A Prosperous New Year

We are only a few days into 2011 and still hear wishes for a “Happy and Prosperous New Year.” I am nearly always reminded that what we consider “prosperous” may not be the same as God's idea at all! He has a different view, you know, about what constitutes time, riches, health, and yes, prosperity too.

When Joshua was chosen by God to lead the Israelites after Moses' death, he received strong words of commissioning. “Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:7, 8) It is obvious from the context of God's words about prospering that He did not mean career success as we think of it. He did not mean wealth or fame, either.

How does God see that promise of prosperity? My Strong's Concordance gives some insight by defining the term as profitable, suitable, skillful, to be an expert, to guide wisely. Doesn't that describe how Joshua took on the task of leading the people?

Nor is it enough to just wish for this to happen. Joshua had a part to play; we do too. Be strong! Be courageous. Keep the laws of God by meditating on them and then doing them! That is our responsibility. Then as God prospered Joshua, He will also prosper us in the New Year. He would help us to be wise, skillful Christians! Expert Christians! Profitable to the Kingdom!

Happy and Prosperous New Year to you!

MaryMartha

Scripture quotation is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

Things Mama Taught Me - "Answer When I Call"

Sometimes people respond to the calling of their name with the truncated answer, "What--" Given the downward inflection of the word, they are apt to seem impatient or uncaring, as if saying, "What do you want now?" even though they probably do not intend to give that impression. "Yes?" is a more pleasant answer, as if one were expectant and ready to serve.

We used to sing:

When He calls me, I will answer,
When He calls me, I will obey,
When He calls me, I will answer.
I'll be somewhere listening for my name.

How different the grudging, "What. Well, all right," from actually listening for God's call! Sometimes He calls with a Scripture verse that speaks to our hearts, "This is for you." Sometimes with the reminder of something which needs our attention that we have left undone. Sometimes with an idea that we are charged with implementing. He calls if we are listening for our name.

But don't wait for it come on an amplified sound system.

MaryMartha

Art from http://www.sxc.hu/

Theora Won!

I read the obituaries in the local newspaper on a regular basis, because I have now lived long enough in this community that I am acquainted with some of the people whose death notices are printed there. Very often the loved one is honored with words along the line of "On Tuesday morning, Margaret lost her courageous battle with a brain tumor," or "Albert lost his long fight with heart disease." Recently a friend shared a message from a member of her extended family, a man who had just said "goodbye" to his life's companion.

In preparing for her final journey, this woman told her husband at breakfast only weeks before she died, "Don't ever say Theora lost the battle to cancer!" With a bit of fire in her gentle eyes and a feisty tone to her quiet voice, she explained that cancer may have broken her body beyond repair, but she wanted everyone to know that Theora—her soul, her spirit, the very essence of her being—won!

So on the night that she died, this man wrote, "As she wanted, I will tell you clearly, tonight she has left her broken body behind and has been ushered into the presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah! Theora won!"

As the Scripture reminds us, death is the last enemy we face on our earthly journey, but that does not mean it is the victor! "Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death." (Hebrews 2:14) So Jesus "broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News." (II Timothy 1:10)

Yes, Theora died. So shall we all. And because Jesus lives, we too shall live!

We win!

MaryMartha

Theora's family has kindly granted their permission to share her final testimony specifically on this blog. Please do not copy or re-distribute this post without their permission, which you may request by email through the address in my profile.

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

Art from http://www.sxc.hu/ by jschutt

Things Mama Taught Me: "Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice"

I was perhaps nine or ten years old and I was sweeping our old, unpainted, farmhouse porch. I found that if I knocked on the floor sharply with the broom handle, little puffs of dust bounced up out of the cracks between the boards. It was pleasant to see that! I would sweep the dirt away, and then pound the next crack to give up its little cloud of dust. Thump, thump. Brush, brush, brush. Thump, thump, thump. Wouldn't my mother be pleased when the porch—including the many dozens of cracks—was swept really, really clean!

No, my mother was not pleased! I was supposed to be doing some other chore, and the intense porch-sweeping was nothing but a delaying tactic. "What are you doing?" my mother asked.

"I'm sweeping the porch. See! I'm even getting the cracks clean!"

"I want you to go right now to do what I asked you to do. Obedience is better than sacrifice." I don't remember if she told me or if I already knew the Bible story from which that lesson comes. King Saul kept back some of the spoils of battle although God had explicitly told him to destroy everything. He then tried to excuse his disobedience by claiming he would make a burnt offering to God. The prophet Samuel denounced the plan. "What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams." (I Samuel 15:22 NLT)

You may think my childhood offense was not all that serious—and perhaps it wasn't, as possible offenses go. But my mother made the occasion and its lesson seem quite serious—or why have I not forgotten it all these years later? It sticks with me as firmly as the Bible story itself!

