Build on Rock

Recently, some of the home owners in one housing development in our city have found huge cracks developing in the walls, floors, and driveways of their homes. The houses were not cheap when purchased only a few years ago, and now people are faced with repairs that amount, in some cases, to half the original price. When the owners' complaints were investigated, it was found that the houses had been built on

 unstable soil that expanded as it absorbed water and contracted as it dried. The structures were on shaky ground—clay and insufficiently compacted fill dirt. One foundation repair company reported that their crew had to drill down 45 feet to reach rock solid enough to support the crumbling foundation.

This reveals again Jesus' wise words about building on the Rock. “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

I've always supposed Jesus meant that we had to search and find the rock on which to build, spiritually, in a world full of “sand.” But what if there is no rock to be seen and we have to dig deep to reach anything solid? He did not guarantee that rock would be there just for the taking, without any additional effort. It may require us to do some spiritual “drilling.”

MaryMartha

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

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

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/

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/

Things Mama Taught Me: Why? "Because I Said So"

I'm not sure every parent or child advocate would agree that "Because I told you so," is a fitting answer when a child asks why. Surely they must recognize, though, that a whiny "why" because he/she does not want to cooperate is far different from "Why is the moon moving with us?" or "Why did Grandpa die?" These deserve the most thoughtful answers we can give. But breathes there a parent who has not replied to the seventeenth complaining "But why," with an exasperated, "Because I said so!"

My parents did not say this often, but when they did, I knew we had reached the end of the discussion. I would have to accept quietly the possibility that they knew what was good for me more clearly than I did. I might not agree, but I could not argue; the decision was not negotiable. This is one of the ways in which I learned that there existed authority to which I must defer, whether or not I understood or agreed.

There are rules that define our civic duty as well. One must stop at red lights, even if no one is approaching. You may not keep more than two dogs at your residence (in my city). Without my permission, other people must not take things out of my mailbox. Why? Because the authorities said so—and with good reason. We might not understand or agree, but we comply.

God has some rules too. Some of them He has explained clearly; others may not be so plain initially—although often we can see the wisdom of His commands when we are more mature as Christians. He does not bludgeon us with "Because I said so." Nevertheless, we sometimes have to accept what He has said without having discussion about it. "Thou shalt not kill." Thou shalt not commit adultery." "Thou shalt not steal." What is there not to understand?

"Rejoice in the Lord always." "Never stop praying." "Be kind to one another, forgiving each other." What difference does it make whether or not I keep these "rules"? Just why should I keep them?

Because He said so. He knows what is good for me more clearly than I do. I may not agree, but it doesn't help to argue. End of discussion.

MaryMartha

Perhaps you'll want to read or re-read, "It Doesn't Mean Me" [here]

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

God Knows the Way

As I was growing up, I often sang the chorus, "My Lord knows the way through the wilderness, all I have to do is follow." This refers, I suppose, to the experience of the Israelites spending forty years in desert surroundings after they left Egypt. I've been in some pretty bleak places where I felt lost, even though I actually wasn't: a treeless pasture I hiked through in north Texas, a busy foreign city where I didn't speak the language of the people, a just-barely-marked two-lane highway through a Washington forest, even a cornfield maze in Kansas—but never in a desert. I really dislike not knowing where I am, so I can't help but think how lost those wandering people must have felt. There were no roads at all and no signs, and they could be pretty sure there were no National Park guides or emergency vehicles! Except—

God knew the way! All they had to do was follow. They didn't like that very much at times. In fact, they complained a lot, and disobeyed the leadership God had appointed, and decided it wasn't really God who had delivered them from slavery after all. Still, God faithfully led the younger generation into the land He had promised to Abraham and his descendants.

That old chorus has been a stabilizing thought when I have encountered some "wilderness" experiences in my life. Just as I want to see where I am in my natural surroundings, I really would like to know what lies ahead in my spiritual walk too. That doesn't always happen! I have to rely on God, for He knows the way.

Recounting another part of the exodus, the Psalmist writes, "Your road led through the sea, your pathway through the mighty waters—a pathway no one knew was there!" (Psalm 77:19) Whether we are looking at trackless desert sand or foamy waters—or our own disappointing circumstance or financial difficulty—God knows the way. It is actually already there; many times we just can't see it!

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.

"It Doesn't Mean Me"

One of my friends was walking with her granddaughter in a local park recently. The twelve-year-old was eager to practice her skill at some of the exercise stations along the path, but Grandma cautioned her, "No, the sign says not to be used by children under age 13."

"But it's okay for me," the child insisted. "I can do it. It doesn't mean me."

And then I read an article by a former "top doctor," Physician to the President, in an earlier administration. She said most of these patients are difficult. "They are not compliant." Stay in bed today, exercise more, whatever. "They don't think the rules apply." It doesn't mean me.

A young Kansas girl and the man in the highest office in the land, and a host of people in between are thinking—"It doesn't mean me."

• Is that why a young man orders sunny-side-up eggs, even though the printed menu says that the restaurant recommends they be thoroughly cooked?
  
• Is that why a driver gets stopped for speeding through a highway work zone that seems deserted?
• Is that why high government officials are caught in nasty affairs?
• Is that why so many of the rich and famous have ended in financial disaster?
• Is that why Christians ignore the plain teaching of the Scripture to "love one another with a pure heart, fervently"?
  

Yes, it does too mean me.

MaryMartha

Daily Bread

When Jesus' disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, the example He gave them included these words: "Give us this day our daily bread." Well-fed Americans probably have less understanding of this part of the prayer than many people in other parts of the world. The poorly nourished are fully aware of the meaning of daily bread since they seldom have on hand more than is needed for one day, if not for only a single meal. Praying this prayer, they literally rely on God to provide what is needed for their next meal.

By contrast, major grocery chains here vie for our patronage with 24/7 business hours, doubled coupons, and two-for-one specials. Convenience stores located every few blocks not only provide ready access to necessary items, but also promote a wide array of goods that entice one to purchase "extra's." I am very aware that there are also Americans who are truly hungry, but the average person, even if shopping on a limited budget, can still buy what is needed for the next meal or even several meals. Because this is so relatively easy, we may slide over our Lord's teaching about daily provision.

Remember the little widow of Zarephath? It was a time of terrible famine in Israel, and she had no source of provision. She was not living on Social Security, after all, or drawing her deceased husband's railroad pension. All that stood between her and starvation was the one little pancake she was going to make for her son and herself--and then they would die. The prophet Elijah, finding her gathering sticks for the fire, asked her, "Would you bring a little water for me to drink?" As the woman turned away to fill his request, he called after her, "Oh, and bring me, please, a bit of bread also."

"Sir, I don't have any bread--only a handful of flour is left in the bin and a little oil in the bottom of the jug. I am going to make one last meal for myself and my son, and when that is gone, we will die."

"Don't be afraid," Elijah told her. "Go ahead and cook your 'last meal.' But first, bake a little loaf of bread for me out of what you have. Afterward, there will still be enough food for you and your son."

Incredibly, the woman risked the flour and oil, and even her life, on the word of God spoken by the prophet. "There will always be flour in the bin and oil in the jug until the famine has ended." She did as Elijah said, and all three of them ate for many days from that handful of flour and the few drops of oil . Did God fill up the flour barrel and the oil jug so that the widow had an abundant supply? No, every time she dipped into the barrel, there was just enough. When she went back the next time, there was just enough. Whenever she poured oil from the jug, there was just enough, and when she needed oil again, there was just enough.

When we ask God for our daily bread--and by extension, all our needs for the day--we acknowledge that we are relying on Him to care for us. We never get so "spiritual" that these physical needs are of no consequence to us, and therefore also to Him. Just because they are part of the natural realm does not mean their consideration is foreign to faith. We choose to see through eyes of faith, and we choose to see Him as our source.

