Today’s Scrip-Bit 23 September 2017 Matthew 5:41.

23 Sep 2017 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Matthew 5:41.   And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain (two).

Oh friends, autumn has begun with a bang in my area! On the first day, yesterday, the temperature was in the high twenties. And for the weekend, a heat warning has been advised by the Health Department because the temps will be in the thirties all weekend. Wow! Usually by this time the leaves would be brown and falling. 

And wonder of wonders, no little cyclones of leaves from my lane have begun spinning around my driveway as yet, as that’s where they all seem to gather in their death knell. Even when all my trees are bare, my driveway is full of them. But right now all the trees are still green, though we haven’t had any rain for at least a couple of weeks during the nice weather. 

Unfortunately, a lot of others can’t say the same thing because they have gone through devastating losses because of hurricanes, earthquakes or fires. Ah Lord eh! What’s causing all this sudden unusual disaster eh? Is it simply climate change, or God’s wrath on our sinful souls? Who knows? 

But the smart thing would be to try and improve our caretaking of the planet, and turn our eyes and hearts heavenward in repentance to our ever merciful and forgiving God. Those are the only two actions that make sense in these calamitous days my people. Anyway, all true Christians should be praying even more than before, and helping our unfortunate brethren in any way we can. 

Now since today is Saturday, let’s look at some quotes from our friend Anselm for this week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. And this week they were all simple one-liners, like: ‘Upgrade your values.’ Now that should be always a priority in our lives, but the fact is that as we get more intelligent and prosperous, our standards are sadly falling. But who cares? Jesus does, as He expects diligence and excellence from ALL His followers. 

And Anselm also recommends: ‘Don’t stop working towards your dream.’ Now why would we want to do such a foolish thing eh, when working towards fulfilling them is exactly why God put dreams and desires in our hearts? We need to cherish them, hold them close to our hearts and make every effort for them to come true. And if they adhere to God’s law and will, they will eventually do so, but we do have to keep working diligently and enthusiastically towards them and never give up. 

And this quote is interesting. ‘Someone’s opinion is not your reality.’ So true! Ofttimes the opinions of others just don’t jive with what you are about. But please don’t just dismiss them offhandedly; learn to wisely consider those opinions, for sometimes they do contain a grain of truth or wisdom. (smile) 

And thus, you can also ‘Take full responsibility for your life.’ Now that quote brings forth a sarcastic chuckle, because we all know that in today’s world, shunning responsibility is the name of the game. It’s always everybody else’s fault but our own. It’s called the blame game: blame everybody else but ourselves. 

But then in the last quote, Anselm tells us that we should ‘Give more than you are paid for.’ Hn! Hn! Another no-no in this society! We don’t even want to do what we’re paid to do, much less to give more. Chuh! It’s ingrained in our work habits, to do as little as we can get away with; to take advantage of the benefits wherever we can. So doing extra is just very seldom an option in this modern day and age. 

But it was very important to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ as He talks about LOVING our enemies in the Sermon on the Mount, from which our Bit comes. ‘And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain (two).’ 

So friends, shirking our duty and not willing to give more than we are asked for does not fall into Jesus’ portfolio at all. He expects us ALWAYS to live up to our responsibility and to do and give more than we’re asked. That’s just another example of why, as Christians, we should not be following the dictates of the world. We must be in the world, but not be of the world. 

Now here’s an explanation of our Bit from the scholars. ‘5:41. In ancient times government agents were in a position to compel forced service upon a subjugated people. A Roman soldier, for example, could compel a Jewish native to carry his armour or materials for one mile. Jesus now states that if someone compels you to walk a mile, go with him twain. The believer is to be willing to “go the extra mile.” Doing double our duty not only proves our loyalty to human authority, but likewise proves the spiritual intention of our heart.’ 

Ah mih people, how many of us supposed Christians hold to that action eh? Not as many as should, for we insist on following the poor example of the world, because it’s so much easier, less challenging and less responsible too. But my brethren, as true believers, we should instead be following the outstanding example which Jesus set, and wants us to follow, even though it’s difficult and very challenging. 

Yes friends, Jesus is all about coming up higher in EVERY walk of life, and to be His sincere followers, we need to fashion ourselves after Him. Nothing else will do! Much LOVE!

…the tests and trials of this life…are God’s way of remaking us…into the image of Jesus…

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 8 April 2017 Psalm 107:29.

