Pennsylvania Scenery 1 Corinthians 3:18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 1 Corinthians 3:20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. The Delphic Oracle was quite popular with the Corinthian people. This group of Maxims was part of what Paul criticized above in his first epistle. Supposedly given by the god Apollo, some of these principles raise the eyebrows. Others sound very familiar, to our chagrin. “Know thyself,” came from the Maxims, also “Be yourself.” “Pray for happiness” and “Benefit yourself,” “Gratify without harming.” That’s some sweet wisdom if your life is beaten up; sarcastically speaking. Too bad it was…
Healing at the Cross Posts
“Like as a father pitieth* his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” Psalm 103:13-14 (*to love, love deeply, have mercy, be compassionate, have tender affection, have compassion.) God pities us. Do you know Him that way? If so, it might change a lot of things. Mom and dad taught us “don’t be a complainer, don’t whine about everything.” I understand why. God differently says, “come to me, you will find pity.” Father knows we are made of dust. Have you failed a lot lately? Be honest with Him. Is it because your circumstances are unbearable? Don’t make excuses for sin, but please tell Him all about everything. We must endure much on this earth, but sometimes our rear ends are getting kicked and we are not making it. Tell your Father in Heaven; He pities you…
Proverbs 30:18 three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand: Proverbs 30:19 the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin. These first three cannot be tracked, neither the fourth. The illustration builds on natural phenomena. So the true believer in Christ goes similarly, only theirs operates on spiritual phenomena. The spiritual life carries untraceable as much as the bird, snake, ship, or man with virgin; yet even more-so. See, the blood of Christ cleanses our sin beyond hint, suggestion, tinge, or smidgen of remembrance. It carries our sin into the forgetting determination of an Almighty God as a permanent washing. As far as the east is from the west, into the depth of the sea, and to a land uninhabited our sin has gone.…
The awareness of shame is a reckoning with lost innocence, the realization that one now has the potential to hurt another and be hurt, to honor God and to dishonor Him. Shame is the pervasive effect and affect of sin.Shame is the raincoat of the soul, repelling the living water that would otherwise establish us as the beloved of God. We believe falsely that our sin disqualifies us from receiving His love. Andrew Comisky Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. Psalm 109:29 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Psalm 109:18-19 The business of putting on a…
“To the praise of the glory of his grace (Ephesians 1:6) Ephesians 1:3 teaches, “we are holy and without blame before Him in love.” In the Messiah he chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in his presence. CJB “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Psalm 84:11 “Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” “For who hath despised the day of small things?” Zechariah 4:7 and 10. Matthew Henry says, “that we should live and behave ourselves in such a manner that his rich grace; might be magnified, appear glorious, be worthy of the highest…
Ezekiel 44:17 “…no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.” Ezekiel 44:18 follows; “They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything that causeth sweat.” These priests were forbidden to wear wool. Why? Maybe because of pesky moths who eat holes in it? Could it be that the price of mothballs was going up? Was there a shortage on Woolite or the Sheep-shearers union had gone on strike? None of the above was true. Then what? The problem with wool was that it caused perspiration due to its air-tightness. God didn’t want that, it didn’t picture the way things ought to be in the presence of God. See, sweat comes with the wrong clothing and is a sign of a body laboring. Is it possible that…
“Never once did we ever walk alone, never once did you leave us on our own. You are faithful, God, you are faithful.” Have you heard the song? It brings a tear to my eye to think it, but it is so true. Hasn’t He been more than gracious with us; hasn’t He done more with our lives than we could have ever dreamed possible? Yes, though He be high, yet has He respect unto the lowly. He then uses these foolish low-things to confound the wise, and weak things He uses too. He has dealt with our lives from an extreme position of realism. By this I mean that He has had to deal with our weak double-minded disposition, and still work in us a humble demeanor, as much as a confident one. God knows a whacked out soul is incapable of either, and the timing of these mind-builds…
Fresh means not stagnant, decayed, fermented or rotten. God’s life is fresh, bright, original, innovative, creative, clean, and crisp. Can we discern the difference? Here’s a primer. Is there a thin layer of slime on it; is there a lot of bugs around it or has the color of it changed from green to orange? These kinds of signs are mini-clues that foods, thoughts, or words, reek, (stink, duh); are not fit for consumption. How do we keep it airy? Check the source, my friend; cool and clear beget cool and clear. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good for the use of edifying. Nevertheless, even when the origin is unsullied, it can no longer be refreshing if we wait too long to use the substance. Things will be bitter to the taste, or bland or just funny; strange to our palate, unfriendly…
In our suffering we may face gloom at dawn, and dawn after dawn, on and on, it stays. Grieving pain is longsuffering, expanding, lingering. It keeps on keeping on, reduces curing to schemes of preservation; ignores the total healing potential. Bodily aches require pain relievers, salves, creams, and rest. Pain of loss needs equal kinds of attention. First of my strategies in soul-trauma was to eliminate downward-turning advancements toward the mind-emotion-conscience etc. especially feelings. This exercise was simply “wound protection,” accepted since making peace with the loitering wound was considered a normal function. I became acquainted with just how much my wound would endure, which was not that much. I nursed it; after all, it assumed a prominent place in my soul. Woundees are a particular breed. As one of them, I didn’t really savor being around negative people. I craved love and attention; it was easy to discern skeptical…
Many are failing the grace of God, forsaking their diligent looking, and allowing for a troubling root of bitterness to develop, defiling many. This is written in Hebrews 12:15. Yes a lot of believers are spineless, but David was not. In 2 Samuel 12:20 it says “Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.” The verse above culminates a former lusting; a wandering eye in a time of weakness, and an affair. Then, it was followed by a denial, a woman’s pregnancy, a panic by all, and a husband’s murder. Not done yet, we see a cover up, a chastening by God, a rude awakening by David and acknowledgement of sin; his repentance followed that,…