The Ant

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Proverbs 6:6-9 says, “ Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:  Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,  Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.  How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?”

     I used to be the associate pastor at a church in West Virginia that had a very large  asphalt parking lot.  I was leaving the office one day and noticed a small ant dragging a piece of food across the paved area.  No matter where the ant was going, it was going to be a long time before it got there.  The object it was transporting was white and almost as big as the ant but it did not seem to be discouraged, if ants ever do get discouraged.  It just kept twisting and turning and working hard to get the valuable cargo somewhere.  Grasshoppers on the other hand, don’t seem to do a lot of work, but just eat everything they land on that is chewable.

     God, in the above passage, compares the ant to a sluggard, or a very lazy person who likes to sleep and who will look for any reason it can find to do what he wants to do.   The final question is, “When will you get up?”  The answer is usually, “later.  Just let me sleep a little longer.”  The sluggard is the person who is also labeled as a “procrastinator.”   Their motto is, “Why do today what you can do tomorrow?”  The above passage reminds all of us that God wants us to consider the ant and its practices or work ethic.  We often remark that our plate is full indicating that we can’t add anything else to it.  Maybe the ant’s plate is full and can’t do anything more than keep getting as much stuff as it can possibly manage into that small hole and stored up for when the winter weather comes along.  When the Apostle Paul got to the end of his life, he summed it up with, “I have finished the course.”  He had indeed finished what God had given him to do.  It should be our goal to finish well what God has given us to do and not to come to end of a day or the end of a year and say, “I wish I had done this or that.”  Don’t leave things for your “to do” list for tomorrow because you may not have tomorrow.  Praise God today for His working in all of our lives every second.

The Escape Route

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     First Corinthians 10:13 says, “ There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

     I am afraid of heights.  I have had those times when it required me to go up a ladder, I by the time I got up the ladder, I couldn’t do the job I was sent up there to do as I could not let go of the ladder.  When I am near a drop off or a cliff, I walk as far away from it as I can get.  I always prefer to have both feet on the ground.  This is not true with some people as heights just don’t bother them and they seem to deliberately tempt fate by walking as close to the edge as they can get.  Just the opposite of me.

     There are many times in the lives of believers that we are tempted  to sin, to do something that is contrary to God’s laws.  The above passage goes on to say that we should flee from idolatry.  The Israelites had a problem with idolatry and began to worship other gods that  were worshiped by the previous inhabitants of the land which they were supposed to conquer.  God had given them explicit instructions about this problem and what would occur if they  kept on doing it.  Now, God gave the people plenty of examples of how powerful He was with miracle after miracle, yet, at the first sign of trouble, they had Aaron make a golden calf and were worshiping it when Moses heard the commotion and came down from  Mount Sinai.  Our nature is prone to forget what God is doing and can do and as a result fall into the same problems as did the israelites.  What is so promising about the above passage is that God does give us a way out and perhaps a reminder of who we are as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We are also assured that our temptation is no different from any other person as we are all tempted but we can have the opportunity to make a choice to go on with the temptation or to flee from it with the avenue that God has provided. With many people, the thought is, “God isn’t going to do anything anyway and what I am about to do, everybody else does it, so it won’t matter that much.”  Wrong!  You will know that the path you are about to take will throw you over the cliff.  You know it by the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life.  We are all tempted everyday and it is a common thing to have in our lives as we are still growing in the Christian life.  We all need to take the escape that God has promised He will provide.  Praise God today for His working in our lives each and every moment.

