Coming up on twelve years ago I had to make an appointment with a world famous eye surgeon at the Cincinnati Eye Institute.  He did not have an opening for two months.  Unfortunately, my problem was time sensitive.  Too late and I would lose one or both eyes.  They told us not to despair but to call every week, and the very next week a cancellation had made a vacancy two days later.  It was a madhouse here trying to get ready for that long trip on such short notice, but it was important and we made it.  And that vacancy gives me a springboard for today's thought.

            Jesus told a parable once about a man giving a great banquet (Luke 14).  After his servants sent out the invitations, people began to make excuses.  “Sir, we have done as you commanded and still there is room,” the servants told the man (v 22).  And so others were invited to fill the vacancies.  In fact, the man rescinded the original invitations altogether.  “For I tell you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet” (v 24).

            Pay special attention to the fact that none of the excuses were about sinful things.  They were simply about everyday life.  It isn’t wrong to get married.  It isn’t wrong to buy property.  It isn’t wrong to take care of your business, whether farming or manufacturing or accounting or sales.  What makes the Lord angry is placing those things above him.  Immediately after that parable, he talks about people loving family more than him.  He does not tolerate that either.

            And please note this:  The banquet may be free, but it is not without cost, his next subject (v 28).  Family, in fact, may be one of those costs.  Jesus adds that self is the biggest cost—“Whoever does not bear his own cross, cannot be my disciple” (v 27).  You must understand that when you bear your cross you are on the way to your crucifixion, your death.  It has nothing to do with bearing some disability or illness or low lot in life.  Those things are not voluntary; they happen to people regardless their affiliation, or lack of, to the Lord.   No, Christians choose to carry their crosses, to crucify themselves, for his sake.  “I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

            We sing a song, “There is room in the kingdom for the small things you can do.”  That songwriter understood the cost--service.  We may partake to the full of his mercy and grace, but we are expected to serve because we have become disciples of a greater Servant.  The room available is not for the lazy or the selfish.  Neither is it for those too proud to accept help when needed—that is how they serve, by crucifying their pride. 

            God has room for us--plenty of room.  He wants us to dwell with him forever, beginning here and now.  In fact, if we excuse ourselves from living with him now, on the day when it really matters, when we need an eternal room, all we will see is a sign in his window, one especially for those who refused his invitation in this life, one that says, “No Vacancy.”
 
There is none like God…who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms, Deut 33:26,27.    
 
Dene Ward

It was popular in 1978 and I still remember it after nearly 40 years.  Not an original part of the musical “Grease” the song, sung by Olivia Newton-John, was added during the filming, even though the producers were not crazy about it.  Eventually it won a Grammy and was nominated for a Best Song Oscar:  “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”

              I wonder what all those starry-eyed, romantically inclined teenagers would think if they knew what God meant when He wanted you to “devote” something to Him.

              Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Jer 25:9

              Jerusalem was to be “devoted” and that meant “destroyed.”  And no, it’s not a onetime use of the word.

              But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.   Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.  And they burned the city with fire, and everything in it. Josh 6:18, 21, 24

              Jericho was “devoted” to God by fire.  It was totally destroyed.  When Achan “took of the devoted thing” he was stealing from God.

              So here’s the question for today.  How do I devote myself to God?

              We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Rom 6:6

              I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20

              And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

              The cross you bear is not some illness or disability or trial you go through.  Most of those things just happen to us.  Jesus is talking about something you do voluntarily, and everyone knew that if you saw a man carrying a cross he was on his way to his death.  Jesus says you kill that old man, crucify him, daily.  Then and only then can you be “hopelessly devoted” to him.
 
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Col 3:5-10
 
Dene Ward

I grew up in Tampa.  I learned to drive down Busch Blvd when there were actually empty, weedy lots between Temple Terrace and Florida Avenue.  I drove on I-75 with a learner’s permit, what is now I-275, and even into downtown Tampa where my eye doctor had his office in a 20 story “skyscraper”—by Florida standards anyway.  I drove down 75 past Howard and Armenia to shop at the only mall in town, Westshore Plaza, in an era when sometimes you wouldn’t see more than 3 other cars on your side of the interstate.  Yes, it was a long, long time ago.
 
