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…

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 5 March 2014 Proverbs 21:17.

05 Mar 2014 Leave a comment

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

Proverbs 21:17.   He that LOVETH pleasure shall be a poor man: he that LOVETH wine and oil shall not be rich

                                                           ASH  WEDNESDAY !

Well Friends, the partying done now! Yes, it’s Ash Wednesday morning, the first day of Lent, so I hope that you exercised and exorcised all your pleasure demons over the last few days of serious partying. (smile) That’s because now is a time to settle down, a time for serious reflection on our relationships, especially between God and us.

Lent is the time to look deep into our souls and examine what we truly believe, and consequently how we live our lives, based on our grounding belief, our foundational faith, for all of us have faith in something, hopefully Jehovah God, and not man or some man-made idol.

Anyway, this season of Lent is a serious time, and we ought to seriously consider how we live our lives, giving the pleasure centres of our bodies and souls a well-deserved break. Hn, hn!

Now that doesn’t mean we ought to stop enjoying life, or eschew all pleasure, but rather not let the pleasures of life be all that important. Instead, let’s contemplate on how Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness and how Lucifer tempted Him, tried his very best to get Him to go against God’s will.

And in light of that, let’s see what temptations have been coming against us, and how we’ve been handling them, hopefully with graceful aplomb like Jesus, telling the deceitful fool Lucifer: ‘Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’ (Matt.4:10)

And we all know my brethren, that that’s truth of the highest order! But that doesn’t stop the ole scoundrel from continually snapping at our heels, especially in one soft and weak area of our sinful nature, that of pleasure.

That’s why Cousin Sol declared so profoundly unto us, the words of our Bit. ‘He that LOVETH pleasure shall be a poor man: he that LOVETH wine and oil shall not be rich.’ 

And unfortunately, I know that Lucifer has a wide grin on his evil, devilish face this Ash Wednesday morning, because over the last few days, he’s managed to get many of us to compromise our godly beliefs in the pursuit of fleeting worldly pleasure.

But please remember that ALL of it can be forgiven, though only some forgotten, and a lot of it will haunt us for the remainder of our lives. There will always be some reminder of our less than stellar performance during that period.

The important thing though is not to beat up ourselves and continually bewail our misery over it, since that portion of our lives cannot be relived, and our mistake(s) be undone. And this wisdom comes from personal experience, not hearsay. We need to come to God in sincere repentance, ask for His merciful and generous forgiveness, then face the problem squarely; stand our bounce.

That’s one thing I’ve always tried to drive into my children’s head from they were young, and try to practice it myself. If you’ve done something wrong, be man or woman enough to take the responsibility for it.

And after all that ‘sermonizing’, (smile) let’s look at some scriptures that uphold the truth of our Bit. And we’ll begin with some instructive words of Bruh Paul to Timothy, re widows. ‘But she that liveth in pleasure (indulgence) is dead while she liveth.’ (1 Tim.5:6)

And the scholars’ note says: ‘5:6. This may be paraphrased, “But the widow who indulges in luxurious living, though physically alive, is spiritually dead.”

And I just want to point out here my people, that that statement also applies to widowers, in fact to all and sundry, because once we’ve allowed earthly indulgences to control our lives, we do become spiritually dead. 

Then in Hebrews 11, that great chapter on faith, in talking about Moses, the author proclaims: ‘By faith, Moses, when he was come to years (came of age), refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures (passing pleasures) of sin for a season;

Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasure in Egypt: for he had respect unto (looked at) the recompense of the reward.’ (Heb.11:24-26)

Yes my brethren, likewise, we are to shun the calling of the pleasures of sin, and esteem the reproach of Christ of greater sanctity and worth than that of the world.

And we’ll let James take us home with his very voluble and valuable warning to the rich. ‘Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries 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 (in) the last days.

Behold, the hire (wages) of the labourers who have reaped (mowed) down your fields, which is of you (you 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 (Hosts).

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)

Yeh Friends, that’s the way it goes! All our riches, garnered on the backs of those unfairly treated will eventually rot and be of no use to us. We who have lived to serve pleasure, will in the end reap displeasure!

So please, as true believers, let’s wake up and see unrestrained pleasure for what it really is nuh – an unwise and foolish means of moving away from Jehovah God to the sinful camp of Beelzebub.

Now is that what we really and truly want to do? I sincerely doubt it. So please, let’s pull up our ‘britches’ (breeches) nuh, and stop allowing the sinful pleasures of our sinful world to control our lives. Now that’s the ultimate in wisdom! Much LOVE!

