A 59

Proverbs 30:6
Add thou not unto his words,
lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

When I was in the eleventh grade I did the unthinkable in English class. I wasn't much for school work, or for anything back in the eleventh grade. So when the time came for term papers I took my topic of Edgar Allan Poe and devised a plan. I remembered that there was a chapter in our literature book about him. I took that article and wrote it down word for word. I had zero note cards. Zero bibliography cards. But I really thought I had this paper whipped. Then I received my graded paper. It was a gut wrenching fifty-nine. I remember the note that my teacher tagged on it very clearly. "If you are going to plagiarize someone's work, you should have chosen one different from the writer of our literature book, it's been tried before."

One of the saddest truths of today is that we have this same mentality among people. Instead of speaking the Word of God, there is an attempt to change it up a bit. There is an attempt to quote the Word of God but make it as if it was their very own word. The Bible is God's Word to man and never man's word to God. It is not something that should be changed or needs to be changed to adapt. It's not new, it's the same! The same yesterday, today and forevermore.

May I make a suggestion for all of us? Let's read what God has given us in His Word and not read INTO it. Do not ADD UNTO it! Just read it and when you share it declare that it is God's Word and not yours. While commentaries are good, and Christian books are great, they are not the pure Word of  God. Don't be guilty of plagiarism or changing God's Word... You could be reproved and be found a liar.

By the way, a fifty-nine is a failing grade and adding or changing God's Word is on the same grading curve.

He Sounds Familiar...

Isaiah 1:3-4
The ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master's crib:
but Israel doth not know,
my people doth not consider.
Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,
a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters:
they have forsaken the Lord,
they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger,
they are gone away backward.

Have you ever talked with someone and tried to refresh their memory about a person they have met before? I am the worst at this! I can remember people and their faces but the name is always a problem for me. When people are trying to describe the person to me or tell me about when I had met them I always say, "Yeah, that sounds familiar..."

Well looking at our scripture this morning it seems that Israel has forgotten the Lord. God says that the ox knows its owner and the donkey knows where the barn is, but the people of God don't know who or what they are. They don't know their owner or place. He says they have gone backward. The people of God have backslidden from the Lord. The ones who should know the owner who brought them out and gave them a place have somehow forgotten it all and Him. Why? Because of their sins. If we were to ask them about the Lord they would answer with, "Hmmm, He sounds familiar..."

What about you? Have your sins gotten you into a place where your familiarity of the Lord is shady? Does He sound familiar to you? The owner who bought you with His blood? The Lamb of God who has gone to prepare a place for you? Does any of this ring a bell? Then don't forget Him! Confess to Him today and become more aquainted with Him.

Many of you would want to say that the world has forgotten Him but you would be wrong. The world knoweth Him not. It is the believers who have forgotten Him. Sound familiar? It's what Jesus said to the disciples, remember Him?

I Got My Hands Full

Ecclesiastes 4:6
Better is an handful with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit.

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush..." Have you ever heard this before? Do you understand the meaning of what is being said? It speaks of being content with what you have in your hand and not thinking of what you don't have, or haven't yet gotten. Thinking of the two that are left in the bush takes away from the thankfulness of the one you have in your hand.

God explains it even better than the world ever could. He says that it's better to have a handful and quietness. Quietness is speaking about peace. The kind of peace that passes all understanding. Did you notice that God said it better? If we would have written this first part of scripture it would have probably sounded like this... "Better is only a handful with quietness..." God sees a handful as sufficient and satisfying but our eyes see it as "only" a handful. Our fallen flesh desires both hands to be full. We desire this so much that we will even justify it through using God. "If God didn't want me to have both hands full He would have only given me one hand" we would say.

Having a handful with peace is much better than having both hands full with trouble. Just as a child would think that having two or more Popsicles would be better than having one, we use this same theory. But having our hands full of Popsicles would cause trouble, stickiness, and we couldn't eat all of them before they melted. On the other hand, having one in our hand and enjoying it with peace as the sun shines down on us, now that would be enjoyable.

Are you at peace with what you have today in your hand? Then be thankful for it. A blessing in the hand with peace is worth two hands full of trouble and heartache. Do you have your hands full?

Dead Man Walking...

