When my boys were still at home, family meal time was important.  We all made an effort to be together as many nights a week as possible, even as their schedules became busier in the high school years.  The majority of the time, we managed to do so. 
            I recently read a couple of articles discussing the importance of families eating together.  A family that eats together has better nutrition and the girls have fewer eating disorders.  The children do better at school.  They develop better language skills. They are less likely to take drugs, smoke, or drink.  Eating together, especially the evening meal, helps maintain accountability.  It is a “check-in time” which fosters a sense of togetherness.  (www.sixwise.com)
            “Dinnertime should be treated like a reunion, a respite from the outside world, a moment of strengthening relationships, and a pleasant experience that should always be cherished,” Ron Afable, “Eating Together as a Family," www.adam.org.
            When I read that last quote I was stunned.  Was he talking about family dinnertime or the Lord’s Supper?  God tells us we are to have this meal when we are “gathered together,” not each in his own home.  The reasons are precisely those reasons.  When I walk into the church’s gathering place I should have a feeling of relief, a “Whew! I made it!” moment.  This is my haven; these people are my support group; this is where I gather the strength to face another week of trials and temptations.  Is it any wonder God chose something that was part of a family meal to celebrate our one-ness with Him, with our Savior, and with each other? 
            The denominational world says that having this meal as often as the first Christians did—every Sunday—makes it less special, yet what does the world say about families having meals together on a regular basis?  Surely that applies here as well.  We are better nourished spiritually, we grow in the knowledge of the Word, we sin less because of the accountability regular meetings require, and we develop stronger relationships with one another.  Funny how God knew what He was doing, isn’t it?
            We often say that we should forget the outside world during this special time, but more than that, we should remember our “inside world”--our bond with one another.  Disagreements should melt away.  Aggravations with others should be covered by our love.  Personality problems should take the place they deserve—the bottom of the barrel.  To do otherwise is to make a mockery of the feast, and “drink damnation to ourselves.” 
            Our Father calls us to this special suppertime to reunite, to rest and recover, and to remember who we are and how we got here. This special dinnertime should always be cherished.  Don’t make a habit of missing it.
 
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ; the bread which we break, is it not a communion with the blood of Christ?  Seeing that we who are many are one bread, one body, for we all partake of the one bread, 1 Cor 10:16,17.
 
Dene Ward

Much has been written about the reason for four Gospels.  The explanation I have seen most often is that they each wrote to different audiences and had different purposes.  Ric Keaster agrees but takes it a step further.  He also believes it may be God's attempt to reach all personality types by choosing four different personalities to write the same story.
            First, the author spends close to half of this small book (only 91 pages) showing us that throughout history, in several different centuries and in several different societies, those with the insight and education to do so have always divided humanity into four basic types.  Imagine that—always and only four!  They may call them by different names and identify them by different characteristics, but they always come up with four.  (We are completely ignoring the bogus outliers.  See previous reviews.)
            Finally he chooses one set of labels, Analytical, Structural, Conceptual, and Social, and proceeds to classify the four gospel writers.  He uses their choices of sermons, miracles, and parables, and even word counts to prove his point.  It is all interesting and makes you want to sit down right then and read through all four to find these points yourself.  Then it makes you wonder, which one am I?  In fact, if you find one gospel "speaking" to you more than another, you may have just found your personality type in this book.
            As I said, it is a short and easy read, and one that should provoke a lot of thought afterward.
            In Our Own Language is published by DeWard Publishing Co.
 
