Today’s Scrip-Bit 19 March 2017 Matthew 6:19.

19 Mar 2017 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 6:19.   Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt (ruin), and where thieves break through and steal.

Sunday O Sunday: The day of the Lord, when we gather together to worship and fellowship and praise and give thanks to our magnificent and magnanimous God!  One who is omnipotent, all- powerful; omniscient, all-seeing and knowing; and omni-present, everywhere at the same time! 

What a thrill it is my people to be gathered in the Lord’s sanctuary, or anywhere at all, to hear His wondrous word and exalt and glorify His holy name! For all that He’s done, is currently doing, and has promised to do for us, let’s now raise our voices in joyful song, extolling not only His might and power, but also His mercy, compassion, grace and LOVING-kindness! 

And the song of praise for today is the old hymn of assurance and the joy of salvation, ‘Christ the Solid Rock.’ So as one harmonious choir, let’s raise our voices in the sacrifice of praise in heartfelt sincerity and truth. 

‘My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. 

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. 

His oath, His covenant, and blood Support me in the whelming flood; When every earthly prop gives way, He then is all my Hope and Stay. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. 

When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found, Clothed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne! On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.’ 

And that’s the indisputable, gospel truth my fellow believers! Any other ground beside the foundation of Rock that’s our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is simply sinking sand! On Him and Him ALONE, are we assured of standing strong and walking tall in this misguided universe! 

But you know what friends? That last verse of the hymn is also very important: that we should be found clothed in His righteousness on His Second Coming, to stand faultless before Him. If we’re not found in that state then crapaud smoke we pipe! As simple as that. 

And the only way we can have some assurance of that situation is by living out His words of warning in our Bit. ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt (ruin), and where thieves break through and steal.’ 

Yes friends, the treasures of the earth are basically worthless when your physical body is returned to the dust from which it was made. Then what is going to happen to your spiritual body that will be left, that will live on eh? You’ll endure ‘sufferation’ and eternal death with that ole fool Lucifer in Hades, or wherever God decides to discard him. 

Now to me, that doesn’t look like such a good idea, although a lot of us are unwisely clinging to it. In my humble opinion, Jesus’ suggestion seems much more profitable and amenable. ‘But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.’ (Matt.6:20)  

Ah mih people, I don’t understand why we fight so hard to accumulate the world’s riches nuh, when we know that we can’t carry any of it with us, especially when doing so just produces so much stress and strain and we don’t get to enjoy them. And it’s not like you can’t get rich in earthly wealth following Christ. There are numerous rich Christians around the world; it’s just that they don’t display it as a badge of honour and use it in a more godly way. 

Hear how James addresses the wealthy, unsaved Jews of his day. ‘Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted (have rotted), and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered (corroded); and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. 

Behold the hire (wages) of the labourers who have reaped down (mowed) your fields, which is of you kept back (you have kept back) by fraud, crieth (cry out): and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton (indulgence); ye have nourished (fattened) your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just, and he doth not resist you.’ (James 5:1-6) 

Now hear some explanations from the scholars. ‘5:1-6. Ye rich men: James’ common address “brethren,” is not found once in this section. By contrast, it occurs four times in verses 7-12. James is now addressing wealthy, unsaved Jews who have poor Jews working for them. They have mistreated the poor, so God’s judgement will fall on them.’ 

‘5:3. Ironically, they have stored up treasure for their last days (retirement), which God will use against them in the last days.’ ‘5:4. The Lord of Sabaoth, meaning the Lord of Hosts (i.e. of Armies), describes the omnipotent, avenging character of God who sees and hears this injustice.’  

Ah mih breddren, the same injustice is being meted out to the poor and needy today by the wealthy, unsaved heathen. But just as those earlier Jews were promised God’s judgement, likewise the current crop of robber barons will receive their comeuppance in God’s time. Please, let’s not be found counted amongst them. Much LOVE!

…heavenly rewards…must be accumulated from earth…

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 26 July 2014 Matthew 6:19

26 Jul 2014 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 6:19.     Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt (ruin, destroy), and where thieves break through and steal.

Aloha Friends and neighbours! Let’s greet this new day with a sense of expectancy and promise by giving thanks to our heavenly Father, who has so graciously anointed us to see it.

