KINDNESS NEEDED

And be ye kind, one to another, tender hearted,

forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's

sake hath forgiven you.

Ephesians 4:32

It doesn't take much intelligence to see that in our day, kindness doesn't seem to be a goal in the lives of many folks. Kind folks are usually very tender-hearted. The emotion of tenderness just seems to go hand in hand with acts of kindness. One who is given to kindness usually has a very tender feeling toward other people.   Kindness isn't reserved for folks we know personally. There are many times in a store, restaurant, gas station where we come in contact with folks we don't know who may need a kind word, smile or even help.

One of the things I had to learn shortly after Brian's passing was how to put gas in the car. In time past, years ago, I put gas in a car but not recently. Those gas pumps can be very complicated. I usually get my gas in a local place out side our IGA store. There are always lots of visitors and thus folks putting gas in their cars. In these beginning days, I know I looked like a fish out of water trying to figure out what buttons to push and getting the heavy hose nozzle near the opening of the gas tank. There have been several times when gentlemen have come up to me offering to put the gas in my car, even showing me the right buttons to push. All was done with a smile and a good bit of sympathy.

Sometimes we miss the times when someone shows us kindness that are perhaps not as noticeable. There are times we too, show or express kindness when we wouldn't put a name to it...when we compliment someone, express concern about someone's health (and willing to hear the story), expressing gratitude for someone else's kindness.

Notice that along with kindness and tenderness in the above verse is the word forgiveness. I don't think we would consider that to be an act of kindness but it really is in the strongest of terms. This is something that comes hard for us, especially when we have been deeply hurt or offended. This is a really big area where we can be like Jesus. Where would we be without His loving kindness in our lives. With Jesus' sacrifice, we see and experience kindness, tender-heartedness and forgiveness all wrapped up in one beautiful package...ours for the opening at any time, any place, under any circumstances. We are truly a blessed people.

Thank You Father for the example of Jesus who extended kindness in some of the worst of events in His own life. Help us to want more and more to be like Your Son. Strengthen us with Your Holy Spirit so as to know and serve You better. In Jesus' name....Amen 

KING WHO?

Therefore God also has highly

exalted Him and given Him the name

which is above every name.

That at the name of Jesus, every

knee should bow, of those in heaven,

and of those on earth, and of those under

the earth.

Philippians 2:10,11

My grandparents on my mother's side of the family immigrated from Scotland soon after they were married. My grandmother (Mam) always kept up with things back in the “auld country.” I loved her Scottish brogue or accent as we would call it.

I didn't hear much about the British Isles until things really began happening with the royal family. Princess Elizabeth wasn't even immediately in line for the throne...her uncle was. When her father passed away, her uncle renounced the throne in order to marry a divorced lady he had fallen in love with. In those days, he couldn't be king under those circumstances. That left Princess Elizabeth to be queen.

We barely, and I mean barely had a TV in those early days. We watched more snow than we did programs but late at night, we could get good reception if the antenna was in just the right position. I recall getting up in the wee hours of the morning to watch Princess Elizabeth's wedding. After her father died and she came to the throne, again in pj's and half asleep, we got up very early to watch the coronation of the queen. After that we have watched weddings and funerals, every one. My grandmother is long gone but I would not feel right if I didn't keep with the tradition.

Money by the boatloads are spent on all of those occasions. In every instance, “God Save the Queen(King) is sung and you had better not be seen NOT singing it. I realize it's more of a government thing but there are bows and curtsies all around. England isn't the only country with royalty and their celebrations...we just don't hear about the others.

When watching recent goings on though with folks doing their bowing and curtsies, I was reminded of the above verse The day will come when there is only one KING and no matter the person good or bad, position or life experience, knees will bow to only one person...our King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

King Jesus, we worship You this day. May we never bow the knee to another entity...only You. We exalt Your name above all others and love You more than we can say for all You have done for each of us. In Your precious, royal name..Amen

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

Bless the LORD, O my soul;

and all that is within me, bless

His holy name!

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all His benefits...

Psalm 103:1,2

It's the time of year that graduates of every ilk are going to be out seeking employment that matches their educational achievements. Hopefully such seekers will find positions where they can make a decent living.

When one is finally offered a job with a company, there are many details that must be addressed such as job descriptions, company policies and expectations, and of course benefits. One is always interested in the benefits, those things over and above one's salary. Such benefits may include insurance plans, sick days, vacation days, and maybe for some there might be some stock options. These things all vary depending on the company. Benefits on the part of a company, are additional financial “goodies” meant to be of encouragement to their employees.

Of course, benefits with any place of one's work depends on continual employment. If one goes to a different company or is fired from the new place of employment, benefits along with the salary ceases.

Reading Psalm 103, we are introduced to benefits that come to us from God that will never expire or stop for any reason. Some of the benefits mentioned are:  forgiveness of all sin, healing of our diseases, redemption of our lives from destruction.... all wrapped up in His lovingkindness and mercy. On a job, we would track the status of job benefits. I wonder how often we engage in contemplating all the wonderful blessings and benefits that are ours because of our Father, who by the way, is THE boss of our lives. He'll never drop or lessen His promises in any way. Maybe we should take more time in reviewing God's goodness Who loads us with too many benefits to count.

Dear Father, You are so good to us in loading us down with your unchanging love and goodness that is too much to count or even contemplate. Thank You for Your on-going generosity that none of us deserves. Thank You for Jesus and it's name we pray...Amen 

PURPOSE...REALLY?

