Knowledge we ask not, knowledge thou hast lent,
But Lord-the will, there lies our deepest need.
Grant us to build above the high intent-
The deed-the deed.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Monday, February 27, 2006
Dollar
After school I took my son to 7-11 to get an Icee. As I waited in the car I noticed a women going car to car. She came to me and asked me if I would give her a dollar to buy gas with. I told her I would, to bring her car to the pump and I would go inside and pay. The car was old and dirty and driven by a man. I paid and as I returned to my vehicle they waved in appreciation. I felt good and of course spiritually superior to all those other people in the parking lot who had refused them. Driving away I remembered the verse in Matthew 25: 40 where Jesus said “whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.” My heart sank. Jesus had come to my car window and I had given him a dollar. These people were worth so much more than a dollar. They are of infinite worth. If they were asking for money for gas then they probably needed food also. God has blessed me and my family with more than we need. We are not to hoard what he gives us but to share. It’s not my money anyway it’s his. I should have filled their tank up and brought them into the store and bought them food, but no, I was too busy feeling spiritually superior. I then remembered Jesus parable about the Good Samaritan in Luke chapter 10. I behaved more like the uncaring priest and Levite than I did the Samaritan. Like them I was spiritually smug. I went home told my wife and she suggested that I go back and see if they were still there. They were not so I drove to other gas stations in the area to see if I could find them. The search was unsuccessful but the lesson was learned. I have a long way to go to be the person God intends for me to be, and a good beginning is to care more for others.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Stone
Each Christian knows and loves Jesus in a way that no other Christian does. Each relationship is special and unique. This relationship will last through all eternity. You love and know God in a way that I and all other Christians do not. Yes that’s right even those who are in prominent positions in the church, pastors and teachers.
In Matthew chapter 26 the story is told of the woman who came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and she poured it on his head. The disciples who were with Jesus were angry that she wasted the money that bought this perfume and did not use it on the poor. Jesus reply? “The poor you will always have with you but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in her memory”. Think about this, the ones whom Jesus had chosen to spread the gospel around the world, the ones who were close to Jesus and been following him for three years did not understand that he was going to Jerusalem to be crucified, buried and raised. This simple woman did but they did not.
Later in chapter 26 Jesus tells the disciples to make preparations for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He tells them; “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house”. This unnamed man knew what the appointed time meant, but even at The Lord’s Supper the disciples were arguing over who would be first in heaven and questioning Jesus on where he was going and why they could not follow. Jesus closest disciples Peter, James and John still did not understand even though Jesus had been telling them since Peter’s confession of Christ at Caesarea Philippi. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priest and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Matthew 16: 21. They did not understand but there were others who did.
Yes we look up to and honor those who care and minister to us as we should, but please realize that your relationship with Jesus is just as special. You know Jesus in ways that none of us do. “To him who overcomes, I will give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it”. Revelation 2: 17. For all of eternity you will have a name known only by God and you!! Through all of eternity your relationship with God will not only be corporate but personal, one to one. You love and understand God in ways that I never will, and we will have eternity to try and teach each other about our wonderful Sovereign Lord God, Jesus Christ.
In Matthew chapter 26 the story is told of the woman who came to Jesus with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and she poured it on his head. The disciples who were with Jesus were angry that she wasted the money that bought this perfume and did not use it on the poor. Jesus reply? “The poor you will always have with you but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in her memory”. Think about this, the ones whom Jesus had chosen to spread the gospel around the world, the ones who were close to Jesus and been following him for three years did not understand that he was going to Jerusalem to be crucified, buried and raised. This simple woman did but they did not.
Later in chapter 26 Jesus tells the disciples to make preparations for the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He tells them; “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house”. This unnamed man knew what the appointed time meant, but even at The Lord’s Supper the disciples were arguing over who would be first in heaven and questioning Jesus on where he was going and why they could not follow. Jesus closest disciples Peter, James and John still did not understand even though Jesus had been telling them since Peter’s confession of Christ at Caesarea Philippi. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priest and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Matthew 16: 21. They did not understand but there were others who did.
