January 2015 - Dene's Blog

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

1/16/2015 0 Comments

I have never been a shoe person. The last pair of dress shoes I had were classic black pumps—they were the only pair of dress shoes I needed because they went with everything. I wore them until the heels were wrapped in black electrical tape to hide the nicks and scrapes, and the soles had worn through, showing the white plastic bottoms, about ten years I’d guess. Then I went shoe shopping.
   I have never seen so many ugly excuses for shoes in my life. It seems today’s women want to walk on either ten penny nails or bricks. The first are uncomfortable and the second are hideous. Give me a toe that is at least a little rounded, a lower heel, and no pain. I finally found a pair on a clearance rack for $19.99 that was perfect. I was beginning to think I was going to have to find a blacksmith.
   And about those ten penny nails—after learning why men like women in stiletto heels, I am surprised that today’s modern, “liberated”, woman would wear anything that makes a man objectify her in the worst way. Fashion designers obviously have no respect for the women they dress.
   Funny that shoes in the Bible can be matters of respect, too. Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground, God told both Moses (Ex 3:5) and Joshua (Josh 5:15). Even today I am told that Muslims and several other Eastern religions take off their shoes as a sign that they are laying aside the pollution of the world to enter into a holy place.
   Are they really? What about the olive oil stain on their sleeves from lunch? What about the cigarette smoke soaked into the folds of their robes from an earlier encounter? What about the everyday miasma we carry around with us from our environment, both in the home and out in the streets? Of course they are still stained with their everyday lives. Taking off the shoes is just a symbol of respect. Does that make it wrong?
   In the West, we have a different symbol. Men take off their hats. They do it when they enter a room, when they greet someone, when the flag passes by, and during an outdoor prayer (it’s supposed to already be off indoors). According to the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer, the custom began when men took off their helmets to show they did not consider the person they were meeting a danger. Thus it became a symbol of trust, and one can understand how not removing the hat could be considered an insult. It still is.
   A certain generation likes to say that symbols do not count, that the only thing that really counts is the heart. While it is true that the heart is the crux of the matter, I think I can show you that God still expects a few symbols from us too.
   But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless, Matt 22:11,12. I won’t go into the parable, just notice this: Jesus did not say the custom was wrong. Instead, he knew everyone would understand the parable because in that society it was a sign of disrespect to show up at a wedding in something other than “a wedding garment.” The garment was a symbol of respect for the occasion in that culture.
   God has always expected His people to know the difference between, in the wording of Scripture, the holy and the profane. “Profane” does not mean crude and vulgar—it means having to do with common, ordinary life.
   The Levites were warned, you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die, Num 18:32. Now that sounds serious.
   Ezekiel said of the priests in the restored Temple, They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, 44:23. He also warned, This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it. Therefore it shall remain shut, 44:2. As a symbol of respect for God, the door He entered was to remain shut and no one else could use it.
   And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood, Neh 8:5. They showed respect for the Word of God by standing when it was read.
   Clearly, God expects some sort of symbolic respect for sacred things. What does that mean for us today? I am not sure. Maybe it hasn’t been specified because God knew that this new covenant would be open not just to one group, but to all peoples. What is respectful in one culture, may not be in another. (Try belching out loud at a dinner party here in America.)
   In our congregation, we stand for the scripture reading. Does that mean that everyone there has that much respect for the Word of God? No. For some it is just an outward sign. They aren’t paying a bit of attention, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a sign of respect for the rest of us.
   Take a few minutes today and think of the sacred things in your life. Maybe that is a first step—our culture has become so “casual” that some people couldn’t even come up with a list of things that deserve that kind of respect. We should be better than that. These things do not have to be tangible like your Bible, though that might be a good one to add to the list—your Bible and how you treat it. Do you just toss it around like a library book?
   As to the intangible, your marriage might be a good thing to show respect for in a visible way. When our boys were little, they knew better than to ever sit between us at church. That was just our little thing—it showed them that we were always one and they could never come between us. I am sure you could think of another way to show respect to that God-ordained institution, one that means something to you too.
   Try to think of at least a few others. Then think of ways to show that those things are sacred to you, not just some sort of mundane piece of life. You might be surprised at how that one little sign of respect affects your whole attitude.

Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean…so that I am profaned among them, Ezek 22:26.

Dene Ward

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Clearing Out the Trees

1/15/2015 0 Comments

Two of our near neighbors just broke our hearts. They had a timber company come in and cut down all of their pine trees. I do understand that pine trees are not as good as oaks. They fall over much more easily, they don’t really give that much shade, and they can carry those pesky pine bark beetles. But instantly, our screening vanished
    In just a few years the oaks that are left will grow up and out and fill in the holes, but it will be a long few years. We lost a lot of the sound barrier when the machines that come in to clip the trees at ground level clear out the brush in their passage. The neighbor noise and traffic noise has increased exponentially. In fact, one of their dogs can see movement through the openings now and barks at us constantly.
    But there is something to be said for cleaning things out. When I clean out a closet I find things I thought I had lost. I also find room I didn’t know I had. Sometimes we need to clean out our lives the same way. It isn’t so much all the “wrong” things we are doing, as it is the sheer number of things we are doing. Our lives are so cluttered we no longer have time for the good things that need doing, for helping one another, and for helping ourselves to grow. We are too busy working. We are too busy having fun. We are too busy living an earthly life to spend much time on the spiritual. No wonder so many of us are often as carnal as the Corinthians.
    I think of Paul’s request to those Corinthians in 2 Cor 6:11-13, especially as I read it recently in the CEV: Friends in Corinth, we are telling the truth when we say that there is room in our hearts for you. We are not holding back on our love for you, but you are holding back on your love for us. I speak to you as I would speak to my own children. Please make room in your hearts for us. I can imagine God thinking exactly the same thing about us. “Make room for Me, people!”
    And then there is the room we need to make in our minds. In the past I have had days when my mind was racing with things I needed to do, trying my best to create a logical order so I could get it all done. Other times, I am ashamed to say, my mind has been so filled with things I would like to say to someone who has hurt me that there was simply no room for anything else. Prayer? I couldn’t even get past the first sentence before I started telling God exactly what I wanted to say to that person.
    We need to make room in our lives for the things that truly matter. We need to make room in our minds for the Word of God. We need to make room in our hearts for others. Clear out the brush that obscures your vision; clear out the useless trees that can cause more harm than good. Make room for the good things, for the things that last forever.

I cling unto your testimonies: O Jehovah, put me not to shame. I will run the way of your commandments, When you enlarge [make room in] my heart. Teach me, O Jehovah, the way of your statutes; And I shall keep it unto the end. Psalm 119:31-33.

Dene Ward

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Figuring It Out

1/14/2015 0 Comments

Today’s post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

When Peter gets to Cornelius's house, he states that he wouldn't normally have attended a Gentile's invitation, "but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean." (10:28) Wait! God never told him that! There is no place in the whole Bible where God tells Peter that he shouldn't call people common or unclean. It's just not there. However, Peter doesn't say God told him, he said God showed him. But again, God never showed him anything about people. Earlier in chapter ten God showed Peter a vision of animals and encourages Peter to "kill and eat". Peter refuses, saying that he's never eaten anything unclean. This is where the heavenly voice says, "What God has made clean, do not call common." (vs 15) So, God showed Peter about animals and Peter figured out that He was talking about more than just animals. The Holy Spirit's instruction to go with these Gentiles and Cornelius's obvious humility and desire to learn things pointed to this conclusion. In fact, it was almost necessary that he infer this conclusion . . . .WAIT A MINUTE!

This is an almost perfect example of what preachers/teachers/theologians mean when they say "necessary inference". While Peter was never out-and-out told that no person was common or unclean, he was given so many hints along those lines that any other conclusion was impossible. If he was thinking about God's revelations at all, then this was the conclusion he had to come to. This conclusion is later backed up by the Holy Spirit falling upon the Gentiles, proving that no man was common or unclean due to his race. Also notice that this wasn't the product of wishful thinking on Peter's part, nor was it the result of taking one bit of revelation and twisting it beyond its original intent. After Peter considered all that God had revealed to him on this subject, this was the only conclusion possible.