             I took Driver’s Ed at King High School.  They had a little driving course in the back of the school.  A two lane “street” painted on a parking lot with stop signs, yield signs, diagonal parking, and pylons for practicing parallel parking.  I could drive that course without a hitch and usually even managed to parallel park without crushing a pylon.

              But we never practiced U-turns.  So one day after I had passed my exam and had my own brand new driver’s license complete with the requisite peon-home-from-working-the-field picture, I was headed west on Busch Blvd and realized I had passed my turn-off.  Time for my first U-turn.  I pulled into the left lane and patiently waited for the traffic on the other side to clear.  It may have been years ago, but traffic was not kind that day.  Those cars were spaced just so that I had to wait far longer than if it were a normal left turn.  I knew I needed time to straighten out the car and get back up to 45 mph before any oncoming traffic reached me.

              Finally there was a break, just barely big enough for me to maneuver, if I hurried.  So I spun that wheel hard to the left and pulled out and hit the gas.  My little Mustang made it to the far right lane before completely turning, but almost immediately I was in trouble.  I had kept the wheel turned too long.  The tires screeched as I crossed back over all three lanes and was headed for the median.  Even though I needed to let go of the steering wheel I couldn’t.  I had thrown myself nearly into the passenger seat and was hanging on for dear life.  Thoroughly panicked, I finally let loose enough for the wheel to slide between my hands and allow the car to straighten.  I took my foot off the gas and shifted back into the seat just in time to miss the median and straighten myself out in the left lane.  No one and nothing was hurt but my pride.  I slunk in the seat as the oncoming traffic caught up and passed me, hoping no one I knew had seen that.

              That’s what a lack of experience will do for you.  I was old enough to drive.  But I had never performed that maneuver before, and had probably never paid enough attention to my parents as they did.  “It’s just a longer left turn,” I thought.  No, it’s a bit more than that.

              U-turns in life can be difficult too.  I have seen so many young people completely disillusioned because they thought making those U-turns after their baptism would be a cinch.  Now that I’ve turned my life over to God I won’t feel those temptations any more, they think.  I will suddenly be a changed person, able to live perfectly from here on in.  Once again a lack of experience is showing.

              We can be forgiven from our sins, but very often the consequences are still there to live with.  That can mean things as difficult as serving jail time or fighting addiction or dealing with people we have hurt physically or emotionally.  It can also mean the urges of a besetting sin.  You will still have to work on it.  You may need to change not just your life, but your schedule and your friends in order to see a difference.  The same things that tempted you before will continue to tempt you, and the Devil will try even harder because he thinks he might have lost you.  Why work on the ones who are securely under his belt?

              Tell your children these things.  Tell that neighbor you are trying to convert.  If they are not prepared for reality, they may lose hope.  But also tell them that now they will have help, help that can strengthen them enough to overcome anything—not necessarily easily, but certainly.  Help that understands what you are going through and will bear with you as you learn and grow with experience.  You may throw yourself across the highway the first time or two, but eventually you will learn to navigate the roads of life, and those U-turns will become easier to make. 

              And, if you have been “raised in the church,” you may find that the U-turns you need to make are of a completely different sort.  It is all too easy when you have never been involved in what we call “the big bad sins” to look down one’s nose on those who came from that background and judge them unworthy because they still struggle.  That is the U-turn you must make:  away from a judgmental attitude toward compassion, the same compassion Jesus showed for an adulterous woman, a thieving publican, and a convicted criminal.  Your U-turn may be the most difficult of all, but he still expects you to make it.
 
But [I] declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. Acts 26:20
 
Dene Ward

I am certain that every Bible class teacher in the whole world has had this happen to them.  You reach a subject that you know applies to one or more people in your audience personally.  You know they need to hear this.  So you carefully lay it out in a way that cannot be missed or denied.

            Say you are teaching the story of Lydia and you reach that passage that seems innocuous, yet is anything but. 

            And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." And she prevailed upon us, Acts 16:15.

            You know there is someone who regularly calls the preacher, deacons, and elders and tells them what they need, expecting everyone to be at their beck and call, or who takes them to task for not doing as much as she thinks they should (as if she were the only qualified judge of such things).  Meanwhile, this same person has yet to ever offer service to anyone else in the congregation.  Instead she judges the entire congregation on how well she is served. 

