Lamentations 3:31. For the Lord will not cast off for ever.
Well a good Wednesday morning to all you beautiful images of the ONE TRUE GOD, out there on planet earth!
How goes it mih lovelies? Good, I hope. It’s not too bad with me, though I’m tired, because I didn’t get to bed until after one, reading an interesting British set novel. Yuh know when the story gets juicy, (smile) then you see you’re almost at the end, so you decide to finish it. But for some reason, it always takes longer than you expected. Well that was my dilemma this morning.
But our most wonderful God, in His everlasting mercy and LOVING-kindness, looked down on me with favour and guided me to this poem I had sitting amongst some other papers. I don’t think I’ve shared it before, but if I have, it’s good enough to be heard one more time, especially in the middle of the work week when we’re generally in a state of flux; in no man’s land, neither here nor there, not fully acclimatized to it, but not yet desperately looking forward to Friday.
But let’s listen to this and allow it to raise our spirits and give us a boost to keep on living for Jesus, doing His bidding, and causing others to come to Him and LOVE Him as we do. There’s no official title, but I’ll call it, ‘The Promises and non Promises of God.’
‘God hath not promised skies ever blue, flower-strewn pathways all our lives through; God hath not promised sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain. God hath not promised smooth roads and wide, swift, easy travel needing no guide; God hath not promised we shall not bear many a burden, many a care. But God hath promised strength for the day, rest amid labour, light for the way; grace for the trials, help from above, unfailing sympathy, undying LOVE.’
Now all of that is certainly undeniable truth Friends! And I do hope it lifts our spirits and gives us strength, courage and faith to keep on keeping on, because patience, perseverance and constant plodding in the face of all adversity are the hallmarks of the pilgrim. And pilgrims we all are, on this earthly journey to our heavenly home.
And though we encounter much difficulty on the journey, there is one thing we can be absolutely sure of, as our Bit tells us. ‘For the Lord will not cast off for ever.’ And that’s truly, truly gospel my people!
As the Good Book continues: ‘But though he causes grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly (with delight), nor grieve the children of men.’ (Lam.3:32-33)
Yes Friends, our God does not go out of His way to make life hard for us, or to unfairly punish us, but disciplinary measures (smile) are sometimes necessary to bring us into line with His divine will, or keep us on the right path, the straight and narrow one that leads to heaven, though we take rebellious delight in speeding down the wide highway that leads to death and destruction and the evil company of Lucifer.
But listen to the wisdom of the psalmist on the subject. ‘The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity (futile). Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest (instructeth), O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest (relief) from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off (abandon) his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgement shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.’ (Ps.94:11-15)
So my fellow believers, there’s no need to fear. Our God will never leave us or forsake us, neither will He afflict us unnecessarily. And if He does decide that chastening is called for, then we can take pleasure from it, (smile) for we know that He’s only disciplining us for our own good. That’s because He LOVES us with such passion and doesn’t want us to go astray. It’s just like when we discipline our children because we LOVE them, not because we want to hurt them.
And we’ll close with some more reassuring words from the Good Book on God’s discipline: ‘My son, despise not thou the chastening (discipline) of the Lord, nor faint (be discouraged) when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord LOVETH He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? …Now no chastening (discipline) for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised (trained) thereby.’ (Heb.12:5b-7, 11)
That says it all Friends! Our God treats us like His children, and though our natural nature doesn’t like discipline, sometimes it is indeed necessary. And the sad part of it all, is that if God doesn’t discipline us occasionally, then we’re not His children. And I’m sure none of us want to hear that.
So let’s go out today nuh, walking in the power, faithfulness and trust of our omnipotent and LOVING God, knowing that he is looking over and looking out for each one of us, who’ve placed our faith in Him, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit. When we do that, NOTHING on this earth can touch us. Much LOVE!