Another thing to look at is the first 18 verses of chapter 11. When the Jewish Christians accosted Peter in Jerusalem, he was not able to answer them in the way of the OT prophets; he could not say "Thus sayeth Jehovah" because God had never told him directly to do what was done with Cornelius. So, how did he answer? He told them of the vision. He told them that he was ordered to go with these men "nothing doubting" (the only direct verbal statement of God during this whole incident). He recounts what Cornelius had told him regarding the angel's visit. He tells of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Cornelius and that the incident brought to mind a saying of Jesus. He summed it all up by saying, "Who was I, that I could withstand God?" (11:17). Upon hearing this, the Jewish Christians praised God that the Gospel was extended to the Gentiles, too. But what was Peter's justification built on? One generalized statement of the Lord and one statement by the Holy Spirit to go, one rather cryptic vision, a Gentile's claim to having seen an angel, and the rather emphatic proof of God's approval of what was going on. (By the time the Holy Spirit had fallen upon them, Peter had already preached the Gospel to them; he had already come to his conclusion by that point -- the Holy Spirit's outpouring was for the benefit of others.) To understand what God wanted and approved of, Peter and the rest of the Jewish Christians examined all the evidence available, the whole of God's revelation on the subject to that point, and came to a conclusion. In other words, they had to exercise their gray matter upon the subject and think.

Yes, God expects us to think about His revelation and our religion. Isa 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." God wants us to think, just as He implored the ancient Israelites. The "wise of this world" scoff at religion and label it the domain of unthinking brutes -- and many do unthinkingly follow religious leaders to horrible ends -- but the religion God set up is a religion for thinkers. Not that you have to be super smart. Not that it is extremely difficult to understand. But God has given us His word and expects us to understand it. To do so, we must read and think about it. Understand it as a whole, rather than wresting individual bits of it. See what God is clearly implying about how we should live our lives.

Peter figured it out and he was an uneducated fishermen. Surely we can follow his example.

"It is important for doubters to understand that many of us believers came to the point of faith by first studying the evidence and using -- not abandoning -- our reasoning powers to analyze it. I discovered that to believe in Jesus Christ does not require us to discard our intellect." ----David Limbaugh "Jesus on Trial"

Lucas Ward

Sensitivity Training

1/13/2015 0 Comments

If there was ever a new church that struggled with its spirituality, it was the church at Corinth. Paul scolded them: And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. [Read that: “you are acting like a bunch of big babies,” and you will get the picture.]   I fed you with milk, not with meat, for you were not yet able to bear it, no, not even now are you able, for you are still carnal, 1 Cor 3:1-3. We have a tendency to think of things sexual when we see that word “carnal,” but Paul tells us in the next phrase or two what it really means: “walking after the manner of men,” in other words, being physically minded instead of spiritually minded. He then spent most of that first letter telling them how to become more spiritually minded.
   Their struggle over spiritual gifts surely has to be the most obvious example. They actually rated them as to importance, using, of course, carnal measurements--the flashier and showier the better. So Paul spends most of chapter 12 telling them that no one is more important than anyone else. Everyone is useful in the body of Christ, and if any one of them was not there, something would be obviously missing. In chapter 14, when their sense of importance is leading to a confused and disorderly assembly because none will yield his “gift” time to another, he actually gives them specific instructions about how to order things, all of which are pure common sense if you have the correct object in mind, the edification of the church rather than the glorification of the individual. He even spells it out several times: if there is no edification, let them keep silence.
   And of course, there is the pitiful business with suing one another, letting things of this physical life effect how they dealt with spiritual brothers and sisters.
   Those poor Corinthians at whom we so often shake our heads are not the only ones with these problems. We are beset by the same weaknesses, and the same feelings. In fact, as I was reading and thinking about these things it suddenly struck me that almost any time I take an idle remark as a personal attack, it falls right into the same category.
   I believe there is such a thing as being sinfully sensitive. Think about it. How many times could Jesus have “gotten his feelings hurt” or “felt insulted?” You could make a list as long as an entire book in the Bible, but he did not allow his feelings to keep him from completing a mission that was more important than anything else in the world.
   When I commit myself to being his disciple, don’t I promise to follow his example? The problem with being too sensitive is that it causes me to stop what I am doing and spend time on nothing but myself, usually moping or pouting, or even beginning a campaign against the other person. Nothing anyone says to me or about me, or that I might even possibly construe to be about me, is an excuse for setting myself up as more important than my mission as Jesus’ disciple. As a mature Christian, those things should roll right off me, because my concern is God’s glorification, not my own. That is what spirituality is all about. And if we cannot even begin to get a handle on it here, why should we be allowed to live in that exalted state for an Eternity?
   Something to think about as we interact with one another today.