            So you make the point clearly:  Even a new Christian like Lydia, a brand new babe in Christ, could tell that her own faithfulness to the Lord was based on how often she served others, not on how often she was served by others.  And why shouldn’t it be, when the Lord she claimed to be serving was a servant himself?

            You hope to see the dawning light, and perhaps downcast eyes as that student realizes her error.  But no, there she is nodding vigorously, perhaps even saying, “Exactly!”  Your heart sinks because you know your efforts were in vain.  Instead of examining herself, she is still examining the church.  She is thinking, “Those people needed this, because they don’t serve like they should.”

            It doesn’t matter the subject.  It probably happens in every class and with every sermon in every church.  Meanwhile, the folks who knock themselves out trying to be what the Lord expects them to be sit there wondering, “Do I do enough?”

            So here is the thought for this morning.  Stop judging everyone else.  Think about yourself, for this is one area where it is not only allowed to be a little egocentric, but required.  Don’t say, “They needed that.”  Instead, say, “I needed that.  Now how can I get better?” 

            Whatever the subject, even if you think it has absolutely nothing to do with you or your life, think about yourself.  It is not my business to fix everyone else; it is only my business to fix myself.  It is not my business to decide what everyone else needs to do; it is only my business to realize what I need to do.  I must constantly ask myself, Did I need that?  I know I did, somehow, even if it is not yet obvious to me.  That only means I need to look harder. 

            Every lesson I hear, every sermon I listen to, should have me thinking, “How can I use this to become a better disciple of my Lord?”
 
They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, "Is it I?"  Mark 14:19.
 
Dene Ward

I wonder what Punxatawny Phil saw this morning.  According to folklore, when this 120 year old groundhog leaves his burrow on Gobbler’s Knob each February 2nd, his shadow, or lack thereof, predicts the length of winter.  If he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of cold.  This has never made much sense to me.  The only way to see your shadow is on a sunny day.  It would make far more sense if the day was cloudy and gray and he did not see his shadow.  A cold gray day should mean more winter, not less.  Besides, how can Phil predict my weather over 1000 miles away?  My own local weatherman changes his five day forecast every twelve hours, and still misses it half the time.

            The idea of shadows is used a lot in the scriptures.  I was raised on the concept of “foreshadowing”—items under the Old Covenant used as types of things in the New, Heb 8:5; 10:1; 1 Cor 5:7,8, etc.  I think I had the notion that esoteric concept was the primary use of the word “shadow” in the Bible.

            Then I discovered Psalm 102:11, 144:4, and Eccl 8:13.  Our lives are depicted as shadows that decline and pass away.  Have you ever stood outside when a breeze was blowing those puffy cotton ball clouds across the sky?  One minute you are in the sun and the next in the shade—one minute you have a shadow and the next you don’t.  Life is just as ethereal in several ways.  One moment you are basking in the warmth of happiness and good times; the next your life is dark and gray with trials.  One minute you are here, and the next you are gone.  Remember not to lay up treasures for this world, but for the lasting one to come.

            The word is also used in terms of protection, hiding in the “shadow” of God.  David conveys thoughts like these in Psalm 17:8; 36:7; and 57:1.  Jeremiah uses the figure in Lam 4:20.  In a hot land with several desert areas, the protection of shade is important and that figure spoke volumes to these people.  Down here in Florida we have a healthy respect for shade which can make a ten to fifteen degree difference in the temperature.  We will walk the entire length of two parking lots in order to park a car in the miniscule shade of a thin-limbed sapling.  I wonder why so few are interested in the huge cooling shadow of a loving God.

            But then maybe I do understand.  When you step into the shadow of someone who is bigger than you, your own shadow disappears.  Our lives “are hid with Christ,” Col 3:3.  Maybe we just cannot stand the notion of giving up self.  We want to retain just a touch of independence.  “That’s just who I am,” becomes an excuse for our failure to overcome sin and become new creatures.  We fail to realize that we have merely swapped dwelling in the protective shadow of God for dwelling in the outer darkness of the Devil.

            Think today about shadows—about the interesting study of Old Testament items foreshadowing those in the New; about the fleeting nature of life, like a shadow dissolving when a cloud sails across the sun; about the great protection found in God’s shadow.  Think too about hiding yourself in the larger shadow of a Big Brother whose life we must emulate if we ever hope for that Father’s protection, and a life that is no longer as ephemeral as a shadow.
 
