' - to the phrase. That helps you realize the full force of His might...and that's a powerful thought.