Quite a Challenge

   “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.   But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.”   (2 Peter 1:5-9 NIV)

    “So don’t lose a minute on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.  With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.  Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful self has been wiped off the books.”  (2 Peter 1:5-9  MSG)

   Both translations say the same thing.  One of the reasons I like to read various translations is that sometimes a particular translation makes the passage more understandable to me, closer to my daily language.  I encourage you to read difficult passages in several translations.  It may help with the understanding.

   No matter what translation we use of the above passage of Scripture, the list is still long and imposing.  It’s easy to read over it and just pass on by, but God has a purpose for each quality listed.  It’s interesting that the list begins with faith and ends with love.  I believe that God arranged these qualities in a particular order that will grow us from faith to true love as shown by Jesus.  I pray that the Lord will help me fill in any gaps I may have in the sequence as I grow.

   It sounds like I will have an exciting life as I progress along the sequence with great rewards as I mature in these qualities.  Lord, I want to grow in each of these qualities, but I can’t do this by myself, so I put myself in your hands to be stretched  to the completion of the goal.    

 

What a Spring

“Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.  The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.  Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy!  The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.  There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God”   (Isaiah 35:1,2 NLT).

   That will be an amazing sight.  I am eager to see the glory and splendor of our God.  I’m pretty excited by the spring times we have now on earth.  It’s such a joyous time of year with new growth shouting forth wherever we look.  There’s an old nonsense poem that I like to quote this time of year:

          “Spring has sprung, the grass is rizz.

          I wonder where all the posies izz.”

In my front yard is where they izz as you can see from the picture above.   

   We like to drive through Saguaro National Park in springtime.  The Saguaros show off with bright white flowers, the colorful cholla, and the prickly pear are joined by the brilliant red flowers of the ocotillo along the drive and the trails of Saguaro NP.  Years that have strong winter monsoons reward the Saguaro NP traveler with carpets of poppies and yellow brittlebush.  Come join us in Tucson during these early weeks of spring and enjoy the warm weather, the bright blue skies, and the surprising variety of wild flowers the desert brings forth. 

   Spring brings out the desire to get out in God’s beautiful creation wherever we live.   It’s a time of travel.  For most of us it’s local travel with maybe a night or two away.  But some may take extended tours of faraway places.  For those who travel, no matter the distance, God’s Word provides evidence of His watchful eye for our protection.

          Psalm 139:9,10 – “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”  (NIV)

          Philippians 4:6,7 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.    And the peace which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  (NIV)

          Psalm 91:11,12 – “For he will command the angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”  (NIV)

          Psalm 121:7,8 – “The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forever more.”  (NIV)

   Enjoy this springtime while we wait for the glorious spring of Isaiah 35.

  

Patience Is a Virtue

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against these things! (Galations 5:22,23  NLT)

   I was thinking about a topic for today’s post, and I had asked the Lord for His help.  I prayed and waited in silence for Him to answer.  Evidently, I hadn’t waited long enough before I began to ask when He was going to give me  a topic.   And then, yes after I began to complain, the thought “just came to me.”  Why not write about patience?  Gee, I wonder where that thought came from.  My mind was instantly filled with good examples of my frequent lack of patience.   I can’t claim that I evidence all the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22,23, but it seems that my weakest just might be patience.

   In today’s world of fast food, microwaves, AI that summarizes things for us, mini-sermons, and Amazon (Why wait, when Amazon will deliver it today.).  I’m not even patient enough to take enough time when I print by hand so that I can read it later.  Are you patient in traffic?  I’m not.   Are you patient in the grocery store?   I’m not.  Are you patient at the DMV?  I’m not.  I have a sneaky question.  Are you paying a little extra for high speed internet so you can download a file a little faster?  I’m not, but then I’ve been known to verbally encourage my computer to speed up when I’m downloading something. 

   But what bothers me most is that I show my impatience to my God.  God, who is the master of correct timing, has to listen to me complain that He doesn’t do things according to my timetable.  If patience were not important to God, He would not have had it listed in the fruit of the Spirit.  He knows that we tend to miss a few things, no, a LOT of things when we aren’t patient.  He knows that we need to learn some things before we jump into an action.  My wife and I did that a number of years ago when we jumped into a ministry before we were adequately prepared to do so.  I think we run past blessings that God has for us because we are too impatient to wait for His timing.  The hurry-up, impatient type of lifestyle we live today keeps us too busy to receive many of God’s blessings that we can enjoy just by “slowing down and smelling the roses.”  

   Patience is, indeed, a virtue, and I apologize to my Lord for allowing my impatience to interfere with what He has for me.

How Much Do I Honor God?

“So whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  (1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV)

I have an exercise for you today.  No, not that kind of exercise.  I just have a list of questions for you to answer honestly to yourself.

 

 

I hope and trust that you were honest with yourself.  Now, discuss your answers with God.  It’s okay; He will forgive you.  He has forgiven me.  And He will encourage you.  He has encouraged me.

 

Privilege and Responsibiity

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.  Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.   And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:19,20  NIV)

   The responsibility is to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey what He taught us.  His promise is that He will always be with us.  We have the privilege of having Jesus with us every second of every hour or every day.  His presence is a joy that brings me peace when I take time to stop and listen to Him.   It is my responsibility to take the time to listen until I hear.  Sometimes it takes a while until I hear, and sometimes He asks me to just sit still in His presence and experience the grandeur of Him.  When I do that, I become empowered to be a spreader of His peace, joy, and encouragement.  

   Having the attention of the creator of the universe, listening to every word that I speak to Him is one of my privileges.  Isn’t it special when a loved one listens intently to what you say, and don’t you feel appreciated when a group gets quiet and looks to you when you speak?  Listening intently is a mark of respect, and the creator of the universe, the Savior of all mankind does that for me.  That’s how much He loves me, and that shows just how important I am to Him.  Isn’t it then my responsibility to listen intently for Him to speak?

   I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to read what I write, and when they say they like it or comment on it, I am delighted.  It is my privilege to read the book that God has written through many writers over many centuries.  This book, the Bible, contains vital information that God wants me to know.  Reading it is my privilege, and my responsibility is to read it carefully, slowly, and with both my heart and my mind open to what God has said for my growth in Him.

   By reading His Word, I realize other responsibilities He has given me.  “Love your neighbor as yourself” is what God tells me in Mathew 22:39 (NIV).  In case I don’t quite understand the command in Matthew 22:39, Jesus speaks in Luke 6:31 (NIV), and tells me, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  One of Solomon’s proverbs, Proverbs 19:17 (NIV) names the privilege and responsibility in the same verse: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.”  Isn’t that remarkable that God says that we lend to Him when we help the poor.   There’s a responsibility that I can satisfy just about every day.  

   Jesus lists the greatest commandment in Mathew 22:37 (NIV):  “Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind….”  That’s our number one responsibility, and in return for fulfilling that responsibility we receive eternal salvation, a life together with Him forever.  We can do that only if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, and that’s a privilege that comes with both rewards and responsibilities.  It seems to me that the responsibilities are actually blessings in themselves.  So, love the Lord.  It’s a win win proposition—we get privileges and are given responsibilities that are actually blessings.