Disciples

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

      Many of us can remember certain teachers that we had in our lifetime.  I had many teachers that I can remember even my first grade teacher, Miss Hastings.  As the years went by, I had many more teachers and then I began to take bassoon lessons in college from Professor Roy Houser.  He was one of the best teachers but a little bit strange at times.  The rest of the faculty accepted his weird behavior because he was one of the best performers and teachers.  I recall one performance when he came out in his tuxedo which had a black coat and brown pants.  It looked strange, but you forgot about it once he began playing the bassoon.  People were always proud to say that they were a student of Roy Houser.  John 2:1-2 says, "And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage."  We notice in the new Testament that there are many references to disciples especially in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ.  The passage above relates how that Jesus and His disciples were at the wedding feast in Cana.  The word "disciple" is one that denotes a "learner" or a "student" of a certain school or person.  In this case, a disciple is a student of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Now, He is the best teacher ever.  There have been certain people in the past, and probably in the present also, that say that Jesus was a good teacher and nothing more.  After studying the Word of God however, you find that Jesus is more than a teacher.  He is also more than a prophet.  He is more than a good, moral person.  He is the Son of God.  That obviously makes Him the best teacher and anything else that you can come up.  People who graduate from famous school are always quick to point out the sayings of their favorite teachers.  Naturally, I had some Bible teachers like that.  Of one, it was said in the year book, "Many attempts have been made on this man's life -- to imitate it."  Yes, we can all think back about the teachers that have given us the foundations of our lives.  None can be more important than  the Master Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ.  When you think of the teachings of Christ, you might ask yourself how they have affected the way your live?    You may be quick to point out your devotion to Christ and His teachings, but do you follow them in your life?   I ask myself that question many times, especially when I end up doin something that the Lord Jesus Christ would not do.   Praise God today that He has provided the Master Teacher, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Are you His disciple?

How Many gods Do You Have?

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Deuteronomy 6:1-4 says, “Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:  That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.  Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:”

     How many gods are there?  It depends on who you ask that question.  Some people believe that they have over 3 million gods.  The Greeks had a list of gods and the Romans had a list of gods.  We even had the god of finance from the Roman empire’s list of gods, none other than “Mercury.”  The federal government placed an image of “Mercury” on  the dime for many years until it was replaced with Roosevelt’s likeness.  The Romans and the Greeks had a god or goddess for every different element or action that went on.  There were gods for war, thunder, speed, love, fire, water and on and one it goes.  

     Unfortunately mankind has more inclination to over sacrifices to worthless idols and gods and goddesses than they do to the Only One True God.  When Moses asked God His name in Exodus, God replied, “YHWH.”  “I am that I am.”  The four letters in the Hebrew were so respected that Scribes would not use the quill to write another word after the four letters had been written.  The Lord Jesus Christ used the term especially noted in John’s gospel seven times,  He would say, “I am” and then a dd the words, Good Shepherd, the Bread, the Light, the Resurrection and so forth.  This statement of course upset the Pharisees as they knew what He was saying.  The Lord Jesus Christ is GOD.  In much of the Old Testament, we have the words, “Thus saith the LORD.”  The Only God had spoken and you had better listen to what He says.   If you are orthodox Jewish, you have a “Mezuzah” on your doorpost which you touch and then kiss your fingers every time you pass through the door.  A passage from Deuteronomy 6:4-6 is written on a miniature scroll and placed inside of the Mezuzah.  The answer to my original question for the believer is that there is only One God, YHWH.  Believers, even in Christ, however, often come up with other things in their lives that begin to take their worship such as power, riches, material items, desires, and even homes and families.  They become more important than God Himself in their lives. What this says to us is that we need to always worship God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  It is God only that we should be serving, praising and worshiping.  Praise God today for His patience with us in this age.  The Final Call, however, is  coming soon.

Never Alone

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

      Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

     In writing these devotions, the original intent was just via email when they began back in 1999.  After i got involved with the social media platform, I  decided to put them out there also and to put them on a “blog”  which no one seems to ever go to but they are there, “just in case.”  While on Facebook yesterday, I discovered a post that had been put there by one of my “friends.”  It  was a post that was copied from somewhere else, but was indeed very sad  in that the person was saying they had no friends, were completely alone and who had been hurt time and time again and again.  The last statement was, “I am my own best friend.”  The same person professes to be a Christian but they apparently do not believe the Bible.

