Bible People - Dene's Blog

Sand Pears

11/26/2014 0 Comments

The first time I received a bushel of pears from a neighbor out here in the country I was disappointed. I was used to the pears in the store, especially juicy Bartletts, and creamy, vanilla-scented Boscs. As with a great many things here in this odd state, only certain types grow well, and they are nothing like the varieties you see in the seed and plant catalogues or on the Food Network shows. We always called them Florida Pears, but recently learned they were Sand Pears, and in this sandy state that makes good sense. They are hard and tasteless. In fact, Keith and I decided you could stone someone to death with them. We nearly threw them away.
   Then an older friend told me what to do with them. They make the best pear preserves you ever dripped over a biscuit—amber colored, clear chunks of fruit swimming in a sea of thick, caramel flavored syrup. Then she made a cobbler and I thought I was eating apples instead of pears. No, you don’t want to eat them out of hand unless they are almost overripe, but you most certainly do want to spoon out those preserves and dig into that cinnamon-scented, crunchy topped cobbler. They aren’t pretty; they are hard to peel and chop; but don’t give up on them if you are ever lucky enough to get some.
   A lot of us give up on people out there. We see the open sin in their lives and the culture they come from and decide they could never change. Have you ever studied the Herods in the New Testament? If ever there was a soap opera family, one that would even make Jerry Springer blush, it’s them. They were completely devoid of “natural affection,” sons trying to assassinate fathers, and fathers putting sons and wives to death. Their sex lives were an open sewer—swapping husbands at a whim; a brother and sister living together as a married couple; leaving marriages without even a Roman divorce and solely for the sake of power and influence.
   Yet Paul approaches Herod Agrippa II, the son of Herod Agrippa I who had James killed and Peter imprisoned, the grandnephew of Antipas who had John the Baptist imprisoned and killed after taking his brother’s wife, great-grandson of Herod the Great who had the babies killed at Jesus’ birth, a man who even then was living with his sister, almost as if he expected to convert him. Listen to this:
   I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, especially because you are familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently, Acts 26:2,3.
   Yes, I am sure there was some tact involved there, but did you know that Agrippa had been appointed advisor in Jewish social and religious customs? Somehow the Romans knew that he had spent time becoming familiar with his adopted religion—during the time between the Testaments the Herods were forced to become Jews and then later married into the family of John Hyrcanus, a priest. No, he didn’t live Judaism very well, but then neither did many of the Pharisees nor half the priesthood at that point. But Agrippa knew Judaism, and Paul was counting on that.
   Paul then spends verses 9 through 23 telling Agrippa of the monumental change he had made in his own life. Here was a man educated at the feet of the most famous teacher of his times, the rising star of Judaism, destined to the Sanhedrin at the very least, fame and probably fortune as well. Look at the list of things he “counts as loss” in Philippians 3. Yet this man gives it all up and becomes one of the hated group he had formerly imprisoned and persecuted to the death, forced to live on the charity of the very group he had hated along with a pittance from making a tent here and there. Talk about a turnaround. Do you think he told Agrippa his story just to entertain him? Maybe he was making this point—yes, you have a lot to change, but if I could do it, so can you.
   In verse 27, he makes his final plea--King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you believe! Paul had not given up on changing this man whom many of us would never have even tried to convert. And it “almost” worked.
   Who have you given up on? Who has a hard heart, a lifestyle that would be useless to anyone but God? Who, like these pears, needs the heat of preaching and the sweet of compassion? Who could change if someone just believed in them enough?
   Sand pears seem tasteless to people who don’t work with them, who don’t spend the time necessary to treat them in the way they require. Are we too busy to save a soul that is a little harder than most? Who took the time to cook you into a malleable heart for God? It’s time to return the favor.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses... Ezek 36:26-29.

