The Inexorable Law of Sowing and Reaping – Part One

The principles in this post may seem to be demanding. They are instead rewarding.

It is said 80% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck making the principle that follows impossible. Stay tuned for a real blessing.

I just talked with a long time friend who is extremely wealthy. I know him to be a benevolent persons who gives generously to worthy causes and often to individuals in need. I complimented him. His response was, “It has been the joy of my life.”

If you learn to give generously you will know and experience the same joy.

Here is what makes it possible for you to do so even if you are one of the 80% living paycheck to paycheck. Suppose it is impossible for you to give financially. There are other ways and things you can give.

Start by giving yourself lovingly to all those around you. Be a giver of encouragement. There is a market for cheer, joy, love, and encouragement. Give these and other similar attributes to an aching world. For starters at the end of each day ask yourself how many people you gave encouragement today.

You can give hope. Most people have lost all or some of their hope. It costs you nothing to give them hope. The simple timely word of hope may be the stimulus needed by a distressed person.

Scripture employs agricultural principles to illustrate this teaching. You always reap what you sow. You always reap later than you sow. You always reap more than you sow.

Consider that principle. Plant one kernel of corn. If it is average each resulting ear will have 20 rows of kernels and each row 28 kernels. That would be 560 to 1.

Don’t expect the result of what you sow to be instant. There is of course instant gratification, but the bountiful resulting blessings may be delayed.

Sow in fields where the recipient gets little encouragement and therefore shows little gratitude in response. You do what you do for the joy inherent in doing it, not merely to get.

As the situation allows you can give insight regarding the love of God and His offer of eternal life through Jesus. It is simple but significant, life changing.

Hopefully now you can better understand how you can be a giver.

Anticipation, Frustration, Realization

Have you ever had the following pattern work out in your life?  The pattern is: ANTICIPATION, FRUSTRATION, REALIZATION.

God promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation. Abraham had great anticipation. He was going to have an heir to his wealth. He presumed it would be his son by Sarah named Ishmael. He had ANTICIPATION. God said no to Abraham’s plan. That led to FRUSTRATION. Then Abraham’s wife Sarah conceived and Isaac was born, the son of promise, REALIZATION.

Have you ever experienced that pattern? Your great anticipation was frustrated only to have the Lord enable there to be an even greater realization.

God, through Moses, informed His people that he, Moses, would lead them out of slavery and He would provide for them a promised land. They had great ANTICIPATION.

After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, with the Promised Land in sight, Moses died. That resulted in thunderous FRUSTRATION.

Then God brought Joshua on the scene to lead them into the land of promise. That consequence was REALIZATION.

Do you know why Abraham had his anticipation realized? Do you know why Moses had his frustration overcome by realization? In both cases it was because God had a plan.

Don’t give up in times of frustration. These are occasions when we are in the valley of the shadow. The Psalmist stated action for such a time: “I walk through the valley.”He did not say he camped in the valley. He walked through the valley.

When God’s plan is followed “All things work together for good … according to His purpose.”  Things “According” to God’s plan work together for good.. Keep your mind fixed on that fact. The alternative is illustrated by three boys racing in the snow to greet a friend.  It was obvious the one who would get there first would be the one who ran the straightest path.

One boy ran looking at his own feet as they kicked up snow.
A second was concerned with how his buddies were doing and kept watching them.
The third kept his eyes on the person toward whom they were racing. He got there first.
Those three boys represent various types of persons.
Some are self-conscious and keep their eyes on themselves.
Others are preoccupied with other people.
The third group keep their eyes on the goal. Keep your eyes on Jesus.
The Psalmist walked through the valley because, as he said, “He leads me.”

Bubba Deer – – – Or Dear Bubba

Consider this parody.

Bubba says he is a deer. No, not a dear. A deer. Most folks don’t seem to agree with him. After all, he has no deer traits. Deer are vegans, and Bubba sure isn’t one. Genetically he shows no signs of being a deer. For that part he doesn’t have qualities of a dear either.

A deer or true deer is a hoofed ruminant mammal of the family Cervidae. Bubba is no Cervidae. He’s one of the Jones boys that live down the road.

Deer don’t seem to agree with him. They run from him. Bubba’s girlfriend is the only one who seems to think he is on to something. She calls him dear and he seems to think her reference is to his deerhood.

Bubba had an accident that left him with a skinned head. Some folks said the rut must have started and a bigger buck with a large rack must have bested him. That may not be true for Bubba has never disclosed if he is buck or a doe. After all, it is his choice. Name it and claim it.

Aside from not liking the diet of a deer neither does he like the habitat of deer. Deer often enjoy cold hard dirt. Bubba has been seen enjoying soft cushiony things. He even comes indoors when it snows or rains.

Deer live in a variety of biomes, ranging from tundra to the tropical rainforest. Bubba has shown no interest in either extreme.