He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust, Psalm 91:1,2.  
 
Dene Ward

Not only is a little knowledge a dangerous thing, it can be unscriptural as well.

            Most people miss a command regarding the elders because they speed right past it to what they consider the more important issues, not realizing that all those others would be much easier if they took care of first things first. 

            But we beseech you brethren to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work’s sake. 1 Thes 5:12,13.

            Yes we are to give them honor, esteem, and obedience.  You cannot read the epistles without seeing that.  But Paul first says “to know them.”  That doesn’t mean to just recognize them across the room or be able to point them out to visitors. 

            This is not the usual New Testament word for “know”--ginosko.  If you have done much Bible study at all, or listened to many sermons, that is the word you have probably seen on all those power point displays.  This word is oida.  Let me show you how the Holy Spirit uses it in a couple of other passages.

            ‘You know neither me nor my father.  If you knew me you would have known my father also…but I know him.  If I should say I know him not, I shall be like you, a liar, but I know him and keep his word, John 8:19,55.  Do you realize Jesus is talking to the Jewish religious leaders and telling them they don’t know God?  No, actually he is telling them they don’t know God like he knows God, even though they think they do.  This is a full knowledge borne of a close relationship, not a superficial recognition of who someone is.

            Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and by your name cast out demons and by your name do many mighty works?  And then will I profess unto them I never knew you; depart from me you who work iniquity, Matt 7:22,23.  Will Jesus not recognize who these people are?  Of course he will, but he will not give them approved acceptance.

            Do you know your elders that well?  Had you worked to develop a close relationship with these men before you chose them to lead you?  Do you know them so well that you are able to approve their knowledge, judgment, and life in general?  Why exactly do you think those qualifications are listed?  Not so we can just check them off as quickly as we read them, but so we can investigate and really know they have been met.

            If you know your elders as the Holy Spirit intended you should by using that particular word, the rest of the commands pertaining to them will come more easily.  You will trust them enough to accept their judgment on things and obey them (Heb 13:17).  You will neither gossip about them, nor listen to it either (1 Tim 5:17-19).  You won’t be speaking to them without the respect due their position (I Thes 5:13).   If you cannot do these things, it is your fault.  You chose these men without really “knowing” them. 

           It isn’t their obligation to invite us over for dinner and be our best buddies.  It is our obligation to find out who they are deep inside, deep enough that we really know what they are all about.  We cannot always be privy to every bit of information they have when they make their decisions.  God never meant us to be.  That is why this knowledge we are supposed to have of them is so important.  It’s what makes our trust and submission possible. 

              Look back at the beginning of this little essay.  “Know them who labor among you.”  This is a command, folks, not just a recommendation.  Just which one of God’s commands do we think we don’t have to obey?

Obey those who have the rule over you and submit to them; for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable to you.  Heb 13:17

On January 15, 1535, King Henry VIII of England, declared himself King of the Church and the Anglican Church suddenly came into existence.  We could talk all day about “the church” he left and “the church” he formed, whether either of them were scripturally correct or even had the right to exist.  Today I just want you to think about this:  do you make yourself “king of the church?”  Do I?

            Although it was not as simple as this when you read all the various histories, the final straw for Henry was the pope’s refusal to allow him to divorce one of his many wives and marry another.  Henry wanted an heir and every woman he chose seemed unable to produce the desired son.  At first the pope was leaning Henry’s way, then politics reared its ugly head and in the course of all the complications, he denied Henry’s request.  So Henry simply left that church and made his own.

            I wonder how many of the various other denominations came about for the same sort of reason.  I wonder how many people try to camouflage their reason for dividing the Lord’s body by claiming that things are not done scripturally, when the real reason is, “They don’t do things the way I want them done.”  If you look at the makeup of the New Testament church, if you study carefully the things being said in the epistles, there was a vast plurality among those people.  Some came from Judaism and still practiced circumcision and Passover celebrations.  Paul did not tell them they had to change; he just told them not to bind their rituals on others.  The Gentile Christians came from a background of idolatry that kept them following dietary restrictions because they could not separate their old pagan beliefs from normal everyday activities, like eating meat.  Paul did not tell them to go ahead and eat that meat—he just told them not to look down their noses at people who did.  Even among the apostles we find a Zealot and a publican. 