Dene Ward

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time, Judg 4:1.
            Do you know anything about Lappidoth?  I know he was Deborah’s husband and that is all.  He is mentioned nowhere else in the entire Bible.  Yet because of his amazing wife his name was written down for everyone to read for thousands of years.
            No, it was not because God ordained that a wife have no identity without her husband, as some feminists might try to argue. Have you ever googled your own name or simply looked it up in your city’s telephone directory?  Somewhere in the world there is someone else with the same name as you, first and last.  Imagine how many there are with just your first name.  I can find six Marys in the New Testament alone. 
            It was necessary to identify people in the scriptures by their parents or spouses or children in order to make it plain who was being talked about.  There was at least one other Deborah in the Bible, the nurse of Rebekah, in Gen 35:8.  I imagine there were many other little girls named Deborah throughout Israel, especially after the time of Judges 4.  Miriam, after all, is the Hebrew for the Aramaic Mary, of whom we have so many in the first century AD.  Surely the great woman judge was a worthy namesake too.
            So what is the big deal about Lappidoth?  Just this—he was mentioned because of his wife, and he is respected because of his wife.  Whom you marry can make or break you in your career, in your reputation in the community, and most important, as a servant of God.
            How many times have you heard it said, or even said yourself, “He would make a good (elder, preacher, Bible class teacher, deacon) if not for his wife?”  God made woman so man would not be alone and so he would have a suitable helper in life.  David says, “[Jehovah] is our help” in Psalm 33:20, using exactly the same Hebrew word describing God as the one God used of woman in Gen 2:15.  Part of the help God gives men is the women who stand beside them.  There is nothing demeaning about being a tool in the hand of the Lord.
            Maybe the problem is men who do not recognize their duty to spiritually lead the family, “nourishing and cherishing” their brides, as Christ did the church.  Keith is the one who taught me how to study.  “And created a monster,” he always adds.
            Inevitably though, the onus falls on women who will not be led, who will not grow, who use their freewill instead to rebel against God.
            Jesus told a parable in Luke 14 about people who would not follow Him.  The point of the parable was the lame excuses people will make, but I can read at least one of those excuses in a different way.  When the Lord presents him an opportunity, I would hate for my husband to have to say, “I have married a wife and therefore I cannot come.”
 
A worthy woman who can find? For her price is far above rubies.  The heart of her husband trusts in her and he shall have no lack of gain.  She does him good and not evil all the days of his life.  Her husband is known in the gates where he sits with the elders of the land.  Grace is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears Jehovah, she shall be praised, Prov 31:10-12, 23,30.
 
Dene Ward

On our last camping trip to Blackwater River State Park we had reserved an especially good site, along with its neighbor for Lucas, three months in advance.  We arrived and after three hours were nearly set up when the ranger arrived to tell us that the next day a controlled burn was scheduled right on our edge of the campground and we would have to move.  It was not a happy event.  Not only would we have to tear down and start again less than an hour before sunset, but none of the other sites were as private. 
            Privacy is not that important when you sleep in a trailer or RV, but in tents with paper-thin walls it makes a difference.  Our new sites were smack dab in the middle of the campground and so small and close together that I could hear Lucas snoring in his tent next site over.  In fact one night, he and Keith were snoring in rhythm, and the night after Lucas started a snore on the inhale and Keith finished it on the exhale, perfectly synchronized.  Yet when the controlled burn passed the campground we were glad we had moved.  Even with the wind blowing in the opposite direction, the ash would have fallen on our equipment and melted holes in it.
            This is one of the things you must be ready to deal with in a State Park.  The point of a state park is conservation.  There will be more rules than a commercial campground, rules that when broken actually make you a lawbreaker.  But state parks have the nicest facilities for the money that you will find, along with well-maintained hiking trails, nature walks, and all sorts of other free amenities.  We do our best to follow those rules because those parks are part of God's Creation, and we want them to last. 
            Florida has one of the best, and most awarded, state park systems in the country.  The idea was proposed during the Twenty-Sixth Regular Session of the State of Florida House of Representatives on May 2, 1935, and we are thrilled that it was later passed.  In our thirty years of camping, we have certainly made good use of the resulting parks.
            And on that particular trip we learned a lot about controlled burns.  There are two reasons for controlled burns.  When the underbrush is allowed to spread unchecked, all that extra fuel makes wildfires more destructive.  Also, in a pine forest, the controlled burns keep the hardwoods from taking over.  The day after the burn every small hardwood was smoking and burned to a crisp while the pines stood tall and strong, if a little charred on the bottom.
            As Christians we must experience times exactly like these controlled burns.  Perhaps the most difficult “burns” to understand are the problems among God’s people.  If the church is the body of Christ, why do people behave badly?  Why do divisions happen and heresies lead people astray?  The Proverb writer tells us that God will use the wicked, whether they want to be used or not, Prov 16:4.  Paul says in 1 Cor 11:19, For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. 
            The question is not will there be problems in the church?  The question is, when there are problems will we be able to “recognize” those who are not genuine believers?  I fear that too many of us look to the wrong things. 
            Do I believe one side because they are my friends, never even questioning their words, while automatically dismissing the other if among them is a brother I don’t like too much?  Does “family” make the decision for me?  Am I relying on how I “feel” about it, instead of what the Word actually says?  Does it matter more to me who can quote the Big-Name Preachers instead of the scriptures?  Is one side more popular than the other?  Will it give me more power if that side wins the fight?  When I rely on those types of things, I am the one who is showing myself to be a less than genuine believer.
            While these things are necessary, it doesn’t mean God likes them, any more than he liked the Assyrians who fulfilled their purpose in punishing his wayward people. 
            Ho Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he means not so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few... Wherefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord has performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks, Isa 10:5-6,12. 
            Jesus presents a similar viewpoint when he says in Matt 18:7, Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must needs be that the occasions come; but woe to that man through whom the occasion comes!  These things have their place and their purpose, but God will punish the ones responsible. 
            Now the hard part:  The apostles did not tell the early church that it was understandable to become discouraged and leave because their idea of the blissful, perfect institution was often marred by sin.  They said to use that experience to double check where we stand, to make sure we are among the true believers, the tall pines that withstand the blaze instead of the scrub brush and interloping hardwoods who try to destroy Christ’s body.
            Those controlled burns in the pine forests happen every three years.  Who knows how often the church needs cleansing but God himself? For me to give up on the Lord and his body because someone causes trouble, because peace among God’s people sometimes seems hard to come by, means I am giving up on God, failing to trust that he knows best. You may get a little singed, but it is a cleansing burn, far better than the eternal burn that awaits the factious.
 
