Stuff

I’ve been given a couple of reminders that my 'stuff' isn't important to anyone else.  I've written about 'stuff' before.  Friday I was reading about someone else's 'stuff' on MSNBC.  A man was selling his, and said:

"You realize that everything you have has a story." Like the wood carvings he purchased from poor kids at the end of a hike in Zimbabwe.  Or the signed painting he purchased from an artist in the Southwest for $250 several years ago. It went for $30.

"You realize many of the things you have aren't worth what you thought they were,' he said.  "But it is just stuff.  It has been a cathartic process.  It's a unique mental process. ... It has made me realize how shackled I have become to comfort of my home and belongings."

This isn't the same as having a lot of excess baggage. This is abandoning a way of life to seek another.  Our world's current economic situation is leading to more such changes, accompanied by drought, fires floods, earthquakes that have taken people's "stuff." It's not just the thieves Christ described:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (Matthew 6:19-20 KJV)

He understood that we would find things to treasure, and He has a place for those treasures, for He knows we will love them.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:21 KJV)

How about some crown laid up for us in heaven?  How about an incorruptible one?

And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. (1 Corinthians 9:25 KJV)

That we can strive for!  But there are other crowns, too.  How about one we'll share simply for being in the presence of our Lord:

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? (1 Thessalonians 2:19 KJV)

Another favorite, for those who love Him:

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8 KJV)

Still another, just requiring love to obtain:

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. (James 1:12 KJV)

That's the stuff I want to build up.  Like Victoria, Queen of England, I wish to take the crowns He has given and lay them as a gift, returning to Him all the glory, honor and gifts he has bestowed.

That's good stuff!!

An Odd Duck

“He’s kind of an odd duck,” is a phrase my father often used when describing a person.  The phrase was followed by a story that gave an example of how “odd” that particular person was.

I would like to remind everyone that we all are odd ducks.

We are all a little bit different, likes and dislikes that mix and match, but never perfectly.  Beloved Husband is (and has been for 50 years) my best friend.  However, I can’t fix and feed him my favorite foods.  That alone makes him a kind of an odd duck, doesn’t it?

I love my little PT Cruiser.  I like the front wheel drive, the large (for that size car) cargo area – it holds a wheel chair and still has room for more ‘stuff’, which I’m always carrying.  Beloved Husband finds it confining, now that I’m doing all the driving, and to me, that’s another sign of an odd duck.  Ok, so it really might mean that I’m the odd duck!!

It’s okay to be that odd duck, as long as we don’t expect every one to be the same.  Jesus spoke about this:

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. (Matthew 7:2 KJV)

A lot of people refer to the previous verse and neglect this one. They would prefer not to judge.  Even if one takes it that far, we’re still supposed to be fruit inspectors:

For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. (Luke 6:44 KJV)

Christians are told the type of fruit they should be putting out for inspection:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 KJV)

It’s not a long list, and Paul even shortened it later:

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) (Ephesians 5:9 KJV)

Paul also understood that while all Christians are striving for perfection through Christ, he had not achieved it, and I don’t know anyone who has.  He continued to follow after it:

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am  apprehended of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:12 KJV)

Expect your fruit to be inspected.  Be prepared to inspect others. Do not however, toss irregular fruit, accepting only perfection here on this earth.  That’s why we must judge other’s fruit by the same standards we expect them to judge ours. We must measure their words and actions as we expect ours to be measured.

Frankly, I need some mercy and grace when mine are inspected! There are bitter vines that set teeth on edge.  There are times when I try to protect them when the Lord comes to prune.  If I let Him lop them off, it will create sweeter, fuller fruit of the spirit.

Then, I might not be such an odd duck.

Our Responsibility

Ruth and Naomi with Obed

Our Ladies Meetings do not take place the three summer months. Last Tuesday we started the new year and our Pastor’s Wife gave the lesson – and our marching order.  She started with scriptures giving our position in our homes.  Since older attendees out numbered the younger, we were pretty much head nodding – in agreement! Not nodding off!  Acknowledging facts, she turned us to Titus 2:4, not dwelling on 2:3 because even the youngest lady there has a younger audience to be a teacher of good things:

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, (Titus 2:4 KJV)

It might seem that those things wouldn’t need to be taught, until you watch a family go through a divorce.  Wives and husbands who love each other work together, not tear each other apart.  How do we teach someone to love?

By knowing what love is and does.

