Do Not Worry

Matthew 6:25 and following says "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more
than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air;
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Aren't you much more valuable than they?"  vs 28 "And why do you worry about clothes?
See how the lilies of the field grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you taht not even
Solomon in all of his spendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes
the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much
more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

Wow!  According to what Jesus says I am not to fret about food, drink or clothes.  And yet
how many of us are concerned with just those things?  We get so caught up in having the nicest
house, car or clothes.  Now it is not a sin to have such things but we aren't to be all caught up
or consumed with such things either.  It goes back to trusting God to meet our needs.  Lately
we've been trying to get my wife a job here in South Carolina.  We've been married almost a year
and a half now and we still only see each other on weekends for the most part.  Fortunately, she
has been working in Tennessee and able to live with a relative so the needs have been met.
We've been patiently waiting for something to open up for her here and now it looks like it may
finally happen.  God had to get certain things into place before the job could be available.
We knew it would happen in God's time and not in ours.  He loves us so much but we have to
trust and be patient.  When you see God opening up and meeting your need please remember to
thank Him. 

God's Natural World: Trust and Obey Part 2

God's Natural World: Trust and Obey Part 2: "The other half of this duo is Obedience. Now we have plenty of practice at doing this since our childhood. We have to obey our parents, ou..."

Trust and Obey Part 2

The other half of this duo is Obedience.  Now we have plenty of practice at doing this
since our childhood.  We have to obey our parents, our teachers, laws, rules, government,
etc. And when we choose not to obey well, let's just say the results can be anywhere from
mild to dissaterous! So coming back to the point of obedience when it comes to what God
wants us to do why do we find it so difficult?  Did you know that God isn't going to give you
some great, overwhelming thing to do right off the bat?  Perhaps that is what scares some to
not accept Jesus as their Savior.  Perhaps they anticipate that if they accept Christ then God
will ask them to get out of their comfort zone and do some great thing like give away all their
money or go to some foreign land.  Well the truth of the matter is that God might ask them
to do something like that but probably not right away if ever.  We first have to do the basics
such as tithing.  Yes, I see tithing my income back to the church to be a matter of obedience
as well as one of trust.  I am often tempted not to tithe and for many years did not.  Oh, I'd
give a twenty here and there and pat myself on the back for it, but that isn't what God has
asked me to do now is it?   Once God sees you can be trusted with the small stuff then and
only then will you be trusted to do bigger things.  In Matthew 25:14-30 we read the parable
Jesus told of the Talents (money and lots of it too!)  A man was going on a journey and he
had some servants to whom he entrusted his property.  To one he gave five talents, to another
two talents and to a third he gave one talent.  Now we can assume these servants were
given this sum of money each according to his proven ability in prior duties.  These were men
trusted to be faithful and obedient.  Two of these servants were faithful to invest their sums
so that they could give their master even more.  But the third servant hid his money and
didn't invest.  There was plenty of time to do something good with it since it was a long time
before the master came home from his journey.  It is obvious that each was supposed to
give back more than he was given as he gave them "according to their ability."
The ones who invested wisely were given more responsibility, but the one who did not
invest was cast out from the master's presence into outter darkness where there was
weeping and gnashing of teeth. I've been told that "gnashing of the teeth" is not from
the pain but from contempt.  There was no regret; no sorrow; only contempt toward
the master and that is the very reason that servant failed to invest what he was given.
These days we tend to equate talents with gifts or abilities and that would be a very
good comparison to make. One of my abilities happens to be taking photographs.
I'm not as good as I want to be yet but I'm trying to use it to glorify God.  What He
does with what I give is up to him.  I'm obedient to use this talent/gift because I trust
Him. 
Now just how can I illustrate this point of being obedient?  I think in this case there
are several photos I could use but I will use this photo of a boat.  Why a boat?
What's obedient about a boat you might ask.  Well a boat reminds me of Noah.
This man and his family were told to build an ark.  It took Noah a hundred years to
complete his assignment, yet he was obedient.  Now Noah had to have been a man
who God knew he could trust to be obedient.  I'm sure he had the traits God could use
to do the task.  He must have been good with following directions.  Perhaps his wife
had something to do with that as he may have had his share of "honey do's."
This was most likely not the first time God had depended on Noah and he saw in
Noah a steadfastness which had to have been developed over time.  So be obedient
in the small things.  Trust God and then Obey!  You aren't going to be asked to build
an ark, but perhaps be a friend to a neighbor or use a gift you have to bless another.
You never know how many lives you touch.  The dollar you gave to missions might
have helped others come to know Christ as their Savior.  No matter whether you
are a child or an adult, its never too late to begin trusting and then with your trust to
be obedient.  God will be faithful to use whatever you give him and will multiply it.