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but the corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit…Therefore by their fruits you shall know them, Matt 7:15-17, 20.
 
Dene Ward
           
 

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.
 
We were hiking a trail in N. Georgia near the eastern continental divide when we came upon a young healthy tree at least a foot in diameter that had been smashed under a huge old tree that had blown over in some storm.  The younger tree was absolutely crushed and broken to the ground by the fall of a tree at least 4 times its size.  I had to wait a few minutes for Dene to catch up before I could show her this scene. We’ve seen blow-downs of several trees at once, but this was the first time for a young adult tree crushed by another larger tree.  Since I once read too much science fiction, I could not help but think of it from the young tree’s perspective. “There I was, growing and healthy and strong, when suddenly this huge, older, stronger tree crashed right on top of me. I never had a chance.”
 
Is that not a familiar sight among Christians? When one who is older and more mature stumbles or falls, the damage is seldom repaired by his repentance.  In his fall, he crushes the life out of younger trees from seedlings to saplings to even full grown.  It seems that the more mature the sinner the greater the collateral damage.  Some may fall into the same or similar sins; some may be spiritually traumatized and need prayer and counseling to get back to the same level they once were, if they ever do; some may just give up with the thought that if he fell, what chance do I have? 
 
For this reason, we urge all to place their faith in God, not in any man; faith in Christ, not in a personality.  But, it is still true that we look to some who exemplify faith in action, whose conduct shows Christ in them and whom we look to as spiritual fathers we wish to emulate. Should such a one even stumble, it causes cracks in our shields, makes our knees quake and dulls our swords. If they fall, many will be spiritually devastated.
 
We are not alone in having passed through some trying times.  Sometimes, it seemed that all that kept us going in the faith was the thought of the impact our fall would have on our sons.  At other times when tempted, a primary deterrent was what it would do to other Christians if they ever found out.  Maybe this seems less strong than the one who stands in the strength of his own faith and overcomes by himself for himself, but one cannot help but believe that the one who served others finds such concerns to be noble motives.
 
Though a fallen tree cannot right itself, sometimes a fallen saint does.  He may even go onward and upward in his faith and influence others to stronger faith.  But he can never undo the damage he did to “these little ones” during his sin and the tears of his regrets will never cease to flow.
 
Not everyone who falls ceases to attend.
 
The righteous are often tempted.  These thoughts are offered to warn in order that they "stand, and having done all, STAND" and never yield.
 
Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
(Mark 9:42)
 
But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered: in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die.
(Ezekiel 18:24)
 
Keith Ward
 
 

