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

 

“SO” What

For God SO loved the world that

He gave His only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in Him

should not perish, but have

everlasting life.

John 3:16

Right now in our church studies, we are being bathed in the gospel of John. The pastor will often ask us to read ahead to the portion of Scripture he plans to preach on the next Sunday. Along with these wonderful sermons, our Sunday school literature is also taking us through it's own venture in the very same book. John is probably one of the big favorites of God's people as it is so deep in it's teaching along with being as practical as beans and cornbread.

Anyone who knows me and my personal study of Scripture knows that in my reading and study, I try to be aware of little things, especially little words. In the past I have mentioned a couple of those but a couple of weeks ago, came across another one that I honestly had given little if any thought to. I have capitalized that word in the verse above.

We had just finished our study in the Minor Prophets this last quarter and began our study in the Gospel of John. Someone, very sincerely, thought I might be very happy about the switch in books. I kindly told her that a study in John was of great concern to me. Of those of us who have been in Sunday school as far back as we can remember, we may view the book as a “snap” for study. After all, we've seen folks healed, fed and Lazarus raised from the dead. We can recall any number of precious events in Jesus' ministry.

Here's my point and I'm still personally working on this for my concern is all we think we know or recall from John's writings. My concern for myself and others as I teach is that we sometimes like to stay on the familiar and surface information. We know and are comfortable with the familiar. What about all the good stuff that is just below the surface where there are the deeper things of the Word. Those things we do find, are treasures, rare jewels worthy of our even writing them down in a journal. Those things the Holy Spirit points out to us may not be long or even heavy to grasp.

Not too long ago, I noticed that little word SO in the beginning of John 3:16. I learned this verse in primary Sunday school and have quoted it personally and publicly for years. What else is there to know or notice. Like I said, I watch for the smallest of words in Scripture....But and All are two of them. After the word BUT in Scripture, one usually can find very important and life changing information. I try to be faithful in underlining that word. Then I do the same with the word ALL. I believe when God says ALL that it's just what He means.

In my reviewing the above verse, there it was...SO. It's a tiny word that expresses intensity. God didn't just love the world...He SO loved the world. God didn't just love you and me...He SO loved us....more love than we can ever measure or comprehend. I've just been splashing around in that phrase. Join me!

Thank You Father, just isn't enough but I do SO appreciate You SO loving me despite my being SO unworthy. Forgive my sin of ingratitude. Thank You for Jesus Who loved more than anyone on this earth ever could. In His precious name...Amen

THE LAST CHECK

Whereas you do not know what will

happen tomorrow. For what is

your life? It is even a vapor that

appears for a little time and

then vanishes away.

James 4:14

Bev and I were sitting in the living room where I think I was reading and she was writing checks. Brian left her with our finances and continues to handle things very efficiently like her Dad would.

She mentioned something to me that gave me pause to think about. As she was writing the info of checks on the pages of the check register, she mentioned how much she had appreciated having the writing of her Dad in the first part of the register where he had written checks before going to Heaven. She's at the end of the register and will need to begin another one, minus her Dad's hand writing.

Bev had made note of the last check Brian had written. I couldn't guess what it could have been. She said that the last check he wrote was on 2-12-22, just twelve days prior to his Homegoing. She said the last check he wrote was to Broadway Baptist Church, our home church. How fitting that his last written check on earth would be to the church both of us love.

I don't think Brian had any idea that in twelve days, Whereas you do not know what would be with the Lord. I'm not sure we human beings have seriously faced the fact that the day will come when we are going to die. We tend to live life, no matter our age, like death will never come to us or to those we love. I've thought off and on that perhaps the Lord will came and take all His children to Heaven n one fell swoop.

I wonder what the last thing I will do before the Lord comes for me. Will I be fixing a sandwich, taking a bath, sleeping, walking a path in the mountains or perhaps in the hospital after a procedure. We don't think of these things very often. We see life as just moving on and on...death isn't something we want to talk about. The very best of Christians can speak of death in a very spiritual way, with no apparent fear or anticipation. Jesus didn't look forward to death. It was what He came to earth to do on our behalf, but the experience wasn't any human being would look forward to.

Perhaps we should live a day as if it could be our last. If we knew that for a fact, I wonder how we would spend it? I would hope you and I would live each day to our fullest in pleasing the Lord and others even if it should come down to writing our very last check.

Father, You gave us Jesus that our last day as a believer would bring us into Your presence. Help us to always be reaching to be in right relationship with You in humbly serving and loving You as well as others. Help us to not take life for granted and live each day for Your glory. In Jesus' precious name...Amen