08 Apr 2017 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 107:29.     He maketh the storm to calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

Well friends, it’s Saturday and there’s work to be done around the house, errands to run and shut in people to visit. Wow! For some of us it doesn’t seem like a day off at all, and we’re tempted to go to our place of employment, where we don’t work half as hard. (smile) 

But for some blessed individuals, it’s a much easier go; just sleeping in late, snoozing on the couch, idly flipping the channels on the remote,  watching golf and baseball, hockey and basketball, while sipping something cold and frothy and drowsily but sincerely saying, ‘Praise the Lord!’ 

Yes mih people, some do have it easier than others. But since it’s Saturday, we also have to check out some of our friend Anselm’s quotes for this week. And he does have some excellent ones this week. 

Listen to this first one. ‘Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem and turned it into an opportunity.’ And that’s gospel truth my brethren! Problems are in fact opportunities for us to grow. Note that it’s only when we face adversity that we mature, especially in our Christian walk. 

And this next quote follows on naturally. ‘We can’t escape pain; we can’t escape the essential nature of our lives. But we do have a choice. We can give in and relent, or we can fight, persevere, and create a life worth living, a noble life. Pain is a fact; our evaluation of it is a choice.’ There again friends, we can’t escape pain or problems, but we can choose how to handle them; either by cringing and complaining, or by standing strong and using the adversity to our benefit. 

And this one also segues nicely to the one before. ‘You cannot tailor-make the situations in life but you can tailor-make the attitudes to fit those situations.’ It’s all about attitudes my people; our attitudes to our problems can either make or break us. And this last quote just wraps it up nicely. ‘Being miserable is a habit; being happy is a habit; and the choice is yours.’

Oh is that ever so true my fellow believers! The choice is all ours. That means if we want to have a fairly happy and peaceful life we must choose attitudes that relate to happiness and peace. Remember with Jesus as our captain, we can remain calm in any storm. 

Now listen to the psalmist as he tells his story. ‘They that go down to the sea in ships; that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm to calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then they are glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.’ (Ps.107:23-30) 

Ah friends that reminds me of a personal testimony to that situation. One day, some thirty something years ago, I ended up on a boat with some friends and coworkers who were headed for Rochester on the American side of Lake Ontario. To cut a long story short, going across the day was sunny and beautiful and we finally got to the American side, but up to now we haven’t reached Rochester. (smile) 

Through the obvious presence of the brown girl in the bottle and several strong imbibers, arguments broke out about continuing down the American coast to Rochester or returning to Toronto. The captain and owner of the boat eventually decided to come back to Toronto. This was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 

But lo and behold, on our way back a serious storm rose up against us and we could barely make any headway against it. And yuh better believe that prayer, for the first time in many a day, was forthcoming from several of the inebriated imbibers. It’s a good thing I wasn’t into the sauce that day, so I was able to help the skipper, while the others were rolling around, hanging on, giving drunken orders and praying. 

Now that day I learned a couple of lessons. The first one is that Lake Ontario can be very dangerous. I would be passing along the shore and see it kicking up and steups at it, saying it was nothing like the ocean I was accustomed to, and wondering how big ships like the Edmund Fitzgerald could sink and get lost in it.

But friends, that night I learned otherwise. For when the boat, I guess it was around fifteen feet long, mounted up the massive waves, I saw the good Lord in his heaven. (smile) And when it hit back down to the depths, between those waves, I felt the shivering of timbers! And that was the second lesson I learned; the actual feeling of shivering timbers. Before that night I had only read it from books. 

And believe me there was even mutiny amongst the group. For when we finally reached land on the Ontario side, somewhere around Cobourg, still many miles from our starting point, we had to stop for gas. At that point, some of the more inebriated ones wanted to use their money to take a taxi home, instead of chip in for the gas. 

But eventually cooler heads prevailed and we all came back together, arriving at our starting point around three o’clock in the morning, having left their around ten a.m. the previous day. And believe me, that was only a synopsis of the whole story. Like my family didn’t know where I was, hadn’t seen or heard from me for at least 20 hours, and the captain’s wife had the coast guard out looking for us. 

Can’t say I haven’t led an adventurous life – but with the grace of God always surrounding me! That’s why I can totally agree with the psalmist when he declares: ‘Oh that men would praise (give thanks to) the Lord for his goodness (LOVING-kindness), to the children of men!’ (Ps.107:31) Much LOVE my brethren!

…without God…where would men be eh…so let’s give Him lots of thanks and praise nuh…and faithfully adhere to His law…