The Visit

Shortley after my conversion in 1977, the pastor's wife asked me to go along with her to visit an elderly woman in Hospice care.  She was ninety years of age.  The daughter was there.  She was not a believer and was against us going in to see her Mother.  She became very angry and told us to leave.  The pastor's wife held the Bible up to her and told her that she would be back because the Lord wanted her to come back for one more visit.  To my knowledge she never went back.

When I went back to visit the elderly lady the daughter was not there.  As I sat by her bedside I talked to her about eternity and God.  She was in great pain.  She told me that she had grown up in the Church and had heard all of that!  She turned her face to the wall and refused to talk to me anymore, so I left.

On my way home I thought "The visit was a failure".  Being a brand new Christian I didn't know that the Word of God will either touch a soul when it goes out or it will drive that soul away.  How many people grow up in the Church and do not know God?  Today, I know that everyone wants to go to heaven, but not all will.  We would do well to think on what the Word says in II Corinthians 13:5: 

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-- unless indeed you fail the test?  John Calvin taught that one should not look to his works for assurance of salvation. He said we should look to Christ, the object of our faith.

Good Deeds

We are the most giving nation in the world.  We pour out our money, time, and sweat in times of need for others.  Our middle name is 'good deeds'.  Men and women travel thousands of miles in times of disaster to help people who are complete strangers.  The drive in our nation to help others in time of need is phenominal, to say the least!

The first responders are always people of the Church!  I thank God for them who act so fast that they have been noted as "Faith-Fema".  As you probably know, this article is not about praising people, but rather the Lord of those who act out of love for God.

God is the author of giving!  People give out of two reasons.  One, they do it for the glory of God.  Second, they do it to make themselves feel good and claim the glory!  This is something we must consider when we give or do any kind of good deed.  Those who are born again have the love of God in their heart and without this love our 'good deeds' are nothing.

I Corinthians 13:3



³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Parental Authority

The words "Parental Authority" are so misunderstood today.  We didn't even understand this in the 1950's.  I really don't know how far back it has been in such wrong thinking.  The truth is a child is under a parent's authority until he/she is married.  This means if you are in your twenties and single, you are under your parent's authority.  Yes, you must obey them even if it seems like they are wrong and ruining your life.  God has ordained this authority in his Word:

Ephesians 5:31



“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

Unfortunately, this has even been left out of our teachings inside the Church.  Why?  It is a "hard saying" and we must handle this great truth with diplomacy, right?  Wrong.  Our children are in such confusion today because we have not taught this truth!  There is a wonderful promise to those children who obey their parents:

Ephesians 6:1-3

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

² Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;

³ That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

 

Worthy of Me

There are so many things in this life that can get us side tracked from God.  The deep sorrow of lost ones in our family is no doubt at the top of the list.  The enemy haunts us with thoughts that they will end up in hell.  This is done to get our eyes off of Christ and our realationship with Him.  We sorrow over them and certainly pray for them, but all too often we let it consume us until we are depressed.

Jesus said:

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Matthew 10:34-37

We must love the Lord more than "anyone".  The One who created us must have our full attention.  Of course, we love our family, but if we let it control our thoughts then we fall into a snare of the devil. 

Let your eyes look directly ahead And let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.

Proverbs 4:25

Travelers

Glitter and gold will you behold?  Lots of shiny things in this world to catch our eye.  The lust of the eye though can get us into so much trouble.  It might even lead to death.  Does this mean we are never to own a new car or home?  I don't think so.  It is the "lusting" that makes it a sin.

"This world is not my home" is not only an old adage, but also scriptural (Hebrews 11:9).  We are but strangers traveling through a strange country looking for our real home.  What does it mean to be a "traveler"?  To me it is the knowing that we own nothing in this world!  In New York did you know when you purchase a building, you must also purchase the air above it?  This would make a good laugh if it wasn't the truth.  Men live in their wisdom, which is foolishness unto God (I Cor 3:19).

"Travel light" is another old adage.  It should be seared into our hearts as those who belong to Christ!  To me, traveling light means we are to be content with what we have.  Our time is brief  on this earth; every breath we take is allowed only to us by our Creator Christ Jesus, who died so that we might have eternal life. (John 3:16)

I Timothy 6:8-10

⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. ⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

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Menopause 101

Menopause is spelled "men~of~pause".  God made woman beautiful with all of her wonderful tender qualities...like "nurturing".  To put it plainly ladies "we are a lovely basketful of hormones" [snicker].  No, this is not an article for men, but it would be good reading for all husbands.  We are special with all of our hormones!

In the days of Jesus, when he walked the earth, the average span of life for a man was forty-five years and maybe even less for a woman.  Today women are living to be in their eighties and beyond, so we go through that time when estrogen begins to decrease in our forties.  I won't give you the details of symptoms like hot flashes etc. because every woman has googled them to death!  No, I want to give you something more.

Most women like a good challenge; if this were not so there would be no one wanting to get pregnant!  This is a great challenge and one to behold in all of it's glory!  The challenge of Menopause is a big one too!  After the fall of mankind we can be certain that Eve knew what these changes were, for she probably lived a long time. "There is nothing new under the sun" (Eccl. 1:9).  I'm so glad that the Lord made me a woman!  Please check out the link below, I found it to be very uplifting:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1165686/Why-menopause-best-years-life.html



Fornication

1989 seems like a long journey back in time for me.  God laid an event on my heart this morning and I want to share it.   A newly wed couple had moved in next door to us.  She was twenty and he was twenty-one.  They were sweet neighbors.

The girl, Shannon, came over one day and was distraught.  She asked if both of them could come over and my answer was yes, of course.  That afternoon we all sat down together.  She began to cry.  The boy, Larry, did not reach out to comfort her.  I took her hand and waited quietly for her to say something.  She blurted out, "He had sex with another girl before he met me"!  I was not prepared for that and I was hurting for her. 

She was a Christian.  He was a nice boy, but I was not sure about his being a Christian.  Then she asked, "Why couldn't he wait until he meant me"?  I was silently asking the Lord to really help me with His answer!  She had really come to depend on me in the short time we had known each other, so the answer had to come from God and not me!  I was very frank with her:

"Men are geared to sex more than women.  This does not excuse fornication.  It is a sin and he needs to repent of it.  You are already married and I praise you for your honesty in wanting to deal with the situation.  There will be many things in marriage that will have to be dealt with for sure.  You are in the wonderful position to forgive him, if he wants to repent of it.  Another thing, he married you, so what happened with the other girl was just a matter of his hormones.  He chose you for marriage."  She dried her face with her hands and her countenance was one of enlightenment.

I don't know what transpired after that between them, but ever since then it has been in my heart the hope that young women will pray and ask God to give them the mate that He has for them!  I'm writing this twenty-five years later and the days are even heavier in the way of finding a man who has loved God from childhood. 

II Timothy 2:22

Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.