…when one walks confidently with God…the powers of darkness flee in fear… from the blinding light that’s Jesus…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 28 March 2013 Luke 22:42
28 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: Calvary's cross, conformity, crucifixion, discipline, disobedience, earthly purpose, faith, frailties, Gethsemane, God's lesson, Holy Thursday, human weakness, ignorance, ingrates, negative actions, negative consequences, obedience of Jesus, rebellion, rebellious behaviour, religion, selfless sacrifice, sin-bearer, spirit of rebellion, stubbornness, think first, thy will be done, troubled times
Luke 22:42. Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Oh Friends, ignorance is something else yes! As the old people said, when you don’t hear, you feel. And I’m definitely feeling this morning with an aching back. I went to bed last night at a decent hour, but got side swiped when I decided to read a few pages of a novel I had on the go. Needless to say the novel was interesting and I lay in bed reading until I finished it at one thirty this morning. Hn! Now the problem is not that I didn’t get to sleep until late, but that I lay in bed all that time while reading, then continued by going right to sleep afterwards. And it’s not like I don’t know that I can’t do the reading in bed thing for any length of time, then go straight to sleep without my back aching when I get up. Where some people can lie in bed all day and have no problems, after five or six hours in bed, my back starts to act up. But such is the stubbornness and rebelliousness of man, that we insist on doing what we shouldn’t do, although we know the negative consequences that will arise from those negative actions. And my people, that’s the lesson our God wants to put before us this Holy Thursday morning; think before you act, consider the consequences before you put your hand, foot or mouth in the proverbial whatever it is. (smile) In fact the Lord’s been trying to teach us that since Adam was a little boy and ate the forbidden apple, when he knew full well he shouldn’t. But do we listen? Obviously not! For even in our childhood there’s that spirit of rebellion which causes us to go against the wishes of our parents and teachers. The same goes for when we achieve adulthood, for just look at our society today. Look at the numerous things we do, even though we know that they are wrong and the consequences can and/or will be painful, even disastrous. Oh my brethren, what is it in mankind that makes him think he can constantly disobey his Creator and not pay the price for that disobedience eh? I certainly don’t know nuh friends. But today we have a most excellent example of obedience in Jesus, who knowing the fate that awaited Him the next day on Calvary’s cross, and who had ample reason and opportunity to rebel, fortunately did not do it, else crapaud would certainly have smoked we pipe. And it’s not like He didn’t feel anxious and somewhat fearful, for who in human flesh wouldn’t be appalled at the thought of being cruelly and criminally nailed to a wooden cross and left to perish in the hot sun. Remember that though Jesus was God, here on earth He had all the human weakness and frailties except sin. But instead of out and out rebelling, what did He do? After the Last Supper, where He blessed His disciples with the body and blood of His spiritual self, He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray, to spend some quiet, if agonizing time with His heavenly Father. And though He anguished over the upcoming events, even praying that the Father might excuse Him from the task at hand, He knew that that wasn’t possible, for it was that very event, crucifixion, sinless sacrifice, for which He had come to earth. Our Bit details His predicament and resolve in a few simple words. ‘Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.’ Yes my brethren, for us followers of Christ, it’s never really about our will, but our heavenly Father’s. Jesus even enshrined that in the example He gave us of prayer. ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.’ (Matt.6:10) That means our prayer is to be in conformity with God’s will, not the other way around. And if we think that Jesus didn’t endure real anxiety in the garden that fateful Holy Thursday night, just listen to what the Good Book says after He stated our Bit. ‘And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.’ (Luke 22:43-44) Oh my people, we can’t sweat to such an extent, without physical labour, unless we’re very anxious about something. The scholars claim: ‘Surely Jesus wrestles, not so much with death itself, but with His own destiny to be made the sin-bearer for all mankind for all the ages. The punishment that had to be borne for our sins brings Jesus to His knees in anguish.’ And why wouldn’t it eh, especially for a bunch of rebellious ingrates! And to buttress the fact that Jesus totally saw His role as doing God’s will, let’s look at several scriptures where He emphasizes it. First though, listen to Isaiah, who foresaw Jesus’ great dilemma. ‘The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters (those who struck me), and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair (beard). I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded (disgraced): therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.’ (Is.50:5-7) And that’s exactly what Jesus did! Now hear Him enshrine the Father’s will. It all comes from John’s gospel. The first example is after He’s spoken to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and His disciples not knowing that fact, offer Him food, and He answers them thus: ‘Jesus saith unto them, My meat (food) is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.’ (John 4:34) Then, in talking about the Son’s relationship to the Father, He humbly declares: ‘I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgement is just (righteous); because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.’ (John 5:30) And when saying that He’s the bread of life, Jesus offers these words as His earthly purpose. ‘For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.’ (John 6:38) And finally, in talking about being the light of the world, Jesus concludes: ‘And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.’ (John 8:29) Oh Friends, fellow believers and followers of Jesus Christ, on this Holy Thursday, when we commemorate the selfless sacrifice that Jesus suffered for us two thousand years ago, please, I sincerely plead with us, to take serious stock of ourselves, note any rebellious behaviour we have towards our heavenly father, and consequently Jesus, then purposely try to correct that ungodly behaviour with sincere repentance and prayer, so that in these very trying, confused and troubled times, we will measure up much better than ever to the character of Jesus, where He always considered the Father’s will before committing any action. I pray that as of this day, we’ll all come up a little higher, losing most of our rebelliousness, coming ever closer to the perfection that’s Jesus. In Jesus’ Holy Name, I pray. Amen. Much LOVE my people!…free will is nice to have…but it means being very disciplined…or facing negative consequences… P.S. Oh Friends, our God is so wonderful that I came down here this morning with nothing to write about, feeling lousy, and consequently figuring that the Bit would be pretty late. But He didn’t even give me a chance to cry out to Him for help and guidance, but simply guided me to write about my aching back, because of my wilful disobedience to my physical problem, then everything just fell right into place. So how can I not sincerely LOVE, ADORE, PRAISE, THANK and WORSHIP Him eh? Much LOVE!
Today’s Scrip-Bit 10 March 2013 Hebrews 12:1
10 Mar 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: Advocate, citizens of heaven, cloud of witnesses, Daylight Savings Time, discipline, don't give up, endurance, faithful Christian, grow in Christ, heavenly wisdom, hebrews 12, heroes of faith, human-rights, intercession, Jesus Christ, make memories for tomorrow, mature Christian, nefarious activities, perseverance, preparedness, regret yesterday, religion, run the race, run with patience, sin, step up to the plate, theology, understanding the Word, waste today
Hebrews 12:1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Well Friends, the deed has been done! It’s now Daylight Savings time! By just moving the hands of the clock around, we have supposedly gained an hour of daylight. As I said yesterday, I don’t think this time change benefits the ordinary citizen. In fact I saw a blurb where it reportedly causes heart and sleep problems. Anyway, no use crying over spilt milk now. We just have to grin and make the most of it. However, being citizens of heaven, followers of Jesus Christ, the One who defeated death and the grave, the One who rose victorious the third day, then ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of our heavenly Father, as our Advocate, making positive intercession for us, that means a little thing like an hour here on earth won’t bother us, when we have the whole of eternity to look forward to with the Holy Trinity. (smile) But in spite of all that, I’m still going to share and strongly advise us to accept this wise bit of advice from Laura Palmer. Now there are several Laura Palmers’ listed on the Web. Some of you might know Laura Palmer as a character on the T.V. show, Twin Peaks, but I can assure you that this is not her advice, neither is it from the porn star by that name, because the Devotional I got that from was written long before Twin Peaks ever aired, or that lady engaged in her nefarious activities. (smile) I believe it comes from a New York author and journalist by that name. Anyway, she rightly says: ‘Don’t waste today regretting yesterday instead of making a memory for tomorrow.’ And that’s heavenly wisdom Friends! Too many of us waste the day in front of us, pining after and beating up ourselves over our mistakes of the day before, when we should be using today to do better than we did yesterday. Remember my people, when we get to the winter of our years, all we’ll probably have are our memories to look back on, and who really wants to have miserable memories to rehash eh? Nobody really. For as the Johnny Bristol song warns: ‘Memories don’t leave, like people do. They always stay with you. Whether they’ve been good or bad. They’re all that you have.’ So please let’s use today fruitfully, and run the race that the Lord has planned for us. As the author of Hebrews advises in our Bit: ‘Wherefore seeing (since) we also are compassed about with (surrounded by) so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset (ensnare) us, and let us run with patience (perseverance, endurance) the race that is set before us.’ Now let’s get to what the scholars have to say about our Bit. And it sure is plenty. ‘The present exhortation to run finds its basis in the examples of the champions mentioned in chapter 11. These heroes of faith are like a cloud of witnesses. As “witnesses” (Gr. marturon) they are sometimes regarded as spectators (Gr. theatai) or as martyrs; yet this Greek word should be understood as referring simply to those who testify or witness. The emphasis is on the witness provided by their living by faith. This race of faith is provided by three modifying statements. First, it is to be run by laying aside every weight. This refers to the impediments that weigh one down, whether clothing or excessive body weight. These things are not inherently wrong, but for the diligent runner or the faithful Christian they must be removed. Second, it is to be run by putting off the entangling sin. This seems to refer to the one sin above all others that defeats a Christian. This may be a different sin for each individual. Third, it is to be run with patience (Gr. hypomones). Since patience is not an attribute commonly associated with running, this word would be better translated as endurance. Endurance and persistence have been on the author’s mind since the end of chapter 10. (cf. 10:32, 36-38, 11:13)’ Whew! I know some of you are going to complain about all that info, but that’s exactly what we’re talking about; stepping up to the plate and throwing off everything that prevents us from living the life the Lord wants us to live. And the Word plays a huge part in enabling us to do it. So if you don’t understand what the Word’s saying, then you obviously won’t be able to respond to it properly. Oh my brethren, to grow and mature in Christ, we have to grow and mature in understanding the Word, which isn’t always easy, and that’s what I’m trying to help us do here with the Bit. So please don’t get frustrated and give up if sometimes it seems to be a bit much and also somewhat difficult. That’s why we were told to look to those other witnesses who had it hard, but continued living by faith, not giving up. That’s also why Bruh Paul told the Corinthians: ‘Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.’ (1 Cor.9:24) And here too, the scholars’ have some good historical info. ‘Paul draws on a scene familiar to his Corinthian readers in order to drive home his point. The Isthmian Games were an athletic event known to all of his readers. They were held on alternate summers in the vicinity of Corinth. It was an event not to be missed by anyone of importance in all parts of Greece. As a national institution, it was as familiar to his readers as modern football to most Americans.’ So now my brethren, we know what race Bruh Paul was talking about in his famous monologue. But I think that’s enough for today. We’ve taken on a lot of info, so please let’s ponder it, let’s seriously consider today’s lesson. Read, mark and inwardly digest it, because we’ll be having a test on it tomorrow. And anyone who fails will have to write it over again. (smile) Don’t feel badly, because I have to write it too, and thus I have to do like Bruh Paul. ‘But I keep under (discipline) my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (disqualified).’ (1Cor.9:27) Yeh Friends, I’ve got to and study too, lest after teaching you, I fail the test. (smile) That would certainly be disastrous. Much LOVE!…to run any race successfully…the runner must be well trained and well prepared…physically, mentally and emotionally…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 21 February 2013 Psalm 94:12
21 Feb 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: adversity, afflictions, blessed, character of Christ, chastens, consider the consequences, continual wrongdoing, cross to bear, despise not God's corrections, discipline, disobedience, faith and trust in God, fasting, happy is he whom God corrects, humility, man doesn't live by bread alone, manna, psalm 94, religion, statutes, strain and pressure
Psalm 94:12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.