Sometimes we are impatient with the "dailiness" of God's provision. How about He just gives me half a million dollars, and then I won't keep asking Him every day for what I need? Most of us are okay with depending on God if we can see that we have everything we need for the present--and then some! And yes, sometimes God does work that way; for example, when Jesus fed the crowd of ten or fifteen thousand, He gave more than enough and the disciples aferwards picked up twelve baskets of leftovers. But if we are praying honestly, "Give us this day our daily bread," we are committing ourselves to receiving His supply on an as-needed basis.

MaryMartha

Impossible!

"When God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible man, and he crushes him." This notable quotation is from Alan Redpath, who moved to the U.S. from England in 1953 to become the pastor of the Moody Church in Chicago where he served for nine years. He then returned to Great Britain serve in Edinburgh, Scotland, but suffered a near-fatal stroke in 1964. He was able to recover but suffered from deep depression for a period afterwards, even while serving in important administrative positions. Did he consider himself that impossible man?

When I think of what Dr. Redpath said, I am reminded of Gideon in the Bible. The Midianites, an enemy nation, were so cruel that the Israelites made hiding places for themselves in mountain dens and caves. When the Israelites sowed their crops, marauders from the east would arrive, as thick as locusts, and they camped in the land and destroyed the crops. They stayed until the land was stripped bare, leaving the Israelites with nothing to eat, even taking all the sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. .So Israel was reduced to starvation by the Midianites. An impossible situation! So God selected an "impossible" man.

Gideon was threshing wheat one day, at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!” “Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

Then the Lord turned to him (because it was indeed the Lord) and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

“But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” Gideon knew his people were in an impossible situation, and yes, he would be an impossible man!

The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”

Gideon was not easily convinced. Even after miraculous demonstrations of God's ability to do the impossible, he was reluctant. Gideon saw the angel touch with the tip of his staff the meat and bread Gideon had brought for his guest to eat. Fire flamed up from the rock and consumed it all. He saw a wool fleece soaking wet with morning dew while the ground around it was dry; then he saw the fleece remain dry while the surroundings were wet with dew.

Gideon assembled an army of 32,000 men but God wanted them to know they were still dealing with an impossibility, and that victory would not be something they achieved on their own. God instructed Gideon to cut down the troops by sending home those who were afraid, 22,000 of them. That left 10,000—still too many. A test of watchfulness while drinking, probably at the well of Harod or the stream there, further diminished the number, leaving only three hundred. Now it was indeed an impossible situation!

Equipping the men with swords and lamps hidden in clay pots, they entered the enemy camp. Read the story yourself (Judges 6 through 8); it is exciting history of God doing the impossible through an insignificant, "impossible" man.

MaryMartha (Thanks, cousin R.!)
(All rights reserved)

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Let This Cup Pass

Most of us can remember, probably, having to take a dose or two of unpleasant-tasting medicine during our childhood. Once it was placed in our mouth, there was nothing to do but swallow. A watchful parent would not permit spitting it out, and just refusing to swallow didn't work either, because that parent was there to pinch our nose shut. If we expected ever to breathe again on this earth, we had to swallow the horrid stuff!

Life has, for all of us, some "bitter pills to swallow." There is no escaping difficult circumstances, unfair treatment, or friends who prove to be disloyal. Jesus Himself experienced this, and "a student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master." (Matthew 10:24 NIV) In the Garden of Gethsemane, away from the disciples who were too sleepy to aid their Lord in His hour of greatest need, Jesus prayed alone. "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Returning to the disciples, He urged them again to watch and pray, then a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” (Matthew 26:39, 42 NKJV)

It was not the physical suffering alone that Jesus faced, but the dreadful weight of being guilty before God as He became sin for us. From the very foundation of the world that God knew would be fallen, redemption was planned. If it was to be made effectual, Jesus must face the Cross. His humanness naturally shrank from the cost. "If it is possible . . ." But no, it was not possible. If the cup of human sin and suffering was to be emptied, He must drink it.

