GRACE: God? I'm thirsty!

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them."

Ephesians 2:8-10

It never failed but that our kids got thirsty the minute we were too far from the house to get them one.

Problem: how do we get water to satisfy their thirst? Solution: take them to the source of water or build a conduit for water to flow from the source to them.

So too with God's grace. It’s in heaven where we cannot go at the moment, far from the thirst of our hearts.

However, God, who spoke the heavens and the earth in existence, has said faith is His conduit for His grace. What a conduit can be to our need for water, faith is to our need for God's grace.

So it makes no sense to seek another solution ... there’s only one link between heaven and earth and that link is faith in the Son of God.

Christianity, Grace,
Illustrations, Religion

ETERNAL LIFE: The secret is written above!

The new teacher was given the combination to the school’s safe verbally. She then repeated it over and over as she hurried to the safe. As it would be, she forgot the correct numbers and their order; try as she would she could not get it open.

Seeing a fellow faculty member walk by, she quickly asked him to help. “I think I can!” He responded.

Walking into the supply room he let his hands fall to his sides and raised his face toward heaven, silently his lips moved.

Being a Christian woman the new teacher was impressed. “It is so good to see a professional like yourself stop and pray when he is in need.” She said.

“Oh, I’m not praying, the number’s written on the ceiling.”

It's a foolish person who labors on the door of the safe holding the secret of eternal life … pounding and pulling, grunting and groaning ... when the owner of the safe will provide it for free to all comers. All one needs to do is look to heaven and move one’s lips.

Christianity, Eternal life,
Illustrations, Religion

CIRCUMSTANCES #II: Getting the penny out of your eye!

Recently, a young friend shared a conversation she had with her pastor at her home church in Brazil. She had sought his counsel concerning a difficulty she was having; her pastor suggested it was “a tempest in a teacup.”

She objected to his suggestion and said, “Oh, Pastor, you don’t understand.” His response was perfect for her situation.

He took a penny (actually the Brazilian equivalent of a penny) and told the young woman the penny represented her circumstance. He then asked her to hold the penny up to her right eye her left eye closed. Having done so, he asked her what she could see with her right eye. “Nothing,” she responded, “the penny is in the way.”

“So is your difficulty.” He counseled. “Now, slowly move the penny away from your eye toward the sun, until it’s about a foot from your face, and tell me what do you see?”

“I see the outline of the sun.” She replied, as she squinted from the blinding light of the sun.

Her pastor gently but wisely scolded her. “You see, Kath, the penny is what you are worried over but the sun is the real problem. Get your eyes off your circumstances and look for the real problem.”

How I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve had my eye on my circumstances and not on my problems.

Circumstance is a problem’s playground. No one remedies life’s circumstantial nuisances until they’ve dealt with the cause of their problem; and no one can eliminate the cause until they’ve defined their problem. History’s landscape is littered with the carcasses of lives devastated by this phenomena.

We must discipline ourselves to recognize the difference between symptoms and causes of problems; we must train ourselves in the art of problem definition.

It’s natural for us to focus on symptoms rather than causes because the symptoms are immediate and real. Such things as causes and definitions are more illusionary and intangible. But, all the same, we must get to work on this process.

Christianity, Circumstances,
Illustrations, Religion

PARABLE: One bucket per person!

"Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, 'Behold, we are your servants.' But Joseph said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.'"

Genesis 50:18-20

I had been told my work would end, just as the others’ would end, when the canyon was emptied … or when I died, whichever comes first. Ages ago, during an extremely violent natural disaster, the canyon had been filled with rubbish and debris. The owner had a special place in his heart for this canyon and wanted it cleared.

One bucket of refuse was removed by each of the owner’s servants each day. When the canyon was empty all our labors would end. In the early days, my bucket was not too difficult to carry, it didn’t seem so much to take just one bucket of trash out of the canyon each day.

After months of load bearing, I noticed the canyon wasn’t emptying very quickly; it was then my bucket began to grow heavier each day. And it was then I began to grumble, reflecting often on my initial, though foolish, optimism.

I now began to wonder if the others, those who carried their loads out before and after me, were just slackers, pretending to carry a bucket of waste each day. Or perhaps they found a way to get out of doing the work altogether. Maybe, I thought, the owner has favorites, or shows favoritism.

One day I complained loud and long until one of the owner’s assistants arrived to see what all the commotion was about. After listening patiently and carefully, the assistant agreed to take the issue up with the owner.

The next day the assistant returned just as I was about to go out for my daily bucket of litter. “Follow me, we’ll get you another bucket.” He said. Soon we entered an equipment yard where buckets of every kind, large and small, were scattered about.
In the middle of the yard was one tremendous bucket. “Whose is that?” I inquired.

“Oh, that one belongs to the owner,” the assistant said. “Every day he carries one bucket of trash just like the rest of you.”

“What about those other buckets? The really big ones?” I asked. “Those belong to the owner’s special assistants. The largest red one is mine.” He responded.

It was then I saw a small bucket, over in a corner. My mind instantly grasped the significance of this small bucket. If I had the smallest, I would never have to worry about others carrying less junk than me. “I’ll take that one! It’s perfect.” I exclaimed.

“That’s interesting,” the assistant said. “Why?” I asked curiously. “Because that’s the the one you came in with!” The assistant said softly.

So you think your burdens are too heavy? The Lord’s is heavier! You think others are slackers? Perhaps their burden is enormous compared to yours! You think you’re asked to do too much? Perhaps you’re not asked to do enough! Perhaps you think you’re one of God’s special agents! Perhaps you’re not so special at all! Perhaps you’re load is right where it ought to be!

Christianity, Illustrations,
Parable, Religion, Submission

Works

Nothing but the Truth [Ecclesiastes 12:14; other topics - Deeds, Good & Evil, Hidden things, Judgment, Sin, Word]

In the US, citizens and officials have grown concerned about the tragic circumstances surrounding a place called The Branch Davidian Compound in Waco, Texas.

Apparently not all of what was reported by those in charge in 1993 was all that should have been reported about the assault on the armed compound. There were calls for an independent investigation into what happened.

Agencies of our government assaulted the compound leaving 86 people dead, 24 of them children. Although it took place several years before, it returned to the headlines when the FBI admitted it had used incendiary devices during the assault which destroyed the compound by fire ... something they had denied.

As of today, there is new information that U.S. Attorney General Reno, who heads the Justice Department, may have been kept in the dark about some aspects of the siege. The Dallas Morning News reported that Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston made the claim based on a five-year-old document he was given. The record indicates the use of potentially flammable tear gas at the compound be kept secret from all but the legal staff at Justice.

No special prosecutor, no special investigation, no review of the facts will be necessary on the Great Day of the Lord. God will simply open the books and present the facts. Nothing will be hidden from His sight [Hebrews 4:12-13].

The Bible tells us ... "God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil."