To know or to know about?

That is the question (with apologies to Mr. Shakespeare).  There is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone personally.

This also pertains to our relationship with God.  A person may know about God by reading about God or hearing about God from others.  But when a person repents of his or her sin and believes on Jesus as their Savior, they begin a personal relationship with God, which continues through all eternity.

We grow and maintain our relationship with God by reading the Bible, by prayer, and by worshiping God.  We listen to what God has to say to us through His Word. When we fall out of the habit of doing these things, our relationship with God suffers.  We become more worldly and fleshly.  John states in 1 John 2:15 that we should not love the world or the things in the world, or the love of the Father will not be in us. James 4:4 states that if we are friends with the world, we make ourselves an enemy of God. In our relationship with God, He should be first and not us.

The Bible gives examples of persons who had good relationships with God. In Exodus 33:11, it says that the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, like a man does with his friend.  We will not have the opportunity to see Jesus face to face until we get to heaven, but we can speak to Him in prayer like we would speak to our own friends.  David was also a friend of God. Even though he sinned, David prayed to the Lord for forgiveness.  He pleaded that the Holy Spirit not be taken from him,  In Acts 13:22, Paul tells the Jews at Antioch in his discussion about Jesus that David was a man after the Lord's own heart. 

But what happens to those who never repent of their sins and don't have a relationship with God? Or to those who repented of their sins but don't maintain a relationship with God?  In Matthew 7:22-23, Jesus tells those who perform signs and wonders in His name but do not do the will of God that He never knew them and to depart from Him.  I sure don't want to hear Jesus tell me to depart from Him, do you? 

Dear reader, is your relationship with God a strong one?  Do you spend time in God's Word, speak with Him in prayer and spend time worshiping God?  Or has your relationship with God slipped away through the cares and the wiles of this world?  As long as you're still breathing, there's still time to repair your relationship with God.  Go to Him in prayer and ask for forgiveness in letting your relationship with Him slide.  Make every effort to read your Bible daily and study it.  Go to church on Sunday morning to worship the Lord corporately, and worship Him privately as well.

Thanks as always for reading! See you next time!

Diane

Pull that weed

Spring has finally arrived and with that, the urge arises to get outside to clean up the yard from the winter and plant gardens, fertilize the grass, etc. On a friend's Facebook post, Elizabeth, one of my Facebook friends, mentioned using a weed wacker to cut down the weeds. I replied that in order for the weed to not grow back, you need to pull it up out of the ground.

Those of us who maintain our homes' yards know that using a string trimmer to cut down the weeds only takes care of the weeds temporarily.  Either pulling up the weed, root and all, out of the ground or using weed killer and then pulling the weed up out of the ground is the only way that the weed will not grow back.  It can be back-breaking work, for sure, but the results are permanent.

Upon further reflection, I realized that weeds can be a metaphor for sin in our lives.  Like weeds, sin starts as something small. The more we commit the sin, the more it grows, until it finally takes over our lives and our relationships with family and friends, and even our relationship with God, like the weeds take over a garden.

So how can we get rid of sin in our lives?  First, we must recognize that there is sin in our lives, like when we see a weed in the garden and know it doesn't belong there. Once we see the sin, we must repent of it to the Lord.  1 John 1:9 states, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Now that we have repented of our sin/seen the weed, we must get rid of whatever caused us to sin so that we don't sin/it doesn't grow again. In Mark 9:43-45, Jesus speaks metaphorically about getting rid of whatever causes us to sin:  "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched. . . And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.  It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into that hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, . . . And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.  It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire." Weeds (the plant variety) can only be eradicated using the methods listed above.

In the movie Fireproof, Kirk Cameron's character is addicted to pornography, which he views over the Internet. After he repents of his sins and turns his life over to God, he realizes he needs to get rid of what causes him to sin.  He takes his computer outside in the back yard and demolishes it with a baseball bat, much to the amusement of his neighbor.

If we are spending too much time on the computer and/or smartphone and it interferes with our relationships, either with people or with God, we need to cut back. If we are viewing pornography, either in print or via the Internet, we need to stop.  If you are unsure about what constitutes sin, read your Bible.

Dear reader, take a look at your life.  Are there weeds/unrepentant sin in your life? If so, repent of your sin in order to have a better relationship with God. 