If you read through the histories of the early church, especially during the persecutions, you will see that everyone found the behavior of Christians totally inexplicable.  Despite pain and death, they never acted the way people expected them to act.  They did not denounce their Savior, and the ones who survived did not try to avenge their mistreatment.
            God’s people did not suddenly become pliant and merciful in the first century.  It began long before.  David is a prime example in his careful treatment of Saul, a mad king who was out to destroy him.  Maybe that is where the little maiden learned her first lessons about mercy.
            We do not know exactly when, how, or where, but a band of Syrian soldiers raided an Israelite town and took many people captive, among them a little girl.  Eventually she wound up in the home of Naaman, the captain of the very army who kidnapped her and possibly even killed members of her family, serving his wife.  I don’t know how old she was, but she was probably far older in mind and actions than children her age nowadays because of what she had been through.  She was old enough to remember her homeland and to know about the power of God and his prophet Elisha.
            Soon she discovered that her new master had leprosy, a disease so dreaded in her own country that the people who had it were sent away and quarantined.  What would you have thought?  “Good!  Serves him right.  Get him, God.”  I can easily see those thoughts going through my mind, especially if the last view I had of my home was painted with the blood of my family.  What was the last thing you wanted to “get even” with someone about?  Can it even hold a candle to what this girl must have experienced?
            But no, she tells her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy, 2 Kings 5:3.
            Excuse me?  This man is an enemy of God’s people, at that time a physical kingdom with physical enemies.  God’s standing orders often included wiping out those enemies.  Yet she wants to save this man, who could easily kill more of God’s children?  She was obviously too young to know what she was doing.
            But Elisha wasn’t.  And God certainly knew whom he was healing as Naaman dipped himself into the Jordan River.  This was no mistake caused by a naïve child.  The mercy she showed was exactly what God wanted of her.
            And so the unexpected result, mercy from a captive toward her captor, made for yet another unexpected result.  Naaman, the heathen army captain, said, Behold now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel, v 15.
            Sometimes in our zeal to fight for God, we forget that He knows best.  When will we ever learn that with God, we should expect the unexpected?
 
You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy: but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you; that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same?  And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more?  Do not even the Gentiles the same?  You therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, Matt 5:43-48.
 
Dene Ward

When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul

Refrain:
It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come
Let this blest assurance control
That Christ (yes, He has) has regarded my helpless estate
And has shed His own blood for my soul

My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought (a thought)
My sin, not in part, but the whole (every bit, every bit, all of it)
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more (yes)
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend
Even so, it is well with my soul
           
Most of us know, love, and sing this song.  It is one of the most moving in the hymnal, especially when you know the backstory.
            Horatio Spafford, the writer of the lyrics, was an attorney in Chicago who owned significant properties.  He and his wife Anna had five children.  In 1871, the only boy, a four-year-old, died of pneumonia.  In 1873, the Great Chicago Fire took a large portion of his properties, putting the family in dire financial straits.  Things began to improve and the family made plans to visit England.  Unexpected business came up and Spafford put his wife and four daughters on the ship to England, promising to arrive as soon as possible.  Four days out the ship collided with a large Scottish vessel and sank, taking all four of the girls.  Anna survived, hanging onto a piece of wreckage.  Most of us know that story.  It is justifiably famous.  Now go back and read those lyrics again, written by a man who had lost almost everything.
            "Whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, It is well with my soul."  Could we have written that after some of the trials in our lives?  As for me, I am not sure, but I do know that given the New Testament's demand that we learn to live not for this world, but for the one to come, I think I should be able to.  If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Col 3:1-4).
            I think we all understand this hymn and the point it makes, whether we can emulate the author or not.  But one phrase remains misunderstood by most because of our ignorance of the words of scripture and how some of them were once used.  Look at that last verse.  First the lyricist speaks of the day God will come in final judgment.  Then he begins the next phrase with "Even so."  Most of us would immediately think, "In spite of."  So the verse would take on the meaning, "One day the Lord is coming, but in spite of this, it is well with me soul."  I don't really think that is what we want to be saying.
            The people who wrote hymns in those times, were so well steeped in the scripture, especially the King James Version, that they tended to speak and write that way.  "Even so" can be two separate words in the Greek or it can be just one.  The one we want is, I think, nai.  That word is a word of strong affirmation, similar to "Amen."  Most of the time it is translated "Yea" or "Yes," but in the older versions also "Verily" and "Truth."  Look at this verse in particular.  What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet (Luke 7:26).  Jesus is making the point that you may have thought you were going out to see a prophet when you went to hear John, but he was much more than just a prophet.  Affirmation.  Certainty.
            So what does that mean about our hymn and the phrase in question?  It means, "The Lord is coming and yes, I am anxious for his arrival."  It is similar to the apostle John's sentiments in the Revelation when he says, He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Rev 22:20).  Is that how we feel about that Day, the Day the Lord returns and takes us home?
            This hymn has more than one challenging thought in it.  Next time you sing it, consider what it truly meant to the man who wrote it, and what it should mean to us.
 
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen (Rev 1:7).
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him (Heb 9:27-28).
 
