Choose Wisely

Pro 22:1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

Set before us today is an important choice. In fact, throughout one's life, this choice confronts a soul several times. The choice? Character or cash, one who can be counted on or one who counts their money. If you can't have it both ways, which one would you choose?

The overwhelmingly popular choice is to take the money and run. If it means creature comfort, cash on hand, and not a care in the world, most are going to forget family, faith and friends in deference to the almighty dollar.

But when we take the long look... 5 years down the road, 15 years, 25 years, 150 years, choices take on an ominous fate.

Regret is a mean thing. Once the money has run out of the bag with holes in the bottom, what is a person left with? The wish that he would have went with the good name and loving favor.

It's like the Prodigal Son whose newfound, feigned friends disappeared when his cash ran out. All he had left was a ton of terrain separating himself from the really important people he had left behind with his near-sighted choice of denari over dear ones.

Many is the saint who left church family for the gold fields of the far country. If they ever return, it is with tail tucked, shoulders hunched and head bowed, sorrow and regret nipping at their heels because they chose the temporal over the eternal.

When the choice arises, count the cost, not in dollars, but in sense. Choose a good name, choose loving favor. You will never be sorry.

Ten Rules of the Migrant Caravan

1. Move when the Lord says move, stay when He says stay.
2. Be organized! All tents are to be set up in a regimented fashion in relation to the central tent, organized by families.
3. Representatives will be appointed from each family. They will be responsible and accountable for their charges.
4. Strict dietary and sanitary regulations shall be followed to a tee. Cover your cr*p!
5. There will be no hanky-panky within the ranks. a strict moral code will be followed to maintain the integrity of the group. This code is set in stone.
6. There is one unquestioned leader. What he says is ex-cathreda, that is, from the very mouth of God.
7. Everyone will participate in the overall welfare of the group. At times, special collections will be taken, everyone is expected to give charitably according to their ability.
8. Above all, God is to be honored in all things. There are sets of proscribed liturgical practices that will be followed exactly. No WHINING!
9. Upon arrival to the "Promised Land" expect that the caravan will not be readily welcomed. Well fortified walls will stand as a testament against your illegal, unwelcome invasion.
10. The land is yours by birthright. Claim it and make it a place of Godliness and blessings. Mess up, and you will be messed up!

Num 10:11  And it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from off the tabernacle of the testimony. 12  And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran. 13  And they first took their journey according to the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses. 

Trust and Acknowledge.

Proverbs 3

I Love This Chapter! I believe it was the first passage I was ever required to remember (Christian school). That was 42 years ago. Precious memories flooded my soul with each verse that I reread.

When it comes to "life verses," the wonderful words of 5 and 6 are probably the most popular among all believers:

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Trust and Acknowledge. Some may think it to be oversimplification, but there is no better way to approach a complicated life than with this simple motto.

Do we believe that God orders and orchestrates the events of our lives? For me, it is obvious. Retrospection has always revealed to me the wisdom of God in plan and direction and implementation of God's will for me in my moments, days and seasons of life. I only wish I had been more cooperative with His plan. It would be best if my clay were more malleable in the capable hands of the Potter.

My goal today is to trust my Maker wholeheartedly, acknowledging Him in every decision so that my paths will be God directed, each one leading me a step closer to home.

10 Discouraging D's of Ministry

Death of long time, faithful members

Divorce among those who know better
Disinterest in the things of the Lord
Declining attendance
Distant gazes during the sermon
Destructive lifestyles of carnal Christians
Demoralized ministry team
Detachment from the church body

Disgusting practices of believers

Demands that are unrealistic

Galatians 6:8-10

8  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he

that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9  And let us

not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,

especially unto them who are of the household of faith. 

Tis the Season!

Here we are once again on the threshold of the Christmas season. As joyful this season can be, it often brings stress and sometimes, even sadness. Following are some tips that may help you through the season without losing your joy and patience:

*Keep Christ first.  Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. If it’s all about Him, don’t get lost in the peripherals.

*The Tree and the trappings are merely decorations, worship God, not gifts. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

*Shop online and avoid the frustration of jostling down the jingle bell aisle at Wally-World. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

*Come and adore Him often. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.

*Don’t spend yourself into poverty. Give, but give wisely. Meanwhile, don’t ask for, or expect, the moon. Thou shalt not covet.

A Place in this World

Ps 105:16-21
He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant...

