Always and for all times

This blog post was inspired by my reading of 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 this morning. These three short verses have a lot of instruction for us as Christians.  They’re short but packed with power.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV):  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Rejoice always.  Paul didn’t say rejoice when you feel like it, or only when everything’s going well.  “Always” means all the time. The thesaurus in the Microsoft Word software I’m typing this with (Word 2010) lists adverbs for “always” as continuously, continually, constantly, at all times, or for all time.  It means rejoice when things aren’t going well, or when a loved one is sick or has died.  It means rejoice when you’re going through a relationship breakup, or when you’re estranged from your children or other family members.  It means rejoice when your financial situation is going south, either from job loss or other circumstances.  I know from personal experience that it’s really hard to rejoice when you’re in physical or emotional pain, but we’re told to do it, so we need to suck it up and rejoice. Rejoicing in the midst of pain takes our minds off of ourselves and our problems and turns them to God, our Father and our Comforter. For a good primer on rejoicing in the midst of pain, listen to the lyrics of the song “Praise You in This Storm” by Casting Crowns.  If you’re really down and can’t think about a single thing to rejoice about, you can always rejoice that God saved you that and Jesus died on the Cross to save you from your sins. That should be enough right there to lift your spirits.

Pray without ceasing.  Again, Paul didn’t say to pray when you feel like it, or when there’s a major crisis in your life and you need to be rescued.  “Without ceasing” means all the time, just like “always” means all the time.  A friend of mine has a keychain with a little tag on it that reads, "Pray."  That's a good reminder. You may ask, “Pray even when I’m in the bathroom?” Sure - what a perfect place to pray!  The bathroom door is shut and you have privacy – I hope. LOL!  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone into the bathroom stall at work, shut the door, and started praying for work situations that are going awry.  Praying without ceasing keeps the line of communication going between you and God.  Sure, God knows what you’re going to say before you say it, and He knows what you need before you ask for it, but He wants to hear it from you anyway.  This ties into the previous verse – when you rejoice when you don’t feel like it, the praise will calm your soul and then you will be calm enough to pray.    

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  Give thanks when my heart is breaking because my spouse is leaving me?  Give thanks when my child is not living according to God’s will?  Give thanks when I’ve lost my job and my financial situation is dire and I don’t know how I’m going to get my next meal?  Yes, in all these and more, we are to give thanks to God.  Is your child giving you fits?  Thank the Lord that you do have a child – there are folks who would love to be parents but can’t.  Didn’t get the raise you were hoping for?  Be thankful you have a job – there are many that don’t.  Again, if you can’t think of what to give thanks for, you can always give thanks that God saved you and that Jesus died on the Cross to save you from your sins.

These instructions are from God Himself through Paul and this is what He wants us to do - He wants us to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, because it’s His will in Jesus for us.  It’s hard for me to remember these things because after all, I’m human and God made me with feelings and emotions.  That’s the fleshly side of us, which rears its ugly head when we’re faced with difficulties.  But I’m going to keep reminding myself of these instructions, and hopefully, someday I’ll remember to do these things without thinking about it. 

That’s all for now!  Thanks for reading – see you next time!

Diane

That book on the shelf

(With apologies to David Lee Murphy, the songwriter of "Dust on the Bottle")

Sittin' on the shelf, all lost and lonesome,
Is a Book with all you need to know,
How to live your life and love Jesus,
If you read it, your faith will grow.

It's got what you need, son, it's between those covers
(Why dontcha) Take it down and take a look inside?

There shouldn't be any dust on your Bible,
It has everything you need to survive,
There shouldn't be any dust on your Bible,
The more you read it, it gets sweeter with time.

It's sittin' on the bookshelf wanting you to read it,
There's wisdom and great things inside,
When life is hard and you are seeking,
Let God's Word be your guide.

Reach up on the bookshelf and dust off the cover,
It's just been waiting for you to see the Light.

There shouldn't be any dust on your Bible,
It has everything you need to survive,
There shouldn't be any dust on your Bible,
The more you read it, it gets sweeter with time.

God's Word is so sweet and I've learned some great things,
After all these years, there's one thing I've found
I say the good Book, well, it's like a fine wine
The message keeps getting better as the days go by.

There shouldn't be any dust on your Bible,
It has everything you need to survive,
There shouldn't be any dust on your Bible,
The more you read it, it gets sweeter with time.

The perfect recipe

My niece enjoys baking, so on Thanksgiving, she made an 8" X 8" pan of brownies.  She asked if they were too chewy, as she thought she might have put too much vegetable oil in them.  I said no, they were just fine and I asked why she thought they might have too much oil.  She said she didn't have any measuring cups at her dad's house.  I rectified this at Christmas - I got her a gift bag with a glass measuring cup, some measuring spoons, baking sheets, etc.  She was very excited. I felt good knowing I purchased a present for a teenage girl that she actually liked.  I guess I'm not as square as I thought. 