Romans 6:7-8
For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Doesn't it seem crazy to quote that movie phrase?  It seems crazy to even think a dead man could walk right. Well we know that, in the movie, he was speaking about someone who was headed to their death. Our scripture says that we are dead men and women walking. Not walking in our fleshly dead bodies, but rather dead to sin and walking in Christ Jesus.

How can someone be both dead and alive? Our death to the old man, or old lifestyle of sin, is dead through the salvation of Jesus. We cannot continue in dead works or a dead lifestyle of sin. If we have died to that person then we are now alive unto Jesus. When we are dead, we are freed from sin. In other words it should not be our leader anymore.

Aren't you glad the scripture doesn't end at the beginning of that scripture?  If it stopped there then our only hope of victory over sin would be when we died and ceased to live in these bodies. God has given us victory over sin and the sinful life. "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him:" If Christ has saved you, He will also satisfy and sanctify you. He will teach you how to live this new life in Him.

Oh, how I love being a Dead Man Walking. I was dead in my sins, but now I am alive walking in Christ.

Belly Laugh

Proverbs 17:22
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

There is nothing like hearing one of those good old "belly" laughs. You know what I'm talking about? The laugh that comes from deep in the gut. One that everyone can hear, even in a room filled with people. It's sound is so much more different than a normal giggle or laughter. It uses every resource of the body in order to come out differently. I love hearing people say, "I laughed so hard that my belly hurts."

There are times on my school bus route that the kids get a little out of hand and loud. I try to stay calm and understanding in these situations but I also have to maintain a little bit of sanity in order to drive the bus safely. Some of the funniest moments are when I'm trying to be serious with them and all of the sudden one of the kids (that aren't paying my speech much attention) lets out that belly laugh. I must say that in those times it has lightened to mood tremendously. Other times I have been steadily driving down the road, focused on the task at hand, and one of the little children let out that laughter and it makes me smile or even laugh myself.

There is just something about laughter. It makes the face happy. It makes the heart glad. It makes others who are around forget all that they may be going through for just a split moment. The Bible says that it doeth good like a medicine. If only we could laugh more often, maybe we wouldn't be so dry and unhealthy.

Did You Read That?

Titus 2:11
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

Oh, there is so much in this scripture! The scope of it, the depth of it is unmeasurable. Look closely at what it speaks this morning.

First, it speaks of the grace of God. Can you describe the grace of God? I'm sure we could think of many words and I'm positive that every one of those words would fall short of actually defining the grace of God. God's grace is nothing short of amazing. It is deeper than any ocean and higher than any mountain. To search out the grace of our God would be endless.

Second, it says that God's grace brings salvation. There is nothing else that can bring salvation. No work or labor could ever bring you salvation. Salvation is not in membership. It is not in loyalty to attendance. It is not in singing with the choir.  It is, and will always be, God's grace that brings salvation.

Lastly, and this is my favorite, it has appeared unto all men. Did you read that? The "grace of God" that "bringeth salvation" hath "appeared to all men". Yes, yes, yes! Thank you Lord Jesus! Thank you for grace! Thank you for salvation! Thank you for it being unto all men!

Like someone used to say, "If that doesn't stir your soul, your spoon has fell out of your bowl."

Put A Sock In It

Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

The running pattern of today's society is to tear down others in building themselves. We know that this is not of Christ or His Word. No, it is a characteristic of those without Christ and His salvation. The sad truth is that this attitude has somehow eased its way among those who are called Christian.

The skinny person speaks against the fat while the fat person speaks against the skinny. The beautiful person speaks against the ugly and the ugly laughs and scorns at the beautiful. The tall speak against the short and vise versa. Over and over, day after day, this happens. Why is it that we tear down someone and think that it will help us feel better?

The absolute fact is that we are different. That doesn't mean better than the other, just different. If you feel you need to tear someone down in order to look better can I tell you that you actually look worse! You wanna talk about ugly? Wow!

Remember what mom always said? "If you can't say anything nice... Don't say nothing at all!"  Well I say if you can't keep your mouth shut and have to tear down someone to feel good, get a sock and stuff it in your mouth. That can be Christ coming out of you when you do that.

Help me Lord to be an encourager. Help me to build up and not tear down.