Monday, May 31, 2010

Deuteronomy 10:12

Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, (KJV)
(NIV) And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

What or who do you fear? It seems I am always fearful that someone in my circle of family or friends will get hurt. Just the other day, my husband Rob had to climb on the roof to clean out our gutters. I'm always afraid that he will fall. Some time ago when we were adding on to our house, Rob asked me to climb a ladder to get a view of the roof that I wouldn't be able to get after the addition was done. I didn't want to, but he insisted, so I went up the ladder. Well, fear gripped me in such a way, that I was glued to that spot. I couldn't move my feet either up or down on that ladder. Rob had to physically grab my legs one at a time and move them down the ladder, because fear had paralized me!

Perhaps you fear for your loved ones or heights as I do. Maybe you fear the dark as many children do. Perhaps you are claustrophobic (fear of being closed in) or fear animals, water, certain people, or something else. The Bible in Hebrews tells us to not fear what man can do to us. However, in the book of Deuteronomy in our verse for this week it tells what we do need to fear - the Lord your God.

Perhaps you are thinking, "Isn't God a god of love? Why should we fear a God of love?" You would be right in thinking that God is a god of love, but we still need to fear Him. Some people interpret this word "fear" as respect and honor. I was told as a teenager that we needed to fear God that we do not respect and honor Him enough. Do we spend enough time with him? Do we cheerfully and abundantly share our talents and our money to honor him? Do we worship and serve him?

God loves us and will not fail us in the end if we know him as our Saviour and Lord, but in some ways, I "fear" that I do not honor him nearly enough for all he has done for me. We don't need to be paralized with fear because of God's great love for us, but we do need to be in awe of God and honor and respect him at all times wherever we are.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Matthew 14:23

Matthew 14:23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. (KJV)
(NIV) After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountsinside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.

When I was still teaching school everyday, I used to think, when I retire I'll be able to do all the things I want to do for God. I'll be able to volunteer at the soup kitchen, go to places during the day to help people, attend events like the Fall Festival of Music, substitute at nearby schools, clean my house more regularly, prepare my Sunday School lessons more thoroughly and most importantly start every day with a quiet time of devotion with God.

Our verse for this week from Matthew 14:23, tells the importance that Jesus placed on spending time alone with God. Jesus needed time with His Father to be refreshed and uplifted. If Jesus needed it, we certainly need it even more. Psalm 46:10 tells us to "Be still, and know that I am God:..." I also noticed in several passages that when Jesus performed a healing, he came away from the crowd to do it. He left the busyness to be with only a few for the healing. (Mark 5:40; Mark 7:3 and Mark 8:23)

Jesus found it important to spend time alone with God away from his busy schedule. I wanted to do that. When I was teaching I was always pressed for time and had trouble getting everything done. Well, guess what? Three months after I retired, my first grandchild was born. My son and daughter-in-law struggled with how to care for this child and needed my help. Isn't God's timing perfect? I also took on a part time job that same month and began to do some substitute teaching. I think I volunteered at the soup kitchen five or six times that summer right after retiring, but have only volunteered once since then. Now I have two grandchildren and both are in school. I volunteer my help to their schools about once a week. My house always seems to need cleaning. I don't think I'll ever have everything in its place. I usually work on my Sunday School lesson a little before Saturday evening, but I don't always get to it early in the week. My life is very busy - sometimes I think it is even busier since I retired.

I try to make time for my devotions every morning, but if I need to be out early, I find that I often move it to later in the day or it might not even get done until the next day or even later. Jesus sought His Father regularly - probably several times each day. We certainly should seek him at least daily. Do you have a time set aside for communing with your Heavenly Father every day? If it is not a priority, it certainly should be for both you and me. We need to separate ourselves from the busyness of life to find spiritual nourishment from our Heavenly Father. I almost have come to the conclusion that Satan uses this busyness in our life to distract us from being with God daily as we should. Let's call on God's power to defeat Satan and the tricks he uses to distract us from serving and worshiping our Lord and Saviour.

Friday, March 12, 2010

I Corinthians 1:10

I Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. (KJV)

(NIV) I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Rob and I have been married for thirty-seven years as of Wednesday this week and I can say that we have had very few arguments in those thirty-seven years. After reading the Our Daily Bread devotion for today, I think I know why we have been able to have so few arguments.

The Our Daily Bread devotion focused on the same verse as above and was titled “United Goal.” I think Rob and I have a united goal of trying to please and keep each other happy. I don’t think it hurts, too, that I stand by the scripture in Ephesians 5:22 that tells wives to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. And if you know me at all, you know that I submit, but that doesn’t mean I won’t discuss the topic.

In our church, we also may have some “discussions” about ways to do things in the church, and we might not always agree. However, as long as we keep our goal in the forefront, these discussions are not so important and should not cause us to have divisions as the Corinthian church was experiencing. So what is that goal that should keep us unified? It is, of course, that the message of Jesus Christ be continually shared and demonstrated to others that others might also become believers and become residents of Heaven some day.

We might not even always agree on every church doctrinal feature. However, we must not let these details divide us so that we get pulled away from our goal. It occurs to me that these details that we may disagree on may be one of Satan’s greatest devices to distract us from focusing on the message that Jesus wants us to tell – our great common goal. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s determine that nothing would sway us from serving and glorifying our Saviour and Lord – the One who died for you and me. Let’s have a united goal and keep our eyes focused on it. As it says in our verse today, “I appeal to you…that you agree with one another that there be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”

That united goal just might help your marriage too!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Romans 13:8

Romans 13:8 Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. (KJV)

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. (NIV)

When you think of Valentine’s Day, what word immediately comes to mind? Of course you are thinking about the word, love. The Bible has lots to say about love. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37-40 that to love God is the greatest commandment and that to love your neighbor as yourself is the second greatest commandment. He said, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Paul reiterates that in our verse of the week this week when he says that “he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.” James seems to say that when we fail to love, we actually break God’s law. (James 4:17)


Paul also calls this love for others a debt that we must pay. Because of the way Christ continues to show His love for us we can never repay Him. The only way we can begin to repay Christ is to show our love for others in any way we can. We really need to examine our attitudes and actions toward others. Are we tearing down others or building them up? It’s easy to find the wrong in what others do, but not always so easy to see the wrong that we ourselves do. When we are tempted to criticize another, perhaps we need to remember the commandment of love that Jesus gave and say something that will build up and not tear down. We owe love to that individual – not criticism.


And it’s not just any kind of love that we owe – it’s the kind of love that we have for ourselves. Not many of us allow ourselves to miss many meals or only wear what we can find laying around somewhere. We take time to try to make ourselves presentable. We make sure we have a roof over our heads and give ourselves plenty of things that we like and enjoy. We try hard to not be cheated or hurt and work to get justice if we feel we are wronged. This is how we “love” ourselves, and how Jesus says we should love others. Do we make sure that others are fed, clothed, sheltered and protected as much as we do ourselves? Loving others as ourselves means to actively do what we can to see that others’ needs are met. We actually owe it to them according to our verse this week.

I had never really thought about owing love to others until I read this verse and the commentary in my Bible. It is often hard to love individuals who are not kind to you or who are even perhaps nasty to you; and I cannot do it on my own. I will need to ask God through prayer to help me to love others as myself. As a Christian, I need to imitate Christ and show love in any way I can. Perhaps as Valentine’s Day comes upon us, we will think about love in a little different way this year.