The ancient bard said that all the world is a stage, and we, merely actors.

I fully subscribe to this sentiment. There is a place for each one of us trying to navigate our way through life. The intricacies of the grand design of God demand that each of us play his/her part well.

Joseph was the man whom God had sent to Egypt to save the world. A strange way to do so, for sure, but there is no doubting his role. He went from being hated of his brethren to slavery in Egypt to imprisonment due to libel to interpreter of dreams to viceroy of Egypt to savior of the planet.

Had it not been for God's anointed man, in the right place, in the right time, in the right circumstances, who knows what would have become of mankind?

Friend, did you know that you are also God's anointed child brought to your present station as a set up? Yes, you have been cast to a significant role on the world's stage. Perhaps not to save the world, but possibly to save one soul, which is more valuable than the entire planet. It could be your own children, your neighbor, a loved one. Possibly your part is to plant a very important seed in a very needy heart.

Whatever role God has planned for you in this great drama of life, play your part well. Obey the Director's cues. Eternity will reveal the final act.

A Bunch of Bull or a Lot of Blessing

Exodus 31:18  And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

Exodus 32:1  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 2  And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

Here, we go from the possibilities of Bezaleel’s mastery to Aaron’s misery.

There surely cannot be a juxtaposition of more contrast than these two back-to-back events in the Bible, or could there be? Israel's wilderness experience provides us with several of these head-scratchers which beg the question, “What’s wrong with these people? On one page, victory, on the next, disaster!”

One moment they are singing and dancing in victorious celebration after their Red Sea victory, the next they are griping about their living conditions. It's embarrassing to repeatedly read these huge read these mood swings. 

One moment they are chowing down on roast quail, the next they are choking on the bones. 

But this one! Moses is communing with God about a glorious tabernacle replete with lavish furnishings, to be fashioned by the master craftsman Bezaleel, and less than one rotation of the planet later, Aaron (yes, that Aaron, the supposed high priest of God) is succumbing to the murmurings of these ingrates and is somewhat less than masterfully engraving a bull calf to be venerated by the multitude. 

"Up, make us gods" they demanded, while Moses was up, recording the demands God. 

They hadn't seen Moses for forty days since he’d hiked up into the God cloud, so hey, “Outta sight, outta mind, right? Let's do a drastic culture change, make a cow, call it god, get naked and boogie down!"

Aaron, the second in command, supposed to be a man of God, allows his brains to leak out of the hole in his head and says, "Uh, yeah, bring me the jewelry of Jewry and lemme see what I can come up with."

Later, when he's trying to justify the unjustifiable, he says to Moses, "I threw the gold into the fire and, boom! out comes this calf!" 

I said all that to say this, as I shake my head at the mercurial nature of these wilderness wanderers, I think of all the grand victories granted me by the Almighty, and then find myself the very next day worshiping at the altar of worthless idols. 

The difference between the children of Israel in the Sinai and me is that I'm not in the Sinai. They were in dire straits. They literally didn't know where the next meal was coming from, where they'd get a drink, where they were to pillow their heads or what they were going to wear. I've got all those boxes checked. They lived from hand to mouth, God's hand to their mouth. I live from God's hand to my bank account, to Walmart and the grocery to my mouth. They lived with a question mark over their heads, I live with an exclamation point over mine. 

I am saying, it should be much easier for me to stay true to God than it was for them, and yet my story parallels theirs in disturbing ways. Aaron's silly explanation that didn't hold water, "Boom, there came out this calf!" really isn't as far-fetched as some of the measly excuses I offer when convicted of my idolatry. 

It goes back to Adam and the sinful nature we inherited from him.

"Adam, where are you?"

"Over here, we are hiding because we are naked and afraid, like those people on A&E."

"Adam, what did you do?"

"It's the woman you gave me, she shoved that pomegranate at me and forced me to eat it, so it's really her fault." 

(Pardon the paraphrase)

Well, as the problem repeats itself and infinite number of times, the answer remains the same. We are guilty of doing stupid stuff, even though God is so good to us. He reproves and corrects us, forgives us, and restores us in His love and compassion. 

But do we learn our lessons and grow or we ignorantly (or willfully) re-offend and relapse?

It's part of these wilderness wanderings on the way to the Promised Land. Today, I vote for the tabernacle with the mercy seat over a bunch of bull. God, grant that my resolve and your grace allow it to be so tomorrow also.