There are some obediences that God absolutely requires; everything else hinges on these. We are commanded to love God above all, and to love and care for others as we do for ourselves. Sacrifices of time, money, energy, and other resources, even for a cause as great as the Kingdom of God, are nothing if we aren't obedient to these commands. "If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love." (I Corinthians 13:3 MSG)

Obedience is better than sacrifice.

MaryMartha

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved. Scripture marked MSG is taken from The Message. Copyright © 2003 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Art from htttp://www.sxc.hu/

Holy Ground

The story of Moses' divine call is an outstanding example of establishing life-direction. (It may be instructive to notice that this ordering experience came after a lengthy period of unimpressive preparation!)

Moses had a royal upbringing in the household of Pharaoh's daughter. He learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became powerful in words and deeds. Perhaps he thought, as a young man, that he was now equipped to deliver his Hebrew countrymen from their oppressive slavery, but his first attempt at taking charge ended in disaster. To avoid the inevitable murder charge, he ran away and became a sheepherder in a remote part of the Sinai peninsula. From palace to pasture—he had certainly been demoted. For nearly forty years he tended sheep until one day, while going about his daily work, Moses had a startling experience.

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up. "This is amazing," Moses said to himself. "Why isn’t that bush burning up? I must go see it."

When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

“Here I am!” Moses replied.

“Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. (Exodus 3:2-6)

Moses probably saw bushes every day. Maybe just yesterday he had seen this very bush, and there was nothing unusual about it. But in the course of an ordinary day, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in that bush. We would marvel at the sight of a flaming bush that did not burn up, and so did Moses. He went out of his way to see why the bush was not being consumed. But that was missing the whole point. God was appearing to him! He was ready to tell Moses something, but all Moses saw was an unusual sight, indeed, a great sight—a bush on fire that was not being burned up.

When God called to him, Moses responded, "I'm here," but he still didn't see what God wanted him to see. Then God explained to Moses where he was standing. "This is holy ground." Now Moses had not known before that the ground was holy. It was the very same ground he had been on yesterday or last week, and there was nothing special about it then.

And then God told him, "This is who I am—I am the God of your forefathers who proved me: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." With that, Moses began to understand, and he responded as was appropriate—he hid his face—not because he was trying to get away from God, but because he was humbled before Him. At first, Moses objected to the plan God outlined for using him to deliver the children of Israel. God reassured him, "Tell them that I AM has sent me to you." That was the turning point in Moses' life: "Just tell them I AM."

God does not destroy the realm in which we live and work. We still eat and sleep and mow our lawns and drive our cars. We still shop for groceries and talk to our neighbors over the backyard fence. In other words, God does not burn up the bush of our ordinary lives. He simply tries to come to us in this human realm. If we will not get too absorbed in our mundane shepherding chores or too taken up with the spectacular fiery bushes we see, we will recognize Him and His plan for us.

God wants to teach us, "This is already holy ground. This is where I am, and this is where I want you. This is where I am calling you to present me just as I am." Nothing in our attitude or actions makes it holy. Nothing in our response to God makes His presence be there. It just is.

MaryMartha

Scripture quotation is taken from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. United States of America. All rights reserved.

Things Mama Taught Me: Always Put on Clean Underwear

The Boy Scouts with their motto, "Be Prepared," had nothing on our mother who believed one ought to live in preparedness. That's why she always asked, "Did you put on clean underwear?" Because what if you were in an accident and had to be taken to the hospital? What if the nurses there had to take off your clothes and put you in a bed? What if—oh, horrible thought!—they saw you had on dirty underwear!

My mother may well have been less concerned about our personal tidiness and the tender sensibilities of hospital attendants than about what nurses might conjecture about the upbringing she was affording her children! All the same, her attitude of being prepared for any contingency was not lost on me. Even today, I try to think ahead not only to
what I would like to happen but also to what might happen instead. While I can never foresee every possibility, it's likely that fewer bad things occur when I go into situations feeling prepared than when I have given no thought at all to what is ahead.

Part of preparation is an inner readiness. An anonymous pray-er said, "O Lord, help me to understand that You ain't going to let nothing come my way today that You and me together can't handle.” Confidence in ourselves and trust in God's kind providence is an underpinning when unexpected circumstances present themselves. We need not be frightened by all the "what if's," if we have these resources.

When I was a child, wearing clean clothes was my small role in being prepared. Now that I am older I still need to be "dressed" appropriately. "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness." (Isaiah 61:10) With that, I am prepared!

MaryMartha

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.