The Better Part, week #8

 

Here are this week's FB posts!

The Better Part, day #49:

 

Pro 31:20 She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.

Pro 31:21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.

Pro 31:22 She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.

Pro 31:23 Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. 

 

I thought it might be good to do something with snow, and with my 31-day regimen in Proverbs every month, this was the first passage that came to mind. But notice the wonderful balance of the virtuous woman- and apply it to our lives, whether man OR woman. In v21, she made sure her family was taken care of- but in v20, we see she didn't neglect those suffering in the wider world. In v22, we she her taking care of herself, but in v23 she glorifies her husband. In thinking of everyone- herself and others- all end up being put in their finest. God is best glorified when we balance the things He asks of us.

 

 

The Better Part, Day #50:

 

Mat 7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Mat 7:8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 

 

Jack Graham told the story of a long ago local (Dallas area) man named Father Bugner who had established a children's home that is still around. Early on though, it was in debt and about to close, when he fell to his knees, asking God for His promised provision. As he prayed, he could hear pecans falling from the trees in the yard onto the roof, like gentle, "I'm right here" messages from God. When he rose from his pleading, he looked out into the yard- and after a moment, he understood. He and the children gathered bushels of pecans from the trees, sold them at the farmer's market, and raised JUST enough to cover the debt. Sometimes the provision is right there, we just have to shut up and listen for it.

 

 

The Better Part, day #51:

 

Rom 10:13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Rom 10:14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 

 

One thing I considered as I spent my afternoon Missions prayer time is, we've recently had some missionaries lose their heads- missionaries on the home front, losing their heads, their works, to unconfessed sin. If we are to pray for the work to be done, one place to focus is on OUR pastors and leaders, that they not fall, and if they do, to confess in humility. The Mission field starts wherever two or three are gathered- and the preaching starts with those who call. Lift up your pastors, your youth and mission directors, and everyone else who helps lead the flock. Otherwise, the wolves will see them- yea, and the lost as well.

 

 

The Better Part, day #52:

 

Pro 18:12 Before destruction a man's heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. 

 

I can see, clear as a bell, an incident about 24 hours ago, and another one this morning, of me getting haughty in considering someone else's efforts.And on considering that first incident afterwards, I realized what it was I was doing. It was not overt, just a thought thing- that reminds me that character is an ongoing battle. Philippians 3:12, buddy, you haven't attained yet.

 

 

The Better Part, day #53:

 

2Ki 6:4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.

2Ki 6:5 But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, "Alas, my master! It was borrowed."

2Ki 6:6 Then the man of God said, "Where did it fall?" When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float.

2Ki 6:7 And he said, "Take it up." So he reached out his hand and took it. 

 

2Ki 18:4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). 

 

So this machine of mine at work is a real test of my ministry at times. It can really, when I'm struggling, seem a tool of the Devil! But as I thought about it today, I asked my memory, "Are there any places where a THING was demon possessed? My first thought was that axe head in the first passage- I would have probably thought of that axe head much like I do my machine. But, would Elisha have raised it if IT were evil? Then I thought of the second passage. This serpent was a symbol , a precursor of Christ in that being lifted, "It would draw all to itself". But when time passed, it didn't become demonic. They MADE it an idol- probably starting like, "We're not worshiping it, we're just 'honoring what it stands for' " -Catholic friends, take note! It took on a 'name' of it's own- a name that basically means, ' the bronze thing'. And while I wasn't making an idol of my machine, I may have been half-kiddingly making it a demon. A reminder it isn't the object, it's the attitude.

 

 

The Better part, day #54: (How's this for keeping a resolution!)

 

Rom 6:21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 

 

I've set myself to reading a chapter from the epistles every morning, and today I was in that famous chapter where Paul is trying to hammer into the Roman church that freedom from sin does NOT equal freedom to sin. I hadn't noticed this one line before- and to me, it might be the most compelling argument in the discussion. "And how is that working for you?"

 

 

The Better Part, day #55:

 

Luk 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 

 

I saw this on FB today, and at first I was put off by its brashness...

 

"If you need people to validate you,

you live a shallow, fragile existence and give your strength to others."

 

But as I thought about it, it's dead right. If I needed- as Satan keeps telling me- people to 'like' these posts for them to do any good, well, God wouldn't be in them and I'd just be glorifying myself. Better to glorify God, and let Him figure out where the 'bread cast upon the waters' goes.