Month: March 2024

For many, they’re quite proud of their self-sufficiency & self-reliance…with their mantra being, “You only need two tools in life…WD-40 & Duct Tape.” These people “MacGyver” their way through life, boasting about their independence and that they don’t need help from anyone…but for them, life is exceedingly hard…and it doesn’t need to be that way. As it tells us here in Psalms, the ultimate source of our well-being rests in God and there is no need to “take over” when things aren’t moving (WD-40) as quickly as we want, or when life seems to be falling apart. (Duct Tape). For if you think about it, we are nothing, with no real power and of no real weight in the grand scheme of eternity…or as Galatians 6:3 says, “If anyone thinks he is something (or someone) when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

As unbelievers, we are all measured against exactly the same list of moral behaviors, and in the end, each one of us will receive precisely what we deserve. Or as Ezekiel 18:20 tells us, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.” But our human nature wants to “fix” people so this doesn’t happen to them…but only God can accomplish this as He pursues, soften hearts, and removes scales from eyes and plugs from ears. What we can do though is to faithfully continue to pray for them that God’s Divine Will will be done.

And it was Lazarus’s sister, Martha, that put flesh onto the two words, “I believe” when she said, ” Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, Who was to come into the world.” (John 11:27) For many of us, especially those raised in Church, we grew up with a general knowledge and confidence in Jesus and His Godly Mission…but it took a marked & emphatic moment in our life when our faith was thrust out of neutral, and our trust in Christ Jesus became real…with those two words forever changing us. “I believe.”

Can’t you almost feel the lament, suffering & discouragement David writes about here? Much has been written about the mind-body effect…but the effect of an infirmed & debilitated body on the mind can be just as devastating. When our body is frail and weak and won’t do what we want it to, our emotional strength wavers. We struggle to remain positive when our health is impaired and it seems like we move one step forward only to fall two steps back. Life carries great burdens for us all, but we’re not meant to carry them alone…for in our feebleness God is our strength…and in this darkness of emotional weakness He will become our light.

A long time ago when I was a brand new Christian, I was mentored by several older & wiser women. I still remember the sage words one gave me… that as we mature in the Lord it will not be such a battle over blatant sin in our life, but more a battle of keeping our focus on Him. And many years later, I must agree. It is a daily conscious decision and effort to keep my primary goal of glorifying God constantly before me. It means holding myself to the highest of standards year in and year out, “to be well pleasing to Him.” Thus it has nothing to do with how many Church projects I’m part of, but rather curbing my own selfish motives, attitudes & goals in order to keep my eyes firmly on Him. Paul summed it up well when he wrote in I Corinthians 9:27, “I discipline my body and keep it under control…”

Paul’s contentment was utterly reliant not on himself and his ability to suppress his emotions of displeasure, or even bitterness & resentment…but on Christ, Who held Paul fast and sustained him through all his adversities. But the interesting part of these Scriptures to me is the phrase, “I have learned to be content…” Which to me would mean that contentment is not part of my natural make-up and rather is something to be discovered & grasped with understanding and maturity in Christ. For if I look at my old self, there is very little contentment and a whole lot of impatience and irritability. Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:29 to, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me…” for He is an example for us to follow in order that we can be happy & satisfied whatever the situation.

We all have things we hide from others…secret things that we’re ashamed and embarrassed about…hidden things that bring out the very worst in us. We may think no one knows…but God does. And still, despite all the hidden bad in us, He loves us more than we can ever imagine. And we have this assurance of His love… for the Bible tells us that His love endures forever, it’s unfailing, wonderful, and always good. While we were yet sinners, Jesus loved us enough to die for us. (Romans 5:8) Giving Himself up sacrificially on the Cross in our place. (Ephesians 5:2) So my prayer for you today would be that you might readily grasp how wide, and long, and high, and deep the love of Christ is for you. (Ephesians 3:18)

In this Chapter, Paul is giving Timothy specific instructions on the Church’s care of widows, especially young widows. He was against giving young widows aid…concerned they would become content to be apathetic, lazy, and unproductive. Bad habits are so easy to fall into. It usually starts as a once in a while practice, but over time it becomes a pattern repeated over and over again. And for some bad habits, the compulsive need for and/or use of becomes intentional, deliberate, and continuous…usually characterized by well-defined physiological signs & symptoms upon withdrawal. But not every habit is bad – such as being in the habit of reading your Bible everyday…the bottom line is, you have to look at whether the habit affects your behavior in a negative or a positive way.

“One who sows righteousness gets a sure reward.” (Proverbs 11:18) When we intentionally plant what is right and good, we will reap a bountiful crop of blessings from God… whether material or Spiritual. But this Scripture is taking it a step farther and challenging us today to take a hard look at our Spiritual life or lack there of. Have we become lazy and too comfortable with the status quo…our life becoming like a fallow field that has sat unplowed for a long time? But the good news is…when plowed & seeded, a fallow field will produce a particularly abundant harvest.

Paul’s warning here was to the early Church…but it’s even more important today for us. Christians need to be living in the light of the Second Coming of Christ…always ready, with no time to waste…or as I Corinthians 7:29-31 says, this present age is already in the process of “passing away”. No person knows when this will take place, for His return could happen at anytime. (I Peter 4:7) For from the day that Jesus pronounced judgment on this world in His life, death, and resurrection, “the last hour” has been upon us. (I John 2:18) When Paul told the Church to “wake up” here and in Ephesians 5:14 he may have been citing a portion of an early Christian Hymn well known in the Church…”Awake, O sleeper and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” And that’s where we find many a Believer today…in a apathetic stupor, with no regard or interest in the potentially dangerous position they’ve fallen into regarding sin.