Oh Friends, our God is truly a great Deity, but sometimes He can be very sneaky and underhanded. Now I mentioned recently that I had to fast for 12 hours to go for some blood tests, but fasting is not one of my strong points, at least not for 12 hours. Well, it so happens that yesterday evening I went out to a Bible Study class, then ran a few errands, came home and had a late supper. I read for a while then went to bed shortly after midnight. Then lo and behold, I got up after three only to hear or feel this message in my spirit about fasting. Ah Lord eh! Our God certainly moves in mysterious ways, because I wasn’t planning on doing that 12-hour fast today. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do it on my terms, but the Lord slipped a spanner into my wheel and tripped me up. (smile) So now I’m fasting. Chuh! Just another 5 hours to go. Please pray for me that I don’t spoil it, because I certainly don’t want to start all over again. And as we turn to our Bit, I guess that story goes well with it. ‘Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law.’ Yeh Friends, though I knew that I had to do the fasting, and the sooner the better, I wasn’t thrilled with the surprise the Lord sprung on me. But I guess He figured I was pussy-footing around too much, and so decided to take the bull by the horns. (smile) But as our Bit advises, I’m bearing up under the strain and pressure, accepting and bearing it like a man. Hn, hn, hn! And that’s the way we should all handle the corrections of our gracious and LOVING God! Granted, some of them, unlike my petty problem above, can be very hard to bear. But the whole point of the exercise is generally for us to consider the consequences before we do the sinful actions. That’s why from way back when, the Lord through Moses, warned the Israelites about their hardship in the wilderness caused by their disobedience. ‘And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee (did not wear out), neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider (know) in thine heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.’ (Deut.8:3-6) Oh my brethren, it couldn’t be anymore explicit than that! The Lord brought them out of the wilderness eventually, but they paid a stiff price for their disobedience, lack of courage and lack of faith in the Word of the God of their fathers. Unfortunately, nothing much has changed over those many centuries. Our society is even more evil, disobedient, faithless and fearful than the Israelites were. Thus the Lord is chastening us, both by nations and individually. But then we get in a righteous snit because of it, completely forgetting the advice in His Word and the far-reaching consequences of continual wrongdoing. Hear how Job’s buddy, Eliphaz rebukes him. ‘Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.’ (Job 5:17-18) Oh Friends, that’s the beauty of our God; though He may chasten us with tough affliction, He also has the power and the mercy to heal and make us whole! Though we fall like Humpty Dumpty, our God can put us back together again, so we shouldn’t get overly upset when we’re chastened. And though that’s the unvarnished truth, like so many other truths, it’s not always easy to accept. But accepting it is the way of the wise. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 119: ‘It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.’ (Ps.119:71) Oh I know we all think he’s crazy for considering afflictions to be good. But remember Friends, it’s only through afflictions and adversity that our faith is built and our Christian character truly formed. For it’s in those times of trouble that we really learn to depend on our God. If we never suffered afflictions or adversity, and everything always came up roses, then we’d have no need for faith or trust in God. Remember too, that before gold and iron can be processed from the impure ore, they must first be passed through a pretty hot fire. Likewise, that’s how our God teaches us His lessons and conforms us to the character of His wonderful Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and living example. Now let’s listen to this wise and most appropriate scripture from Cousin Sol, which we all know, but don’t like and refuse to believe. ‘My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of (detest) his correction: For whom the Lord LOVETH he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.’ (Prov.3:11-12) And we’ll end with words from Hebrews that put Cousin Sol’s advice in the proper perspective. ‘And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children (sons), My son, despise not the thou the chastening (discipline) of the Lord, nor faint (be discouraged) when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord LOVETH He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?’ (Heb.12:5-7) That says it all my people! Whom the Lord LOVES, He corrects. So if you’re being corrected, say ‘Praise the Lord,’ cause He LOVES you. And remember that we all have our individual crosses to bear, so today, please let’s take a serious look at the state of our individual union with Almighty God and see how best we can improve it. That’s true wisdom, my fellow believers! Much LOVE!…actions always bring consequences…so it will serve us well…to consider the latter…before doing the former…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 7 January 2013 Proverbs 22:15
