February Reflections

What good thing can I say about February? The only thing I can think of is that it is short. People are tired of the winter weather, snow, ice, freezing rain-sometimes all in one day. We have a good weather day and six days of weather to remind us it is still winter.

I have been praying for something for a while. I felt the need to share my concerns with our Sunday school teacher. He asked me to prepare a list of names of people directly involved in a decision that will affect all of those in our local church and the church at large and share them with the class so that each class member pray for one person by name. God led me to ask him to talk to the teacher of the other adult class to see if that class would want to pray as well.

I have been adapting a script from a play I wrote into interviews for Lenten Blogs.

One night, when I really couldn’t sleep, I found myself talking to God about the phrase, “What would Jesus Do?” I found myself asking it with different emphases. I realized that following morning that I could use that on my blog and in my column, I contribute online.

Our friend group met in January, we only had four of us. For February, we met on what turned out to be a good-weather day. We had eight ladies. One younger lady, whose mother and grandmother came, also came to join us. One of the women there told us that a couple who moved to the northern part of our state said that when the weather breaks, they will join us one day.  

                                                            Grandma and granddaughter

                                             The lady in the light blue is the daughter/mother of the ones in                                                   the earlier picture. The lady in the darker blue is the         

                                            one who gets us all together each month.

                                                   The lady on the left (print top) works a few hours a day at the                                                       school in her town. 

                                                         This lady usually sees the bright side to things. 

Our UMC denomination has scheduled a Special General Conference that may have major changes in our doctrine. (Today is the last day of the main meeting,) Just before this meeting, our Pastor announced his retirement from the denomination. At this time, we are unsure as to when our pastor will leave us. These two events caused several of us to spend quantity time in prayer and in Bible study.

If you remember, my word for 2019 is faith. I must say, God either knew what He was doing when He allowed me to choose it or He exercised His sense of humor. 

His Mercies Never End

Compassion, God’s Love

 

quiet spirit.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

Great is your faithfulness.

‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,

‘therefore I will hope in him.’

Lamentations 3:22-24

            Jeremiah witnessed the fall of Jerusalem. In the book of Lamentations, he reflects on the event. In our focus passage, He gives hope to those who are exiled.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; Jeremiah reminds those in exile that God still loves them and will always do so.

his mercies never come to an end; God will always look down on His people with love we don’t deserve.

they are new every morning; Each day, He gives new mercies to those He loves.

Great is your faithfulness. Here Jeremiah gives witness to God for His faithfulness. God is always faithful, even when we are not.

’The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’  Jeremiah gives testimony that he will share the privilege of worshiping God forever. He is present in his soul and he will trust in Him.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

I need to be reminded of this passage and this hymn. I chose this verse and this hymn when I worked on this month's blog posts in January. This past Sunday, our pastor announced that he was retiring from the United Methodist Church. This Saturday and next week our General Conference meets to make a crucial decision about the doctrine of the church. Please pray for our local church and the church-at-large.

Jesus Speaks on Love

quiet spirit.

You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment. And a second one is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39(ESV)

Jesus responds to a lawyer’s question with our focus verse. I wonder why the why the man posed the question. Was he seriously seeking an answer to something that bothered him? Did the group of Sadducees put that lawyer up to asking a question to trick or embarrass Jesus?

His answer may have surprised those in the crowd. The question, as presented, asks about a high thing, the greatest commandment. The Master told the group three ways in which to love God.

 

“with all your heart,” The human heart thought to be the seat of our emotions. When we choose to love another person, we want the best for that person. When we love God, our desire is to live for Him.

“with all your soul,” The soul is man’s true self, who we really are. Said another way, our soul is our inner core. When we say we know a person’s soul, we know his or her inner being.

“with all your mind.” Our minds control our thoughts as well as our movements. What we think at times dictates what we say or do. Our words convey more than we realize. Sometimes they convey hurt and cause problems. As followers of Christ, we are to represent Him in the world. Because we are his His emissaries, we are to live for Him hourly and daily. Jesus continued instructing the Sadducees. With the last seven words of our focus verse, the LORD gets down to the very core of human relationships, how we treat those around us.

“You shall love”

Our neighborhood has changed over the time we have lived here. People have passed away, others have moved away. Those houses that were owner-occupied might now be rentals, several which seem to be vacant. Because of these factors, we no longer know most of those who live along our section of the street. As Mother Teresa told us, we must “Do it anyway.”

“your neighbor”

I found a way to love these neighbors and these supposedly empty houses. I have a section of my prayer list devoted to my neighborhood. In checking a neighborhood social media site’s message board one morning, I found I needed to expand my section to include a few more houses on a street down the way from our home.

“as yourself.”

As we continue to live in our world as things become more conflicted for those of us who love the LORD, we may need to look again at the values we hold and search for ways to please God as we pray for those near us and for those dear to us.