            So believing things a little differently is acceptable as long as no one is actively sinning, or trying to force their own slants down other people’s throats.  Henry’s problem was that he didn’t like the rules so he made a completely new standard.  Now, he could do as he pleased.

            Jeroboam tried the same thing in the Old Testament.  He was not satisfied with the kingdom God gave him.  Instead of trusting God to fulfill his promise to build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and [to] give Israel unto thee, 1 Kgs 11:38, he was afraid he might lose it all when the people worshipped God as the Law commanded, especially when they went south to offer their sacrifices on feast days.  So he changed the feast days, he changed the place of worship, and he changed the priesthood.  They were still worshipping Jehovah, just not the way Jehovah had dictated they should.  At least that was how he rationalized it—we are still worshipping the One True God.  And God let him know exactly how he felt about that through Ahijah the prophet: he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he hath sinned, and wherewith he hath made Israel to sin, 1 Kgs 14:16.  Worshipping your own way instead of God’s way is sin.

            Worship, in the true meaning of the word, has nothing to do with how we want to do it and everything to do with how the Worshipped One wants it to be done.  That is why it matters what we do when we assemble, and that is why it also matters what we do the other six days of the week--our very lives are sacrifices (worship) to God, Rom 12:1-3. 

            I do not have a kingdom, and neither do you. We do not get to decide what the church does, or what will be acceptable if another does it. Who are you to judge the servant of another? Rom 14:4.  We do not even get to decide what we do.  Jesus Christ is King of the Church.  Let’s all be careful to do as he says, and not as we want.
 
And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Eph 1:19-23.
 
Dene Ward

Take heed that you do not your righteousness before men to be seen of them; else you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven, Matt 6:1.

            We all know that doing the right thing for the wrong reason will get you nowhere with God.  Every action, especially right ones, must be motivated by an unselfish desire to serve either God or His children. 

            We in the church are bad about equating “faithfulness” to assembling with the saints.  When was the last time you heard discipline being practiced for anything other than “forsaking the assembling?”  Unfortunately, a good many who do assemble are doing so for the wrong reasons.  In fact, their reasons for assembling might very well be more a sign of unfaithfulness than staying at home would have been.

            Complaints about the service are a good indicator.  The songs are too slow or too old or too boring.  The prayers are too long or too cliché-ridden.  The sermons are interminable or step on too many toes or they are given “in the wrong tone of voice.”  This brother didn’t speak to me, that sister hurt my feelings, and the elders ignored me.  The building is too cold or too hot, and then there is the always popular, “I didn’t get anything out of the services today.”

            Let’s take a look at that passage about assembling.  Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day drawing nigh, Heb 10:24,25.  Why is it that we assemble?  “To provoke one another to love and good works.”  And how do we do that?  By “considering one another.” 

            That same Greek word is used in Luke 6:41, And why do you behold the mote that is in your brother’s eye, and also in Luke 20:23, But he perceived their craftiness… “Considering” one another obviously takes some effort and more than a little thought.

            So what are we supposed to be doing while we sit on those pews?  We should not be rating performances like a judge at a talent show.  We should not be waiting to be entertained.  Instead we should be “considering” one another, “beholding,” or looking to one another, “perceiving” the individual needs of each one.  Does this sister need special encouragement this week?  Does that brother need a reminder?  Is the family next to me in the midst of a crisis?  What can I do this week to help them?  The family that usually sits across the aisle is missing.  I need to find out why.

            Assembling for the wrong reason is just as bad as praying for the wrong reason, giving for the wrong reason, or even being baptized for the wrong reason.  Assembling is a gift, yet another opportunity to build one another up, not just for two or three hours, but all week long.  If I don’t do my part, seeking to find ways to help others instead of concentrating on my own likes and dislikes, I will have no reward with my Father who is in Heaven.  In fact, I might as well stay home.
 
But speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in due measure of each several part, makes the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love, Eph 4:15,16.
 