Thanks as always for reading! See you next time!

Diane

An eternal love

Valentine's Day is celebrated every year with cards, candy, flowers, etc.  After Valentine's Day, love is put on the back burner until the next Valentine's Day.  But there is a love that should be remembered every day.  That love is the love that God has for us as His children.

The apostle John wrote all about God and love in 1 John 4.  In 1 John 4:8, John states that God is love. John writes that since God loves us and love is of God, we should also love one another and if you are born of God (i.e., born again), we know what love is.  God's love is perfected in us when we love others.

God, through the apostle Paul, wrote the book of love (1 Corinthians 13), which answers for all time the question posed by the Monotones in the classic song "Book of Love" ("oh, I wonder, wonder, who, who-oo-ooh who, who wrote the book of love?").  In fact, take 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and substitute the word "God" for the word "love." For example, "God suffers long and is kind (especially to the Israelites - they must have really tested His patience), God does not envy, God does not parade Himself, is not puffed up."

God knew us while we were being formed in our mother's womb, and He loved us even before then (Psalm 139:18).  He loves us so much that He sent His Son into the world to die for us on the Cross, even before we knew or loved God (1 John 4:10).  During Jesus' ministry, He loved people so much that he healed the sick, raised the dead, and forgave their sins.  He showed His Father's love to others and gave His life on the Cross in the ultimate act of love so that our sins would be forgiven.  In 1 John 3:16, John wrote: "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.  And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."  John 15:13 states: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."

1 Corinthians 13:13 states:  "And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."  Love, therefore, is the most important part of our relationship with God and our relationships with other Christians.  So let's remember God's love for us every day and thank Him for His love, and then share the love that God gives us with others.

Thanks for reading! See you next time!

Diane

By the book(s)

Reading is one of my favorite hobbies, and so is writing.  God is an author and as you will see below, He is also a librarian. 

God’s main book, of course, is the Bible.  Divinely inspired and transcribed by men on two separate continents over thousands of years, the Bible gives us instructions in 66 books on how to live according to God’s will: it contains the history of creation and God’s chosen people Israel, Jesus’ life and ministry and the history of the early Church; and it tells us about what will happen in the end times and the final end of all mankind.  Jesus Himself is the Word, and the Word became flesh and walked among mankind.

In the Bible itself, four different kinds of books are mentioned.  The first book is the book of the Law.  This is the two tablets with the Ten Commandments.  You will see the book of the Law referred to in the Old Testament as the Testimony, and you can find the Testimony referred to in many verses in the book of Exodus, especially in the verses that reference the ark.  The Testimony (the tablets of the Ten Commandments) was placed in the ark. The book of the Law is also referred to in Deuteronomy 28:58, Deuteronomy 30:10, Deuteronomy 31:26 and Joshua 1:8. 

The second book is the Book of the Covenant. It contained all of the civil and health laws God gave to Moses in the desert for the people to live by.  The first reference to the Book of the Covenant can be found in Exodus 24:7.  In 2 Kings 23 and 2 Chronicles 34:30, King Josiah read the Book of the Covenant to all the people so that they would live for the Lord once again.  

Every person who has ever lived has a book in God’s library.  Each book contains everything a person ever did, whether good or bad.  The first mention of this book is in Psalms 56:8, where David says, “My tears are in your book.”  In Psalm 139:16, David says that all of his days were written in God's book even before he (David) was born.  Those people who were not resurrected at the first resurrection will be raised at the second resurrection, and at the Great White Throne judgment, everyone's books are opened and they are judged according to what is written in their book. 

The other book mentioned in the Bible is the Book of Life, which is sometimes referred to as the Lamb’s Book of Life (see Revelation 21:27).  The Book of Life contains the names of those who have repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus for their salvation.  The first mention of this book (although indirectly) in the Bible is in Exodus 32:32. Moses goes up on the mountain to ask God to forgive Israel for their sin of worshiping the golden calf but if God wouldn't forgive Israel, then God should blot Moses out of His book.  God replies that anyone who has sinned against Him will be blotted out of His book. Paul refers to the Book of Life in Philippians 4:3. You can find many references to the Book of Life in the book of Revelations.  

