opinionated | SCRIP-BITS

Psalm 19:14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.

Well an end to all good things must be, so the Canada Day party is over now, with some rain in the early morning hours and some cloudy skies. But thankfully no showers of blessings spoiled the party! (smile) Now it’s time to return to the daily grind and common task.

Yeh, the radiation treatments are upon me again… the ole bod must have breathed a relieved sigh at the lack of treatment for three whole days. (smile) Only another couple of weeks to go though. And since the Lord promised to see me through whatever He chooses to put me through, then I’m not worried about the outcome, just dying for the very inconvenient everyday visit to the hospital to end. But patience…and a stiff upper lip friends! (smile)

Anyhow, let’s check out this important gift from our One Year Book of Bible verses with writings by Ruth Harms Calkin nuh. It’s titled ‘LISTENING LOVE!’ Please read with me: ‘Listening LOVE is one of the greatest gifts we can give our mates, our families, and our friends. Too often we settle for surface talk or icy silences, for monologues or cutoffs, for defences. What a difference when we follow the principles of listening LOVE!

Listening LOVE is courteous. It says… I will strive not to interrupt or outguess you. I will not finish your sentences or break into your thoughts. Listening LOVE is attentive. It says… I will give you my undivided attention. I will not turn you off or leave you isolated. Listening LOVE is patient. It says… I will not rush you or insist on a right-now conclusion. Listening LOVE is kind. It says… I will not shame you with sarcastic retorts. I will not belittle you.

Listening LOVE is objective. It says… I will try to be informative rather than opinionated. I will not attempt to think for you. Listening LOVE is unselfish. It says… I will guard against overconfidence and trite “spiritual” answers. Listening LOVE is prayerful. It says… I will pray for insight, for wisdom, and for gentle reactions.’

Oh my people, how wonderful our world would be if we would all show just a li’l more Listening LOVE! If we’re truthful, we’d all acknowledge that too often we interrupt, belittle, are impatient, unkind and otherwise in our conversations, and thus they do not go as well as we want them to, or as they ought to go. Half the time we don’t even truly listen, but while the other person is talking, we are considering our response, and thus miss half of what they are saying.

And we can’t blame it all on this fast, now for now society in which we now live, but must cast some of the blame on our impatient, know it all selves. I know I’m guilty of some of that ‘unlistening’ LOVE, and sometimes when I catch myself doing it, I berate myself for it, but it’s not easy to change our accustomed behaviour.

However, there is help for us in the power of the Lord our God, beginning with the Bible verse that’s allocated to our poem today. Yeh friends, the immortal words of Bruh David is our Bit for today: ‘Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength (my rock), and my redeemer.’

Oh my fellow saints in Christ, it’s ever so important that our thoughts and words be pleasing to our heavenly Father. But as with so much of life, we can’t do it on our own, that’s why everyday we ought to ask Him for the power to think and speak wisely…in other words, with listening LOVE.

And there’s no doubt that a lot of the strife and anger that currently exists in our world are caused by thoughtless and selfish words. No wonder Cousin Sol could warn us that ‘He that keepeth (guards) his mouth keepeth (guards) his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.’ (Prov.13:3) And the scholars explain that verse thus: ‘13:3. The reward of cautious speech is fuller life and the avoidance of unnecessary trouble.’

Truer words were never spoken friends! Many of us would have so many fewer problems if we’d only watch what we say! That’s why Bruh David seriously asked the Lord in Psalm 141 – Prayer for help in trouble. ‘Set a watch (guard), O Lord, before my mouth; keep (watch over) the door of my lips.’ (Ps.141:3) And if a man of Bruh David’s faith and religious stature could make such a plea, who are we, living in a much more evil, contentious and cantankerous world, not to do the same eh?

And listen to some more of Cousin Sol’s wise words on the mouth. ‘Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from troubles.’ (Prov.21:13) Gospel truth that my brethren!

And we don’t have time or space to write all that James says about the tongue, but hear these few words. ‘Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter (forest) a little fire kindleth (sets on fire)! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell.’ (James 3:5-) And we all know that’s gospel truth!

The tongue is impossible to tame without God’s help, and it is the cause of many of the world’s most serious problems. What we seriously need in today’s world is Bruh David’s plea: ‘O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.’ (Ps.51:15) What a wonderful world this would be, if we were using our tongues to praise God rather than curse our fellow man!

And having read and digested all of that, let’s go home declaring (wrong again!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting the world know who and whose we are. In strong voice and sincere sense of purpose: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world. Amen!’