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves, Phil 2:3.The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult, Prov 12:16.

Dene Ward

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The Best of Both Worlds

1/12/2015 0 Comments

When my mother raised us, she always said, “I’m not running a restaurant. You get what I serve,” and what she served was always fine with me. I don’t recall a single bad meal. Even recently I heard a television cook reminisce about coming to dinner as a child and eating what was put in front of her, so my family wasn’t weird, and neither was I when I followed suit as an adult. It was as much about finances as anything else, but it certainly helped teach a few things, like, you don’t always get what you want in life and be grateful for whatever there is.

But once in awhile I tried to please everyone as much as possible. If the main dish was one boy’s favorite, then dessert was the other boy’s favorite. It was the best of both worlds for them—a favorite entrée and a favorite dessert.

Recently I have come up with a dessert that has to be the best of both worlds. I haven’t decided whether to call it a cheesecake brownie or a brownie cheesecake. It has two layers: a brownie bottom, and a cheesecake top.

So, if you like chocolate and cheesecake, you can have both in one piece. If you want chewy and smooth and creamy this is the dessert for you. If you like chocolate and vanilla, this is even better than Neapolitan ice cream. It’s even part convenience food and part “from scratch.” The brownie layer is a mix and the cheesecake layer is all homemade. A friend told me it’s perfect for her and her husband. He has celiac disease, so he eats the gluten-free cheesecake layer and she eats the brownie layer. Like I said, the best of both worlds.

Now try to convince your neighbors that as a Christian you have the best of both worlds. All they can see is what you can’t do and how much you sacrifice in time, energy, and types of entertainment. Especially if all you do is complain about what you can’t do, ruing the messed up weekends, the missed ball games and picnics, what else do you expect? You are supposed to make your life look like something they will want, not something they will hate.

So perhaps we should start by convincing ourselves. We don’t have to go to church; we get to assemble with our spiritual family. We don’t have to dress differently; we get to look like decent, classy people instead of prostitutes. We don’t have to give up drinking and smoking and drugs; we get to keep our dignity, breathe clearly, and preserve as many brain cells as possible. We don’t have to give up revenge and gossip; we get to get along with people and stay out of trouble. We don’t have to watch our language; we get to look like intelligent people with a real vocabulary. We don’t have to give up status and money and things; we find our joy wherever we are in any situation—we have learned in whatever circumstances we are “to be content,” Phil 4:12, and contentment equals happiness.

God does not expect us to be miserable in order to earn Heaven. Being a Christian is not a horrible life. It is a life of joy, a life of fulfillment, a life of health, a life of spiritual wealth. I have more family than any of my neighbors. One of them was amazed at the food brought during my surgeries, at the women who cleaned my house and the teenagers who raked the yard after Keith had a stroke. If I ever need help, I don’t have just one person to call, I have a whole list.

My marriage is intact and happy. My children are happy, productive citizens, and servants of the Lord to boot. We don’t have money problems because we don’t love things and don’t need luxury to be satisfied. We don’t have legal problems because we are honest and law abiding. We don’t lose our faith over our illnesses and disabilities because we have something far better in store for us.

Which leads us to the next world. If this life has been good—not perfect, for how could it be in a cursed world—the next one will be nothing short of amazing, an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you,1 Pet 1:4.

God promises us a “best of both worlds” life, far better than a “best of both worlds” dessert. But He doesn’t make you eat it. He gives you a choice. You can have this world and the next if you do it His way. Otherwise, this one is all you get.

For bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come, 1 Tim 4:8.

For the recipe accompanying this post, click here.

Dene Ward

Do You Know What You Are Singing?

1/9/2015 0 Comments

“Wonderful Love of Jesus”

“Wonderful Love of Jesus” is an early 20th century hymn I remember singing often as a child. But I must admit, I never knew what in the world was “lying around” when we sang “in vain in high and holy lays.” Even as a musician who knows that a “lay” is a song, it took me decades to actually associate that with this hymn and understand what it meant.

A “high and holy lay” is a sacred song, what we would call a hymn. Even with that tidbit of knowledge it takes a little thinking to make sense of that first verse.

In vain in high and holy lays
My soul her grateful voice would raise,
For who can sing the worthy praise of the
Wonderful love of Jesus?

It is impossible for human voices, even singing the holiest songs they can compose, to praise the love of Christ as much as it deserves. All our efforts are “in vain.” That’s what it means.

How can it have taken so long for me to figure it out when the scriptures are full of the same thought?

Praise Jehovah. Oh give thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; For his lovingkindness [endures] for ever. Who can utter the mighty acts of Jehovah, Or show forth all his praise? Psalm 106:1,2.

You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. Psalm 40:5.

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. Psalm 71:15

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” Rom 11:33-35.

As you can see, it isn’t just the love of God we cannot speak adequately of, but also His wisdom, His righteousness, and His mighty works. If ever there was a hymn of humility it is this one. We feeble mortals cannot even begin to fully comprehend any of the Godhead, yet they have an amazing love for us, a love that cannot be praised as it deserves. We do so “in vain,” yet our gratitude continues to compel us to try, and so we do with songs like this one. It may be “high and holy” but it is not equal to the task.

Yet now that I know what I am singing, I can hardly wait to sing it again.

[That you] may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Eph 3:18, 19.

Dene Ward

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The Lifeline

1/8/2015 0 Comments

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Even as early as the writing of Romans 6, Paul was concerned about those who would abuse the incredible gift of the grace of God. Since more sin required more grace to cover it, he feared they would use that as an excuse to sin yet more so they could have more grace (5:20,21).

We still abuse that grace today in much the same way. We misunderstand the purpose of grace, using it to make our lives easier than we have any right to expect. If grace is there to cover our imperfections, we really don’t have to try so hard, do we?

Grace is not a safety net; it is, instead, a lifeline. Picture your life as climbing a mountain, a not un-Biblical metaphor, I think. When things get tough, when I tire and want to quit, too many times I just let go, expecting God—requiring Him—to catch me when I fall. That is not the way it works.

The Lord came down to make the climb with us. He climbs at the head of the line as the leader, the one who has successfully made the climb before us; hooked to each of us with a lifeline. When my hand slips, when my foothold crumbles beneath me, that line of grace will help me once again gain control as I swing against the face of the mountain, sometimes bouncing hard before I get a new handhold or toehold and can begin the climb again, bruised and sore from my experience. If I become so tired I don’t think I can make another step, he will hold out a hand and give me a tug, or even have his Comforting Cohort give me a much-needed kick in the rear. What he will not do is tell me to just give up, unhook myself, and fall.

You see, the safety net we often see below is not God’s grace; it is not a respite Christ has offered to help us out. Satan is the one holding that inviting net. He is the one who tells us that we can’t do it, that we are only human and will never make it to the top. When you give up and say in your misery, “This is just the way I am, I can’t help it,” he is the one who says, “Of course you can’t help it. Quit trying so hard. Unhook yourself and fall into this comfortable net. I won’t let you be hurt, banging against the rocks of life like He does.”