It is no different for us. There is no quick and easy way to get rid of the difficult, unfair, bitter things in life, but to receive them fully.

• Swallow the bitter medicine.
• Accept what is or has to be.
• Embrace the Cross.

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture quotation marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

The Original Text Message

Th Orignl Txt Msg

(This appeared on tablets of stone some thousands of years ago)

I. I m yr Gd; no othr gds, jst me.
II. No wrshp of thngs u hv mde; I mean it.
III. No usng my nme 4 cursng or silly tlk; I wont pt up wth it.
IV.Keep Sun hly; wrk sx days 2 do wht u need 2 do.
V. Honr yr fthr and mthr.
VI. No mrdr.
VII. No adltry.
VIII. No stealng.
IX. No lies abt yr na-br.
X. No lustng; dnt set yr heart on thngs tht belng to othr pepl.

Luv u 4evr.

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Things Mama Taught Me: "Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out"

My mother said that to us many times, and although I may not have recognized it as Scripture—it is, and it's found in Numbers 32:23—I certainly believed it. I knew from experience that was how things worked! God seems to have blessed mothers with extra-sensory perception, extensive peripheral vision (maybe even eyes in the back of their heads), keen olfactory detection, and the hearing of a songbird. They just know things!

As a child, I read a story that proved to me without question that wrongdoing cannot be hidden. Now I never hear this Scripture quoted without thinking of that little story that went something like this:

Jimmy's mother was getting ready to bake; she covered a bowl of dough and put it on the back of the stove to rise while she did some other household chores. "Don't touch this bread dough," she told her young son. "Don't even lift the towel and look."

Jimmy couldn't help but be curious. Just what was so important about that bowl of stuff that he couldn't even look? But Mommy had said not to. He left the kitchen and played in the next room for awhile, but then he came back to the kitchen. "I sure would like to look," he thought. But Mommy had said not to. He went away again, but pretty soon he came back. "Just a tiny peek won't hurt," he said to himself. He lifted a corner of the checkered towel from the bowl.

Wow! The bowl was clear full now with a large, puffy white lump. Jimmy just had to stick a couple of fingers into it . . . Poof! The soft white stuff fell back down into the bowl. Jimmy waited, but it didn't come back up. He waited and waited—nothing happened.

"I've got to hide this mess," Jimmy decided, "but I can't put it in the trash 'cause Mommy will see it there. I know—I'll bury it." He got his sand shovel and went out to the flower bed in front of the house. He couldn't dig very deeply with his little shovel, so he divided the white stuff into three smaller pieces and put each part into a shallow hole behind the plants. Then he scraped dirt back over them and took the bowl back into the kitchen. He washed and dried it carefully and put it away. Now the kitchen looked just as it had when Mother left it—almost.

Later in the afternoon, Daddy came home from work, and Jimmy could hear him and Mother talking in the kitchen. Soon they called him to come there as well. Daddy was holding Jimmy's shovel. "Did you leave your shovel out by the flower bed?" he asked.

"Um, hmm, I guess so," Jimmy admitted.

"And I am wondering what happened to the bread dough," Mother said. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Uh, no," Jimmy answered, but his heart began beating very fast.

"Come with us," Mother said. "We want to show you something." Jimmy followed his parents out of the kitchen, through the hallway, and out the front door. They stood in front of the flowerbed, and there Jimmy saw three lumpy white globs of dough rising from the small holes he had dug, each crowned with a sprinkling of dirt!

Jimmy began to cry and hid his face against his mother's legs. "I'm sorry, Mommy," he sobbed, and he told her all about disobeying and poking the bread and burying it and not telling the truth. Daddy was kind, but he was very stern when he explained that wrong cannot be kept hidden, and "Be sure your sin will find you out."