Dene Ward

The Hero of the Story

11/25/2014 0 Comments

I have a problem. I believe that life is a book and I am the hero of the story. Everything anyone does is done with me in mind because I am the central character. Any time I rub shoulders with another person in my daily life, that person did it solely because he wanted to hurt me, or inconvenience me, or insult me, or otherwise bother my life.
    What is really happening is that person thinks his life is a book and he is the hero, and I am the one causing him trouble. The things I often get so upset about are nothing more than an accidental crossing of paths or an idiosyncrasy that, in my own self-centeredness, I have decided to take as a personal offense when the other person was not directing it toward me at all.
    And in the same vein, I think everything is supposed to turn out wonderfully, a happily ever after for all my goodness and faithfulness, because I am the hero after all. Admit it: you have the same problem, and it can cost us our souls if we are not careful.
    I think of John the Baptist, a man whose birth was announced by the same angel who announced Jesus’ birth. He gave up any semblance of a normal life to fulfill the mission God gave him. If not for John’s preaching, what would have become of Christianity? If it took several years for the men who actually walked with Jesus to figure things out, what of the masses if John had not worked so hard to prepare them for the coming of the kingdom? The thought of 3000 being baptized on the Day of Pentecost would have been nothing more than a pipe dream.
    John also gave up what others might have expected in the way of glory. He watched Jesus begin his ministry and gradually take away many of his own disciples. For all his sacrifice this is the thanks he gets? John did not look for thanks. Indeed, as his ministry waned and an unjust death at about the age of 31 loomed, his remaining disciples came to him complaining about Jesus’ growing popularity as if it were an affront to John. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him. He that has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is made full. He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:27-30.
    It may have been written many years after his death, but John understood the true meaning of to them that love God all things work together for good, Rom 8:28. He understood because he recognized the part that we ignore: according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be 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, vv 29,30. John knew he was not the hero of the story. He knew that he need not expect this life to be a bed of roses with a happy ending.
    He also knew that the purpose of God for which he worked was to give everyone the opportunity to be saved, and that was the good for which all things worked together. If it took his not being able to have a family, if it took living a meager existence in the wilderness, if it took his murder, he was willing to bear it.
    If John could have that attitude, a man who lived a short, strange, sacrificial life and died a martyr by the hand of a ruthless woman and her weak husband, why can’t we who live relatively normal, happy, safe lives?
    There will be trials. There will be moments of grief. The life we live here may not have the happy ending we always dreamed of, but the purpose of God will make it seem like a mere trifle if we just stop thinking everything is about us, and remember who the real Hero is.

Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, Heb 12:1,2.

Dene Ward

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The Naomi Project 5--Grandchildren

11/24/2014 0 Comments

If you really want to hurt a woman, hurt her children. If you think no one would do such a thing, you haven’t been to as many places as I have nor lived as long.
    I have seen grandmothers pass their favoritism on to the next generation. If one child is not particularly liked, then his children won’t be either.
    I have seen grandmothers show that favoritism in gifts, in words, and most shameful of all, in hugs. I have seen grandchildren pitted against one another, one side always believed over the other, regardless of evidence. I have seen grandchildren used to create tension between their parents, either siblings of one another, or spouses.
    Children should be sacred ground when it comes to family squabbles. You never hurt a child, regardless whose he is. If there is something unnatural about a mother hurting her own child, there is something just plain loathsome about a grandmother doing it. Isn’t that why the story of Athaliah, the wicked queen who had all her grandchildren killed to secure her own reign, horrifies us? Women like that deserve the worst of punishments, and God made sure Athaliah got hers.
    Then there is the matter of “blood.” I have seen blood grandchildren obviously favored over adopted. I have seen step-grandchildren totally ignored. A child cannot help where he came from. If he has been specially chosen to be in the family, he should be treated as family as much as any other child—he IS family.
    Naomi is the perfect example. Ruth was her daughter-in-law, not her daughter. Boaz may have been a distant relative, but he was not her son. Yet how did she accept their child? So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son…Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse, Ruth 4:13,16. According to Keil, “became his nurse” is tantamount to adopting him as her own son, not just her grandson. Could she have made her love and acceptance of this child any clearer?
    Surely a grandmother should not need to be told to love her grandchildren. Even if there is some legitimate reason for an estrangement with their parents, do not take it out on the children. It is not their fault how their parents act. The list of pagan sins in Romans 1:28-32 includes “without natural affection” in the KJV and ASV. That is translated “heartless” in the ESV. Only a heartless grandmother refuses her grandchildren. Only a heartless mother-in-law does it to retaliate against a daughter- or son-in-law.
    Naomi’s love and acceptance of Ruth in all the ways we have discussed made for a relationship that has transcended the ages. Ruth returned that love with her own genuine affection, with acceptance, and with the physical care every older parent has a right to expect. Naomi and Ruth were not physically related in any way at all, but they treated one another as if they were, in fact, better than some blood relatives treat one another. This is the way it is supposed to work. May we all work harder to make it happen in our own homes.