Don’t be fooled. That net is, in fact, a net. It will trap you with its comfort, its assurance that you are not to blame, and if you are not careful, you will never even start the climb again, much less make it to the top.

God never promised us lives of ease. What He promised was help, enough help to make it through the rough spots. He will hold out His hand and pull, but if you unhook yourself from the lifeline of grace, you have lost the only hope you have.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?... Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey the lusts thereof: neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under law, but under grace. Rom 6:1,2,12-14

Dene Ward

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The Upside-Down Spigot

1/7/2015 0 Comments

We usually make two camping trips a year, one to a north Georgia park in the early fall, and another to a Florida park in mid-winter. But this past year we ventured out to a north Alabama state park. We chose Buck’s Pocket State Park because it was small, and not on a lake—less touristy in other words.

Alabama maps are an adventure in themselves. If there had not been a sign for the park at every intersection we would never have found it. Once we left the major state road, even the numbered county roads were not on the map, at least not the ones we needed. We went past one “county road,” complete with number and sign, that was merely a one lane red clay road. Another was gravel, and another just plain dirt. Our road kept getting skinnier and skinnier, but at least it was paved the whole way. Finally we turned in and drove down, down, down into the pocket that "Buck's Pocket" is named after.

Alabama parks are definitely different from Georgia and Florida parks--not as many rules for one thing. The rangers in the other parks drive around several times a day to keep an eye on things. They also keep regular hours in the office. Not so in Alabama, at least not that one. We had to catch ours whenever we wanted ice or had another question, and we did not catch him to pay until the second day. He never came after us, even though we had filled out a registration form and shoved it through the little slot outside the locked door. I guess he trusted that we would return to pay, and truly, most campers are honest folks.

There were no numbers on the sites, nor were they marked so that you knew exactly where yours began and ended. Some of them had two tables, which did not help you figure out the logistics. We finally went by the electric boxes--only one of those per site.

Then there was the water spigot. Usually it stands up in the air about three feet, and you just put your pots or dishpan or measuring cup under it and turn it on. These were down on the ground, pointing up at an angle! This would not have been a problem if we were in an RV or pop-up and just wanted to attach the hose that allows for running water. But we were in a tent. We needed to fill up pots and tubs and bowls. We had to set them about three feet from the spigot, and turn it on. The water arced up and out and, if we were lucky, we had put the receptacle in the right place to catch the water! Meanwhile, it splashed all over our feet and clothes, and created a mud puddle where it missed. Finally after several neighbors left, we found one spigot up off the ground a couple of sites over, and used it.

Those upside-down water spigots reminded me of the way we go about trying to improve our lives as Christians. Somehow we think that if we just read the scriptures and pray every day, we will improve. I suppose we will improve some. The scripture is powerful enough to work no matter how randomly it is spread around. But don’t we want a bit more efficiency in our improvement? I want to grow to be a better person as quickly as I can. Don’t you?

How do we set about to lose weight? We pick out the things we will and will not eat. We plan an exercise regimen. We know which parts of our body need the most work and choose exercises that will carve away the fat and mold the muscles beneath it in exactly those areas. How do we learn new skills? We learn facts and procedures, and then drill, drill, drill ourselves in practice.

But how do I plan to improve as a Christian? Every day I read a chapter, any chapter, and then pray a generic prayer. Then at the end of the day when I have once again failed in the same old ways, I pray for forgiveness. Where is the progress in that? Wouldn’t it be better to decide exactly where I need to improve, to choose passages that have to do with that very thing, examples of people in the scriptures who dealt with it, then analyze myself, why I have that problem and what I should do to avoid it? Wouldn’t it be better to pray specifically about it, rather than, “Help me grow Lord?” Why are we so smart in worldly things and so dumb in spiritual ones?