If your name is written in the Book of Life, you will live with Jesus for all eternity.  Dear reader, is your name written in the Book of Life? If your name is not written in the Book of Life at the time of the Great White Throne judgment, you will be thrown into the lake of fire to suffer for all eternity (see Revelation 20:15).   If you don't want to spend eternity in the lake of fire, please repent of your sins and put your trust in Jesus for salvation.  Read the Bible, God's main book, and learn about Jesus and about how God wants you to live. 

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to check out this blog's podcast - you can find a podcast player embedded in the upper right-hand corner, and there is a share button, so feel free to share away. 

Diane

Reflections on 9/11

Today is the anniversary of 9/11/01 when four planes hijacked by terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center buildings, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers realized that their plane was headed to Washington, DC and they attacked the hijackers.  It was the first foreign attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor, and it was totally unexpected.  There was a great loss of American lives that day.  We must never forget this fateful day, nor the lives that were lost.  Many things changed in America after that day. 

Where were you when you heard the news about the planes crashing into the World Trade Center buildings?  I was working at the now-defunct Walnut Street Securities, a broker-dealer affiliated with MetLife.  My hours were 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM CST.  There were four TVs hanging from the ceiling at our reception area, which were tuned to the financial news channels.  When I got to work, the news channels were broadcasting the news about the plane that had hit the World Trade Center.  I went to my desk and clocked in, searching the Internet for any news or updates.  On the way back to my desk after getting my second cup of coffee, I looked up at the TVs and saw the second plane hit the other World Trade Center tower.  Everyone at work was in shock and no one was getting any work done anyway, so the powers that be let us go home at 11:00 AM.

I watched the TV all afternoon after I got home from work.  There was no Twitter or Facebook back then, so I had several browser windows open to news websites such as CNN, MSNBC and kept refreshing them to see if there was any updated news.  I and many others watched in horror on TV as the towers collapsed and people jumped from the buildings. I had a browser window open to the message board on RaptureReady.com, where my friends and I had a long thread going updating everyone on what was happening. 

Those people who died on 9/11 didn’t realize when they boarded those planes or when they went to work at the Pentagon and the World Trade Center buildings that they would not be coming home that day. Events like 9/11 should have us contemplating our eternal destination.  Tomorrow is not guaranteed, and your life could stop in the blink of an eye.  Make sure you know your eternal destination. Two thoughts on this – Hell is a hot, hot place and eternity is a long, long time.  The only other eternal destination is Heaven.  There is only one way to get to Heaven and that is through Jesus Christ, God’s only Son. If you would like to make Jesus Christ your Savior and assure your place in Heaven, please leave your contact information in a comment below and I will be glad to help you. 

And if you have the opportunity today, thank a first responder.  Many first responders lost their lives and/or became permanently injured or sick from rescuing people from the World Trade Center collapses.  These people could have chosen a different line of work but they did not, and for that, we should be grateful.  I’m thinking about my friends Jason Blum and Steve Cange, who are first responders, and I am thankful for their service. 

September 11 has now been designated a National Day of Service in memory and honor of those who lost their lives that day, but I think we should go one step further.  I think 9/11 should be designated a Federal holiday. Everyone should be off of work that day, not for holiday sales or party activities, but for solemn remembrance of that day and those who lost their lives.  We must make a conscious effort to never forget what happened on 9/11.  If we do forget, there is a real chance that the U.S. will be attacked again and you and/or I could be the victims this time. 

Thanks as always for reading!

Diane

The fruits of our labor

Today is the last day of Labor Day weekend.  This blog post is being posted this evening because it's the first free time I've had since returning home from the Labor Day family camp we attend every year.  I had to put everything away, and start the laundry. Thankfully, I didn't have to cook supper tonight.  Even on a day where you're supposed to not work, there is still work to do.

The first Labor Day parade was held on September 5, 1882, in New York City.  It was organized by various labor organizations under the supervision of the Central Labor Union of New York.  In 1894, Labor Day became an official Federal holiday.  The town in which I live still holds an annual Labor Day parade. The union members march in the parade and after the parade, there is a picnic for the union members and their families.

Most people, however, consider Labor Day weekend to be the last big party weekend of the summer.  They may take trips out of town and/or go camping, boating and drinking.  These folks probably don't think about the real meaning of Labor Day and what it represents.