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife; and he went in unto her, and Jehovah gave her conception, and she bare a son. And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be Jehovah, who has not left you this day without a near kinsman; and let his name be famous in Israel. And he shall be unto you a restorer of life, and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him, Ruth 4:13-15

Dene Ward

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Hannah and Prayer

11/20/2014 0 Comments

Most of us know the story of Hannah who asked God for a son and promised to give him back. She certainly made an amazing vow and an astounding sacrifice I can scarcely understand. But do we consider her many examples in prayer?

    Hannah was the second wife of a man of Ephraim, a Levite (1 Chron 6:33-38) named Elkanah. The story reminds me a bit of Leah and Rachel, except that Hannah and Peninnah were not sisters, and Hannah, the favored wife, was far more righteous and God-fearing than Rachel, who stole her father’s household gods (Gen 31:19) and nagged Jacob to death about her inability to conceive as if it were his fault (Gen 30:1,2). Going to God was Rachel’s last resort, after first badgering Jacob, then offering her handmaid (Gen 30:3) and finally using mandrakes (Gen 30:14), the aphrodisiac of the day. You should take a few minutes sometime and read the meanings of her children’s names (by her handmaid) if you want a flavor of her mindset, and compare them with the names of Leah’s children. Then of course, there was Joseph. When God answered her prayer for her own child, she named him, “Give me another one.” Look at the marvelous contrast of Hannah, who after asking for a child and receiving him, gave him up to God, with no promise that she would ever have another.

    Hannah shows us what prayer is supposed to be—not some halfhearted muttering of ritual phrases, but a “pouring out of the soul” 1 Sam 1:15. She prayed so fervently that Eli, watching her, thought she was drunk. As she told Eli, “Out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken” v 16. Her prayer life was such that her relationship with Jehovah gave her the confidence to tell him exactly how she felt, in the plainest of speech, evidently. You do not speak to someone that way unless you have spent plenty of time with him and know him intimately. Are we that close to God?

    She also teaches us what prayer should do for us. Look at the contrast between v 10 and v 18. Before her prayer “she was in bitterness of soul…and wept sore.” Afterward, she “went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.”

    Of course, Hannah had the reassurances of a priest and judge that God would give her what she had prayed for, but don’t we have the assurance of the Holy Spirit through the word He gave that God listens and answers our prayers? Shouldn’t we exhibit some measure of ease after our prayers?    In whom do we have our faith? If the doctors say it is hopeless, do we pray anyway? Do we carry our umbrellas, even though the weatherman says, “No rain in sight?” Do we pray on and on and on, even when it seems that what we ask will never come to pass? God does not run by a timetable like we do. Hannah had the faith that says, “It’s in God’s hands now,” and she was able to get on with her life. Life does go on, no matter which answer we get, and God expects us to continue to serve Him with a “thy will be done” attitude.

    “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much,” James tells us in 5:16. Hannah shows us it works for righteous women as well. Can people tell by our lives that we believe it?

Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I call unto you, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been a refuge to me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will dwell in your tabernacle forever. I will take refuge in the covert of your wings. Psa 61:1-4

Dene Ward

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The Naomi Project 4--Advisor

11/17/2014 2 Comments

Is there anything more ticklish than the subject of advice between the older and younger generations? Yet the Bible clearly teaches that older women are “to train the young women,” Titus 2:4, among many other passages. So why is giving advice such a source of friction? Naomi gave an awful lot of advice that was well-accepted. Maybe we can learn a thing or two from her.
    In the first place, we don’t see much advice given in the book of Ruth until the two women return to Israel. This was a brand new experience, a brand new culture with a new set of traditions for Ruth, and Naomi knew it. So did Ruth. She had no familiarity with the gleaning system of “welfare” practiced by the Hebrews. Even though it reads as if she were the one to suggest her gleaning, she would not have known the laws unless Naomi had previously taught her. And so Naomi likely told her, “This is how it’s done,” and she listened because she knew she needed it to get along in her new environment.
    Do you give advice when you have a different way of doing ordinary things, or when you know your daughter-in-law is in a completely new situation? Young people nowadays are very well educated, so I have tried to keep quiet unless asked, but once in awhile the asking can be done with a sigh of frustration. If you aren’t sitting there trying to change all of her methods simply because they don’t match yours, and if there has been some indication that it is wanted, your advice will probably be graciously accepted. And if, after trying it out, she decides not to follow it, that’s fine. Don’t mention it again. We all have our own comfortable ways of doing things.
    Don’t be judgmental about your advice. Just because she uses more convenience food than you did, doesn’t mean she is a bad wife and mother. Probably the time saved she uses on something that was not your talent and that you did not have time for because you cooked from scratch. Despite modern catch phrases, you can’t do it all, and different doesn’t always mean worse.
    Remember, as we have seen previously, Naomi had carefully nurtured this relationship with acceptance, love, and friendship. If you haven’t done that, don’t even try to give advice. Pay close attention to Naomi’s motivation. Some of her advice came with the name of God attached (2:20). Other times it was for the sake of Ruth’s safety (2:22), or for her future welfare and reputation (3:1ff). Why, exactly, are you giving advice? Is it to impart the will of the Lord? Is it a matter of health and safety? Or do you simply think she should fold the towels the same way you do? If you are giving advice for every little petty thing that comes along, especially if it comes with that disapproving nasal whine we all recognize, it’s time to stop. If it comes with a tone of superiority, don’t bother. You might as well be holding up a sign saying, “Don’t pay any attention to me,” because she won’t. You wouldn’t either if it were your mother-in-law.
    Listen to the way young women give each other advice. Never a hint of superiority or criticism, just simple sharing—“This worked for me…I read this once…I never tried it myself, but my neighbor said…” Their advice never comes with the unspoken but clearly heard, “And if you don’t do it my way, I’m going to take it as a personal affront.” No wonder they go to their peers for advice instead of us older women. But no wonder Ruth listened to Naomi. Ruth’s attitude toward advice in chapters 2-4 testifies to the manner in which Naomi must have advised and taught in those early years of chapter 1.
    So, all mothers-in-law out there listen to Naomi! Giving advice is about content, manner, and motive. It should be given seldom, carefully, and for all the right reasons. I hope I’m getting better at it.

Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his [or her!] earnest counsel, Prov 27:9.

Dene Ward

The Naomi Project 2-Acceptance

11/3/2014 0 Comments

Let’s just start our study with this simple observation: Naomi accepted her daughters-in-law the way every young woman wants to be accepted by her husband’s family.

   And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelt there about ten years. Ruth 1:3-4.

   If any mother-in-law could have complained about a foreign daughter-in-law, one raised in an idolatrous culture, Naomi could have—and she had not one, but two of them. Instead she seems to have accepted them with open arms and without judgment. In fact she seems to have taught them. How easy would that have been if they had sensed resentment and suspicion? I am sure her sons taught their wives as well, but those girls stayed with Naomi even after the death of their husbands, even before she decided to go back to Israel, and then they both wanted to go with her, not just Ruth. Here is a mother-in-law who knew how to cultivate a loving relationship with those of another culture, with the women who came into her boys’ lives and became more important to them than she was. That is hard for a mother, but her example says it can be done and is important in establishing a lasting and loving relationship with a daughter-in-law.