07 Jan 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: accountability, adversity, aura of love, Bible, bleeding hearts, change of attitude, charlatans, corporal punishment, discipline, disobedience, foolishness, heart of a child, holy spirit, humble servants, invincible conquerors, Jesus Christ, lies, Monday Morning, Monday Morning Battle Hymn, neuroses, protective spiritual armour, responsibility, rod of correction, ungodly world, wicked taunts, wiles
Proverbs 22:15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Oh Friends, that wonderful day called Monday has come around again! And all God’s children said a hearty ‘Yeah!’ No, I’m not crazy or foolish, just a tad eccentric in wanting to change the attitude of followers of Jesus, so that we don’t abuse the weekend and when Monday rolls around we’re not so blue, tired, whiny and miserable. Instead we’ll be bubbling up with energy, brimming over with it, just dying to get out into the evil, ungodly world that now surrounds us and bring the many lost souls out there to Christ. And I’m going to do it, if it takes me until my dying day – with God’s help of course. And I can hear some of you chuckling and shaking your head in sympathy, sadly muttering, ‘Now we know that he’s truly crazy.’ Aye mih people, I’m just trying to do what God has put it in my heart to do. Anyway to help us accomplish that God-given task, let’s therefore sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn with a whole lot of enthusiasm and sincerity. All together now, let’s rock the world this Monday Morning: ‘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!’ Oh Friends, that wasn’t as good as it could or should be, and I’ll chalk it up to the lingering after effects of the Christmas and New Year’s frivolity, but it should be good enough to get us moving. Now let’s move on to our challenging, controversial, but oh so right and truthful Bit. ‘Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.’ Yesterday we looked at some scriptures that warned and encouraged us to instil the Word of God early into the hearts of our children, so that there would be less cause for us to seriously discipline them at a later date. And granted even a century ago we were too harsh and abusive with our offspring. But now we’ve moved right along to the other end of the continuum, where we’re absolutely too lenient with them. In the last few decades we began listening to the wisdom of the world rather than that of God, to the crooks and charlatans about the distastefulness and abusiveness of corporal punishment, and have now abandoned it completely, giving them instead mood and mind altering drugs at a very tender age to combat a whole set of ridiculous neuroses dreamed up by those same crooks and charlatans. All to what good eh my people? To none whatsoever! Because we’ve ended up with a generation of weak, spineless, suicidal, drug addicted, rude, unmannerly, disrespectful, disobedient, selfish, immoral, ungodly, greedy children. Yes people, sadly we listened to all the namby pamby supposed mind doctors and others bewailing that we can’t hit little Johnny or Jenny because that would just make them turn out badly and resort to violence too. Hogwash! What have all the little Johnnies and Jennies’ that didn’t get a good cut-tail every once in a while turn out to be now eh? Violent and undisciplined, ending up in jails and mental institutions at an alarming rate. If we’d pay attention we’d notice that the majority of crime, particularly the violent kind, is being committed mostly be young people, then hopefully we’d ask ourselves why. Why do you think God punished His chosen people Israel so harshly for their disobedience eh, even to the length of several times removing them form the land of the living, or allowing them to be carried into captivity? Because He knew man’s penchant for sinful, unfettered, take it to the limit, ungodly behaviour, and He LOVED them too much to allow them to destroy themselves with earthly lusts and evils. Friends, that’s how we were supposed to LOVE our children too, but unfortunately we did not, we got too soft and lenient with them and thus they took, and are still taking advantage of the situation. Instead of some corporal punishment as the Good Book advises, we sent them to their rooms, where they had all the toys of today to play