Dene Ward

In his third epistle, John prays what has to be the most frightening prayer in the Bible.  Beloved I pray that in all things you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers, v2. 
            Have you ever wondered what might happen if God suddenly answered that prayer—that your body and your economic life may be as healthy as your soul?  Those of us who prosper financially, might suddenly be living a hand to mouth existence, while others who can barely make ends meet might find their bank accounts overflowing.  Are we more concerned with our IRAs, annuities, and money market accounts than with the unfathomable riches of Christ, Eph 3:8?  What was it Jesus called the rich man who was more concerned with his physical wealth than his spiritual wealth?  You fool!  This night is your soul required of you, and all the things you have prepared, whose will they be then?  So is he who lays up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.  Luke 12:20,21
           But what about the physical health angle of that prayer?  Some of us who are fat and sassy might instantly become pale and emaciated.  Some of us might even fall over dead!  But there might be others, frail and chronically ill, who suddenly become as hale and hearty as the great athletes of the world.
            If we want to be able to pray John’s prayer, we need to get our souls in shape.  Do they get the proper nourishment or do they fast several days a week?  Do our souls have to be force-fed?  Do we “exercise our senses” every day, “discerning between good and evil,” or do we sit like couch potatoes, taking in with a glazed look everything the world has to offer?  Are we willing to take our medicine when we need it, or do we deny our faults and blame everyone else as if that will make them go away?
            If a righteous man stands up Sunday morning and prays this prayer fervently—that everyone there will suddenly be as prosperous in wealth and healthy in body as they are in soul--will we jump up and beg him to stop because we know the results of the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, James 5:16? 
             Think about it; it might change your life.
 
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father from whom every family in heaven and in earth is named, that he should grant you according to the riches of his glory that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.  Eph 3:14-19
 
Dene Ward
 

A national day for zucchini bread?  You bet, but first a little history.
            Zucchini is not a European native, at least it wasn't at first.  It is a Western Hemisphere plant the seeds of which have been found in Mexican archaeological digs dating back as far as 9000 BC.  All of those Italian and Spanish explorers who sailed around and hiked all over the New World took back the first ones when they went home, Columbus among them.  Even then they thought it was a melon!  The Native Americans used a word for it that meant "to be eaten raw," which may be the worst way to eat a zucchini.  Maybe that is why it was some time in the 1800s before zucchini became a popular vegetable in Italy where it was called zucca, which means "squash."  "Zucchini," is the diminutive form and is plural because an Italian word ending in "i" usually is.  (You ate one panino at lunch, not one panini, no matter what the menu says.)  On what date did all this happen?  I have no idea, and neither did anyone I consulted.  April 25 seems an odd day to choose, since they aren't producing yet, not even here in North Florida gardens, but so be it. 
            Zucchini's popularity can be explained primarily by both its ease in growing and its bountifulness.  It may not be that one zucchini plant will yield 100 of the things, but it sure seems that way, and that is how the recipe for zucchini bread was born—a gardener going out day after day hoping for something else but finding nothing but zucchini, and you have to do something with them!  Your neighbors learn to run when they see you coming with a sackful, or they cower inside pretending not to be at home when you knock.
If you are a gardener (or know one), you have probably made your fair share of zucchini bread.  We quit growing zucchini a long time ago.  We prefer yellow summer squash instead.  At least it has a little flavor.  But it also works for zucchini bread, and I have found a way to make that little loaf that is actually worth baking, no matter which you use.
            Most zucchini (or squash) bread is compact and dense, and just about flavorless.  Try this instead.  Take your usual recipe.  Cut the amount of oil almost in half.  Use brown sugar instead of white granulated, and at least double the cinnamon.  If you use nuts, toast them first.  Then here is the big trick—put all that grated zucchini in a dish towel and squeeze as hard as you can over a sink.  You will get anywhere from ½ to 1 cup of water out of that squash.  No wonder the loaf was flavorless. It was literally washed out.
            Now you will have a lighter loaf that is still plenty moist and actually has some flavor instead of that compact brick that hardly rises above the top of the pan.  In fact, you won’t mind serving this one to guests, and they won’t run away and hide when you mention it either.
            Modern organized religion has suffered the same fate as that old zucchini bread recipe.  It is literally washed out from all the additions men have made.  Just as schools are now expected to teach the things that parents should teach at home, churches are expected to right the social injustices in this world and support every worthy cause in manpower and money.  You can read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation and never find half the things found in a modern denomination.  But then these are the same people who, like the Jews of Jesus’ day, expect a physical kingdom on this earth.  They’ve stopped hoping for Heaven and settled for a poor imitation on this earth.
            My kingdom is not of this world, Jesus said, John 18:36.  Jeremiah prophesied that no one from the lineage of Jeconiah (the kingly line of Judah through David) would ever sit on the throne reigning in Jerusalem, despite the beliefs of thousands of dispensationalists, Jer 22:31.  The work of the church is not about feeding the hungry—it’s about feeding the soul.  It’s not about making sure everyone has a fair shake in this life—it’s about enduring that injustice and preparing ourselves to be fit for the next life.  Check this out yourself:  churches that are sold on the social gospel no longer preach much about heaven.  To them this life is what matters and that’s why they are so hung up on it.  That’s why their religion is so waterlogged with extraneous rituals and activities.  That’s why so many of the “un-churched” are turned off by the dense brick of bread they are handed instead of the bread of life.
            Get out your Bibles and examine your church against the one in the New Testament.  Look through Acts and see how they converted sinners.  Here’s a hint:  it wasn’t with soup kitchens and Wednesday night potlucks.  Now look through the epistles and see the work they did.  It had nothing to do with gymnasiums and playgrounds.  See what they did when they met together for a formal group worship.  It wasn’t about entertainment.  Now maybe you can see the difference between an oily sodden brick of bread and a light flavorful loaf that actually appeals to the appetite.
            But then maybe it’s your appetite that is the problem in the first place. 
 
Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, You seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.  Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, hath sealed, John 6:26-27.
 
Dene Ward
 

I am sure every mother has heard the above sentence, yelled in an outraged voice as her children play together.  And if she doesn't go in right then, eventually one outraged child will run to tell her that big brother or sister has tried to tell them what to do as if s/he were the parent.  I guess it's normal, because it happened with adults in the Bible more than once.  It has even happened with non-humans.
            We all have a place of authority in our own little world.  Even those who have no family have their own authority to make their own decisions.  Once family does enter into the equation there is the husband/wife dynamic and the parent/child dynamic.  Out in the world there may be an employer/employee relationship and there is always the citizen/government issue.  And ultimately, all of us are under the authority of God who gives all other kinds of authority to others.  But that is the issue here today—the authority given has a realm which must not be violated.
            And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day (Jude 1:6).  Here are the non-humans I mentioned before.  These angels somehow left their "position of authority."  How, we are not told, but the seriousness of this error is seen in their punishment.
            We have another example in King Uzziah.  But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God.” Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the LORD had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD…(2Chr 26:16-21).  Even kings, we are meant to understand have a position of authority they must not exceed.  No one was allowed to burn incense but a priest and that did not change because the King wanted it to.
            In the New Testament Peter tells elders that they are to "shepherd the flock that is among them."  When a group of elders decides to butt into the business of another congregation of God's people and tell them what to do, they have "left their position of authority," and they should beware.  The consequences will not be pleasant.
            And that leads me to Miriam.  Miriam was given a leadership role among the Israelites.   For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam (Mic 6:4).
            We are not sure exactly what Miriam did during the forty years.  We do know that in the beginning, right after crossing the Red Sea, she led the women in worship.  For Micah to place her with Moses and Aaron as one of the three who were sent to lead, I think it is a fair judgment that Miriam continued in that role.  However, a little over a year after the Red Sea crossing, Miriam became dissatisfied with her God-given role and sought to be on a plane with Moses.  She pulled Aaron into it for support, but the punishment—leprosy--and the original Hebrew (I am told) make it plain that this was all her doing.  Once again, we have someone leaving their position of authority, even complaining that the position God gave her was not good enough.  God's summons, reprimand, and punishment put her back into her place.  To her credit, she seems to have taken up her position once again after her punishment, this time without fuss.  How else could Micah have described her as he did if she never led the women again in the next 39 years?
            That last example is one we women need to consider.  God has given us a position of authority.  We are one of two parents our children are told to obey, Eph 6:1.  We are to be managers of the home, 1 Tim 5:14.  We teach and admonish as we sing in worship to God, Col 3:16.  We older women teach the younger women, Titus 2:3-6.  We even teach men in a private setting, Acts 18:24-26.  As nearly as I can tell from reading the New Testament, that is the scope of our authority. 
            In our culture, we are encouraged to not only go beyond that scope, but to demand a broader realm, exactly as Miriam did.  Please go back and read the examples above, and please do not leave out the one about the angels who dared to go beyond their place.  That Miriam had a place that long ago and in that society was a gift from God.  She was singularly ungrateful and presumptuous in her attitude.  She was trying to "be the boss" of not only her siblings, but of God.  Don't make the same mistake she did.
 
​Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression (Ps 19:13).
 
Dene Ward