If something is to be hidden, let it be God's Word! "Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You."

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

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

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

The Making of a Miracle

We use the word "miracle" a lot, and it can mean many things. A miracle cleaning solution implies that it does a great job. A miracle weight loss program promises you can expect results if you follow the rules. The other day I saw a business sign that invited, "Do you need a miracle? Let us help you." The goods and services offered there were intended to change my life, I'm sure! But in a life of personal faith, miracle means "an extraordinary event manifesting Divine intervention in human affairs." But not just any old human affairs, my own, if you will.

There are some things that simply are not going to happen without that Divine intervention. But that does not mean we have no part at all in the process. (You do know that many miracles are a process?) Many of the miracles Jesus performed during His earthly ministry were life-and-death matters. People were suffering, dying, or even already dead. But His very first miracle, at the Cana wedding, was not of that crucial sort. The groom's family simply ran out of wine. Mary observed this social disaster and said to her Son, "They have no wine." His answer was something like, "Am I supposed to do something about this?" Nevertheless, Mary turned to the servants nearby and told them, "Do whatever He tells you to do."

And they did. Against all reason, they filled six great twenty- or thirty-gallon waterpots with water, and then began to pour it out into the serving vessels. Lo! It had become wine. It was a miracle!

There are several amazing things about this miracle in addition to the obvious water-into-wine one. First, the stage was set for a miracle when the servants were ready to obey whatever Jesus said. We foolishly ask God to intervene in our lives and then refuse to take the action that His Spirit prompts. For example, I have known homes where the "breadwinner" refuses to go to work, claiming, "God will provide for us; the Bible says 'the sinner’s wealth passes to the godly.' " Another might say, "God's angels have charge over me to keep me from harm," but he/she drives recklessly, does not buckle up, and may add to both of those an animated phone conversation. We cannot execute a miracle, speak one into existence, or engineer a command performance. What we can do is cooperate with God's intent, setting the stage for Him to work.

The second surprising thing is that Jesus did not consider it a waste of Divine energy to perform the miracle that salvaged a happy occasion and a man's reputation as a good host. How did we ever come by our ideas that God is against good times and that He is not concerned about our personal well-being? This miracle reveals His nature to be very different from that.

And the third wonderful thing: When the master of ceremonies tasted the excellent new wine, he called the bridegroom over and said to him, "The hosts I've known always serve the finest wine first, and then when everyone has had plenty to drink, he brings out the cheaper stuff. But you saved the best until now!” The Scripture explains, "He didn't know what had just happened but the servants, of course, knew." When God reaches into our situation and changes it, some people may look at us and say, "How lucky!" But we ourselves know that, by our obedience, we have been involved in the smallest way. We can enjoy a special secret delight in what God has accomplished by the making of a miracle!

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Tools for the Task

Tools for the Task

I have quite an assortment of tools around my house and in my garage. There are tools for writing, sewing and gardening, for building and painting, for cooking and cleaning, and for yard work and car care. I do not use all of them equally well; as a matter of fact, some of them are not for my own use at all. I keep them for other hands more skillful than mine. The tools themselves, as they lie waiting to be picked up, have only limited intrinsic value. It is when they are controlled by someone that they are empowered.

The "members" of each person's body, the Scripture says, are instruments of righteousness or unrighteousness, depending on to whom we give control. "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness." (Romans 6:13) As we live our ordinary day-to-day lives, we yield our bodies to be used as instruments or "tools" for either God's task of redemption in our world or Satan's task of destruction. Which will it be?

In inept hands, the tools in my home produce poor, sometimes ugly, results. But God's hands, when we let Him use us as instruments of righteousness, produce only what is lovely and good and pleasing in His own sight. He has the pattern, and He knows what He intends to do with His tools. Yielded to Him we become a part of His great workmanship!