     One of the most familiar Bible verses in John 3:16 which states that if a person believes in the Son of God, that person will have eternal, or everlasting, life.  Couple this thought with the above passage and other passages that speak about eternal life and you should soon get the picture that the believer in God is NEVER alone!  You may feel that you are alone, but we should never trust our “feelings” anyway .  Feeling alone and thinking you are alone are all false  beliefs for the true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Philippians 1:6 we are reminded that God will complete the work that He has begun in our lives.  John proclaims that our joy will be full in Christ.  John also stated that He is making a place for us and will return for us that we will be with Him, not only now, but throughout all eternity.  What the person is really saying is that they don’t know God at all  and they are insulting God’s ability to do anything in their life or the lives of others.  I will rather stand on the promises of God than my  own feelings or the thoughts of others.  The real problem is that many people are not reading the Bible and henceforth have no understanding of what it means.  They may say to themselves that they will all see their loved ones in heaven but have no idea how to get to heaven in the first place.  It was humorous to notice that the post that was claiming to be in loneliness was between two posts  praising God for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Because Christ was raised from the dead, I am never alone and neither is any child of God.  Praise God today for His promises.

The Finished Product

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     There was a very popular hobby years ago called, “Paint by Number.” A beautiful picture was broken down to a number of shapes with outlines and a number placed inside of the shape. That number would correspond to a little vial of paint. All you had to do was to fill each shape with the paint that matched the number and you would end up with a picture. Everyone could come up with a masterpiece that someone had set to the numbering system. I did a number of these of various sizes. My parents let me put them up in my room. When you first look at the picture, all you see is a bunch of shapes with numbers in them. There is no picture unless you look real hard at it. You have to trust the designer that made the picture so that the finished work would resemble the picture that was on the box. Many of us wonder what the “finished product” is going to look like when we think of our own lives. How will our we turn out? How will our children turn out? Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” In this verse, the Apostle Paul reminds us that God is doing a work in the life of the believer. When we think of this verse, we often think of paintings and tapestries or other works of art that take a long time to complete. Only the master designer knows what the finished product is going to be. Such is the case also in our lives. For some, they get to the end of life and they think, “I wish I had done this years ago.” God knew that and He still had His plan for your life. I have heard some say, “If I had known that I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of my body.” Again, we don't know the finished product. Only God knows that. The above verse of Scripture does give us the greatest of hopes. God will finish His work. It won't be like the stack of “pain by number” pictures that are only half finished and then thrown in the trash. God always finishes that which He starts. All of us are examples of works that have been started and so we can rest assured that God will finish the job. So, you might be discouraged today or wishing something had been different over the years, or you might wish you had been a great author or performer or whatever. God, however, placed you in your present place and His work will be accomplished when He says it is so. Praise God today that God always finishes what He starts. Your painting will be unique when it is completed.  God is not finished with us yet and we are still under construction.  

God's Poems

 Greetings to  you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

     My Father once came up to me, looked me in the eye and then said with a straight face, “Roses are red, Violets are blue, My feet stink, do your’s stink too.”  Then he grinned at me and walked off.  He had made up a funny poem.   Poetry is interesting as it does have certain rules that  need to be applied. The “sonnet” for instance is composed of exactly fourteen lines with exactly ten syllables in each line.   Anything outside of those requirements, makes the piece something else, but  not a sonnet.  I have tried to write a sonnet or two and always would end up with an extra syllable in the second part.  It may have rhymed, but the meter was way off.  “Elizabeth Barret Browing wrote, “How do I love thee, Let me count the ways.”  two lines, total of ten syllables

     The above passage is a very familiar one and speaks of our salvation, “For by grace  are ye saved  through faith…”  In verse ten, is a unique word, “workmanship.”  The Greek word that is used here is the word, “poema.”  Every human being is a “work of God” that has a purpose in this world.  Our lives fit into the giant puzzle that God works every second.  One pastor once said, “God is working a 7 billion piece puzzle every second as our lives interact  with each other.  Each piece is designed by God to fit with every other piece.  We notice that in being His poem we have been created to do good works which He has established.   The present task of “good works” is not “for” our salvation, but “because” of our salvation.  The great “because” is seen in the preceding verses because we are saved by grace, God’s unmerited love and it  is His gift through faith, because we are His poem in this life.  Now how great is that?  We all have a purpose in this life and as we interact one with another,God’s purpose for us is being played out time and time again.  As we walk out of our rooms this morning ready to face a new day, we will come across the paths of people some of which may be hurting and who need a word of encouragement.  Some may need to hear the Gospel message.  Some may need to hear your testimony of how God is working or has worked in your life.  Some may need a glass of water or even a smile or a hug.  Praise God today that you all are each and everyone, His poem with a special purpose.