Tag: friends

Monday 5/28 ~ Are you too uppity?

On By In attitude, healing, humility, judgingLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 28 (5/28), is Luke 5:28 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“And Levi got up, left everything and followed him [Jesus].”

000-COVER-KINDLE-ThumbnailThis Levi was a tax collector, who, in those days, was allowed to set his own tax rates so he could pocket some of it for himself. Why would such a man follow Jesus, a man who apparently didn’t have much money of his own? He had to trust Jesus and believe that he was truly a friend.

And why would Jesus ask him? Jesus was certainly taking a chance since the uppity leaders of society and their religion openly declared Jesus a bad person for associating with “sinners and tax collectors”. Jesus, in turn, had to trust and believe in Levi.

A lot of Christians brag that their only friends are those who worship with them. They don’t really trust anyone else, so don’t really want to be anyone else’s friend. Well, how are they supposed to bring anyone to Jesus? Jesus went out to “seek and save the lost.”

And sometimes there is a visitor at worship who isn’t dressed right ~ perhaps with uncombed hair, or smell from no shower, or makeup put on too heavy, or clothes not in style, or maybe even dressed too richly. Are we ashamed to be seen with them? Jesus wouldn’t have been. He was color blind, style blind, class blind.

Today, reach out and make friends with someone you have been staying away from. Jesus did. And thereby, you will be like him.

 

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Saturday 5/5 ~ Seek peace. Deep peace.

On By In discouragement, Inspirational, Loss, love, problemsLeave a comment

The scripture for today, May 5 (5/5), is Micah 5:5a as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

000-COVER-KINDLE-Thumbnail“And he will be their peace.”

The little book of Micah was written during a time when his country was full of prosperity. But it was also full of abused power. The lower on the social scale, the more the people suffered at the hands of the powerful few.

In the midst of warning the social elite, Micah offers comfort to their victims. You may be going through economic distress such as losing your job or losing your home. You may be going through social distress such as being passed up for a promotion or losing friends because of your moral code.

Seek peace. Deep peace.

Sometimes, it is only possible to reveal powerful abusers by revealing their victims to the world. Sometimes our job is to just survive so that a future generation can find justice and acceptance. Or sometimes we must lose everything so that we can quit worrying about this world and look forward to the next.

Seek peace. Deep peace.

So when you feel left behind with nothing, look up! God is still on his throne. God still holds out his arms. God still wipes away tears. Possibly it is at such times that you can feel God’s love most warmly and God’s peace most deeply.

Tuesday 4/17 ~ Persecution from within

On By In Bible, church, humility, persecution, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, April 17 (4/17), is Mark 4:17 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Thumbnail-“But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, they quickly fall away.”

We may be mentally prepared for persecution out in the world. But what about persecution among our friends who we attend worship with all the time? They can turn on us too.

Perhaps someone has discovered a new truth and is trying to get members of our congregation to believe it. If members get the feeling someone is trying to prove them wrong and make them look bad, they will turn on that person much like people do a “whistleblower” in the business world.

On whose side will you stand? Your friends’ so you can continue to be friends with them, or God’s? It’s easy to let things slide and pretend that new truth no longer exists so you can keep your friends. How deep are your roots? Who shall you worship? Your friends or your God? What is more important? Your friends or your eternity?

Thursday 3/15 ~ Rise up and sing!

On By In family, forgiveness, Inspirational, problems, Thanksgiving, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, March 15 (3/15), is Colossians 3:15 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Mefiboset-KINDLE Thumbnail“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”

Paul was encouraging the Christians at Colossae to get along with each other. After all, they were all members of the one body ~ the one church. In the next verse, he gave them a way to help it along:  Sing.   

Today, let us sing. Sing to each other. Sing in unison to unify your heart with others. Sing in harmony to harmonize their lives together.  Sing to show thanksgiving for your brothers and sisters.

What a wonderful way to mend a rift. Sing.  Sing with the person you are not getting along with. Watch the smile on your face drift over to them. Watch the smile on their face rise up out of a heart that really does want to love you.

Let not little things interfere with your love for others. You do not want to cause pain to your heavenly Father when his children do not get along. Let us join each other ~ and sing!

Scripture for Monday, September 11 (9/11)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, good works, Inspirational, judging, Life of Christ, Saved from hellLeave a comment

The scripture for today, September 11 (9/11), is Matthew 9:11 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-PAUL COVER-Medium-“When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners”? ‘ “

Jesus did not make friends with people who could lift him up. He made friends with people that he could lift up. We are not divine, so we need both. It is true that our closest friends should be Christians. However, many of us brag that those are our only friends and that isolates us from the lost.

We must make some friends among the lost in order to show them God’s love and try to lift them up. They can be people at work, in a club, in your neighborhood, someone we stand next to waiting for a bus, or even someone we meet by accident while waiting in line at a store.

Always be on the lookout. Always be prepared to become more than just casual acquaintances when they need you. Always be prepared to get “up close and personal” with some of your friends when they feel friendless.

Jesus did it. He was our example.

 

Scripture for Tuesday, August 1 (8/1)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, faith, forgiveness, Heaven, Inspirational, judging, Saved from hell, Scripture, truthLeave a comment

The scripture for today, August 1 (8/1), is Romans 8:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

worship-the-first-century-way-cover-kindle“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

There are a lot of religious groups out there in the world who control their people with fear. If you don’t do such and such, it proves you aren’t spiritual enough. If you do such and such one second before you die, you’re going to hell.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the congregations in Galatia (today’s Turkey) and warned them with tears:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel ~ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached [past tense] to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again:

If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? ” (Galatians 1:6-10).