   Mothers-in-law today have the same obligation. If your daughter-in-law is a Christian, count your blessings. That should take care of any reservations you may have about her. Now treat that new daughter like an especially beloved sister in Christ. You would be surprised how many times people forget to treat family that way—“that’s church stuff,” I’ve heard. Yes, and you are a member of the Lord’s church even in your home. Act like it.

   But if she isn’t a Christian, cultivate that relationship for the thing that matters most—her soul. You owe her that. Paul said that as a Christian he was a debtor to everyone else to tell them the good news (Rom 1:14). So are you. Be kind, be patient, do not give her any reason to look down on Christianity or the church if you ever hope to gain her soul.

   No matter what her background, accept her whole-heartedly. Trust me, she will always be able to tell if you do not like her, no matter how hard you try to hide it. Do not talk about “my son.” He is now her husband, a relationship that supersedes the parent-child relationship. A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and the two shall become one flesh, Gen 2:24. That’s what God said about it. In your mind, their two names should always be attached.

   If you want a continuing relationship with your son, then do not come between them in any way. Do not allow him to disparage her to you, and certainly do not revel in it if he does! Do not ever allow him to say to her in your presence, “That’s not how Mom does it.” Do not expect him to visit without her. Do not expect him to drop everything and leave her and his family for anything less than an emergency. From now on it is not “him,” it is “them.” They are “one flesh.” If it is wrong for man to put it asunder, it’s wrong for a mother-in-law to amputate it.

   Welcome your new daughter into the family with open arms. You are the one with the obligation here, not her.

And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Will you go with this man? And she said, I will go…And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife…Genesis 24:58,67

Dene Ward

The Naomi Project 1

10/27/2014 3 Comments

    I do not appreciate mother-in-law jokes. If you tell them and you have a mother-in-law, then you must realize that your mother is also a mother-in-law. Are you talking about her too?

   As a mother-in-law myself, I try hard to be what I ought to be both for my son and his wife, who is now not just my daughter-in-law, but in my mind, my daughter, especially in the spirit. I think I might be a bit more sensitive to this than most—you see, my mother-in-law did not like me. Even after 39 years of trying, I never made the cut.

   To her credit, she was a fine Christian woman. She stayed faithful to the Lord despite family opposition, her husband’s severe illnesses and injuries, financial woes, and worst of all, losing a child to cancer. She converted her husband and raised both of her remaining children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. After all, I married one of them, and I know much of what she went through and exactly how she raised him.

   She had many things going against her but managed to stay faithful, raise godly children, and never lose the joy of her relationship with her Lord. To have done all that despite her many and severe trials makes our lack of a relationship more than forgivable. I was certainly less than the least of all those things she did accomplish.

   But I do not want my daughter-in-law to miss out on what should be a wonderful relationship. So I have decided to begin a new study—the ideal mother-in-law, which is what I want to be for Brooke. That’s what we will be discussing together for the next several Mondays.

   It is not difficult to find mothers-in-law in the Bible. The difficult thing is finding a detailed relationship between a mother- and daughter-in-law. Isaac and Rebekah both were “grieved” by the first two women Esau married, but they were Canaanites, Hittites to be specific, Gen 26:34,35. Although their complaints came before the actual marriage, Samson’s parents had the same problem with their future daughter-in-law, Judges 14:3—she was a Philistine.

   Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law but that is a situation so complex as to be unusable in our discussion. I can know that others surely had in-laws, but I do not know how they got along without making suppositions far beyond the realm of authenticity.

   No, the best example we can find is the usual one—Naomi and Ruth, and let’s not forget Orpah, who is often tarred with accusations she does not deserve. So I plan to study those in depth the next few Mondays to see how we can all improve our in-law relationships. I hope you will make a point to join me.