Baking is not very difficult if you have all the right ingredients in the amounts called for in the recipe and you follow the recipe instructions precisely.  Upon reflection, I was struck by the similarities between baking and the Christian life.

Baking is a conscious decision.  You have to decide to bake something – it’s not an everyday activity like cooking a meal (unless you are employed as a baker, of course).  Deciding to repent of your sins and praying to receive Jesus into your heart and make Him the Savior of your life is also a conscious decision – it doesn’t just happen.  The first thing you have to do in order to be a Christian is to be saved - that is, to repent of your sins and ask Jesus to be your Savior.

In order to bake something correctly, you have to refer to the recipe, which tells you what ingredients you need and in what quantity, the order in which to mix the ingredients, how to prepare the baking pan, the temperature at which to set the oven, and the length of time to bake.  The Bible is the instruction book, or the cookbook, if you will, for the Christian life. 

Once you are saved, what ingredients make up a Christian life?  Here’s a few:

1.  Read the Word.  In order to know the Lord better and how He wants you to live and treat others, you need to read your Bible on a daily basis.  It’s even better if you can join a Bible study group where you can discuss the Scriptures with like-minded believers.

2.  Prayer. In order to have a relationship with God, you need to spend time with Him in prayer.  He wants us to communicate with Him, to let Him know our needs and desires.  Corporate prayer with other Christians is also very good.  

3.    Join a Bible believing church, attend Sunday services on a regular basis and participate in fellowship activities.  Spending time in worship helps you grow closer to the Lord.  Spending time with other Christians in worship and fellowship helps support your walk in the Lord.  Fellow Christians will share your joys and troubles and they'll pray for you and with you. 

4.  Go make disciples.   Jesus told the apostles that they should go into all the world and make disciples.  We are to do this also. We should love the Lord and be so excited about our faith that we want others to know who Jesus is and how they can be saved. 

Sometimes, though, whatever you're baking doesn't come out like it should.  Perhaps the oven's thermostat is off and the cake doesn't rise.  Maybe you used much water in the recipe and the batter is too thin.  Maybe you left the cookies in the oven too long and they burned.   In the Christian life, mishaps like that are called sin.  As the baking mishaps separate us from the yummy baked goods we thought we were making, sin separates us from God.  We have to throw away the baking mistakes and start all over.  When we sin, we go before the Lord and repent, asking for forgiveness.  His death on the Cross covers all our sins.  We can start the recipe over again and try harder next time. 

That's all for now.  Thanks for reading! 

Diane

New Year . . . New life

Today is the last day of the year. People are celebrating the upcoming year by gathering with friends at parties, going to restaurants and standing outside in Times Square to watch a big crystal ball drop (and what the appeal is in that, I have no clue). 

For many, New Year's Day represents new hope and a new beginning.  The old year is over and a new year has begun.  People take this time to make resolutions to be better in the new year - lose weight, spend more time with their kids, etc.  Usually, however, by the end of the year, these resolutions have been broken and the person is right back where he or she started. 

When a person repents of his sins and asks Jesus to come into their hearts to be his or her Savior, he or she is born again.  This means a new, clean life and a new beginning. That person becomes a new creation in Christ.  They become children of God and have eternal life in Christ.  All of their sins have been forgiven and forgotten. In contrast with the broken resolutions, if we sin after we have been born again, Jesus stands ready to forgive us  and welcome us back into the fold.  The blood He shed on the Cross covers our sins.

Unlike the New Year, which shows up without us doing anything at all, being born again is a conscious decision.  We have to open our mouth and ask Jesus to forgive our sins in order to be born again and receive that new and eternal life.  By repenting of your sins and receiving Jesus as your Savior, you escape the wrath of hell and get to spend eternity in Heaven.

Friend, if you are reading this and you have not yet repented of your sins and received Jesus as your Savior, what's holding you back? Why not make this new year the first year of your walk with Christ? If you need help, here's a prayer: 

"Lord, I know I am a sinner, and I need Your forgiveness for my sins. I believe that You died for me on the Cross. Please come into my heart and make me new. I want you to be my Lord and Savior. I give my life totally and completely to You. Thank you for forgiving my sins and making me new."

Did you say the prayer? If so, congratulations! You are now my brother or sister in Christ. Your first step should be to purchase a Bible. Start by reading the first four books of the New Testament, also known as the Gospels. They will tell you about Jesus. The second thing you should do is find a Bible-believing church where you can learn about being a Christian and you can meet other Christians. I would love to know if you prayed to receive Jesus. Please enter a comment to let me know.

Happy New Year!  I pray for a happy, healthy and prosperous new year for you!

Diane

The write style - Biblically speaking

If you enjoy reading (like I do) you read everything that certain authors write because you like their writing style.  You may enjoy the way a fiction writer tell a story and how they develop characters.  You may enjoy how a non-fiction writer presents information.  An author's writing style reflects their personality and their knowledge of a subject or their passion for a story. 