Are you sure you are IN Christ Jesus? Do your church leaders dance around scriptures they wish weren’t in the Bible and tell you they don’t really mean what they say? What do they do with Romans 6:3-4? How do they handle Acts 2:38 so it doesn’t say what it says? How about I Peter 3:21 and Acts 22:16?  Do you do what these scriptures say and for those reasons or what is popular? Do your friends speak for God or do you let God speak for himself? Our friends will be judged by God like everyone else. Listen.  Do you hear? That is God speaking to you.

Oh, to be sure we are indeed IN Christ Jesus. This is our longing. Our hope. Our reason for being.

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#SavedFromHell, #CondemnedToHell, #friends, #scriptures, #Bible, #opinions, #Savior, #honesty, #truth, #honoring, #dishonoring, #certainty, #assurance, #hope, #reason

Scripture for Tuesday, June 20 (6/20)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, faith, good works, Inspirational, Life of Christ, power, ThanksgivingLeave a comment

The scripture for today, June 20 (6/20), is Matthew 6:20f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-cover-kindle-medium-new“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In describing heaven, terms are used like pearls, diamonds, emeralds, gold, and so on. So, certainly, God is not against riches. Otherwise, he would not have described heaven with those terms.

So, what is the problem? We must ask ourselves, “If I lost everything tomorrow, could I face life?”. We may say yes, but what about friends who are now unsure they want to associate with someone with nothing? So, it is not only a greed problem, but a social problem. It is a problem of losing both our possessions and our friends.

We could solve this problem by moving out into the country where possessions and social status don’t mean so much. Or we could stay where we are and just change our choice of friends. Our new friends may be truer friends than we ever had before and may need us more.

Lastly, if we lost our job, our car, our home ~ our identity ~ would we be so devastated that we would contemplate suicide as some have done? Or would we be able to look around us and see what we can do without having possessions and without having a job to occupy our time?

There are always things we can do for others. Is that truly where our heart is? In that case, loss of everything will not bring catastrophe. Rather, it can give opportunities to reveal what stuff we are made of deep down inside where our true treasure is ~ in our heart.

 

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#greed, #lust, #power, #treasure, #heart, #job, #car, #home, #friends, #identity, #contentment, #satisfaction, #peace

Scripture for Sunday, June 11 (6/11)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Daily, death, faith, good works, Inspirational, ScriptureLeave a comment

The scripture for today, June 11, is Job 6:11 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

0-BK 6-PromiseKeeper-Cover-medium-new-kindle“What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects that I should be patient?”

Many people use the expression, “patience of Job.” But he had on-and-off patience, for he was very sick. By descriptions he gave of himself ~ sores, rancid breath, low voice, partial blindness, skin turned hard and black, bloating, nightmares, extreme pain, unrecognized by his closest friends, some believe he had a grotesque form of elephantiasis leprosy.

What did he need from his friends? He surely didn’t get it, for they spent their time trying to prove that he had sinned and God was right to be punishing him. His reply? “I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all! Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?” (Job 16:2f).

So how do we comfort someone who feels utterly hopeless? We certainly don’t put the blame on them, nor do we tell them it’s “all in your head’ or to “snap out of it”. We can share times when we felt hopeless. We can weep with them. We can hold their hand. We can sit with them in silence. We can pray aloud for them. (Some people have never heard their name mentioned in a prayer.)

And we need to let them talk. Sometimes they will say things they don’t mean in the long run, but at that brief moment, they do. Or sometimes they need to talk through things they are unsure about. They may even say contradictory things.

At one time Job said, “Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household….God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me” (16:7f). But another time he said, “I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end, he will stand upon the earth….I myself will see him with my own eyes ~ I and not another. How my heart yearns within me” (19:25f).

If you have a very sick friend, let your heart yearn with them.

 

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#illness, #tragedy, #sickness, #poverty, #patience, #leprosy, #friends, #hope, #despondent, #depression, #prayer, #silence, #misery, #comfort

Scripture for Monday, April 17 (4/17)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn Bible, church, faith, Inspirational, judging, persecution, Scripture, truthLeave a comment
The scripture for today, April 17, is Mark 4:17 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:
 
00-Heroes-Alone-COVER-KINDLE“But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the Word, they quickly fall away.”
 
We may be mentally prepared for persecution out in the world. But what about persecution among our friends who we attend worship with all the time? They can turn on us too. Perhaps we have discovered a new truth and we’re trying to get members of our congregation to believe it. If they get the feeling we are trying to prove them wrong and make them look bad, they will turn on you much like people do a “whistleblower” in the business world.
 
On whose side will you stand? Your friends’ so you can continue to be friends with them, or God’s? It’s easy to let things slide and pretend that new truth no longer exists so we can keep our friends. How deep are our roots? Who shall we worship? Our friends or God? What is more important? Our friends or our eternity?
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#choosing, #friends, #enemies, #whistleblower, #root, #foundation, #persecution, #doctrine, #worship, #truth, #pretend

Scripture for Monday, January 16 (1/16)

On By Inspirations By KatherynIn blessings, Daily, death, forgiveness, healing, InspirationalLeave a comment

The scripture for today, January 16, is Ruth 1:16ff as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

inside-cover-medium“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

Although Ruth was talking to her mother-in-law after the death of her husband (Naomi’s son), this can be and sometimes is quoted by the bride and groom at their wedding. If only it were quoted more often. Not only at weddings, but at anniversaries. At birthdays of children and parents. During arguments, and low times and hard times and discouraging times.

These are the words of love ~ deep genuine, unselfish love. Let us so love one another that deeply.

#Love, #Marriage, #Family, #Friends, #Ruth, #Naomi, #Wedding, #Anniversary