Today’s Scrip-Bit   24 December 2022 Matthew 19:26.

24 Dec 2022 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 19:26.        With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Oh friends, it’s Saturday; lazy day Saturday, Christmas Eve Saturday! Glory be! Wow! The day is at hand and so many expectations are floating around. Let’s hope the most important and prevalent one is that we remember Jesus, the reason for the season, in all of our festivities. For you know when the celebrations get somewhat noisy and boisterous, we are very liable to throw out the baby with the bathwater. (smile) But for this season, please, let’s keep Jesus first place, uppermost in our minds, as it’s supposed to be. End of sermon! (smile) 

Now, let’s see what quotes our friend Anselm sent us this past week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. And the first one says: ‘I just want you to know that if you are out there and you are being really hard on yourself right now for something that has happened. it’s normal. That is what is going to happen to you in life. No one gets through unscathed. We are all going to have a few scratches on us. Please be kind to yourselves and stand up for yourself, please.’ 

And that’s the awesome truth. We all will be hurt at some time or other, and make mistakes too, but that’s all a part of life. And sometimes we get down on ourselves for some of our mistakes and failures. But it’s not necessary to beat up ourselves about them. Oh, we must admit them and then go to God seeking grace, mercy and comfort. That’s the only sensible way to deal with our hurts. And sadly, many people, especially Christians tend to be too hard on themselves, erroneously thinking that browbeating oneself will make it right, or okay. 

But the only thing that will make anything right in this world is the LOVE and forgiveness of Almighty God! However, that doesn’t give us carte blanche, or a blank check, to do as we please, or let ourselves completely off the hook. That brings to mind Bruh Paul’s words to the Romans: ‘What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.’ (Rom. 6:15) No! We don’t take advantage of or abuse anybody or anything, including ourselves. 

And the next quote is also an interesting one. ‘Be courageous. Challenge orthodoxy. Stand up for what you believe in. When you are in your rocking chair talking to your grandchildren many years from now, be sure you have a good story to tell.’ There’s also a lot of truth in it. We all need to be courageous in this rough and tough evil world. Remember some of God’s first words to Joshua as the leader of the Israelites after the death of Moses, were: ‘Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.’ (Josh. 1:9) 

Now those are words of immortal wisdom and command! It’s essential that believers stand up strong and steadfast for what they believe in, i.e. ‘Jesus Christ! But it’s sad to say that too many of us supposed believers are not standing up for what we claim to believe in. We’re living in fear and doubt, or simply lethargy under the world’s dominating system. But that’s not good enough my people. Jesus expects us to stand up for Him and the beliefs we claim to have. And there is no better time to do so than this Christmas season when we celebrate His momentous birth! If we do that zealously, I can assure you that we’ll certainly have plenty of good stories to tell our grandchildren as we sit in our rockers. (smile) 

Then the next quote tells us: ‘At the end of the day, whether or not those people are comfortable with how you’re living your life doesn’t matter. What matters is whether you’re comfortable with it.’ And, to a certain extent, that’s quite true. You can’t overly concern yourself with what others think or say about you and your lifestyle, especially if you’re a believer in Christ Jesus. They will criticize you at every turn. 

But once you know you are doing the right thing, living the way Jesus expects to the best of your ability, then you don’t need to bother with ‘those people.’ Because ‘those people’ are usually just a bunch of hypocrites themselves; say one thing and do something completely different. Like the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, who exhorted the Jews to live one way, but they themselves never lived the same lifestyle. 

Now here is possibly the most important quote of the day: ‘You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.’ And that’s the gospel truth my people! In fact, Christ expects us to be always learning and producing good fruit until the day we die! If we’re not being productive and mentally active then we die, both spiritually and physically. Just look at the number of people who work for so many years, then retire and do nothing. They eventually become vegetables and die much sooner than if they had kept active in some form and fashion. As the saying goes: ‘If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it!’ 

And to back that up, listen to what Psalm 92 tells us. ‘The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree (date palm): he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon (big and strong). Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat (plump) and flourishing (green). To show that the Lord is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.’ (Ps. 92:12-15) Yes my brethren, the way to live to your fullest is to be always learning and doing something productive, regardless of your age or physical ability. We need to keep God’s greatest invention, the human brain, ever active while we’re alive. 

That brings us to this last quote, which, as true believers in Christ, we all know as certain fact and truth. ‘Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible!’ Yes, it does say so. But the reason why it’s really so, is because Almighty God is the sovereign ruler of this world. He’s omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, meaning that He’s all-powerful, can do anything; He sees everything, and is everywhere at once. 

And His Son, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who’s birth we’re currently celebrating in this Christmas season, said it ever so plainly and truthfully when here on earth talking to His disciples about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. He said: ‘With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.’ (Matt. 19:26) 

Now that’s one thing we should never forget my fellow saints: ALL things are possible with our great God! And it’s exactly one of those supposedly impossible situations that we’re celebrating right now: the incarnate birth of Christ, the birth of a baby, Jesus, from His virgin mother, Mary’s womb! How exciting, thrilling, stimulating, encouraging and reassuring my people, to know that God worked one of His many miracles, so that we could celebrate the Birth of his wonderful Son, Jesus Christ, tomorrow on Christmas Day! Much LOVE!

…it’s all about Jesus…yes…let’s sing it…it’s all about Jesus…nobody else but…JESUS… 

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZ         

Today’s Scrip-Bit   3 September 2022 Psalm 90:12.