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 John 4:8 KJV)

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 of the Love Chapter lists very specific attributes of love.  The first verses tell us how we are without love and the bottom line is, “Nothing.”  When we gain love, we can accomplish our task of teaching young women to love their husbands – by example:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Most of us fail that first part.  If we ‘suffer’, everyone around us hears about it.  We tend not to be patient, don’t we?  The truth now!  Kindness?  Are we affectionate, mild, gentle, forgiving?  All of those fall under the definition of 'kind.'  Which one do we do best?  Worst? Do we hold envy, clinging to desires of what others have, reluctant to rid ourselves of that feeling?  Wanting to be, or have, better than someone else?  To be looked up to?

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Moving from what we should be to what we shouldn’t, how do we define unseemly?  Do we watch unseemly things on television, in the movies?  Are we selfish, seeking our own pleasures?  How easily do we become angry and vindictive?  What do we wish upon others?

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Really, do we?  Or do we say, “Serves them right,” or when hearing of another’s difficulties we think, “Hope they get what they deserve.” Perhaps we even pass along the detrimental information, whether it’s the whole truth or not?

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

All things?  Surely not this “thing!!” that eats at me and angers me? “I’m supposed to bear this burden? If God loved me, this wouldn’t have happened!!”  God does love each and every one of us.  A personal God who is interested in our lives, but does not place us in a protective bubble.  He does give us hope that we might endure, living to see the results of His will.

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Lots of questions – what are our answers?

China!

When I was growing up my parents were concerned for the “starving children in China.”  Every Christmas we would donate money saved up for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (yes, it was a Southern Baptist congregation.)  I’ve had the pleasure to work with a couple of very special Chinese immigrants who were kind enough to bring me presents when they returned from a trip home.  Most are so much younger than I am that the Cultural Revolution was described to them by their parents, not lived through themselves.

Christianity had remained alive in China, and now it is growing exponentially, according to a recent BBC article.  Thinking of all the missionaries that went out from Europe, it was quite disheartening, yet a blessing, to read:

There are already more Chinese at church on a Sunday than in the whole of Europe.

How many times have we heard people repeat Elijah’s complaint:

.. and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. (1 Kings 19:14b KJV)

Only to find out, as he did, that was not a valid statement.  God knew exactly how many followers He had remaining true:

Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. (1 Kings 19:18 KJV)

Did you notice our Lord did NOT say “There are seven thousand who worship me,” nor did He say, “I command seven thousand who serve me.”  Nope – the best that could be said was that these had not bowed to nor pledged allegiance to a false god.

The Chinese have done better.  They have openly professed their faith. In spite of being regulated by their government and once sent underground, they have thrived:

Christianity not only survived, but with its own Chinese martyrs, it grew in strength.

All of that growth while the ruling party states:

… the Party promotes atheism in schools but undertakes "to protect and respect religion until such time as religion itself will disappear".

What if a local church – America, Canada, Europe, anywhere – held five services on Easter Sunday?

On Easter morning, in downtown Beijing, I watched five services, each packed with over 1,500 worshippers. … However, these numbers are dwarfed by the unofficial "house churches", spreading across the country, at odds with the official Church which fears the house churches' fervour may provoke a backlash.

Fervor?  Have you attended a church recently that offered you fervor?  A feeling of enthusiasm?  Intense passion?  Does the congregation leave the service with zeal?  Or, not.  How strange to think of China praying for us, evangelizing more than the countries who sent missionaries to her many years ago.

May we find service to our Lord to be as intense!

Our Choir

This is our Adult Choir at Easter this year.  First row, right end, is my Second Daughter.  Behind our Pastor’s wife, all in pink, is my Beloved Husband in a yellow jacket.  He and a couple of others were not there this past Sunday, due to illnesses.

While they were missed, the choir rang out loud and clear with the Whisnants’ resounding hymn, making me think of vacations.  Ever take a vacation where you left behind the comforts of home? Maybe slept in a tent, cooked by an open fire? I’d wager you had light, something with a battery? Maybe a radio? Just a few of the comforts of home?  When He left His home, He did leave it all:

he didn't bring an army
to help him on his way
he didn't bring a angel
to praise him night and day
he didn't bring one piece of gold
to buy some food to eat
instead he turned and he laid it all
at the fathers feet

he left it all, to rescue me
he left it all, to die on calvary, 
he left it all, not one comfort did he bring
not his robe, not his crown not ten thousand bowing down
not one piece of jasper wall. He left it all

this man they're crucifying he says he is a king
but judging from the clothes he wears
he doesn't own a thing
but little did they know that day
as his blood came streaming down
he owned the sun the stars and the moon
he even owned the ground

he left it all, to rescue me
he left it all, to die on calvary, 
he left it all, not one comfort did he bring
not his robe, not his crown
not ten thousand bowing down
not one piece of jasper wall. He left it all

The physical presence of God on earth not only left it all, He endured all the hardships mankind endures.  Then took on the sins of the world and endured the spiritual separation of the lost. We can look to Him to know the suffering, and the love, that all men feel.  Yet Paul says that if that’s all we have we are miserable:

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. (1 Corinthians 15:19 KJV)

Though they did not have His origins, other men have taught well, lived well and endured more than most.  The one thing greater than leaving – or losing – it all, is the one thing Christ did that none other is remembered for doing. Resurrection.