Dene Ward

I live in Florida but up here in North Florida we still have a little bit of winter.  Usually on cold nights, we fill up the woodstove, which burns out by morning and we don’t need any more till the next night, or maybe not for a few nights, depending upon the vagaries of cold fronts.  Sometimes, though, I have had to keep that fire burning all day, adding a log or two every couple of hours.  You see, if you let it burn down too far, it goes out.  Even adding wood will do you no good if the coals are no longer glowing.

            Sometimes we let our souls go out.  Instead of stoking the fire, adding fuel as needed, we seem to think we can start it up at will and as needed, with just a single match I suppose.  Try holding a match to a log—a real log, not a manufactured pressed log with some sort of lighter fluid soaked into it.  You will find that you cannot even get it to smoke before the match dies.  Starting a fire anew takes a whole lot more effort than just keeping the old one going.

            God has a plan that keeps the fire going.  He has made us a spiritual family.  He commands us to assemble on a weekly basis.  He has given us a regular memorial feast to partake of.  He has given us his Word to read any time we want to.  He will listen to us any time of the day.  And perhaps, knowing how he has made us, that is why those songs he has given us keep going round in our heads all week—words at the ready to help us overcome and to remind us who we are.  All of these things will keep the fire from dying.  Just as those people who actually saw and heard Jesus on a daily basis said, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" Luke 23:32, his voice can come to us through the Word, through the teaching in our assemblies, and through the brothers and sisters he has given us.

            Once a month attendance won’t keep the fire burning.  Seeing our spiritual family only at the meetinghouse will not stoke the fires of brotherly love.  Picking up our Bibles only when we dust the coffee table won’t blow on the embers enough to keep them glowing.  Sooner or later my heart will grow cold, and no one will be able to light a big enough match to get it warm again. 

            Our God is a consuming fire, and he expects that to be exactly what happens to us—for us to become consumed with him and his word and his purpose.  Nothing else should matter as much. 

            Take a moment today to open up that woodstove of a heart and see how the fire looks.  Throw in another log before the fire goes out. 
 
My heart became hot within me. As I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: "O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah.  Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather! And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you. Psalm 39:3-7.
 
Dene Ward

I finally did it a year or so ago:  I went to amazon and began a wish list.  There isn’t much on it because I have very few wishes—at least ones that a human can do anything about.  And for most of our married life we have lived so closely that wishes for earthly things just made me discontent and unhappy so I avoided making them.  But every time I ordered something we needed from amazon, there was that wish list icon in the top corner, so I gave in and made one.  I had to browse to come up with more than 2 things to put on it. I haven’t touched it since—and neither has anyone else

            Lately, we have had so many church potlucks that I have been thinking about going to that wish list and ordering one of the things on it myself—one of the top-rated insulated casserole carriers.  I have needed it at least three times in just the past two months!

            I hear that some people have spiritual wish lists too.  Usually I find out when they come up to me and say, “I wish I had as much Bible knowledge as you do.”

            Let me set the record straight first.  I don’t have a passel of Bible knowledge in my hip pocket.  I have to look things up just like you do.  And, the knowledge I do have is courtesy of a husband whose knowledge is nearly encyclopedic and whose willingness to help is overflowing.  He is, in fact, the one who taught me how to study, so you could say that he is responsible for all of my so-called knowledge, both the answers he has given me and the things I have learned on my own.

            But about that knowledge you wish you had—why don’t you just do what I did and fulfill your own wish?  No one can do it for you anyway.  All it takes is time.  By that I mean hours at a time over a succession of years.  Do you really think I learned what I know in 2 weeks?  I have been working on this so long I have even had to unlearn a few things, because that’s the next step—growing in your knowledge as you hone your understanding of what you have learned.  It isn’t just a list of facts; it’s a compilation of concepts that weaves itself into a complex tapestry, and the more you learn the more clearly you will comprehend it.

            Don’t talk to me about “not having enough time.”  Nearly every one of us has changed our schedules to add something that was important to us.  You added children to your life.  That really changed your schedule.  You went back to school.  You started exercising.  You took on a new job.  When it mattered to you, you found the time.        
  
            I have learned this about wish lists—don’t put anything on them that you really need.  You may never get it when you are depending upon someone else.  Instead, buy yourself the present. 

            Buy this one—knowledge--with the same time and energy you spend on things that are not nearly as important. 
 
​Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. Prov 23:23
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…Hos 4:6.
 
Dene Ward