The Peanut

When I was young, I said to God, "God, tell me the mystery of the universe." But God answered, "That knowledge is reserved for me alone." So I said, "God, tell me the mystery of the peanut." Then God said, "Well George, that's more nearly your size." And he told me.  George Washington Carver

Do you ever get impatient with God?  One of the hardest things for me to do is to wait.  In the world we live in there is a great aversion to waiting.  We don’t want to wait in line, wait until we can afford something, wait for dinner or wait our turn.  We are not waiters we are doers.  We want instant gratification.  Why else would the drive-thru and the microwave be invented than to make things move faster so we can run to the next thing on our list of important things to do?  So we treat God like the drive-thru window at our favorite fast-food restaurant.

The problem is, we tend to do this with God as well.  We want immediate answers to our prayers.  We don’t want to wait on His timing, which is perfect, we want it now.  So instead of meditating on His Word and praying continuously, we pray once and then wait for something to happen.  The great irony is, when God doesn’t respond immediately we blame Him for not giving us what we want or we stop praying all together.  Then we go a step further and tell ourselves that God really doesn’t care about me so why should I go to him to meet my needs. This is when Satan gets in the driver’s seat and begins to take over our life.

I started thinking about why God doesn’t give us more responsibility.  If we can’t wait for Him to answer, why would he give us more knowledge or responsibility?  It is ironic how we want answers to the big stuff before we get the answers to the small stuff.

I think I need to teach myself how to wait.  Maybe I should pick the longest line at the bank.  Have you ever noticed that when you pick the shortest line at the bank, the longer lines move faster?  You get in the shortest line at the grocery store and the person in front of you pulls out a folder full of coupons and a newspaper so they can get the comparison price.  Maybe instead of spending my time in line getting frustrated I should spend it praying. 

If I am no longer waiting impatiently in lines for stuff that will make no difference to my eternal life, maybe I would get closer to the One who created me.  A side effect of this might be that my spirit reflects joy instead of impatience.  Then maybe I just might let the person behind me who only has one item go in front of me and show that person who God really is.  Jesus made himself last when he lived on earth.  If we are to become more like Him, we need to learn to be last.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I get impatient waiting in line.  Too many times I want to know the mystery of the universe before I have even learned the mystery of You.  Help me to slow down and wait on You.  My impatience often make me miss the very things You are trying to teach me.                     

Scripture: Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.  James 5:7-8

Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.  Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, for they are from of old.  Psalm 25:4-6

He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.  Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret—it only causes harm. Psalm 37:6-8

 

Buried Treasure

When you leave this world, will you be known as one who accumulated treasures on earth that you couldn't keep? Or will you be recognized as one who invested treasures in heaven that you couldn't lose? Randy Alcorn

When we were kids we would go on what I like to call adventure vacations.  We didn’t go to fancy resorts or Disneyworld.  Every summer we would go camping to various State Parks. 

One of the vacations we went on was to Murfreesboro Arkansas.  We went to Crater of Diamonds State Park.  This is the only diamond producing site in the world that is open to the public.  The other great thing about the park is whatever you find you get to keep. The park officials will identify what you find and you get to keep it no matter what the value.  Plus there are over 40 different types of minerals and rocks found at this location.

So imagine you are a 5 or 6 year old kid and you get to go to a 37 acre plowed field and dig in the dirt.  You are handed a kid size shovel and bucket and you actually get to go sit in the dirt and play in it.  You may not be the kind of person who likes to get dirty but for me this was like the best treasure hunt ever. 

This reminded me of the treasure that is found in the Bible.  There is hidden treasure buried in this amazing Book that is just waiting to be dug up. Sometimes you have to continue to dig deeper to find the good stuff.  The beauty of the Bible is there is so much treasure to be found.  The thing is you have to keep digging.  Just when I think I have mined everything I can get out of a single verse, another treasure appears that draws me further in.  Most likely you will never find all the treasure to be found in the Bible in one lifetime.  

If you are looking for the adventure of a lifetime, open the Bible.  You will be amazed at the amount of treasure that can be found and the best treasure is on the other side.  Heaven.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I was thinking about those long ago days of the adventurous vacations I took as a child.  This memory brought thoughts of You and how much treasure you have buried in the Bible.  Your heavenly treasure is there for anyone to find.  I never get tired of studying Your Word as there is wealth beyond measure in every verse.                    

Scripture: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

Techno Wizard

There's not a single thing on offer in this all-too-temporary world for which you should ever sell your soul.  Alan Keyes

I have a new phone and so does my husband.  We were talking last night and Jerry was telling me about a guy he knows who still has a flip phone.  He decided to buy a SIM card cutter to save money and insert it into his new/used phone. I didn’t even know what a SIM cutter was so I looked it up.  I guess is cuts your SIM card down to size.     

The phone I recently bought is an iPhone.  You already know how technologically challenged I am.  I was talking to Jerry on my way home from work and I forgot to end the call.  I am driving along and since the phone had been on speaker all of a sudden I hear Jerry say “Hang up your phone”.  I thought I would wreck the car because it sounded like he was inside the car with me. 