And if we’re truly sincere, then let’s go out now and share that friendship and LOVE of Jesus with those who unfortunately don’t know Him. That’s our bounden duty as faithful believers! Much LOVE!

…it’s not right…to curse man…and then bless God…with the same tongue…

Matthew 7:1. Judge (condemn) not, that ye be not judged (condemned).

And so Saturday opened in my neighbourhood bright and beautiful…and cool! Thank the Lord! But down in southern California their heat wave apparently continues with temps reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit! Wow! And that wildfire in Northern California is still burning with a vengeance, causing people to run from their homes.

Meanwhile, in Japan, the rain is causing havoc, having killed several people over the last couple days. Mama Mia! On one side of the globe is one type of disaster, and on the other is a different kind.

But not to worry friends, the only way to handle all of that is by keeping our eyes and hearts steadfastly focused on Almighty God; our Creator, Protector and the Controller of ALL things. He has His reasons for allowing all that stuff, and there’s nothing much we can do about it but pray and offer whatever help we can.

And since it’s Saturday, guess we should turn to the quotes of our friend Anselm for this week, as he aspires to inspire us for a better tomorrow. Unfortunately, I only received one quote from him this week, but it is an interesting one.

‘Life experiences can, at times, be quite humbling, but you learn from them. But I like the changes in my life and what kind of person they’ve made me into. I’m very open, not as judgmental as I was in my twenties, and a lot more compassionate.’

And I know that’s true of many of us. In our early years we were full of spunk and hot to trot, figuring we knew everything and would show the world what was what. Hn! Hn! But instead the world showed us what was what! Isn’t that always the case when we get too high on our horses, or too big for our britches?

The world and our God has a way of humbling us, of bringing us back down to earth, and sometimes with a heavy thud, which quickly brings us to our senses. Unfortunately, that scenario usually takes time to materialize, so it’s often not until we’ve lived real life that we see the faults in our approach to it.

But as our quote says, eventually we become less judgemental and more compassionate. And oh how we badly need to reverse those two aspects of human nature in our mish-mash, evil and ungodly society today. Are we ever judgemental and opinionated about people and things we don’t know anything about. We see people and hear things and right away we jump to judgement, more often than not a negative judgement too.

But it seems we have forgotten the immortal words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on that particular topic. ‘Judge (condemn) not, that ye be not judged (condemned).’ I couldn’t put it any better or simpler friends.

And Jesus continues: ‘For with what judgement (condemnation) ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete (use) it shall be measured to you again.’ (Matt.7:2) That’s just poetic justice friends, the law of God’s society, whatever you sow, you’ll reap; whatever you give out, you’ll get back. It’s like a boomerang; you throw it at someone but it comes right back to you.

Ah mih people, nobody can expand on a story like Jesus. Hear how He embellishes this: ‘And why beholdest thou the mote (speck) that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam (plank) that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote (speck) out of thine eye; and behold a beam (plank) is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote (speck) out of thy brother’s eye.’ (Matt.7:3-5)

Oh, is it ever refreshing to listen to Jesus! You’re always surprised and astonished by His metaphorical comparisons. And the scholars offer these explanations on those verses. ‘7:1-4. Judge not refers to an unfavourable and condemnatory judgement.

This does not mean that a Christian should never exercise judgement of any kind under any circumstances. The point being made here is that we are not to judge the inner motives of another. We are not to render a verdict based upon prejudiced information. Nor are we to use ourselves as the standard of judgement for with what…ye mete (measure) you shall be judged.

That ye be not judged refers to the ultimate judgement of God rather than our own judgement. The terms mote (Gr. karphos) and beam (Gr. dokos) are used metaphorically for a small fault and a great fault. A mote is a small speck of sawdust whereas a beam is a rafter used in building. Thus the idea of the text is that one cannot remove the speck from his brother’s eye until he has removed the rafter from his own eye!’

That hits the nail right on the head! And the scholars have another good one for verse ‘7:5. Thou hypocrite is the only statement that can be made for this play actor who pretends to be a physician when he himself is sick.’

And the sad part is that so many of us play actor doctors in this greedy, selfish and judgemental world are very sick ourselves, but we’re quick to dole out prescriptions to others. In other words, we’re hypocrites to the core!

Oh my fellow believers, please let us take a good look at ourselves before we go doling out solutions to others nuh, because very often we are doing worse than those we judge and condemn. Much LOVE!

…don’t offer opinions…unless you know the whole true story…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 7 July 2018 Matthew 7:1.

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