…a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there. But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons. These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years, and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. Then she arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the fields of Moab that the LORD had visited his people and given them food. So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah, Ruth 1:1-7.
Dene Ward

September 28, 1940--Going Home

9/26/2014 2 Comments

The first time he said it I was confused. The second time I was a little miffed.

            “We’re going home,” Keith told someone of our upcoming visit to his parents’ house in Arkansas.

            Home? Home was where I was, where we lived together, not someplace 1100 miles away.

            I suppose I didn’t understand because I didn’t have that sense of home. We moved a few times when I was a child, and then my parents moved more after I married. I never use that phrase “back home” of any place but where I live at the moment. But a lot of people do. I hear them talk about it often, going “back home” to reunions and homecomings, visiting the places they grew up and knew from before they could remember.

            But what was it the American author Thomas Wolfe said? “You can’t go home again.” Wolfe died on September 15, 1938. His book of that title was published posthumously on September 28, 1940, and those words have come to mean that you cannot relive childhood memories. Things are constantly changing and you will always be disappointed.

            Abraham and Sarah and the other early patriarchs did not believe that.

            These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own. Hebrews 11:13-14.

            That phrase “country of their own” is the Greek word for “Fatherland” or “homeland” or “native country.” Those people believed they were headed home in the same sense that Keith talked about going back to the Ozarks. Some question whether the people of the Old Testament believed in life after death. They not only believed they were going to live in that promised country after death, they believed they had come from there—that it was where they belonged.

            That may be our biggest problem. We do not understand that we belong in Heaven, that God sent us from there and wants us back, that it is the Home we are longing for, the only place that will satisfy us. We are too happy here, too prosperous in this life, too secure on this earth.

            Try asking someone if they want to go to Heaven. “Of course,” they will say. Then ask if they would like to go now and see the difference in their response. It is good that we have attachments here, and a sense of duty to those people. It is not good when we see those attachments as far better than returning to our homeland and our Father and Brother. Paul said, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if to live in the flesh, - if this shall bring fruit from my work, then what I shall choose I know not. But I am in a strait between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better: yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake. Philippians 1:21-24.   Paul knew the better choice. Staying here for the Philippians’ sake was a sacrifice to him, a necessary evil.

            Heaven isn’t supposed to be like an all-expenses-paid vacation away from home—it’s supposed to be Home—the only Home that matters.

            How do you view Heaven? The way you see it may just make the difference in how easy or difficult it is for you to get there.

Being therefore always of good courage, and knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight); we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord, 2 Corinthians 5:6-8.

Dene Ward

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God Gave a Goose

9/12/2014 0 Comments

            Did you see the video going around of the mother goose leading her babies up a set of two stone steps somewhere in an urban center? (She might have been a duck, but I am not a poultry expert and it suits my purposes here to call her a goose.) Those steps were twice as high as those goslings. At first the mother waddled on, but soon she realized she was alone so she returned to the steps and watched as each baby leapt to the top of the next step over and over and over—and usually fell back. It took no less than five or six tries per step for each one, and some many more. The last little fellow almost had it but then fell onto his back, exhausted. Did he give up? No, he got up and kept on trying, and finally, several minutes after all the others had made it, he got to the top of the second step and ran to his mother, who then turned and led her tiny gaggle across the plaza.

            That mother had it easier than you and I do. She had no hands and arms to be tempted to reach out and help. All she could do was patiently wait, honking her encouragement. Too many times we use those hands and arms when we shouldn’t, thinking we are doing the right thing, and our children grow up emotionally frail in the process, with a warped sense of their place in the world—usually the center, they think.

            What would have happened if you had never let go of those little hands as your toddler tried his first steps? What would have happened if, when he tried to climb, you always came along, picked him up and put him where he was trying to go? What would happen now if every time something wasn’t exactly the way he wanted it, you came along and made it that way? Sooner or later he must find out that the world does not run to his schedule not his set of likes and dislikes, and the earlier he learns that the less painful it will be for all of you.

