A Cartoon

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Ha Ha HA!

Moth-proof/ Rust-proof?

Have you ever had a posession you were particularly proud of? I remember the first new car my husband and I ever bought.

This photo is in our album, captioned: "A NEW CAR!!" That's me posing next to the car with the Vanna White hand gesture.

I was 23 years old and had never had a new car. I was excited.

But if I think about it, where is that car now? We got rid of it. I guess it's possible it's still on the road somewhere, but I doubt a 1995 Chevy Cavalier is worth much of anything these days. Probably it's in a junkyard somewhere.

Also I loved our first house.

We spent a lot of time and money on that house: painting it and fixing things, et cetera. We put an addition on the back. My husband and my father-in-law installed wood flooring throughout the upstairs. I still have those floors in my head as a model of what flooring should look like.

But where is that house now?

Well, it's not in a junkyard. It's still there on that suburban lot. Someone lives in it, walking on my beautiful floors and opening and closing my special double-paned easy-clean windows in the sunroom addition. But it's not ours anymore.

There's nothing better to remind you of the temporal nature of possessions than to look back in your photo album and remember things that you once loved. Even clothing:

My prom dress in 1989. My mother and I made this dress. I was super-proud of it.

But I just saw a dress very similar to this at a costume party. A friend had bought it at the thrift store for 99 cents. That dress was lucky to still be around. Most likely, my dress has been in a landfill for a long time.

My point here is not to be maudlin and sentimental about my 80's prom dress and dyed-to-match shoes.

My point is, these things that I spent so much time and energy, pride and, yes, even love on, are gone. Even if they still exist in the world somewhere, they are no longer mine. These things were temporary.

So why did I think they were important? As Jesus tells us:

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and rust destroy

and where thieves break in and steal;

²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor rust destroys and

where thieves do not break in and steal.

²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

 

So what should I be investing my time and energy in instead?

What has eternal value?

PEOPLE.

That's a short answer, but it's much easier said than done, of course.

Lord, help me to remember today what really matters in life.

(Partially inspired by the devotion "The Moth and Rust Reality" by Claire Cloninger
and the sermon of 16 September by Rev. Nobuko Miyake-Stoner at Harris UMC)

Martha and Mary, Jesus' friends in Bethany

"Christ in the House of Martha and Mary" by Vermeer

http://en.wikipedia.org

Has this subject been done to death?

In case it hasn't, here's the Scripture:

³⁸ Now it happened as they went that He entered

a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha
welcomed Him into her house.

³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who also

sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.

⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving,

and she approached Him and said,

“Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?

Therefore tell her to help me.”

 ⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha,

you are worried and troubled about many things. 

 ⁴² But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part,

which will not be taken away from her.”

Luke 10:38-42

I think we've all heard the story of these sisters and we know which one is supposed to be the "good" sister. But honestly, something about this has always bothered me a bit.

Maybe it's the number of sermons I've heard on this subject from (male) preachers who still expect the ladies of the church to have the coffee and doughnuts ready in the fellowship hall after service.

I mean, it's all very well to sit at the Lord's feet and listen, but when Jesus and the disciples had gotten hungry, they probably would have been annoyed if Martha had said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did y'all want food? I was too busy listening to the teaching."

Let's be realistic here. Martha had a job to do, and she was doing it. There were (at least) thirteen men in the house who needed supper and beds for the night. Not to mention breakfast the next day. No wonder she was distracted!

So I don't think Jesus was chastising her for being "too busy." In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say I don't think He was chastising her at all. He wanted His dinner, same as everyone else.

I think He was reminding her to adjust her attitude a little, and remember Whom she was serving.

Anytime people came to Jesus and asked Him to resolve some dispute between them and another person, or tried to get him to "take sides" on something, He refused to do so. He always brought it back to the person who asked the question, telling them to take a look at themselves first.

Luke 12:13-15

¹³ Then one from the crowd said to Him,

“Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

¹⁴ But He said to him, “Man, who made

Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” 

¹⁵ And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness,

for one’s life does not consist

in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

In this example, He could have asked the guy and the brother to come up and each give their side of the story. After all, there was a code in the Hebrew Law about inheritances. Jesus could have pointed out who was right and who was wrong and who owed money to whom.

But that was not what Jesus was about. He loved all of God's people and did not take the side of one over another.

So I think Jesus' reply to Martha's accusation of her sister was this: He simply wasn't taking sides, either Martha OR Mary's. He wanted to remind them that love for each other was the most important thing.