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

Two Building Projects

Almost invariably when I drive by the building site of our city’s new arena, I think of the Israelites building their portable sanctuary in the wilderness, the Tabernacle. Of course, the projects are vastly different, but one thought comes clearly to mind as I view the progress. What a lot of different materials and skills it takes to create this building!

I have observed steel fixers, concrete finishers, bricklayers and other masons, heavy equipment operators, structural steel erectors, welders, and today the electricians. I’m sure there have been plumbers as well, and before long there will be carpenters, glass installers, plasterers, painters and decorators. Carpet layers, climate control technicians, and sound equipment specialists will come; commercial furniture suppliers will bring in seating for 15,000 spectators. The two-year building project, costing over 200 million dollars, is about half finished, with over 250 workers on the job seven days a week from dawn until after dark.

In contrast, the Tabernacle seems quite simple. The plan God gave Moses was for a structure forty-five feet long, fifteen feet wide, and fifteen feet high, consisting of gold-covered planks for walls with draperies of various kinds for the doorways and ceilings. Surrounding the Tabernacle was to be an enclosure made of posts and curtains. The instructions were very specific, however; each element was to be made of the finest materials. “This is what God wants you to do,” Moses told the people. “All among you who are willing, bring an offering. Present these gifts to the Lord:

     Gold, silver, and bronze;
     Blue, purple, and scarlet thread;
     Fine linen and goat hair for cloth;
     Tanned ram skins and fine goatskin leather;
     Acacia wood;
     Olive oil for the lamps;
     Spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense;
     Onyx stones, and other gemstones to be set in the priest’s garments.

God further told Moses that He had specifically chosen Bezalel from the tribe of Judah to serve as the overseer of the work. “I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze. He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft! . . . Moreover, I have given special skill to all the gifted craftsmen so they can make all the things I have commanded you to make.” These articles included not only the Tabernacle and its court themselves but also the furnishings: the Ark of the Covenant with its covering, the pure gold lampstand, the table for bread, the altars for incense and burnt offerings, the washbasin, the priestly garments, and the anointing oil. (Exodus 31:1-11)

Then those who were able and willing, both men and women, brought their offerings: all the materials needed for the Tabernacle and for the performance of its rituals. They brought gold brooches, earrings, necklaces, rings, and other gold objects of every kind. All who had silver and bronze objects gave them as an offering to the Lord. Those who owned the following items willingly brought them for use in the project: colored threads, fine linen and goat hair for cloth, tanned ram skins and goatskin leather, and acacia wood.

The women who were skilled in sewing and spinning prepared blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen cloth. Other willing workers spun the goat hair into yarn. The leaders brought onyx stones and the other gemstones to be set in the priest’s garments. They also brought spices and olive oil for the light, the anointing oil, and the fragrant incense. “So the people of Israel—every man and woman who was eager to help in the work the Lord had given them through Moses—brought their gifts and gave them freely to the Lord.” Not only was Bezalel especially gifted, but God gave him two assistants who excelled in the necessary crafts and also had the ability to teach others. The Lord gave them special skills as craftsmen and designers and they led other engravers, designers, weavers, and embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet thread on fine linen cloth. The account specifically tells us that those who were called to do the actual construction were not only gifted artisans, but they had been given wisdom and understanding by God. (Exodus 35:21-35)

I can’t even imagine what might have happened if I had gone down to the local construction site, taking a couple of my gold rings, some red and blue yarn I have been saving for a yet-to-be-determined project, and a bottle of scented bath oil! And even more ludicrous, what if I had claimed superior talent or wisdom for raising the five-level building! The task ahead of the Israelites may have seemed just as enormous and intimidating to them as the prospect of my assisting at the arena, given that they were desert wanderers. They lacked modern power tools; they had no scaffolding or lifts. They weren’t even paid! But with willing hearts, sacrificial gifts, and readiness to work they created a sanctuary for the Lord God, one that they would carry with them until they built more permanent places of worship in the Promised Land.