For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. … But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. (1 Corinthians 15:16-18, 20 KJV)

That’s why He left it all.  That’s why we are:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2 KJV)

Psalm 46

Couldn’t find it on CNN.com but MSNBC and on Fox I found written confirmation that it was Psalm 46 that President Obama read at the 9/11 Memorial (as he did in Tucson).  Why is that of interest to me?  It was the same scripture chosen by our Pastor for our Sunday morning sermon.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalms 46:1 KJV)

I don’t know what Obama thought of this as he read, but our Pastor acknowledged that we, as individuals, as a people, as a country, are experiencing trouble.  After 9/11 we did come together as a diverse nation and worked toward common goals.  That change was momentary, it did not last.  Frankly, it appears we’ve forgotten to:

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. (Psalms 46:10 KJV)

Pastor read several other scriptures that the Lord had given His people as to how they should behave.  One was Jeremiah 18:8, and my eyes traveled up the page and thought of our nation.  Actually, of any nation, but ours right now as it is painfully vitriolic, unable to communicate within itself without hate.

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel. (Jeremiah 18:5-6 KJV)

Christians believe that, as with individuals, all nations are within God’s hands, to be molded as He wills. When we do not follow His will, there are consequences.  As Jeremiah saw, something in the clay causes the results to be marred.  When mankind reaches for its own will instead of God’s, the results can be devastating.

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. (Jeremiah 18:4 KJV)

The Lord sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house to hear a lesson and share it as scripture:

The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. (Jeremiah 18:1-2 KJV)

Jeremiah was also told who was in control.

At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; (Jeremiah 18:7 KJV)

And, he was told what would happen if the people DID listen.

If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; (Jeremiah 18:8-9 KJV)

It is not a matter of love, it is a matter of repenting, changing direction, turning from what we truly know are wicked ways.  In 2 Chronicles 7:12-13 the Lord describes to Solomon His abilities to act against a nation. Then, He promises:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV)

Are you praying?  He is listening, not only in Jerusalem.

Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. (2 Chronicles 7:15 KJV)

Names

Names have been inscribed on marble, limestone, granite, caste in bronze and placed on many other materials in an attempt to carry them forward to be remembered by future generations.  So many personal gravestone, so many memorials in small towns, the Viet Nam Memorial and now names around those holes in the ground in New York.

We will not forget.

Nor will I forget what Pilate had written on wood:

And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. (John 19:19 KJV)

Sarcasm? Designed to strike at the leaders who sought Jesus’ death? We don’t know, and it really doesn’t matter.  We do know that Pilate was above being politically correct.

Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. (John 19:21-22 KJV)

Pilate did not say the title was true, just that he wrote it and it was going to stay there. Josephus wrote of Pontius Pilate, not favorably, yet for a couple of centuries he was looked upon as part of the Jesus myth, a character in a fairy tale, made up to be the bad guy.  But, one who sees no error in the man he condemns to death.

Other than those who believed the Gospels to be factual representations written by men who were there, there was only Josephus’ confirmation and he’s known to embellish stories.

As often has happened with biblical history, confirmation comes from archeology.  An inscription found in Caesarea Maritima, Israel, June, 1961, confirmed as authentic and is now in an Israeli museum, contains the Latin inscription translated here:

To the honorable Augustus Tiberius

...Pontius Pilate

...prefect of Judea

...has dedicated [this]

Names written on a wall adding credence to a story deemed mythical for centuries.

When I was in school, my thesis was a pedantic “Archeological Discoveries and their Biblical Import.”  The ones I wrote about then, and much discovered since then, confirm specific biblical entries. Nothing disproves, except mankind’s ability to ignore.

Isn’t it better to read, study, question, compare, learn? What the Lord says He requires is simple.  Micah asked about what the Lord would require to forgive his sins.  He lists sacrifices, including the offer of his first born, then answers his own question with what the Lord had shown:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8 KJV)