THE FOLLY OF CHANGE

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday

today and forever.

Hebrews 13:8

This verse came to my attention when in VBS one summer. I think I was about ten at the time. I don't remember the date but could take you to the side room of our church auditorium where Ruth Young worked with we kids on our Bible memory verses. I liked this verse because it was short. The address of the verse was the hardest thing for me to memorize. As much as I enjoyed Bible memory, there's no way I could have told you what the above verse was really saying or the precious promise involved.

Some eighty or more years later, I now know what that verse was saying. I look at today's culture that seems to be changing almost on a daily basis. I've never liked change, especially change that makes no sense. I had no idea just how damaging change would prove to be in the lives of all of us in coming days, personally and as a culture. It would seem I have been reminded of changes that I could never have believed would be coming down the road.

Many changes have been good. As a kid, I learned to drive a stick-shift car. Oh man, that was a chore. No one was happier than me when I got to drive a car with an automatic shift. When even younger, I remember the weekly visit of the kindly ice man. He had huge blocks of ice in the back of truck. With giant tongs, he would bring whatever size ice my Mother knew we needed in our ICE BOX. Yep, that's exactly what it was. We finally got a refrigerator but to this day, I often refer my refrigerator as the ice box.

Some changes have benefited our society in so many ways. I consider the very bad of the bad in the way of change being that of computers and all attached to to them. Between that and the media, we are seeing the attempted murder of the society and standards we have known and are now on the chopping block. However, the good with the bad is a journey we walk relying on THE One Who never changes.

I thank You, Father, that You are unchanging and because of that can rest in Your consistency, love and my salvation. Thank You for being such a constant in my life. Thank You Jesus for making it all possible...In Your precious name..Amen

 

COME AND REST

Come to Me, all you who labor

and are heavy laden, and I

will give you rest.

Take My yoke upon you and

learn from Me, for I am gentle

and lowly in heart, and you will

find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:28,29

I can remember as a kid when driving out to the farm of relatives that no one ever called to let the relatives know we were coming. Today, it seems appointments have to be made to visit anyone. I recall driving up the small hill to Uncle Bob's house. I'm not sure my mother even knocked on the door. Sometimes she would open the door a crack and call “Anybody home?” From somewhere in the house would come the reply, “Come on in, take the load off your feet and rest awhile.” I don't how many times I heard something similar when we would visit someone in our home town.

In those days, one was invited to “come on in.” Jesus gave the same invitation in the verses above. He simply said, “Come to Me.” For those who aren't believers, they can't begin to know how it feels to have that kind invitation said to us from Jesus, our Savior, Friend and everything else we could mention. I've never been invited to the home of a REALLY popular person, but the King and Creator of the Universe invites you and me to “Come.”

In these verses, Jesus already knows we are labor weary and carrying burdens that are weighing us down in unbelievable ways. Friends we visited were saying to us to “take the load off your feet.” That simply meant, “Sit down.” It always felt good to sit in one of someone else's chairs. They always seemed to feel better than those we had at home. I felt good to shift the load of a weary body onto a comfy chair or couch.

“Rest awhile” has always sounded good to me. I can be lazy at times and it doesn't take much for a chair to capture my body's attention. However, resting isn't something we do much. Resting isn't just the process of sleeping. Real rest is when we come to a complete stop, do something to rest our minds whether reading, listening to some good music, jogging (fat chance) and even praying. We need more often to take God up on his invitation to simply go to Him. That may mean prayer, spending time in the Word or just sitting and meditating on the things of God. So let's take advantage of God's invite...it's the best yet.

Father, I can't imagine You would want to spend time with me, let alone healing all of my damage and then giving me a time of rest that really counts. Thank You for Jesus Who gave His all, that I might find my rest and delight in Him. In His name...Amen

PROMISES, PROMISES

God is not a man, that He should

lie, nor a son of man, that He

should repent. Has He said, and

will He not do? Or has He spoken

and will He not make it good?

Numbers 23:19

In my lifetime of 84 years, I've been the fall-guy for so many broken promises than I could ever count. I could have been put in a mental facility if I had crashed over just a few of those broken promises. Promises run the gamut from bad to worse, light to heavy, small to huge, and even impersonal to ridiculous.

I don't believe there are levels of promises. If I tell someone I'm going to do something, I feel I'm promising to carry out whatever I've said I would do. We are good with excuses for not keeping a promise...became ill, car wouldn't start, school called about my child, etc. The list is endless and a good majority of us have at one time or another used one or other of those excuses.

I'm saying all of the following with a great deal of joy. I know Someone who lived a relatively brief life on this earth compared to the years many live in our day. He was perfect in every way. He loved and served people, along with teaching them how to live godly lives. During His years of life on earth, He made many promises to those He taught and associated with. He spoke of His own soon-coming death and then resurrection that would pave the way for all to accept Him as Savior. That information would lead to all believers to spend eternity in Heaven with Him.

What an example Jesus Christ set for us especially in the area of keeping promises. He was/is trust personified, thus our capability of trusting Him explicitly. God's Word is full of promises we can base our lives on. As our culture wants to keep us in panic mode, it's never our Lord's plan for us. Our job is to stay focused on the things of God and not on the things of this world. We can do that with Holy Spirit power we've been blessed with. We have to decide whose promises we will believe...no debate...it's a given!

Dear Father, God...I'm so grateful I can trust Your every word and that You will always work for my good. May I stay focused on those things that are of You and not of those things or others around me. I know I can trust Your every promise that have no excuses attached. I love You dearly....In Jesus precious name...Amen

BIBLE BLANKIES

Let Your tender mercies

come to me, that I may

live; for Your law is

my delight.

Psalm 119:77

Recently I used a term with some ladies I was teaching in a Bible study and Sunday school setting. I had used the term in the past and that term is the title of this blog.

For any of us who had children and now grand children, we have come to know what a blankie is in the life of little people. With my children, a blankie was just that, usually a child size blanket that would be toted around. The more soiled it became, the more endearing it was. Washing it at times seemed to be on the order of a family tragedy. In our house, blankies were primarily for night or nap times. When not feeling good, a blankie brought comfort. Unfortunately, such an item can become a habit that had to be broken at a reasonable age.

The best blankie that ever came into my life was a Bible blankie. Even today, I don't have just one but at least three others. A Bible blankie is a chapter in God's Word we have come to love and run to. When ill or just feeling low, I know I should read my Bible but just can't dig into a study at that time. I'm grateful for those familiar Bible blankies chapters) I can turn to and be blessed over and over in reading them. I can just curl up with one of those blankies and feel the comfort and warmth as the Holy Spirit teaches me over and over through them.

You probably have one or more Bible blankies but just didn't have a name on them. It's not a soiled blanket or a thumb to chew on... it's the balm of God's Word that has come to be precious, warm and comforting.

Father, You have blessed me over and over with Your precious Word. Thank You for the special times You have comforted me, warmed my spirit during both difficult and even glad times. In Jesus precious name...Amen