Today’s Scrip-Bit 25 September 2020 1 Corinthians 3:18.

25 Sep 2020 Leave a comment

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

1 Corinthians 3:18.     Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world (age), let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

Well can you believe it’s Friday! I can’t. As usual, the whole week has passed by and I haven’t done any of the things I claim I want to do. But what to do eh? (smile) I’m not going to berate myself unnecessarily, or feel terribly guilty – there will be a touch of guilt though – (smile) for in these unprecedented times, who knows what unprecedented and abnormal things will happen in our lives. The important thing is to stay connected with God, and to grow in wisdom and knowledge and obedience to His will and holy word and encouraging others as best we can. 

If we’re doing that, then I believe we’re fulfilling our purpose for this time when we can’t, or are not supposed to go out and about like we are, or rather were used to doing. And now that I’ve had my say, (smile) let’s hear what the ordinary workingman has to share this Friday morning in the last week of September of this crazy and mind-boggling year of 2020. 

As usual, he opens with an enthusiastic: ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday…and the weekend is here at last! Wow! It’s been a good week, nice warm September weather, with temps even in the mid 20’s. But it’s coming…yes people, winter is coming. The trees already bearing out that indisputable and unchangeable fact; they starting to turn colour. And are they beautiful colours; gold, brown, yellow, red… fall is the best, or rather most colourful season of the year. Like the Lord made it beautiful because He knew that winter was coming when everything would be cold as ice and look dead and dreary, so He wanted to give us something to perk us up before that happen. 

But that lead me to wonder what going to happen with this Covid-19 business, if it going to get worse with the cold weather and flu season? And the numbers now going back up again because people not observing the safety precautions. Steups! Like is only when we catch it, we going to learn. Yuh see the virus is no respecter of people, even the leader of the Federal opposition and his wife have it, as well as the leader of the French party. So what it going to take eh? Another lockdown. They done restrict gatherings in Toronto and Peel and Ottawa… Ah Lord eh! Thank God that me an’ mine doing we best to stay safe yes!’ 

Yes my people, that’s why I have serious concerns about the belief that mankind is the wisest animal on the planet. (smile) He certainly doesn’t show that in his everyday actions. That brings me to this interesting, and I believe appropriate bit of scripture from Bruh Paul’s first missive to the church at Corinth, when they were debating and divided over whom to follow, Bruh Paul or Apollos. ‘Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world (age), let him become a fool, that he may be wise.’ (1 Cor. 3:18) 

That’s good advice, for as Cousin Sol adds in his two cents worth: ‘Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear (reverence) the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel (body), and marrow (strength) to thy bones.’ (Prov. 3:7-8) And that’s the gospel truth friends! And if you’re wondering why, then listen to Bruh Paul’s explanation. ‘For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain (futile).’ (1 Cor.3:19-20) And there Bruh Paul is quoting Job and the psalmist. 

Job says of the Lord. ‘To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. He disappointeth (frustrates) the desires of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprises (plans). He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward (of the wily) is carried headlong (comes quickly on themselves).’ (Job 5:11-13) And the writer of psalm 94 admitted: ‘The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity (futile).’ (Ps.94:11) So it wasn’t anything new that Bruh Paul was preaching. 

And he concludes: ‘Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours. And ye are Christ’s: and Christ is God’s.’ (1 Cor. 3:21-23) Immortal words of wisdom and truth friends! 

As the scholars explain: ‘3:21-22. For all things are yours: The one who belongs to Christ is a child of God, and his Father will do anything for him. The absurdity of their division over allegiances to any of these men is that God gave them “all” to the Corinthians.’ The same goes for us today; whoever is teaching us, they were ALL given to us by God, for His glory, not for us to be foolishly attached to them. 

Now let’s go home chanting our Friday Chant, asking God for His divine help in these turbulent times. With all sincerity now: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. Yuh know it’s been rough… what with all the anxiety, the confusion and havoc that the Covid-19 virus and the racial strife causing. We not accustomed to that kind of life Lord, and it really telling on us. And we know we can’t handle it on our own, that we desperately need your help. 

Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat both the virus and the unrest in our streets. So Lord, we sincerely ask you today to give the governments and those involved in the forefront of this serious and unexpected storm, the sure and wise guidance to handle the situation properly, with the least amount of loss to life and property as possible. And please help those of us who must go out to work amidst all the confusion, to be responsible and to stay safe, so that we can avoid any more serious setbacks. 

And Lord, we fervently pray that You’ll use this situation to also bring a lot of backsliders back to your fold, show them the error of their ways. It’s also a good opportunity to introduce a whole new flock, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion because of the way we, your faithful believers, handle the situation. Yes Lord, please use this pandemic and the unrest in the streets as a means of restoring faith in You, so that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

Now it’s time for us to go out and handle the situation like the faithful believers we consider ourselves. Much LOVE!