Labor Day may have started in 1882, but the idea of enjoying the fruits of your labor was thought about a lot earlier than that.  In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon wrote several verses about work and how labor should be enjoyed.  Here are the verses in Ecclesiastes that reference labor:

Ecclesiastes 2:24 -  Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.

Ecclesiastes 5:18 - Here is what I have seen: It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage.

Ecclesiastes 8:15 - So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.

So enjoy the Labor Day holiday!  Thanks for reading and see you next time!

Diane

Bibliography:

Labor Day, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day

"It is Well With My Soul" - the origin story and an analysis

“It is Well With My Soul” is one of the best-loved hymns of the Christian faith. “It is Well With My Soul” is in many hymnals, and many Christian artists have covered it. But do you know the story behind the hymn? 

The lyrics of “It is Well With My Soul” were written in 1873 by Horatio Spafford, a lawyer/ businessman from Chicago.  Mr. Spafford experienced great tragedies in the two years preceding the writing of the hymn.  His 2-year-old son died in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which also ruined him financially because of the many buildings he owned that burned down in the fire.  In the economic downturn of 1873, his business interests also took a downturn. The family was ready to take a cruise to Europe, but Spafford sent his wife and daughters ahead so he could take care of zoning problems that arose after the Great Chicago Fire.  He planned on meeting them in Europe after he had taken care of the zoning problems.

During the voyage to Europe, the ship on which Mrs. Spafford and her four daughters were sailing sank after colliding with another sea vessel.  Mrs. Spafford was the only family member who survived the crash, and she sent a telegraph to Mr. Spafford that read, “Saved alone.”  Mr. Spafford traveled to meet his wife and as the ship on which he was traveling passed the spot where his daughters drowned, he was inspired to write the words to “It is Well With My Soul.” The hymn tune was written by well-known composer Philip Bliss, who named the tune Ville du Havre, the name of the boat that sank. 

The lyrics of “It is Well With My Soul” are posted below. I will add the refrain after each verse and not post it separately. I’ll post my comments about each verse after the verse. 

When peace like a river attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll,

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul

It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul),

It is well, it is well with my soul.

No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, if we trust in and know Jesus as our Savior, it will always be well with our souls.  He is sovereign over all; nothing happens without His consent.  Sometimes it is hard to remember that it is well with our souls during trials we may be encountering.  We may not understand why things happen the way they do when they occur. 

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul),

It is well, it is well with my soul.

No matter what trials and tribulations we may be going through, we are assured that Jesus loves us. He loves us so much that He died for us on the Cross so that our sins are forgiven.  We are to keep our eyes on and our confidence in Christ no matter what is happening around us or to us. 

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought,

My sin, not in part, but the whole

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, oh my soul!

It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul),

It is well, it is well with my soul.

When Jesus died on the Cross, He became the perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind.  When we trust in and believe in Jesus, our sins are forgiven and are nailed to the Cross with Christ. Christ’s death on the Cross was a selfless act deserving of all of our glory and praise.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,

The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,

Even so, it is well with my soul.

It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul),

It is well, it is well with my soul.

The hymn writer was looking forward to the Rapture in this verse.  We believe in Jesus although we have never seen Him in the flesh.  We will, however, see Him in person for the first time at the Rapture.  The description in lines 2 and 3 match the description of the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. (1 Colossians?)  When we are finally at home with the Lord, it will be well with our soul for all eternity!  That will be one incredible day and I can’t wait for that, can you? 

There are two verses in the original hymn that are not sung in churches today.  They were probably removed so that the hymn wouldn’t take so long to sing, especially since there is a refrain at the end of each verse.

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live,

If Jordan above me shall roll,

No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,

Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul),

It is well, it is well with my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,

The sky, not the grave, is our goal,

Oh, trump of the angel!  Oh, voice of the Lord,

Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul),

It is well, it is well with my soul.

The second verse ties into the last verse of the hymn, I think, and in my opinion, should probably be sung too.  The “blessed hope” referred to is the Rapture, and lines 2 and 3 also match the description of the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

If you would like to see the handwritten manuscript of "It is Well With My Soul," you can go to the link here:  https://www.loc.gov/item/mamcol.016/

I hope that “It is Well With My Soul” is one of your favorite hymns as well.  Thanks for reading!

Diane

Bibliography:  "It is Well With My Soul," Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Is_Well_with_My_Soul

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