‘Dear Father in heaven, we praise your holy name and thank you for your mercy and blessings that have allowed us to rise and greet another day. We also thank you for your wonderful Son Jesus, who sacrificed His holy life so that we could be reconciled to you, and be once more called your children. Please help us to walk today in your will and the plan you have for our lives. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.’

And today we have a quote attributed to the famous Scottish novelist, poet and essayist, author of such treasured literature as ‘Treasure Island and Kidnapped’ amongst others, the one and only Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) Robert is supposed to have said to ‘Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.’

And I must admit that there is a lot of truth to that statement, but we need to put fears into their proper perspective. And sometimes though it is healthy and healing to show them, because it gives others a chance to help us with them, and also show that we’re not the super people we try or pretend to be.

Now it’s okay to fear, for fear is a natural human trait, but we must not allow fear to beat us down. As I heard Sister Joyce (Joyce Meyer) say recently, ‘Fear is the false evidence that appears to be real.’ And that’s often the fact. We fear stuff and in the long run those fears never come to pass, or they are not as bad as we thought.

Sometimes too we have to be aware of seeming too courageous, since it can cause others to look at us with jealousy and /or resentment. You know the type that’s always beating the odds, who never lose a battle. We must at times appear to be human with all the innate frailties.

The long and short of the story though Friends, is that it’s okay to fear, to even show fear, but more often than not we should show courage, and even if we are afraid, as Sister Joyce is won’t to say, we must do it afraid. Remember that only Faith conquers fear, that’s why we ought always to try and walk in faith.  

And having said all of that, which I hope makes sense, (smile) let’s turn to our Bit, those wise and wonderful words from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ regarding material wealth. ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt (ruin, destroy), and where thieves break through and steal.’

And we don’t even have to consider the spiritual side of that statement to know that it’s true in the physical realm, for all of us have valuable stuff that are ruined by rust, like cars and other metallic things, and moths do eat our best clothes if we leave them hanging up in our closets or lying in our drawers too long. Remember the days of mothballs in every draw? Hn! The young people won’t have any idea of what mothballs are.

Anyway, let’s get to some scripture on the subject. And Cousin Sol, in his great, God-endowed wisdom, tells us thus: ‘A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent (go unpunished).’ (Prov.28:20)

And we all know people like that, people whose only goal is to get materially rich as soon as possible. Some of us might have even fallen into that category at one time or another, but hopefully we’ve been cured of that disease, either through the awesome power of Jesus, or the punishment we received for being too hasty to get rich. (smile)

But in any case we now realize the right kind of riches to make our priority; the heavenly kind; ‘where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt (ruin, destroy), and where thieves do not break through.’ (Matt.6:20) 

Now hear James’ warning to the rich. ‘Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted (have rotted), and your garments are moth eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered (corroded); and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire.

Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold the hire (wages) of the labourers who have reaped down (mowed) your fields, which is of you (you have) kept back by fraud, crieth (cry out): and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton (indulgent); ye have nourished (fattened) your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.’ (James 5:1-6)

Oh Friends, unfortunately the same stuff is happening today, possibly on a much wider scale than in James’ day, but rest assured the results will be the same; God’s punishment for the rich and advantageous, and His justice and mercy for the disadvantaged.

Now hear some explanations from the scholars. ‘5:1-6. Ye rich men: James’ common address “brethren” is not found once in this section. By contrast, it occurs four times in verses 7-12. James is now addressing wealthy, unsaved Jews who have poor Jews working for them. They have mistreated the poor, so God’s judgement will fall on them.

5:3. Ironically, they have stored up treasure for their last days (retirement), which God will use against them in the last days.

5:4. The Lord of the Sabaoth, meaning the Lord of Hosts (i.e. of Armies), describes the omnipotent, avenging character of the God who sees and hears this injustice.’

Ah my people, all I can say is let us try not to be numbered amongst that group of people nuh. Even if we do become wealthy, let us remember that the wealth is not really ours, but we are just stewards of the Lord’s property, and it behooves us to use it wisely in helping those in need, and not taking advantage of the poor and downtrodden.

That will then cause us to reap heavenly rewards, and there is nothing better than that. So please let heavenly wisdom prevail. Much LOVE!

…if you can’t take earthly wealth with you…why kill yourself trying to amass it…