…anyone can plant…but it’s God ALONE…who gives the increase… 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 14 July 2013 Psalm 94:11

14 Jul 2013 Leave a comment

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

Psalm 94:11.    The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
 
Oh Friends, yesterday I couldn’t come up with a preamble of my own, today though I have one. (smile) And this first part presents a rather interesting theory. A few days ago, I was on my back deck eating a julie mango, when it suddenly dawned on me that the fruit tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden, the one Adam and Eve were not supposed to eat from, was indeed a julie mango tree!  Selah.  
 
Yeh people, think on that for a moment nuh. The julie I had was big and firm, with a golden brown and pinkish skin. And when I passed it below my nose… oh such a tantalizing odour wafted off from it.
 
Now just imagine that ole crook, the master deceiver, Lucifer showing such a beautiful looking julie, to Eve, then passing it under her nostrils. And when she inhaled that sweet aroma, she must have considered it a heavenly smell.
 
And don’t talk about when he peeled back that golden skin and showed her the luscious yellow flesh inside, with some of the heavenly nectar already running down his hand …poor Eve, she was totally captivated by the amazing fruit! So how could she refuse it eh?
 
And now you know! It was a julie mango that caused sin to come into the world! God made it so beautiful, luscious and sweet tasting that Eve just could not resist the temptation to try it. And when she handed it to Adam, brow beaten man that he already was, how could he say no to her eh? (smile)
 
Oh Friends, I guess by now you’ve realized that a julie mango is my favourite fruit, and as far as I’m concerned, the best fruit God ever made! Matter finish! No arguments! Yes mih breddren, when you get a really nice julie mango, there’s no nicer fruit in the world! 
 
However, on a serious note, what’s happening to our world eh? We’re supposed to be at the height of our technological prowess, but everyday we’re hearing of and seeing more disasters, disasters that we can’t seem to figure out and/or understand how they happened.
 
Check out the train en route from Paris to some other part of France on Friday evening, with over three hundred unaware souls on board, many to join friends and family for summer vacation and to celebrate France’s big day, Bastille Day.
 
It’s celebrated on July 14, commemorating the end of feudalism in France, when the people of Paris in July 1789, stormed the Bastille, the prison-like fortress that was used to hold citizens, political and otherwise, unlawfully.
 
Twenty minutes out of Paris, some of the cars just seemed to derail without any observable cause, creating total havoc and utter chaos, with numerous injuries, loss of life and millions of dollars in damages.
 
Then the 787 Boeing plane, the Dreamliner, the latest one on the market, while sitting idle on a back part of Heathrow Airport in London, England, suddenly catches fire. Hn! The same type of plane that’s been causing problems since it recently went into service.
 
The technology nowadays seems to me more exotic than reliable, cheap too. And in spite of all of the computer assisted, design, build and quality control features, we seem to be falling behind, rather than moving ahead. Just look at the millions of vehicles being recalled every year over the last decade or so! I don’t remember there being so many recalls, when men had a bigger hand in building them.
 
Anyway Friends, I don’t have answers to all the questions in the preamble, it’s just food for thought. But when we turn to our Bit, now that’s an entirely different story. ‘The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity (futile).’ 
 
That my brethren, is the epitome of truth! And it relates to both side of the equation; that the Lord knows man’s thoughts, and also that those thoughts are vain and utterly futile.
 
But sadly, on both counts, man seems to think otherwise. And that’s one of the major reasons why our world is in such shambles and getting worse every day. We’re hurtling down the rocky road to hell because mankind thinks he’s so big and bright and wonderful.
 
With all his technological skill and knowledge, he now considers himself superior to God, and thus no longer has any use for Him, so he’s doing his utmost best to remove God from our lives. And unfortunately he’s succeeding, because we, the supposed believers are not putting up a big enough fight.
 
But Friends, listen to this passage of scripture, when Job’s supposed friend, Zophar, reproves him, because he believes that Job’s committed some dreadful sin, thus his sudden fall from grace.
 
He asks: ‘Canst thou by searching find out God (search out the deep things of God)? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
 
The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. If he cut off (passes by), and shut up (imprisons), or gather together, then who can hinder (restrain) him? For he knoweth vain (deceitful) men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it?
 
For vain (empty headed) man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt (when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man). If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him.’ (Job 11:7-13) 
 
Yes my people, mankind cannot fathom the moves of our omnipotent God, because our minds are so small and finite, neither can we stop Him once He chooses a certain pathway, though we certainly try.
 
Instead though, man who is born with the mentality much like a wild ass in comparison to God, ought to sit up and take notice and repent and reach out to Him for forgiveness, because the sovereign, omniscient God sees all our sins.
 
Friends, God made us and thus knows everything about us. It’s just like when we make something, we tend to know everything about it. Now listen to Bruh Paul on the subject to the church at Corinth, re men being God’s temple.
 
‘Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world (age), let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain (futile).
 
Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.’ (1 Cor.3:18-23)
 
And we’ll let those words of absolute wisdom take us home today my people. Please, let’s read and inwardly digest them, and ponder them seriously, to ensure that we’re not caught up in the common and very prevalent trap of thinking that we’re oh so wise, when we’re really, oh so foolish. Now that’s the height of wisdom. Much LOVE!
 
…to him who thinks he’s something great…when he’s not…God will eventually set him straight…though not necessarily in the nicest of ways…