And, it may be pointed out, He knew that His time with this little family, and their time with each other, was limited. The next time He came to visit, their brother Lazarus would be dead, albeit temporarily. After that it wouldn't be too long before Jesus Himself would be condemned to die.

Jesus was reminding Martha that relationships were the most important thing, that being embittered with her sister would only hurt her, Martha, in the long run.

Not a bad lesson. And one you can still have a doughnut after hearing.

Love Mercy

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly, to love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?

I was thinking about what it means to DO justice but to LOVE mercy.

Because justice means people get what they deserve, right? And mercy means the opposite.

It's a bit of a conundrum. (Yes, I had to spell-check that word.)

So we come back to WDJD. By which I mean, What DID Jesus Do?

"He That is Without Sin" by Liz Lemon Swindle

(image from evangelicalinthewilderness.blogspot.com)

He forgave. He loved. He never compromised about what was right, but He cared above all for people's hearts.

He was without sin, yet had compassion for the sinner.

So loving mercy means we don't want people to "get what they deserve."
 

1 Thessalonians 5:15

See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone,

but always pursue what is good

both for yourselves and for all.

You get what you get and you don't get upset

What do God and Forrest Gump have in common?

They both have a pithy way of telling us to be content with our circumstances.

"Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get." Forrest Gump

Ezekiel 2: 8 “But you son of man, hear what I say to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house (of Israel); OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND EAT WHAT I GIVE YOU.”

That's all I have to say about that.
(image from wikipedia.org)

The Fullness of God

In Ephesians 3:19,

Paul prays for the church "that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."

But...

What is the fullness of God?


(image from http://www.ignitecampusmin.com)

As a mother, I spend a lot of time filling things up: clean cups and plates, empty hands and bellies, flat balloons and floaties. All kinds of things are waiting to be filled: with food, with love, and with my very breath.

Somehow, though, all these things seemd to get empty again rather quickly.

I can't tell you how many meals I've fixed, sippy cups I've filled, and inflatables I've blown up.What I can tell you is, as soon as I turn around, the kid feels hungry again, the milk is spilled, and the balloon has popped.

Is the fullness of God like this? Is it a temporary thing that we lose and refill over and over?

It certainly feels that way sometimes. How often do we come to God, empty and dry, spilled out and deflated, begging for Him to fill us up again? I think maybe there's a hole somewhere that His fullness keeps leaking out of.


My neighbor has a cool bouncy house that the kids like to play on. We had a cheap one a long time ago, but it popped almost immediately and lost all its air, so it was no longer fun to jump in.

But my neighbor has the industrial-grade one, with the electric air pump to keep it filled with air for hours of jumping fun.

(image from http://www.karismagicparties.com)

Do you see the idea? With my cheap inflatable, one hole rendered it useless and in need of repair. But with a real bouncy house, a few little holes make no difference, because of the continuous infilling of air coming from the power source.

I'm sure you get the spiritual application here. We need a continuous infilling of the Holy Spirit to keep us filled with the fullness of God. So where does this come from?

Ephesians 5:18b-21
"Be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,²¹ submitting to one another in the fear of God."

We stay filled with the fullness of God by (1) giving praise to God, (2) giving thanks for ALL things, and (3) giving to one another.

I was feeling pretty good about this until we got to number three there. Give to one another?! After all, isn't it giving to others that leaves me feeling drained and depleted?

But it's in giving to others that Jesus promises us the most filling experience.

Luke 6:38
^"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”

What does Jesus say about tomorrow?

From Jesus Calling by Sarah Young:

(Jesus says:)

"DO NOT WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW!

This is not a suggestion, but a command.

I divided time into days and nights, so that you would

have manageable portions of life to handle.

My Grace is sufficient for you,

but its sufficiency is for only one day at a time.

When you worry about the future,

you heap day upon day of troubles onto your flimsy frame.

You stagger under the heavy load

which I never intended for you to carry.

Throw off this oppressive burden with one quick thrust of trust.

Anxious thought meander about and crisscross in your brain,

but trusting brings you directly into My Prescence.

As you thus affirm your faith, shackles of worry

fall off instantly. Enjoy My Prescence

by continually trusting Me at all times."

 

This was an extremely timely message for me. I seem to need to be reminded of this directive from Jesus every day.

How often do I waste time worrying about tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that?

And it IS a giant waste of time. "Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?" (Matt 6:27 NLT) The answer, or course, is a big fat NO!

(image from http://switchgaming.blogspot.com)

In fact, worrying takes AWAY time, by wasting it on useless anxiety.

Knowing this, of course, doesn't stop me from doing it.

Hence today's little reminder......