…Cousin Sol had it all…wisdom, wealth and time…but found no satisfying, gratifying, or long lasting pleasure…in the worldly pleasures his divine blessings afforded him…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 29 October 2013 Matthew 5:9

29 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

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

Matthew 5:9.    Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
 
Oh Friends, the ole fella’s a bit tardy and tired this autumn Tuesday morn. I guess the old body didn’t get enough rest last night. But like the mail, come hell or high water, in sunshine, snow or rain, in sickness or in health, the Bit has to go out! (smile) So here it is.
 
And to get us going, here’s this interesting poem I found in the November issue of the Anglican Journal Newspaper. The source is unknown, but the words and message are invaluable.
 
The title is: ‘Why were the saints saints? Because they were cheerful when it was difficult to be cheerful, patient when it was difficult to be patient; and because they pushed on when they wanted to stand still, and kept silent when they wanted to talk, and were agreeable when they want to be disagreeable. That was all. It was quite simple and always will be.’
 
Oh my people, those are indeed words of truth and much wisdom! I LOVE it because it’s so simple, yet very telling!
 
The people we consider saints weren’t really holier than thou, they just did what they had to do without all the complaining and whining that we see in God’s people today. They simply followed Jesus’ example.
 
Yuh think He really wanted to come to earth and be a bloody sacrifice for a bunch of rebellious ingrates? No way! But the Father required it of Him, and being the obedient Son He was, He put His hand to the plough and never looked back.
 
And today Friends, the same is required of us; just do whatever the Lord calls us to do, whether it’s good or bad, easy or hard, and stop complaining and looking for excuses to get out of it.
 
Please note what our Bit says: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.’ So if we want to be known as God’s children, then we have to be amongst those who endeavour to make peace, not war, to let calm reign, instead of strife.
 
Now hear what the scholars say about this Beatitude: ‘5:9. The next description deals with the peacemakers. They are at peace with God and desire to live in peace with all men (cf. Rom.5:1). Their peace with Christ enables them to be ambassadors of God’s message to a troubled world. Hence, they shall be called the children of God.
 
Throughout the Beatitudes Jesus clearly underscores that only those who have the qualities of a changed life, herein described, are citizens of His kingdom.’
 
Yeh mih breddren, unless we change our worldly ways, become a new creation in Christ, we CANNOT enter His kingdom!
 
And knowing that many of you won’t check the reference above, I’ll quote Romans 5:1. I sincerely hope though, that my doing so is not a disservice to you all, by making it too easy. Well, even our heavenly Father is sometimes indulgent (smile).
 
Anyway, Bruh Paul is here talking about the results of justification. ‘Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Rom.5:1)
 
And the scholars explain: ‘5:1. Justified by faith (lit. “because we have been justified by faith”): It was God’s doing, not man’s. Peace with God: This is not a feeling, but a standing. God and the believer are no longer at enmity but have been reconciled (cf. 5:10-11; 2 Cor. 5:18). This is a primary result of our justification.’
 
So my fellow believers, all the good things that happen to us as believers, as members of the body, the church of Christ, are not of our doing, but of God. He wanted the enmity between Him and His most valuable creation to end. Thus He conceived that awesome, most marvellous plan of reconciliation, whereby those who wanted to be reconciled to Him, to return to worship, adore and live by His will, at least had an avenue to do so.
 
And all we have to do to receive it, is simply to believe on His Son Jesus; rustle up and ramp up our faith and believe.
 
Ah mih people, it couldn’t get any better than that yuh know! And the beauty of it all is that the plan is so simple, so easy, and most of all FREE! Yes Friends, I just want to remind us that God’s saving grace is indeed FREE!
 
Yet today we make it seem so difficult, because the cares of the world and the outwardly beautiful but really flimsy, unworthy things they manifest get in the way. They cloud our judgement to such an extent that we cannot have a meaningful relationship with our Creator. But please remember Friends, that we’re only supposed to be IN the world, but certainly not OF the world! (John 17:14-16; Rom.12:2)
 
And though I have some more stuff to say, re our Bit, we’ll end here for today, because it would make the message too long and burdensome for our busy lives and short attention spans. See how I’m looking out for you, my people! (smile) So tomorrow we’ll continue with this Beatitude, of course, provided that the Good Lord is in favour.
 
Till then though, let’s ponder what we’ve said today, and please, please, I implore us, let’s sincerely try and improve our relationship with Almighty God nuh, because that’s the only thing that makes sense on this evil, ungodly earth.
 
Remember, He is our Creator, Controller and Provider, and without Him we can do nothing. Indeed, we are NOTHING, without His saving grace, His magnanimous mercy, His unconditional LOVE, and His undeserving forgiveness! Much LOVE!
 
…only if we embrace Jesus and all that He stands for….will we ever enjoy eternal life with Him…that’s simple logic…but also divine wisdom…