SCRIP-BITS

Oh Friends, it’s Easter Monday and the partying, the physical celebrations for most of us are sadly over. But thank the Lord, the spiritual joy bubbling within us will last forever! Yes Friends, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection on this Easter weekend two thousand years ago, set the stage for salvation and eternal life forever, fulfilling the promise He made in John 16:22, that once He’d done His thing, no man would be ever able to take away our joy. So let’s hang on to that joy as we go out today to begin another work week in our wicked, ungodly world. And as usual, to help us bear the strain of that exercise, let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn, in the best voice we can muster, since many of us are still feeling the after effects of excessive weekend celebrations. (smile) All together now, and please let it come from deep within our hearts and souls. ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together. We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies. But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle. Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’ Now that wasn’t too bad for a bunch of tired, partied out people. (smile) Anyway, our Bit today hails from the words of Agur (Agar), the stated author of Proverbs 30. Now, per the scholars, nothing is known about Agur, but it’s likely that he was one of the international sages or scholars of Cousin Sol’s day. And he must have been truly wise, for those words would sound very wonderful to our God if all believers today were to sincerely believe and pray them to Him. ‘Two things have I required (requested) of thee; deny me them not (deprive me not of them) before I die: Remove far from me vanity (falsehood) and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient (you prescribe) for me.’ Ah mih people, just cutting out the negatives from our lives like lies, deceit and foolish pride and simply living a comfortable, consistent life of integrity and godly character would do so much to eliminate much of the nonsense that currently has our world in a stranglehold. Just imagine if all of our riches were thrown into a big bowl, then distributed to the world’s inhabitants in sufficient quantity for all to be comfortable and contented. Wow! What an awesome world this would be, minus the widespread poverty, oppression and hunger! Okay, so I’m dreaming out loud, because once mankind retains its current nature, there will always be greedy and discontented folks to screw up a good thing. Note Agur’s prescience too, for his words, ‘feed me with food convenient for me,’ are harbingers of Jesus’ own statement in the Lord’s Prayer; ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ (Matt.6:11) And judging from the reason for his request, Agur was indeed wise. Knowing man’s basic unreliable nature, he continues: ‘Lest I be full (rich), and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain (profane the name of my God).’ (Prov.30:9)  Forgetting the Lord in times of prosperity was indeed one of the things Moses constantly warned the Israelites about (Deut.8:11-20) but they still did it, several times, and were punished several times. Sadly my people, the same affliction has struck us today. In our heady prosperity, which we wrongly attributed to our own power, we’ve turned away from the Lord and are now worshipping fleshly lusts and the idols of our own making. No wonder so many catastrophes have recently befallen, and are still befalling our wicked world. Remember, the Lord’s Word never changes. So if eons ago, He promised retribution for disobedience, it means that promise still stands today. And if it takes eons for Jesus to return, the promise will stand even till then. Oh Friends, unfortunately our world has bowed to Lucifer and become a greedy, ‘gravalicious, wanty-wanty, gimme-gimme’ society, never satisfied with how ever much we have. Please, let’s change that attitude and begin seeking a comfortable and consistent sufficiency, which will help the less fortunate to also rise to a comfortable position, because there’s way too much poverty, hunger, homelessness and nakedness in a world of so much prosperity. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Much LOVE!…only as we equitably share the world’s resources…will the dire hunger, poverty and suffering that now exists, diminish…