I think of those early builders when I drive by our developing arena, and I am thankful that their story is recorded for me to read and ponder.

Related article: Building by the Pattern here

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

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.

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

What Adam Learned about Conscience

Adam lived in a perfect world. The soil was fertile, and plant life flourished. Animals lived in harmony with each other and the first couple. While there was work to do, it was productive and without struggle. There was no shame, no fear, no pain. God came down and visited Adam and his companion in the cool of each evening, walking with them in the beautiful garden where He had placed them. How could anything go wrong?

What went wrong was that Adam and Eve ate from the one tree God specifically instructed them to leave alone. The luscious fruit from every other tree in the Garden could be eaten, but the fruit of the Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil tree was off-limits. Why would God deny them this one thing? Well, that is what Eve wondered. Although they had already been made in the image of God and lacked nothing, the serpent (Satan in disguise) suggested that God was holding out on them. “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Why would God withhold this? Knowledge is a very good thing, isn’t it? Yes, the desire to learn is strong and can lead us to growth and to happy, productive living. But this forbidden fruit gave no ordinary knowledge; it was of a very specific kind: the knowledge of good and evil. Determining what is good and what is evil, and then choosing between the two, is a burdensome task. We wrestle with it almost every day of our lives, and God would have spared His friends in the Garden that troubling experience. But no, “knowing” has a special lure, and Eve did just what we probably would have done. She looked at the fruit and decided that it was not only attractive and delicious, but that it was also much desired because it would make one wise. And Adam concurred.

Up until now, Adam had known only good and the enjoyment of it. Now he learned that there was evil also, and it was not all that easy to avoid it. He had known only peace and contentment, an easy companionship with his wife, and intimate fellowship with God. Now he was finding life included difficulty and pain; there was shame and sorrow and loss in his family; there were many degrees of separation between him and God. All because now he carried the burden of a personal knowledge that there was good and there was evil.

I learned, as a child, that conscience is that inner awareness that tells us what is right and what is wrong. I learned that to avoid the unpleasant consequences of my misdeeds—often not punishment but dreadful self-condemnation—I must obey my conscience. I became a very serious, sensitive child, worried about offending God or displeasing those around me. However, I was mistaken in my belief that conscience would show me right and wrong. Conscience tells us only to do what is right. It is not always a reliable guide as to what indeed is right, because it does not, of itself, discern right from wrong. We are not born knowing right from wrong; we have to be taught that. The lessons may be too few and too sketchy, or too many and too harsh. They may be mistaken, or even missing altogether. The light first given to the newborn child may be dimmed or completely extinguished by the other humans with misguided or unheeded consciences who surround him or her.

The problem with the “Let your conscience be your guide” measurement of behavior is that it is not Scriptural. Nowhere does the Bible tell us, “”There is therefore now no condemnation to them who walk according to their conscience.” (Romans 8:1) It is not conscience that produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. (Galatians 5:22, 23) We could never say, “The conscience is life because of righteousness!” (Romans 8:10) It is only the Holy Spirit of God that enables us to walk in freedom, rather than condemnation. It is the Spirit indwelling us that produces lasting spiritual fruit. It is the Spirit who is life and gives life.

On the other hand, an overwrought conscience can crowd out the piercing action of the Word of God in a person’s life, the Word that is so powerful it determines the thoughts and intents of the heart and separates the earthly from the Divine. Such a conscience may subsume the gentle working of the Holy Spirit who is given to us as a Comforter, Teacher, and Guide.

We cannot escape conscience, nor would it be a good thing to try. But much of the unhappy burden of conscience is relieved by our relationship to God through Christ. It is no accident that Jesus is presented as “the second Adam.” Through Him, we humans have another chance to get it right.