I went to dinner with my nephews and they had to show me how to set my percentage so I would know how much battery life I had left.  There is also this woman on my phone who tells me where to go.  I didn’t even know she was in there until my nephew showed me how to find her.

One of my nephews told me he is taking a special class this summer related to technology.  He used words I’ve never heard of so I had to ask him to explain it to me.  It has to do with pixels and moving them around and reconfiguring something to restructure the design.  If you really want to feel dumb you should talk to a 16 year old or maybe a 4 year old.  I’ve found they know more about my technology than I do.  

My husband bought a Galaxy so his phone looks like a big screen TV.  Do you remember the cell phones that first came out?  They were the size of your home phone and you had to have a special antennae on your car to use it. 

Technology is taking over the world.  Everywhere you look there are commercials about the latest and greatest technology.  As soon as you walk off the showroom floor with your new phone it is obsolete.  Technology companies have us figured out too.  Instead of making a chip that is compatible with your current phone that you can change every few years for $20, they make technology that doesn’t work with your old one so you have to buy a new one for $499.  The only way to not pay that $499 price tag is to call the company and tell them how long you have been with them.  You have to convince them that you are a good customer and have been for years.  That is how Jerry and I bought our phones for $50.  We did have to spend several hours on the phone with a representative and then get transferred to a manager but in the end we didn’t pay $499 per phone.

I started thinking about how God works in my life.  He doesn’t keep changing the plan.  The same plan that existed hundreds of years ago is still good today.  The billing hasn’t changed and I don’t sign a two year contract. With God I have a lifetime contract and my bill is already paid.  Christ paid my bill on the cross.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I sometimes get tired of technology.  Many times it takes me away from spending time with You.  If I forget my phone at home I start to worry and ask myself, “what if something happens to my car?”  If I stop and remember that You are always with me, not having my phone doesn’t matter so much anymore and it's not necessary for me to be a techno wizard.                

Scripture: The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”  John 8:12-13

 

Near Misses

The best moment of a Christian's life is his last one, because it is the one that is nearest heaven. And then it is that he begins to strike the keynote of the song which he shall sing to all eternity.  Charles Spurgeon

Have you ever looked back over your life and thought about your near misses?  What I mean by that is the times you missed getting hit by a car, or getting into an accident or you happened to move one way or another and disaster didn’t happen.

I started thinking about some of the near misses in my life where God saved me.  There was the time I was driving down the freeway to church and there was a car in front of me.  I was watching the driver in front of me and all of a sudden he swerved to the right.  I looked ahead of me and there was a tarp in the middle of the road.  It wasn’t just any tarp; it was one that an eighteen wheeler uses to covers its cargo. The problem was it wasn’t flat but was folded and stood about 3 feet high in the middle of my lane.  I swerved to the left and missed it by inches. 

There are red lights and stop signs I have run by not paying attention.  There was the hospital stay where the dose of medicine was too large and I passed out and the emergency medical team had to come in and revive me.

My husband told me about one he had many years ago.  He was at a golf tournament and a storm blew in.  He had been standing under a large oak tree but had moved away from it.  Soon after he moved lightning struck the tree and there was a man standing under it and a large limb fell on him and it killed him instantly.  Jerry had been standing in that spot just 10 minutes earlier.

God has a purpose for each of us.  We can either live up to what God’s plan is for us or we can squander it on things that don’t matter to our eternal life.  It is a scary thing to think that our last breath could be tomorrow, today or in the next few moments. 

I want my life to have meaning.  Not just meaning in the sense that I was successful or powerful or beautiful.  When I think of my last day on earth, I want it to mean something to God’s kingdom.  If the last thing someone says of me when I am laid in the ground is that she loved God and lived her life for Him, then every near miss was worth it.  I still have time, whatever God allows, and what I make of it is up to me.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for giving me this time.  Only You know when my last breath will be on this earth.  Help me to use it to tell others about You. If You can be glorified by something I do, I praise you for the opportunity.                   

Scripture: But as God has distributed to each one, as the Lord has called each one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches.  Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. Were you called while a slave? Do not be concerned about it; but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Brethren, let each one remain with God in that state in which he was called. 1 Corinthians 7:17-24

The Foundation We Build On

Godliness is more than Christian character. It covers the totality of the Christian life and provides the foundation upon which Christian character is built.  Jerry Bridges

Faith becomes the foundation I'm built on.  T.D. Jakes

I was listening to the news this morning and there was a story about a neighborhood whose homes are sinking.  Many of the homes had to be abandoned due to safety issues.  They are not sure why they are sinking except they do know that the homes are built on an inactive volcano and water is bubbling up out of the ground. 

This made me think of the city of Sulphur where I was born.  The city was named for the sulfur mines that were excavated in the area in the 1900s.  A German immigrant by the name of Frasch invented the “Frasch method” of mining sulfur.  Hot steam was pumped into the ground, liquidizing the mineral and then it was pumped to the surface.       

This started me thinking about what is under the ground now.  Did they replace the sulfur that was removed?  If not, there are probably large caverns underground that could potentially cave in one day, especially if water starts running through them. 