Yes we look up to and honor those who care and minister to us as we should, but please realize that your relationship with Jesus is just as special. You know Jesus in ways that none of us do. “To him who overcomes, I will give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it”. Revelation 2: 17. For all of eternity you will have a name known only by God and you!! Through all of eternity your relationship with God will not only be corporate but personal, one to one. You love and understand God in ways that I never will, and we will have eternity to try and teach each other about our wonderful Sovereign Lord God, Jesus Christ.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Mountain
You are God my stronghold. Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy? Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain to the place where you dwell. I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me. I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? I rejoiced with those who said to me “Let us go to the house of the Lord”. I lift up my eyes to you, to you whose throne is in heaven. But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word…. Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise in the city of our God, his holy mountain. Within your temple, O God we meditate on your unfailing love. O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign Lord comes escape from death.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Psalm 43: 2-3, Psalm 120: 1, Psalm 121: 1, Psalm 122: 1, Psalm 123: 1, Hebrews 12: 22-24, Psalm 48: 1, Psalm 48: 9, Psalm 65: 2-4, Psalm 125: 1, Psalm 68: 19-20. Revelation 21: 2-4.
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Psalm 43: 2-3, Psalm 120: 1, Psalm 121: 1, Psalm 122: 1, Psalm 123: 1, Hebrews 12: 22-24, Psalm 48: 1, Psalm 48: 9, Psalm 65: 2-4, Psalm 125: 1, Psalm 68: 19-20. Revelation 21: 2-4.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Faithful
For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Psalm 108: 4. God is so faithful even when I am not. It is so amazing to me how He has taken care of me in the times when I have been in the process of going further and further away from Him. I was on staff at the church when I had been hurt by members whom I had loved in it. I did not leave immediately but stayed on even after they had gotten a new Pastor, about six months. When I resigned I had only a part-time job that I worked along with the church work. My wife works fulltime so she was supporting us. After about six weeks she told me we were behind for the month, about 280 dollars. I had to get a job.
I went to a grocery store that I had been employed with while in collage. The store is family owned and one of three in the town. It was just before Thanksgiving and the day before I walked in asking for a job, they had lost an Assistant Manager. Rick a son in- law of the owner told me to go to one of the other stores the next day and speak with Larry, Manager, and son of the owner. The next day Larry hired me and then told me that his father Coy wanted to speak with me. In his office he said to me, “Gary, I knew I was going to hire you before you did.” He went on to tell me how two days previous he his son and sons in-law were discussing what they were going to do with Thanksgiving a week or two away and short one Assistant Manager. As Coy left the meeting he told them “Hire Gary Wood”. This was the same day my wife informed me that we were behind 280 dollars for the month. Just before I left his office he asked me as he reached for his wallet if I could use some help. I told him no that the job was enough and we would be fine. Then he said “Let me put it to you this way would you take a bonus for being hired?” He then laid 3 one hundred dollar bills on his desk! I went home put the money on the table with a short note and then went to my other part-time job and gave my two weeks notice. My wife came home and wept when she saw the way God had taken care of us.
I wish I could say that this experience made me stronger with God but it did not. I continued to grow more bitter and cynical and further away from Him. Even when I am not faithful God is. Today the family that God used to help me at that time attends the church that my wife and I joined. When I see them I am always reminded that God is faithful and His love truly is great.
I went to a grocery store that I had been employed with while in collage. The store is family owned and one of three in the town. It was just before Thanksgiving and the day before I walked in asking for a job, they had lost an Assistant Manager. Rick a son in- law of the owner told me to go to one of the other stores the next day and speak with Larry, Manager, and son of the owner. The next day Larry hired me and then told me that his father Coy wanted to speak with me. In his office he said to me, “Gary, I knew I was going to hire you before you did.” He went on to tell me how two days previous he his son and sons in-law were discussing what they were going to do with Thanksgiving a week or two away and short one Assistant Manager. As Coy left the meeting he told them “Hire Gary Wood”. This was the same day my wife informed me that we were behind 280 dollars for the month. Just before I left his office he asked me as he reached for his wallet if I could use some help. I told him no that the job was enough and we would be fine. Then he said “Let me put it to you this way would you take a bonus for being hired?” He then laid 3 one hundred dollar bills on his desk! I went home put the money on the table with a short note and then went to my other part-time job and gave my two weeks notice. My wife came home and wept when she saw the way God had taken care of us.
I wish I could say that this experience made me stronger with God but it did not. I continued to grow more bitter and cynical and further away from Him. Even when I am not faithful God is. Today the family that God used to help me at that time attends the church that my wife and I joined. When I see them I am always reminded that God is faithful and His love truly is great.
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