The Bible is the Holy Spirit inspired Word of God, but God dictated His words to humans to transcribe.  (I am a legal assistant, so I do a lot of transcribing.) Each transcriber of God's Word had his own writing style that revealed his personality.  If you read the books of the Bible carefully, you will be able to see the personality traits of each transcriber. Let's take a look at a few of these transcribers. 

My favorite Bible transcriber would have to be the apostle John.  John 1:1-18 reads like prose and is beautifully written. 1 John 4 is all about love, the love of Jesus for us and our love for one another.  John also wrote the book of Revelation, with its vivid descriptions of the end times.  Since I like to write as well as read, I look forward to meeting John in Heaven to swap notes, so to speak. 

Reading Paul's epistles reveals a very different personality than John.  Paul was very authoritative. He often used athletic metaphors such as "running so that I complete the race" or "fighting the good fight" to get his point across.  When a fellowship or a person was in the wrong, Paul didn't mince words - he told it like it was.  He often comes across as harsh, yet he had a passion for people to be saved, especially his Jewish brethren. 

Luke is another transcriber with a different personality.  Luke was a historian.  He was very detail oriented, due no doubt to his training as a physician.  Luke is the only one who reported that while Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, his sweat appeared like large drops of blood.  He vividly described the Holy Spirit descending on the people in the Upper Room and the founding of the early church.  Luke also described in great detail how Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and his conversion to a follower of Christ.

Moses was one of the greatest transcribers of God's words in the Old Testament.  The first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch, were written by Moses.  Although he was not an eyewitness to the events that happened before he was born, he his descriptive words make these events come to life.  He is a huge part of the Exodus story, yet he describes himself as a humble man who loved God.

I invite you to take another look at the books of the Bible to discover who their transcribers were and try to figure out their writing styles and their personality.  It just might just add new life to your study of the Bible! 

Thanks for reading!  See you next time!

Diane

Love your local library!

One of my favorite places has always been the library.  Where else can you find a way to travel around the world without spending any money?  Where else can you find a way to let your imagination run free?  Or learn about various things for free? 

I loved reading when I was a child.  My parents were poor and we didn't always have the money to do things, but I could go to the library and check out books to read.  I could read fiction books and imagine myself in the story. I could learn about other countries and other time periods.  I could check out books that taught me how to do different things.  I could use the reference books to do reports or learn about things. Books were my friends when no one else would be. 

I still love to read and I still love the library.  And I love the written word (but not more than the Word).  Today, the library is more than just books.  The library has magazines and newspapers.  It has microfiche machines where you can look at old newspapers and see what life was like in earlier times. The library has movies and computer software that can be checked out. Our library has a genealogy reference section.  There is a section of computers with Internet access for card holders to use.  Our library also has audio books you can check out.

Even in this day of Internet access and computer use, books are still the best way to find out information. A love of reading does not come naturally, however.  It has to be modeled.  My son loves to read, and it's because he sees me reading.  We also make weekly library trips. My husband is not a big reader, and I believe it's because it was not modeled to him when he was growing up. 

This year is the 175th anniversary of the Belleville Public Library, which is the library we visit every week (and is pictured above).  This post is dedicated to the librarians there, who help us find the books we want to read, buy Boy Scout popcorn from my son and helped him with his Reading merit badge.  Your local librarians are great resources for information.  They're there to help.  So go to your local library and see what's there.  You never know what you might find. 

See you next time!

Diane

Ah, a sweet aroma

In  2 Corinthians 2:15-16a, Paul states the following:  "For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one [we are] the aroma of death [leading] to death, and to the other the aroma of life [leading] to life." Let's take a look at what this means.

Webster's Dictionary has two definitions of  "aroma." Definition 1a is "a distinctive pervasive and usually pleasant or savory smell." Think of the wonderful smell of a fresh flower,or the smell of coffee brewing. Or the smell of fried chicken cooking.  Definition 2 is "a distinctive quality or atmosphere." This definition is the one that fits the verses the best, I think.

So how can we be the fragrance of Christ to God among believers? I don't think that personal hygiene was what Paul had in mind, although that certainly wouldn't hurt. LOL!

I think what Paul meant was how we present ourselves as Christians.  Smell precedes sight. You smell the  fragrance before you see what is causing the fragrance. When you meet someone for the first time, how you treat that person is being the fragrance of Christ.  And how do we do that?  By being kind, courteous, caring and welcoming.  When a brother or sister in Christ is hurting, being there for them and helping if possible is being the fragrance of Christ.  When a fellow Christian is rejoicing, we rejoice with them. Worshiping the Lord with all your heart and soul is the fragrance of Christ to God. 

But what about the second part of that verse - the part about we Christians being the aroma of death to those who don't believe?  I think it means that our actions and words are so sweet that they are sickening.  The aroma of Christ that emanates from believers shows the lost how dark their souls are and what their eternal destination will be - unless they repent and trust Christ for salvation.

So think about how you are the fragrance of Christ in the world and how you can smell even sweeter. I know I am!  See you next time!

Diane