The kind of foundation we build on as a Christian is the most important one we will ever build.  If we build our foundation on shifting sand; deceitful behavior, lying, cheating, mistreatment of others, our very foundation will crumble. 

When I started thinking about this topic an old hymn that we sang in church when I was young came to mind.  I haven’t thought of this song in years but the melody came right back and I was able to sing the lines of the song from memory.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Written by: Edward Mote c.1834

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I know that if I build my Christian life on Your foundation I am able to stand strong through any circumstance.  It is when I stray away from You that my foundation becomes weak and is subject to disaster.  If I want my foundation to be strong to withstand life’s trials, it is necessary for me to spend time with you and meditate on Your Word.                  

Scripture: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”  Matthew 7:24-27

Our Responsibility To Others

Loving others in a biblical manner involves your thoughts, words, and actions and is a sign of your being a disciple of Christ. Loving others biblically is dependent on your commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ and is not dependent on people, circumstances, or your feelings.  John C. Broger

Every day you are witnessing. What are you witnessing to? Your witness is the total package of your attitudes, character, and actions. It does not lie.  Winkie Pratney

Do you ever think about the responsibility you have to others?  I started thinking about the daily things in my life that I do that could nurture another person or break them down.

What a huge responsibility God has placed on us. If you think about what other people might see in you that could give them a picture of who God is, would that picture be a masterpiece worth more than money can buy or would it be a paint by numbers picture of the world.

When I was a kid they had paint by numbers kits you could buy at the TG&Y.  A picture was printed on a canvas in light gray and different numbers were assigned to each section on the print that corresponded to a paint color that came with the kit.  You would select the color that corresponded and paint inside the lines.  In the end you would have a completed picture.  One of the early advertisements proclaimed that you could make “A BEAUTIFUL OIL PAINTING THE FIRST TIMEYOU TRY”.  All this really meant was that if you followed the directions you could produce something that looked exactly like every other paint by number kit produced of that picture.

When we start to think that the world has the best life can offer we move away from becoming a “masterpiece” and move toward becoming a “paint by number” picture.  Each one of us has a responsibility to each person we come into contact with, to alter that person’s eternal destination.  When we start to think that what we do and how we act doesn’t have consequences, that is the beginning of our slide down that slippery slope into sin. 

When I think that if someone was watching what I do and something I did caused them to sin; that scares me.  Because when I do that I have sinned against what God specifically tells me to do.  If our actions cause one person to turn away from God we are responsible.  If God tells me that if I cause “one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea”, that gets my attention.  Don’t ever think that what you do isn’t affecting someone around you. If I have children, friends, family members, neighbors or strangers in my life, then I have a responsibility to them to be the masterpiece God calls me to be.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You created me in Your likeness.  It is my responsibility to present to the world a picture of You.  I can follow along in the world’s wake and be like every other paint by number picture, or I can devote my life to becoming a masterpiece.  A masterpiece that is a reflection of You.                  

Scripture: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes! “If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.  Matthew 18:6-9

What’s In Your Toolbox?

Do not wait; the time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.  George Herbert

Have thy tools ready. God will find thee work.  Charles Kingsley

Several years ago my family gave me a toolbox of my very own.  It had all these great tools in it that would come in handy when I was doing repairs around the house. On the outside of my toolbox in black marker was written, “This is Brenda’s Toolbox.  Jerry Do Not Touch. Tools Not for the Boat Stall.”  There is a story behind this so let me explain.  

My husband and I share the tools around our house. At that time Jerry had our boat at a boat stall at Lake Fork.  If my Dad or brother came over to help repair something, I could never locate the proper tool and I would tell them Jerry took it to the boat stall.  So they gave me my very own toolbox with warning signs for Jerry not to touch my tools. 

This started me thinking about the tools in my toolbox.  I had a hammer, a tape measure, screwdrivers, a hacksaw, needle nose pliers, a set of drill bits, a pack of nails and assorted screws and fasteners.  There was also a flashlight.

I started thinking about what my God Tool Box would look like.  What tools would I replace in my spiritual tool box? A hammer wouldn’t be necessary.  If you are trying to share God’s Word with others hammering it into them won’t work.  I would probably keep the tape measure.  I would need some way to measure the effectiveness of my ministry.  I would keep the nails, screws and fasteners because that is what holds the Christian body together.  I couldn’t get rid of the flashlight because that is what reflects God to others through me.  One item that is missing though is the Instruction Manual (the Bible) so I would add that and then for good measure I would throw in the Fruit of the Spirit like love, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, peace, joy and longsuffering.

What I fill my spiritual tool box with could make the difference in someone else coming to know Christ.  Do you have the right tools to make a difference in God’s Kingdom?   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You provide all the tools I need to make a difference in other’s lives.  How I use those tools can make the difference in showing someone You or turning them away from You.  Please help me to use the tools You give me to save others in Your Name.               

Scripture: Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He teaches sinners in the way. The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way.  All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, to such as keep His covenant and His testimonies. For Your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.  Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses. He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and his descendants shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.  My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net. Psalm 25:8-15