For me the problem is pride. It hurts my ego to say, “I need to be better about ______.” So probably the first thing I should do is work on that pride. What about you? Don’t splash yourself with muddy water as you haphazardly spray away your time with scriptures and prayer. Take good aim, and make the most of the Help we have been given.

For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to become conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren; and whom he foreordained, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified, Rom 8:29,30.

Dene Ward

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The Ad Man

1/6/2015 0 Comments

Have you noticed the number of commercials and advertisements for weight-loss products, nicotine patches, fitness equipment, and gym memberships? The ad man is not dumb. This is the first full week of resolutions. It happens every year.
   Just think about the grocery flyer you see each week. This month we see specials for diet foods. February it will be chocolate, strawberries, and roses, and in March it will be corned beef and cabbage. Candy, eggs, ham, and legs of lamb will top the list in April. May through August will feature ribs, ground beef, steaks of all sorts, hot dogs, potato salad and baked beans—typical summer cook-out fare. Then September will devote a whole page to notebooks, paper, and pencils. And you know what the fall brings—chili beans, apples, turkeys, cranberries, sweet potatoes, and standing rib roasts. And we all buy most of that “in season” don’t we? Then we load our carts with salads, yogurt, and Lean Cuisines on January 1, and begin the whole sequence all over.
   They have us pegged. They pay attention to our habits. They even know when a trend is about to start so they can cash in from the beginning. Low fat gave way to low carb, and now the buzzword is “organic.” It seems to me that labeling food “organic” is a bit redundant, but that’s another topic.
   If men can figure us out that easily, why don’t we understand that our adversary can too? He knows what will tempt us the most and when it will, and he is persistent. We can get rid of him for a time, resist the Devil and he will flee from you, James 4:7, but he will always come back and try again. Just like those ad men, he uses the things he knows will work, and is never afraid to branch out and try a new tack.
   When you pick up that flyer in the Thursday paper, use it as a reminder to be careful. Our lives are an open book, in more ways than one.

For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. For whosoever is begotten of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith. And who is he who overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God, 1 John 5:3-5.

Dene Ward

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An Observation about Giving and Receiving

1/5/2015 2 Comments

Today I have a short observation to share with you. We all know that “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” but no one is going to be blessed if there is no one out there ready to receive! It should go without saying that I am not talking about people who go around with their hands held out, but I learned a long time ago that anything that should go without saying probably needs to be said anyway, so consider it said. Now to today’s point…
   I hear people ask you, “Is there anything I can do for you?” I know what you are going to say because I have said it too: “No. We’re fine.” A lot of times we aren’t fine, we’re just too proud to accept help, or we have the mistaken notion that humility involves sitting quietly in the background without complaint, even when we are in desperate need. If we do ask for something it’s only, “If it isn’t any trouble.”
   Brothers and sisters! God expects us to sacrifice for one another. He expects us to generously give to those in need and serve those who are afflicted. Indeed, He expects me to go to a lot of trouble for you—it doesn’t count as sacrifice if it isn’t trouble. I can’t do that if you won’t let me. You can’t do that if I won’t let you.
   When people ask what they can do for you, tell them! It may go against your grain to accept help, but you need to get off your high horse and let God bless those givers by your willingness to receive. In fact, it may be more than your physical needs they are meeting. It may be just what you need spiritually—a recognition that you actually need someone else’s help.
   Your turn to help will come. It has probably already come, again and again for years, which is probably the reason you find it so hard to turn the tables and accept it now that you need the help. Accept it, not just gratefully, but graciously too. This is, in fact, another way you can give to others—both the pleasure of helping someone and the blessing God promises to the givers. Don’t deny them that blessing with a stubborn refusal to admit you need help.
   May I just paraphrase 1 Cor 12? “If all the world were givers, where would the receivers be? If all the world were receivers, where would the givers be?” It happens to us all sooner or later. When your turn comes, be generous enough to allow others the same blessings you have been receiving as a giver for years.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith, Gal 6:9,10.

Dene Ward

For hints, help, and instructions on using this blog, click on the FAQ/Tutorial page on the left sidebar.)