SCRIP-BITS

And I do hope that you have given your praise and thanks this October morn to Almighty God, your Creator and sure Provider, and are in complete agreement with His excellent plan for your earthly life, so that you can be listed among those chosen recipients for God’s amazing grace and favour to day. 

And all God’s people loudly and confidently declared: ‘This is the day the Lord has made, we WILL rejoice and be glad in it! 

Yes Friends, indeed we will, because it’s a wonderful day and we are in an amazing relationship with a wonderful Deity! Glory Hallelujah! 

And since today is Wednesday, we also need to proclaim our Wednesday Wail. So please let’s do so with much vim and vigour and sincerity and truth nuh. 

Wailing… ‘Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: I’m so glad to be alive on this Wednesday! Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday: Thank God the breath of life is still flowing through me on this Wednesday! I am halfway home. 

My hands are fixed securely on the plough, and I’m not turning back. I’m not looking back at the past, not focusing on what has gone before. But my eyes are fixed straight ahead; straight ahead to a glorious future with Jesus. Glory Hallelujah!’ 

Ah mih breddren, if we are sincere in that prayer, then we truly are on our way to glory, for their could be no better life lived on this earth than one with Jesus at the helm! 

So I am encouraging us this morning to seriously get together with our Lord and Saviour, to up our knowledge and pleasure in Him through reading and studying His word and talking personally with Him. Remember it takes two to tango, and Jesus is the best dancing partner we can ever have! 

Oh Friends, don’t you just LOVE the sound of His name – Jesus…Jesus… Oh it rolls off the tongue so easily and effortlessly, and it has such a LOVING, calm calling, friendly and homely quality to it, that we just gravitate naturally to it! Ah mih people, like the ole fella is in his essence this morning! (smile) 

Oh, but before I forget, let me apologize for understating our new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau’s age yesterday. I said he was thirty something, but he’s actually in his early forties. Please forgive the ole fella, his brain is not as young and agile as it was. (smile) 

And that brings us to our Bit, wise words from Cousin Sol in Proverbs. ‘The hoary (silvery) head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.’ What a beautiful statement my people! 

And I like to tell people with silvery or white hair that that denotes a sign of age, wisdom, experience and maturity; something that they should be proud of, not something to hide under a wig or commercial hair colouring. Hn, hn! 

But here’s an important note from the scholars on the verse. ’16:31. The hoary head or white head of old age is only a crown if it is accompanied by righteousness.’ 

And that’s no lie Friends! So it’s not everybody that we see with white hair means that they are crowned with glory. Only if they are sated in the righteousness of Almighty God, can that very noticeable white hair be considered a crown of glory. 

So what does that say about me eh, because I don’t have much white in my hair? It’s still mostly black…at least the last time I saw it. (smile) 

But don’t fear my fellow believers, having black hair doesn’t mean you aren’t or can’t be righteous. It’s not the colour of the hair, but the state of the heart that’s important to our God. Otherwise a whole heap of wicked people with white hair would be considered righteous and have a crown of glory. But we know that cannot be, for the wicked have no part in God’s kingdom. 

Now here’s an interesting Proverb from Cousin Sol that lends authenticity to our Bit. ‘The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head.’ (Prov.20:29) 

And in our modern-day society we do tend to make those distinctions. We consider young men to be gloriously strong in their physical appearance, while older men are adjudged wise and wonderful with a head of gray. Now that’s not always the case, but that’s the generalization we make in this society. 

Youth is always looked upon as being strong and vital, while the old are considered frail and doddering. (smile) Anyway Friends, the important thing is not our age or how we look, whether we’re physically strong or not, whether our hair is grey or not, but if our hearts, minds, bodies and souls are filled with the righteousness of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! 

And if the answer is a resounding yes! Then hear these words of James. ‘Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried (has been proved), he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that LOVE him.’ (James 1:12) 

Then Peter concludes: ‘And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.’ (1 Pet.5:4) 

So Friends, if our lives are wrapped up in the righteousness of Christ, then there are at least two crowns for us to receive; one of life, and one of glory. Now isn’t that something significant enough to eagerly look forward to? It surely is! Much LOVE!

…be thou faithful unto death…and I will give thee a crown of life…  (Rev.2:10b)