God's Natural World: Trust and Obey

God's Natural World: Trust and Obey: "I love singing the hymns I grew up with when I was younger (much younger.) One such hymn was entitled 'Trust and Obey.' Though I can't reca..."

Trust and Obey

I love singing the hymns I grew up with when I was younger (much younger.)
One such hymn was entitled "Trust and Obey."  Though I can't recall all
the words part of the refrain was "trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."  There's a lot of truth here and
I'm finding out more each day just how that gets put into practice.  Our Sunday
School material lately has been a Andy Stanley series on growing your faith.
The basic premise through it all is trusting God.  And I'm also finding out that
one must trust before one can obey.  These two things "trusting and obeying" lock
together and are necessary for spiritual growth.  If we can't trust Jesus to save
us from our sins then our salvation is that of works and that won't get us very far.
If we can't trust God to keep his promises then we might as well not go to church or
even read the Bible for then we make God out to be a liar.
But let me assure you that we can trust God, not only with keeping his promises
and not only for salvation from our sin but with every part of our lives!
Who knows what is best for us better than the one who designed and created us?
Jeremiah 29:11 reminds us of this when God says "I know the plans I have for you,
plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
We serve a God who is not bound by time and space as we are.  Not only is
he a God of our past, but of our present and future.  He is in control of it all
even when it seems things are out of control.  Dear friend, you CAN trust Him
with all you have; your hopes, your dreams, your desires, and even your worries.
But don't try to force your will on God.  Instead you must yield your will to His.
Wait patiently for Him to act in His time.  I can't begin to tell you all the times I've
not been patient and it ended in pain and heartache.  If we are trusting God day by day
then we will wait on Him and allow Him to work things out in His time which is perfect.

The photo illustration today is of a group of rafters going down 7 foot falls on the Chattooga River
in the upstate of South Carolina.  Though the rafters flipped out of their raft, God was still in their
future, knowing they would get flipped but still being there for them when they did.

God's Natural World: Two Becoming One

God's Natural World: Two Becoming One: "Here's a riddle for you. When does one plus one not equal two? If you guessed marriage then you were right! Marriage is quite a mysterious t..."

Two Becoming One

Here's a riddle for you.
When does one plus one not equal two?
If you guessed marriage then you were right!
Marriage is quite a mysterious thing.  Each partner
retains his or her own personality and character traits
and yet they come together to be united as one in Holy
Matrimony.  As we grow in our marriage relationship
we are continuing to meld as one, to think alike, to know when
something is wrong with the other, and to unite our souls
and purpose together as one.  The uniting as one doesn't happen
at the altar.  No, it happens moment by moment and day by day.
Much of the time we don't even recognize it but it happens just the same.
As we grow closer in our relationship to God we can't help but grow
closer to one another.
Likewise if the two who have become one get torn apart by death, or divorce there
is a not so neat and very painful occurance.  You see when this happens you leave a
part of yourself with that other person.  It is litteraly like tearing a piece of cloth
that has been woven together to be one whole fabric.  We lose parts of ourselves
because we were once one with the other.  Having gone through divorce I have
first hand knowledge of this.  Its as if a part of you dies or is missing.
Divorce and death litteraly hit us at the core of our being and it is a long
and difficult process to heal.
So I ask you again. What does one plus one plus God equal?
Eventually it all equals ONE!!!  For our ultimate destiny is to be ONE
with God and with each other.
Think back today and reflect on how God is making you one with your
marriage partner and one with Him.