the weekends | SCRIP-BITS

Matthew 6:33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

And then it was Friday; the day so many of us look forward to because it signals the end of our hardy workweek in these rather trying times of humanity, where prosperity abounds in general, but poverty, sickness, strife and homelessness are more the order of the day.

And to help us combat the greed and evil and selfishness that’s currently so prevalent in our world, listen to these winsome and wonderful words from a poem by one of Canada’s first female writers and composers; Eva Rose York (nee Fitch), composer, organist, editor, teacher (born 22 December 1858 in Norwich, Ontario; died 6 February in Toronto, Ontario.)

In the third verse of her epic poem ‘I shall not pass this way again,’ she summarily declares (right ho) in a beautiful, humane, and very timely message to all humanity: ‘I shall not pass this way again; Then let me now relieve some pain, Remove some barrier from the road, Or brighten someone’s heavy load. A helping hand to this one lend, Then turn some other to befriend.’

Yes friends, it’s our duty to help each other, both as members of the human race and the Christian organization; the church of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! He set the glorious example for all mankind to follow when He selflessly sacrificed His life on that old rugged cross at Calvary for sinful man.

It behooves us therefore to carry on His work in our time by helping the less fortunate, of which there are so many in our current society, although this is one of the most prosperous and advanced periods in man’s history! And if we’d only put out a li’l effort to do that, then Christ’s church, and our world, would take on a much different hue, a much more enlightened and godly complexion. End of sermon! (smile)

Yes my brethren, that’s what the Lord put in my to heart share with you this cold, winter’s Friday, the first day of March 2019. However, I know that since this Friday, many of you are more interested in hearing the workingman’s Friday song, as it tends more to our sinful and lustful nature. (smile) Well, I won’t disappoint you. Here’s what he’s singing this morning:

‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday oui! But like this blooming cold weather not planning to go away anytime soon nuh! Brother! But wasn’t that a stellar snowfall earlier this week eh? I couldn’t even walk properly in the so many inches of snow…fell down in it numerous times…but just had to laugh and roll over and remember how we would play in it as young children growing up in the poor areas of Toronto!

Yes, them was good days! We didn’t have a care in the world! Had food and everything ready for me by mother and father! Didn’t know where it came from, or how hard it was to earn it. Hn! But now I am mother and father and have to get out there everyday, come rain, snow or shine, and earn a pittance to support my brood…

And I’m doing it…without too much complaints too… But believe me, nothing, or nobody is going to take away my party time come Fridays and the weekends. I give all I have during the week, but the weekend is mine! And who doh like it, yuh know what they could do with it yes! Thank God for Fridays and weekends oui!’

Yes, the workingman was in full voice, but he certainly surprised us this morning nuh. (smile) It wasn’t all about partying, but more sensible stuff which all of us need to take very seriously in today’s crazy and misguided world. And to add to the seriousness of the workingman’s song, let’s chant our Friday Chant that’s somewhat more restrictive, but does not stop us from having fun and enjoying good times with friends and family.

All together now: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen!’

Yeh friends, instead of concentrating on the partying aspect of our lives, as believers we focus on the furthering of God’s kingdom! Glory to our great God! As Jesus so straightforwardly put it in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow (do not worry about tomorrow): for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil (trouble) thereof.’ (Matt.6:33-34)

There it is right in a nutshell friends and fellow believers! God must be our NUMBER ONE PRIORITY! And if we do that, then things will be fine with us, we won’t lack anything, the Lord will take of all our earthly needs. Now listen to some explanations from the scholars:

‘The disciples who have pledged their allegiance to the King must continue seeking the kingdom and it’s righteousness…The contrast between the spiritual and material is again emphasized. The believer is to seek first the righteousness that is characteristic of God’s kingdom and then all these things (material things) shall be added to him. When our priority is spiritual, God will take care of the material, for where God guides, He provides. (Now that’s gospel truth!)

We need not even worry about tomorrow, for sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. This means that each day has its own troubles and challenges to be responsibly handled, without worrying about the hypothetical problems that could arise tomorrow.’

So friends, having now heard this message for the umpteenth time (smile) let’s go out and see if we can’t put it into better action than we’ve done so far nuh? For Jesus’ sake nuh? And with God’s help we can certainly do it! Much LOVE!