We can learn from the teachings of Jesus and apply them to our daily lives as we walk with Him. We can learn to seek His guidance before we comment on the events and actions of others that we don’t understand. We can give Him the glory for the uplifting things He does and not try to take credit for anything He has done for us. We can encourage our neighbors as they try to improve their homes. We can be patient with those who do not have a like-minded viewpoint about certain events that affect our homes and our lives.

Father God;

I thank You for Your lesson on how to love You. I ask that You help me to love You according to this verse in order that I may truly represent You in this fallen world. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. AMEN

What would Jesus Do?

Sallman

In 1896, Charles Monroe Sheldon, authored a book entitled, “In His Steps, What Would Jesus Do?” In his novel, Sheldon wrote of a church that had become ‘comfortable’ in their Christianity. The church had a visitor on a Sunday. The man was, by today’s terminology, homeless. The pastor was appalled by the was the congregants received him. The pastor mobilized the congregation and some of the townspeople to follow Jesus' way of dealing with the issues of their time.

The subtitle became a watchword for people in the 1990s. Everyone of a certain age seemed to sport bracelets or wristbands with the letters WWJD, meaning ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ Over time, the idea died out.

Recently, that phrase came to my mind. I prayed a request to God for a long time. As I began to pray that evening, I heard “What would Jesus Do?” My sometimes-analytical mind broke it down into four different questions. Here is the breakdown:

What would Jesus do?

            Teach

            Preach

            Heal

            Forgive

What would Jesus do?

            Would He argue?

            Would He love the sinner?

            Would He allow Himself to be distracted from his job?

            Would He obey His Father?

What would Jesus do?

            Jesus, the Son of God,

            Jesus, our Redeemer,

            Jesus, our Savior,

            Jesus, our King,

What would Jesus do?

            His Father’s work

            Stand for His Father

As a large group of people across the world wait for the answer to their prayers, we must think about this timeless question. What Would Jesus Do?

God’s Sacrificial Love

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (ESV)

Paul makes a very important point in this verse. He highlights a point that we often take for granted. God shows His love for us. He does this every hour, every day, every month, and every year.

Whatever the circumstance we find ourselves or our families are in, God reminds us of His love by directing our attention to the Cross.

God gave His Son. He did this without regard to how we may not appreciate His action. He did it for our ultimate benefit: that we would one day be able to enter heaven and live with Jesus.

We have been, and still are, sinners. We were sinners when He chose to carry out His plan for Jesus. At that time, the disciples didn’t understand the events that unfolded before them. Present day, we don’t always understand what happens right before us. The disciples learned from the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ.

As we see things unfold in our world today, may we look at them through the eyes of Christ and learn from these events the lessons we need to incorporate into our lives.

David’s Plea for God’s Mercy

Have mercy on me, O God

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin!”

Psalm 51:1-2 (ESV)

David wrote these words after the prophet after Nathan confronted David with his sin with Bathsheba. He broke at least three of God’s Commandments. Let’s look at this passage and try to understand it better.

Have mercy on me, O God,

David asks for God’s love, although he realizes he doesn’t deserve it. He asked for mercy. Please notice that David did not ask for anything else.

according to your steadfast love;

David asks for God’s mercy as God defines it. He realizes God is in control. He realizes that God’s love is the greatest we can experience.

according to your abundant mercy

He recognizes that God has a vast amount of mercy. He knows God’s mercy has no limits. Sometimes, we give conditional mercy when we forgive another person of hurting us.

blot out my transgressions.

 He asks God to erase his wrongdoing from His memory. As humans, we tend to keep certain information in the back of our minds and bring them to the forefront when we deem it advantageous to us.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

David asked that God do a complete job of removing his sin from the ledger.

and cleanse me from my sin!

David presents his request a third way. He truly wants to be free of this sin. I read somewhere that the cleansing process of the hyssop was a scrubbing process. This could be why David dwells on the removal of his sin.

Grace, Grace, God's Grace 

His Love and His Compassion

 

Sallman

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD,

the praises of the LORD

according to all that the LORD has

granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel

that he has granted them according to his compassion,

according to the abundance of his steadfast love.  Isaiah 63:7 (ESV)

The prophet Isaiah leaves us a great message in this verse.

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD 

He tells us he will tell of the love of God toward him and others. Do we share with others what God has done for us?

according to all that the LORD has granted us,

Isaiah tells of the blessings that he

has received from God that line up with what God does for His children.

that he has granted them according to his compassion, 

Isaiah reminds the people of the reason God blessed him. God granted these blessings to him and to us because of His love. Do we communicate love to those we meet? To those we meet while doing business?

according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

God gave those blessings to Isaiah out of the overflow of His great love. Do we, as God’s children rely on His undying love to carry us through times of turmoil and doubt?

I Will Sing Forever