Things Mama Taught Me: "Mind Your Manners"

On the Well-Behaved Believer

Some days I got a gold star, some days a blue. And sometimes when I was mostly good but not entirely, my mother put a gold star on my chart but stuck a blue star underneath to shade it on one side. We children were told to mind our manners, and Mama found in I Peter 3:8 a commandment to give her instruction unequivocal authority. “Be courteous.”

Being courteous covered a lot of things, more than I could remember, but my mother created individual charts for each of us. She ruled a card into neat squares, and at the top, in bold blue letters, she wrote the Scripture she was enforcing, “BE COURTEOUS.” Underneath were the days of the week, and the particular courtesies each of us needed to practice were listed in a column on the left. For me these were such things as:

• Not talking back—and not making a face—when I was corrected.
• Not fighting with my older brothers about whose turn it was to clear
  the table.
• Not teasing my younger brothers when they had an accident.
• Playing quietly while others did their homework.
• Saying “Please pass the butter,” instead of grabbing.
• Getting up when I was called in the morning.

Unfortunately, when people become Christians, they don’t automatically become nice! This usually comes as something of a surprise, if not to the convert himself, then to those around him. If she was an inattentive driver before she met Jesus, she will probably be an inattentive driver afterwards! If he was boring before, he will likely be boring still.

This is not to say that the lordship of Jesus doesn’t change the way we relate to people, for it does. But many things we would like to have changed—especially when it comes to the other person’s habits— are not necessarily attendant from the moment of salvation onwards. They are a matter of deliberate attention and intention. A lot of Christian “witness” would be greatly enhanced by heeding Mama’s words, “Mind your manners!”

MaryMartha

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Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com

What Jonah Learned about Circumstances

“How to know God’s will” is something I have heard discussed many times. Usually three or four points are given, and in practice normally these would agree.

(1) Find guidance from God’s Word, at least determine that the proposed direction is not contrary to what is taught there.

(2) Listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit, speaking to the inner heart about the direction to take.

(3) Seek counsel from Christians with proven wisdom who may be able to affirm or alter the course.

(4) Determine whether the circumstances contribute to the anticipated direction.

When these factors are aligned, one can usually move ahead in confidence. To illustrate: a pilot who is landing at night lines up the aircraft with the runway, guided by rows of lights. He/she would not dream of attempting to land in a direction that cuts across the safe path indicated by those markers. In the same way, one should anticipate trouble if any one of these four aspects of guidance is way out of line.

Jonah in the Bible, Jonah of whale-dinner fame, did not want to preach a message of warning in Nineveh as God asked him to. He knew in his heart what direction to take, but apparently he asked no one else’s advice about the conflict. He did, however, find that all the circumstances pointed in the direction he had already decided to go.

He went down to the port, and lo and behold! a ship was there, headed for Tarshish—the opposite direction. A good sign—right? Luckily, the sailors were friendly, and luckily they happened to have room for a passenger. Jonah had funds for the fare—luckily. It looked like everything was in his favor, so he must be on the right path. He got on board and the ship set sail. Soon, however, a violent storm developed, and the boat was about to be broken up. The desperate sailors began to throw cargo overboard trying to lighten the load. And where was Jonah? In the lower part of the ship, fast asleep. So he must have an easy conscience. He must be doing the right thing.

Certainly not! You probably know what happened next. Jonah, admitting his own fault, was thrown overboard and the sea calmed. A great fish swallowed him, and the prophet lived among—um, whatever “whales” eat over the course of three days. Eventually, the fish vomited him out on dry land. Eww!

There’s more to the story—read the book of Jonah—but my point is this: What happens in our surroundings or to us personally is only one of the ways that God guides us. Choosing our own way and making the circumstances back us up or even just taking the way of least resistance is not likely to end us up where we want to be. It may not be in a fish’s belly, but probably somewhere just about as nasty. When you need guidance and you’re looking around to see what might work, remember Jonah!

MaryMartha
(All rights reserved)

Email: mrymrtha@gmail.com