No genome study would even faintly support his opinion. There is nothing there to support his deerhood. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Those who question his deer nature ask how he changed from a humanoid to an Artiodactyla. There is only one possible place where it could have happened and left no traces. It was in his mind. Only he knew it and if he had not told it no one would have noticed it.

There is one sure test proving or disproving he is a deer. Ask about his gallbladder. If he has a gall bladder he is not a deer. It is strange but true, real deer do not have a gallbladder.

Another proof that Bubba is not a deer is he is so brazen he shops at Target. No self-respecting deer would go near anything called Target. That would be a betrayal of the herd.

This satirical story focuses on the modern movement related to there being 81 or more different genders, not just two. This concept is an affront to the Bible in which God is said to have created two, males and females. A simple human brain break with that fact does not constitute a reality.

Do those who profess to being an inanimate object have to pay income tax?

If just saying you are a thing of choice makes you such and exempts you from taxes the line where you sign up will be long.

The road back to sanity won’t be easy to travel. Denying a person his or her choice makes one a bigot and shows prejudice. Thus, the imaginary being is the hero, a defender of free choice. The abnormal becomes the normal and the normal the abnormal.

The ancient prophet Isaiah wrote of a time when “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah 5:20.

While disagreeing with a person we can and must do so without being disagreeable. “Love one another” is still the thing to do.

Are You Ready for the Judgment Day? Part Three

Jesus is spoken of in Acts 17: 31. It is stated the Father “…has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

The connection between our instinctive fear of death and the associated judgment is spelled out by many. After the agonizing death of the Greek Empire, Epicurus wrote, “what men fear, is not that death is annihilation, but that it is not.”

The German theologian Richard Niebuhr reminded his readers near the end of World War II that the fear of death was chiefly the result of another fear — the fear of judgment.

Daniel Webster, the great American jurist, declared the most significant thought ever to cross his mind was that of his personal accountability to God.

A recent survey conducted by “Psychology Today” revealed that most Americans “still ache to believe… there is something beyond our personal and collective reach.” That is, we believe in life after life.

In light of that, you carpet your mind with this question: “Are you ready for the judgment day?”

Don’t fret over the thought, just make sure you are prepared for it and rejoice.

We are a calendar conscious culture. You have an inexcusable and inevitable date with God which no person can avoid.

God’s judgements are not always immediate, but they are certain. Messina, Italy displayed rare beauty physically but moral bankruptcy. On December 25, 1908 the local press defied God. The city had grown wicked and irreligious. The paper, “Il Telefono” published a sacrilegious and abominable parade. In it they dared the Lord to make Himself known by sending an earthquake.  It was a mockery of Jesus’ birth.

Three days later, December 28, 1908, the ground began to shake. In the moments that followed 84,000 citizens died. God’s judgements aren’t often that swift, but they are that certain.

Establish your faith in Jesus by asking His forgiveness and consigning your will to Him. Affirm your faith commitment in Him and henceforth follow Him.

“There is therefore no condemnation (judgment) to those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 8:1).

Are You Ready for the Judgment Day? Part Two

Each of us shall have to give an account before the Lord. In the choir of life we can fake the words — but someday each of us will have to sing a solo before God.

The standard for this judgment is the “righteousness of Christ.” The basis is Christ’s righteousness, not our good works. That is a fundamental misunderstanding in our society today. Many people live wondering if they have done enough works to get into heaven. The answer is an emphatic NO! No one has. The basis for this statement is found in Revelation 20: 12. The key to understanding this passage and the judgment is found in the terms “books,” plural, and “book,” singular.

“The books” contain an inventory of the good works of persons. Notice, in verse 12, rather than being the source of our gaining admission to heaven they are the foundation for our condemnation. We are judged, that is condemned, by our good works, they are so inadequate.

Our salvation is based on our name being written in “THE Book of Life.”

The consequence of this judgment on those whose name isn’t in the Book of Life is noted in verse 15, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Not a pretty picture!

In the old west when frontiersmen saw a prairie fire sweeping toward them it struck terror in their hearts. They learned there was only one way to safety because there was no way to outrun such a fire. They would start a fire on the downwind side of where they were. When it quickly burned off they would move into the burned over area. When the destructive prairie fire reached them they were in a safe zone that had already been burned over.

Jesus Christ is our safety zone. On Calvary He was judged for us. In Christ we are safe from the coming judgment.

However, we should have known that. Ephesians 2: 8,9 clearly says it is “not of works,” but it is “through faith,” and “it is the grace of God.”

Those who by faith in Christ have their name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life have no reason for fear because, “There is therefore no condemnation (judgment) to those who are in Christ Jesus…” (Romans 8:1).

Jesus said, “…he who hears My word and believes on Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death into life” (John 5: 24).