03 Sep 2022 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 90:12.        So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (gain a heart of wisdom).

And then it was Saturday, our lazy day…and yuh better believe that I’ve been enjoying some of the laziness pervading the atmosphere this bright and sunshiny morning; lying in bed later than normal, and taking my own sweet time to come down and write the Bit. But when you have God’s work to do, you can only enjoy so much lazy time before He gently nudges you to get up and get a move on. So here I am, having been gently nudged (smile) as we venture to look at the quotes that our friend Anselm sent us this past week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. 

And the first quote says: ‘Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once.’ And that’s the God-awesome truth my brethren! Life is like money, and you can spend it anyway you desire, but the fact of the matter is that once you’ve spent it, it’s gone. You can’t take it back and spend it again. That’s why we must be ever so careful about how we spend our lives; on what and with whom we spend them. We only have one life to live, and once you’ve spent even a li’l piece of it, that piece is gone forever. 

Unfortunately, life is not like writing on paper, we don’t have the luxury of erasing whatever we’ve done and doing it over on the same piece of paper. That span of life has been used up once and for all. And since our days on earth are short enough as it is, we cannot afford to use up too much of our life unwisely. That’s one of the reasons why Moses in Psalm 90, asks the Lord: ‘So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom (gain a heart of wisdom).’ (Ps. 90:12) 

And likewise in Psalm 39, A prayer for self-understanding, Bruh David beseeched: ‘Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.’ (Ps. 39:4) None of us know how long or short our time will be on earth, hence the necessity to use that time wisely. And it all segues nicely into the next quote. ‘The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.’ 

Oh time does fly, and you don’t realize how fast until you’re getting on in age. I’m sure that time’s been flying at the same speed when I was young, but now that I’m on the downside of life, it seems that time is flying more quickly than ever. And you continually see my surprise in the Bit about how quickly the days and months are flying by. However, as the quote reminds us, we are the pilot of our lives, and thus can do whatever we want with them. The problem there, as we said earlier on, is using our time wisely. And we can only do that successfully if we are guided by the one who made time; our Creator and heavenly Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

Yes friends, we can pilot the ship of our lives half decently in calm waters, but when the storms and crises of life come, it takes a greater and more experienced pilot than us, Jesus Christ, to guide us safely through them. It’s like in many big ports around the world, when a big ship comes in, a pilot from the port comes on board to take the ship into safe anchorage, because they know the harbour more intimately than the regular ship’s pilot. And it’s the same way with life friends, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ knows much more about life than we do, because He lived it, died, and rose again, so with that experience under His belt, He’s better able to offer us good advice on it. (smile) 

That brings us to this next quote. ‘You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script.’ Now there’s lots of truth to that, because nowadays there are a lot of people, so -called experts who want to tell us how to live our lives. And it does help to pay attention to some of what they say, but ofttimes they will lead you to live the kind of life they want you to live, not necessarily the kind that you want to live. We need to keep a fine balance between what we want, what others advise us, and how it will eventually affect our lives. 

But there again, the best expert on life is Jesus! No one else has done what He’s done, or can ever do it. In a nutshell: ‘Jesus Christ was chosen to be our Savior. His Atonement makes it possible for us to be resurrected and to repent and be forgiven so we can return to our Heavenly Father’s presence. In addition to saving us from our sins, Jesus Christ, our Savior, also offers us peace and strength in times of trial.’  So, it makes ever so much sense to turn to Him and live the life that He advises or guides us to live, through the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within each person who believes in Him. 

And this next quote is a meaningful one. ‘I just want you to know that if you are out there and you are being really hard on yourself right now for something that has happened … it’s normal. That is what is going to happen to you in life. No one gets through unscathed. We are all going to have a few scratches on us. Please be kind to yourselves and stand up for yourself, please.’ 

Now that’s oh so true! In this life we all face tough times, through rejection, persecution, whatever, but that’s normal, for life never runs smoothly. There are always ups and down, mistakes and disappointments, but through it all, we certainly need to stand up for ourselves and not be too harsh on ourselves because of any errors we’ve made. Forgiving ourselves ought to be our number one priority in times of poor choices or lack of wisdom. We must learn from the mistakes, but don’t let them weigh us down like unnecessary baggage. 

Unfortunately, many of us forgive others much quicker and easier than we forgive ourselves. The same sorry situation occurs when God forgives us, we don’t truly accept it, and keep on trying to make amends of our own. But forgiveness means letting go of the guilt. We are not called to be martyrs, just to live life to the fullest, which includes forgiveness of self and others. 

Or, like this last quote advises: ‘Be courageous. Challenge orthodoxy. Stand up for what you believe in. When you are in your rocking chair talking to your grandchildren many years from now, be sure you have a good story to tell.’ Now that’s the basic definition of life. As the Lord reminded Joshua: ‘Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.’ (Josh. 1:9) 

Yes friends, if we follow that wise advice, we’ll not go wrong. We will have problems, but we will also have wonderful adventures, even within the times of problems, because that’s the kind of life Jesus offers. As He says: ‘These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33) 

And that’s an acknowledged fact! So, if we want to live a life filled with good stories to both tell our grandchildren and reminisce about ourselves, as we rock gently during the twilight of our lives, the best one to follow and listen to is Jesus! He’s the only real expert on the subject. There’s no doubt about that. Much LOVE!

…only JESUS…can take us safely through the ups and downs of life…  

Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8​