…just think about what Jesus did for us…how then can we not want to do for others eh…

1 Peter 5:8. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

And then it was Friday…And I have to chuckle because yesterday, Thursday, I wanted to go and visit my mother’s grave site, but because it looked cloudy and rain was forecasted for the afternoon, and it’s a long drive, I didn’t do it. But lo and behold, while having an afternoon nap and going through some dream in my home, my mother suddenly appeared beside me.

In astonishment, I looked at her and said, ‘Aye Mols, I didn’t know that you were here.’ She never replied, but just gave me a bad eye, or as the Jamaicans would say, cut her eyes at me, a look that spoke volumes, one that said something like: ‘Yes, I’m here. I’ve been here all the time. You’ve just been too busy to notice me!’

Ah friends, the mysterious ways in which the Lord rebukes us eh! And the interesting part is that though it was cloudy all day, not a drop of rain fell. Chuh! So it’s not cloudy today, and I don’t think they are calling for rain, so hopefully, after writing the Bit, I’ll get up off my fat fanny and make the long drive to look for the lady. That’s the least I can do for her under the prevailing circumstances.

And since it’s Friday, yuh better believe the workingman is already singing his weekend song: ‘TGIF! Thank God is Friday! Hurray for the weekend! We time! We time to do as we please, without any interference from any bosses. Steups! The boss and them so full of foolishness it ain’t funny. Deh so prejudice! The things they ask we to do, they’d never ask any of deh family or friends to do nuh! But because we work for them, they pay we a li’l pittance, they think they could pile all the nasty work on us.

But they have another think coming yes! Because one day when we get really fed up of all the abuse and indignity, the persecution and inhumanity, we simply going to rebel! But until then, we just going to keep we cool and enjoy we weekends; letting out we frustrations then. So let the partying begin! As they say: ‘Thank God for Fridays and weekends yes! Don’t know what we’d do without them!’

Ah mih people, our world is getting rougher, more cruel and more inhumane everyday. Man’s inhumanity to man is certainly increasing as life plummets downwards. But as believers in and followers of Jesus Christ, we’ve been given the unenviable task of trying to stop it from falling further and raise it back up again to a godly level.

Hn! I know some of you are sighing and saying that’s an impossible job, but please remember that NOTHING is impossible where our Lord and Saviour is involved. Yes, it might be difficult, but we have all the tools to fix it…and Jesus by our side to help, so we just have to get serious, buckle down and fight the good fight.

And I know that many of us believers feel the way the workingman feels about our society, but as Christians we’re not allowed to go out on the limb like he does. We have boundaries in place to keep the enemy out, that’s why our weekend song is different from his. So let’s sing ours nuh, our Friday Chant, with the same verve and enthusiasm with which he sang his song.

As one now: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’

Yes my fellow believers, we need fun and fellowship and relaxation too, but we also need to control our natural sinful nature and not give Beelzebub any chance of invading our space. And yes, I know we recently had this passage of scripture as our Bit, but it’s one of those commands we need to hear over and over and over again, because with the constant demands and busy pace of the world we’re very liable to forget it.

So here goes: ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.’ And that is the indisputable truth my brethren! Lucifer and his evil henchmen are always on the prowl, seeking victims they can take advantage of. And we can’t let our guard down because they’ll jump in at even the least invitation.

So Peter continues his warning. ‘Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in (experienced by) your brethren that are in the world.’ (1 Pet.5:9) Yeh friends, we have to stand strong and resist the enemy and all his evil machinations.

It’s not easy, and we all are afflicted in some manner or the other, but Peter guarantees us that if we stand strong: ‘But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish (confirm), strengthen, settle you.’ (1 Pet.5:10)

What a wonderful God we serve and worship my faithful brethren! That’s why we can sincerely say like Peter did: ‘To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.’ (1 Pet.5:11)

So please hang in there my people, even though there seems to be no hope, for once you’re alive…and working with Jesus…there is always hope! Much LOVE!

…the Lord will make a way for us…where there seems to be no way…that’s His faithful promise…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 March 2019 Matthew 6:33.

Today’s Scrip-Bit 21 September 2018 1 Peter 5:8.

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