            In his work, Keith has come across many young people who finally found out that their parents could not get them out of trouble as they were hauled off to prison in manacles. Once, a nineteen-year-old probationer thought he could bypass some of the rules of his sentence, namely his officer checking to see if he was home where he belonged, because “I have a mean dog.”

            “Lock him up,” Keith said. “That’s your responsibility because I will be doing my job, which is your punishment for your crime. If you don’t, I have authority to stop the dog any way it takes.”

            “Bbbbbbut you can’t hurt my dog,” he blubbered.

            “YOU will be hurting your dog,” his officer told him, and finally got through. He did the crime because he thought he could get away with it—mama and daddy had always gotten him out of trouble before. Now he had to pay the consequences. I wonder if his parents ever did make him do something he did not want to do as a child.

            God gave those goslings a goose, a mother who would stand there and patiently wait while her children tried and learned and grew stronger even with their failures. He gave a goose who would honk her encouragement when they fell flat on their backs, urging them with “love” to get up and try again.

            Some parents don’t have the sense God gave a goose when they raise their children. What do you think will happen if you fix every problem and adjust every situation to their liking? As adults they will be persistently dissatisfied and miserable, or constantly in trouble and probably devoid of true friends who are tired of always having to do things their way. Certainly love them, but “learn” to love them in the hard things (Titus 2:4). Teach them, discipline them, tell them they can do it and cheer them on. Add a more “tactile” form of exhortation when necessary. Give them words of encouragement, of admonishment, of rebuke, of love. That is why God gave them parents instead of a goose.

Hear, O sons, a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching…My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. Proverbs 4:1-2,20-21

Dene Ward

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Worship Isn't Free

9/11/2014 0 Comments

Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto Jehovah my God which cost me nothing.

            2 Samuel 24 relates the numbering of the Israelites as commanded by David. To make a long story short, this sin caused a pestilence sent from God as punishment. God then told David to offer up a sin offering at a threshing floor owned by Araunah.

            Aranauh saw the king’s entourage headed his way and went out to greet them, wondering what he could do for his king. When David explained and asked to buy the property so he could offer the sacrifice, Araunah said, “Oh no, lord. Everything is yours for the taking, including the oxen for the burnt offering.”

            Then David uttered those words above, “I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord which cost me nothing.” It isn’t worship, David meant, when it isn’t mine to give. It isn’t worship when it’s an extra I keep on the shelf for emergencies. It isn’t worship if it isn’t something I need for myself. Service to God should cost me something.

            I wonder what David would say were he alive today. I bet I know some things he would not say.

            “We have a gospel meeting this week? I’ll go if it’s convenient.”

            “The price of gas has gotten too steep to make that extra Bible study this week.”

            “That’s just too early for me to have to get up in the morning.”

            “It’s a song service tonight? I don’t like to sing anyway.”

            “It’s on the way to my activity, so I can stop by the hospital for a quick visit, otherwise...”

            “My neighbor mentioned wanting to ask me about some problems he is having, and I wanted to watch that ball game. Maybe tomorrow night.”

            It doesn’t have to be inconvenient to count as service; if it did, the most pious time to assemble would be 2:00 AM. However, if convenient service is all we ever give, you wonder if it truly deserves that description, “service.”

            Did you ever offer assistance and have someone say, “Well, only if it isn’t any trouble?” Have you said it yourself? Don’t deny someone the right to “pay” for the offerings they give. It is often trouble to help someone out—it’s supposed to be! How much trouble they go to for someone else is a measure of their commitment to the Lord (Matt 25: 40). The same standard is a measure of your commitment as well.

            Since we do operate our assemblies on a system of expedients, it is too easy to think that everything should be convenient. Surely God doesn’t really expect our service to Him to cost us time, money, or pleasures and recreation that are good and wholesome. We may understand the concept of sacrificial giving on the first day of the week, but how much do we understand the concept of sacrificial giving every day of our lives?

            Because of all He has done for me, I should be willing and anxious to say, “I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing.”

Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe: for our God is a consuming fire. Heb 12:28,29.

Dene Ward