For we are His workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for

good works, which God prepared

beforehand that we should

walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

It's interesting that when it comes to the subject of having purpose in one's life, that such a thought is usually aimed at young people. It is a worthy thing to train the young to have a sense of purpose in their lives, but we lose sight of purpose not just being reserved for the young.

We should feel, at every stage of our lives, or situations that God always has purpose for us just where we are. Purposes can take different looks depending on the stage of life where we find ourselves. We should find comfort and a sense of security that the God of the universe looks on each of us as having a purpose for our being alive.

Purpose isn't just a job or position we might hold. It isn't how far educationally we have managed to come. Purpose isn't the house we live in or car we drive. All of those things are just that...things. We may have had to work hard for those things, but those things come and go.

Psalm 139 gives a real run down of God's purpose in our lives. He knew us before we were born and knew everything about everything in our lives from birth to the present. He knew how He wanted us as individuals to fit into His scheme of things. Because of that knowledge and foresight of His, He even equipped us to serve Him and others in very specific ways. We have to be real about His equipping us. We may not be who we wish we could be, but He always has a plan for us and how He's going to use us.

Through the years, I've seen young people try to be for God what was never intended. They cry often become discouraged, feeling they aren't worth much for God. Folks at my age (84) can often feel God can't use them anymore, that they are too up in years to have any purpose left. Such folks quit singing in the choir, teaching any age, working in the nursery, serving as a greeter or just being a blessing in the lives of friends and neighbors.

God has purpose from life's beginning until we draw our last breath. What an honor that the God of the universe has chosen you and me to serve Him however He chooses. He has purpose...a reason for loving, living and serving.

Help me Father, to not only realize You have purpose for my living but to appreciate Your wanting to work individually in all our lives. May I keep my eyes on you, despite any circumstances Satan might throw my way. I love You and thank You for giving me purpose in living. In Jesus precious name...Amen

 

 

CALL ME

Call to Me, and I will answer

you, and show you great and

mighty things, which you

do not know.

Jeremiah 33:3

Grade school children today know how to use the most technical of phones they may carry in their back packs to school. Such would never have been imagined in my school days. Phones weren't luxuries by necessities. Just the same, all of us along the way learned the meaning of two words we may have used often...”Call me.”

The first phone to come to my attention was one with no dial or buttons. I picked up the phone and a sweet voice would say, “Number please” and she would connect me from her office with who I wanted to talk to. Eventually we didn't even need those sweet ladies. We got a dial on our phones that was really a cool deal and then of all things, no more dial but push buttons with numbers and letters on each button. For those of us who still believe in reliable phone service with no gimmicks, we still have push buttons on our phones sitting on a nearby table in our homes.

Sometimes, no matter the phone, things can go wrong. There may be a low battery in a phone, lines may be down or we might even get busy signals when trying to call someone. With any technology old or present, there can always be problems at times.

God doesn't have to worry about any technical problems in His communication with us. The problem is us and not Him. His invitation is clearly given in Scripture. He simply tells to call upon Him and He will answer us every time. To return His call, we don't need, dials, push buttons or cells. We can call on Him 24/7. There's never a busy signal or answering machine to deal with. A call to Him is the only sure call we can make that will meet our need. Jesus never gets tired of talking to us or listening to us. He loves the sound of our voices. Call Him today...He's never too busy.

Dear Father, You are so wonderful in giving us Your attention anytime we call on You. May we be more faithful to spend as much time talking to You as we might another earthly friend on our phones. We are grateful for Your loving attention in our lives. In Jesus' precious name....Amen

 

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

GIRL IN A TUB

Wash me thoroughly from my

iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin

Psalm 51:2

The first few years of my life, we lived in a house that had no indoor bathroom facilities. We had an outhouse that was probably the envy of the neighborhood with its concrete floor, wood exterior that looked like a regular house, topped off with a roof with regular shingles. It was a beauty.

However, when it came to bath time, it was a different story. Saturday night was bath night like it was for many in our culture of the time. Bath was Saturday night and the rest of the week, we washed all necessary parts. Our baths were done in one of my Mother's wash tubs she used for rinsing soapy clothes on wash day. When very young, I fit in that washtub pretty well. Mother kept containers of hot water on the stove and then added to that some cool water from the sink, and that did very well. I could never even imagine what that must have been for my Dad and never felt like asking.

After a time, I was allowed to wash myself in that tub. I had learned from Mother's washing me and the routine how to wash myself. However, when I was finished, I had to go through an interrogation to make sure I hadn't done a hit and miss job. I was asked some things that seemed odd such as: “Did you wash behind your ears? Did you wash between your toes?” I had questions about both of those things but that was okay.

Psalm 51 is a precious Psalm of repentance along with other added blessings. I read this Psalm just this week and when I got to verse 2, my mind went back to that wash tub sitting in the middle of our kitchen floor. David wanted God to clean him up of his sin. His sin wasn't necessarily just behind his ears or between his toes. David was well aware of previous sin we would consider the baddist of the bad. In his moments of regret and repentance, he begged God to not just clean parts of his life or even parts of his sin. He wanted God to do a complete cleansing of his life...not toes or ears...but the most important part...his heart.

David didn't want to be washed but cleansed as well. He wanted God to do a complete scrub-down of his life. This wasn't a casual prayer of “Forgive my sin.” David asked for a thorough cleaning of his life. We may not have partaken in the same sin as David but with God, sin is sin. There's something refreshing after a good bath. May we feel David's refreshment after God took him through HIS bathtub.

Father, wash and cleanse me of my sin. May I never be lax regarding my sin, ignoring it over a period of time. I pray I would keep short account with regarding my short comings. Draw me closer to you than ever before. Thank You Jesus for making all this possible. In Your precious name...A