with, so they never missed nor learned anything from that. My people, as followers of Christ, we cannot pick and choose what to believe of the Bible. It’s either we believe and live by all of it, or we don’t believe any of it. If it says that we must administer some corporal punishment to our children every so often, then so be it. But a lot of that is our fault because we never taught them the Word of God properly in the first place. When you’re taught that from an early age, you understand what’s what, and thus you don’t make half as many mistakes or be as disobedient to require much corporal punishment. My Friends, there’s method in God’s seeming madness. Enough of my spiel though, because this is a very touchy subject with me. And you can see which side I’m on. I’ve been around too long and seen too many children lose their way because of both parental and societal misguidance. Let’s turn now to some scriptures that uphold the wisdom of our Bit. And isn’t it strange that many of them come from the Proverbs of Cousin Sol. Listen up my brethren. ‘He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that LOVETH him chasteneth him betimes (promptly).’ (Prov.13:24) And again: ‘Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying (do not set your heart on his crying).’ (Prov.19:18) And one more time: ‘Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.’ (Prov.23:13-14) Ah Friends, as I’ve said on several occasions, we’ve done a great disservice to our children by trying to raise them as though we were bleeding hearts and they would break if we touched them too hard. I can understand the reasoning behind some of it since some of us grew up in real tough situations, but I’m sure you’d agree that many of those tough situations have since proven beneficial when the hard times of life have accosted you. Sadly though our children cannot handle hard times since they are not accustomed to it. As the Good Book says, we get stronger when we face adversity, it forms strength of character. Anyway, it’s not too late for us to begin rectifying the situation. Obviously for those already grown we can’t administer corporal punishment, but we certainly can use other more supposed civilized methods. On a point of interest, I don’t know why we insist on thinking that we’re civilized nuh, when we’re the biggest barbarians ever, just well camouflaged, like wolves in sheep’s clothing, as our actions prove over and over. And here’s one last example to prove my point. Have you ever noticed that the children of rich folks who have everything handed to them on a silver platter, without any responsibility or accountability, more often than not turn out to be the biggest wastrels ever, as opposed to those who are taught to be responsible at a young age? All we’ve done is just lowered the level from mostly rich children not being taught responsibility to children from all income groups. But remember Friends, the results we get come from what we plant and how we nurture it, and we can’t expect to do the same thing over and over and get different results. Please ponder on how we are raising our children today and let’s get back to the godly way, which doesn’t mean a whole lot of corporal punishment, but certainly more of the Word at an early age and more teaching of responsibility and accountability. Much LOVE!…you can’t plant corn and expect to reap peas…or even not nurture the corn properly… and yet expect to reap a great harvest…
Today’s Scrip-Bit 6 January 2013 Proverbs 22:15
06 Jan 2013 Leave a comment
in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: charity begins at home, clanging cymbal, corporal punishment, discipline, disobedience, exercising faith, foolishness, fruit of righteousness, heart of a child, LOVING service, parental training, power of grace, promises of God, righteousness by faith, sounding brass, spiritual resurrection, the rod of correction
Proverbs 22:15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
Oh Friends, it’s another blessed day in the life, and somewhere around the world the weather is beautiful with the birds singing and the sun shining brightly in a sky blue firmament. Unfortunately I’m not describing my neck of the woods in the cold, dark, dreary northern climes. But what to do? Not much. That’s life, and we just have to grin and bear it and march on resolutely, while remembering all the wonderful promises of our wonderful God; of never leaving or forsaking us, and always being around to protect us. And having set that scene, I want to share a passage from a booklet I was reading earlier on. It’s titled, ‘The Incredible Power of Grace – When God’s Assurance Becomes Your Own,’ written by Roland R. Hegstad. In it, he writes that in the early stages of his ministry, he judged his usefulness by the amount of people he could convince of church doctrine. However, the Lord eventually opened his eyes to the fact that all his talk was nothing but “sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.:” ‘God showed me that doctrine means nothing unless we have experienced a spiritual “resurrection” through the new birth. Choosing the right day of rest means nothing unless we are resting in Him. Knowing about righteousness by faith means nothing if we are not exercising faith through LOVING service.’ Yes Friends, that’s all so true! And until many more of us learn those things and put them into practice, our ministries will never progress as they should. Now here’s an interesting prayer that he now claims to pray. ‘Great Master, touch me with Thy skillful hand; Let not the music that is in me die! Great Sculptor, hew and polish me; nor let, Hidden and lost, Thy form within me lie! Spare not the stroke! Do with me as thou wilt! Let there be naught unfinished, broken, marred; Complete Thy purpose that I may become Thy perfect image, Thou my God and Lord.’ – Horatius Bonar. That brings us to our Bit. ‘Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.’ The scholars explain that thus: ‘Corporal punishment is necessary for children due to inherent foolishness.’ Now I know that this is a rather controversial and touchy subject in our modern world, but let’s set one parameter straight; correction or corporal punishment does not have to be abusive. And I speak of this from personal experience. Sometimes, not all the time, when I did wrong my mother punished me with a few strokes of a strap or a belt, and if I said she was abusive, I would be lying. And you better believe that fear of, or rather wisdom re that punishment, made me toe the line to a greater extent than I would probably have, if I knew that I could get away with gross disobedience. And you know what, even some of my friends who received worse punishment than me back then, turned out quite all right. Obviously we can overdo it, but that’s not what the Word is talking about. It’s talking about LOVING punishment, like what the Lord does with us. The Good Book states quite clearly: ‘My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of (detest) his correction: For whom the Lord LOVETH he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.’ (Prov.3:11-12) And the writer of Hebrews concurs with all that by repeating it in Chapter 12:5-7, and by further stating: ‘Now no chastening (discipline) for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised (trained) thereby.’ (Heb.12:11) Oh my people, that’s why it’s so important for us to teach the children the Word as soon as possible. As Cousin Sol says earlier in the chapter: ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and (even) when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ (Prov.22:6) Now hear the explanation from the scholars. ‘Train up a child refers to the total process of moulding a child’s life. The word ‘train (chanak)’ comes from the root word meaning to ‘put into the mouth’ and implies the idea of conditioning the palate. Thus parental training should help children develop a taste for the things of God. The biblical pattern of effective parental training emphasizes a balance of instruction and discipline (cf. Eph.6:1-4). The ideal parent is to be neither overly authoritarian nor overly permissive. Rather, he must balance LOVE and discipline so as not to ‘provoke’ his child to rebellion. When he is old means simply, ‘when he is grown up,’ or a mature adult. It does not refer to his elderly years. The verse stresses the simple principle that education in the home forms the man throughout his lifetime.’ And isn’t that the gospel truth my brethren! As the old people use to say, ‘charity begins at home.’ Yes Friends, whatever we learn at home is what we’re going to take out into the world. So it’s obvious that if we want our children to take good things out into the world, it’s imperative that we teach them good things at home. What they learn in school and church is supposed to be simply supplementary to what they learn at home. And nowadays it’s even worse since they’ve taken God out of the schools, while church attendance for children has unfortunately fallen off dramatically. I particularly look out for the younger generation in the church services I watch on T.V. and regrettably, in too many of them I see a large majority of older folks, which leaves me shaking my head and lamenting as to who will continue the work of Jesus when this generation is gone. Anyway Friends, that’s enough stuff for us to ponder on today. We’ll continue this interesting though controversial topic tomorrow, God willing. Till then, please let’s place a premium on raising our children right nuh, by teaching them the Word as soon as possible. It’s the only way for them to truly appreciate life. Much LOVE!…spare the rod…spoil the child… disciplined LOVE…is the answer…
SCRIP-BITS 