Entitlements are the biggest government programs in the US.  In 2016, the Social Security program cost $916 billion, Medicare $595 billion, Medicaid an estimated $651 billion and all other welfare programs an estimated $433 billion.  What began as an almost negligible part of the national debt in 1900 is now an estimated 17% of all national spending.
            When did this happen?  The largest jump in entitlement spending occurred during the Great Society programs of 1964-65, but most people trace the root back to the Depression and Roosevelt's New Deal programs.  Just to have a date, the Social Security Act was passed January 17, 1935, with the creation of the original "Welfare", AFDC, and the relief programs we have today.  At that time "relief" was $18 per month for one child and $12 per additional child.
            Entitlement programs are not necessarily bad.   When a man has had his wages taxed his whole life, I see little wrong with his picking up a Social Security check.  He is, theoretically, just getting his money back, money he loaned to the government for their use and which they are returning.  But entitlement in general has become a bad word.  To most of us it means "the belief that one is inherently deserving of special treatment," and not because it is earned.
            I wish I had a nickel for every conservative politician, even every Christian, I’ve heard complaining about people who have entitlement issues.  The ones who act like the world owes them a living; like they should never have to reap the consequences of their sown wild oats; who think that having money or, interestingly enough, NOT having money, makes them exempt from the laws of the land.  While I find myself agreeing with most of those opinions, I also see this:  every one of them, politician and Christian alike, has an entitlement issue of his own.
            First there is the husband who wants everything done in a certain way, even if it is a lot more work for his wife; who demands certain foods cooked a certain way and served with certain other foods or he refuses to eat it; who requires every item of clothing pressed, even if they are permanent press and no one else will know the difference; who wants his big boy toys because he’s “worked hard and earned it,” even if it means others in the family will do without needs.  After all, he is the head of the house.
            Then there is the wife who wants everything the neighbors have, even if the neighbor makes a lot more money; who thinks she must have plenty of time and money allotted for preening; who considers sacrificing for her family a kind of torture; who believes that life is for recreation and begrudges every minute she must spend caring for the children or keeping the house or cooking meals; who recites her list of woes to anyone who will listen every time she has the opportunity so she can be properly pitied and praised for dealing with them.  After all no one should have to go without a new pair of shoes for every outfit.
            And don’t forget the children these two raise:  selfish, materialistic whiners who are never satisfied; who think that their parents owe them every new electronic gizmo the world creates; and who never once utter the word, “Thank you,” much less actually treat their parents with enough respect and courtesy to even look up from their phones and carry on a civil conversation.  After all, they didn’t ask to be born so they deserve everything they want to make up for it.
            Do you think these attitudes haven’t invaded the church?  Where do you think we get those members who refuse to do as they are asked for the sake of visitors from the community?  Why, no one can have my perfect parking place (under the shade tree) or my perfect seat (in the rear).  Why do you think we have people who treat their precious opinions like the first principles of Christianity—basic and undeniable, and shame on anyone who isn’t as enlightened as I am?  Where do they come from, the people who will raise an argument about the trivial just to show their smarts and regardless of who may need the larger point being made?  Or the ones who, when they suffer, raise their fists at God and complain, “I’ve served you all my life.  Why me?” as if they could have ever earned any blessing at all?
            And why do you think we have such a hard time overcoming a single besetting sin?  “That’s just the way I am,” we think, as if the Lord should count Himself blessed to have us and overlook it.
            Yes, we are all guilty.  And what does Jesus have to say about that when he hears us pontificating about “those people” with entitlement issues?
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye, Matt 7:3-5.
            Be careful the next time you rant about entitlement.
 
Dene Ward

My mother came from a family of long-lived women.  Her grandmother was well into her 80s when she passed away, and her own mother was 97.  When Mama reached 87 with no signs of stopping, we decided that, due to our own health problems, we needed to move her closer than two hours away so we could care for her as we ought.  But even then, there were issues.  Our home is way out in the country, nearly an hour from her doctors and the hospital.  We have steps she could no longer negotiate and her walker would not even fit through our doors.  Then there is the issue of independence; she wanted to live on her own for as long as she possibly could, and we wanted to honor that wish.
            At first she bought her own little house in the city and managed that for a year and a half.  Then we moved her up a step to an independent living facility.  They provided meals and housekeeping for a nice little apartment as long as she could get back and forth to the dining room and take care of all her other needs.  And ultimately, we had to go the assisted living route.  Gainesville has a couple of very nice ones and she was very happy there until her death last year at the age of 91.
            One thing I noticed, and it was not just those last few years.  No matter where she lived, she managed to find the friendless, the outcasts, the ones who were "different" in some way that meant everyone else ignored or even shunned them, and she befriended them.  (Even in churches, mind you.)  She looked after them.  She defended them.  She made sure they had someone to sit by at meals, talk to during the day, and share their troubles with.  She could tell me more details about the lives of more people than I thought she even knew within two weeks of moving somewhere, and because we were now able to see her three or four times a week, this really became noticeable.
            My mother was a good woman, generous with her time and her talents, given to hospitality, always feeding visitors, college students, and friends.  I was never embarrassed to ask someone from church to spend Sunday afternoon with me, or even a whole weekend.  I knew the food would be plenteous and delicious, and the welcome warm.  If someone needed a home for a wedding or baby shower, she offered, even making and decorating the cake which was always elaborate and creative.  She sewed for people, sometimes just mending, but other times the whole outfit.  Whenever she went shopping, if something caught her eye, it was seldom for herself.  It was always that person or this person "would love that," and she picked it up, usually for no reason at all except she saw it and thought of them.  But once I began to really notice this habit of hers to gravitate to the social misfits, I thought to myself, "This is what it really means to be Christlike."
            What did Isaiah say about the Messiah?   The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ​to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. (Isa 61:1-3)
            And whom did Jesus seek out?  Not the wealthy, not the powerful, not the popular, not the "in-crowd," but a bunch of poor, "unlearned" fishermen, the hated publicans, the sinners who lived on the edge of a society that was happy to use and then discard them, a Samaritan woman who herself was an outcast among outcasts, those with demons, those with illnesses which were considered signs of sin.  He gave them a champion who saw them and their pain rather than leaders who considered them beneath their notice.  He fulfilled his mission "...to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, " (Luke 4:18) and "A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory. " (Matt 12:20).
            Today, examine your heart.  Who do you gravitate toward?  Who do you run to and why?  Our Lord actively looked for the outsiders just as we should search for the ones who come in among us and leave quietly because they are so sure no one even cares if they are there at all.  No one should come in among the people of God and feel like that.  What will you do about it today?
 
And Jesus perceiving it withdrew from thence: and many followed him; and he healed them all, and charged them that they should not make him known: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; My beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit upon him, And he shall declare judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive, nor cry aloud; Neither shall any one hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, And smoking flax shall he not quench, Till he send forth judgment unto victory. And in his name shall the Gentiles hope  (Matt 12:15-21).
 
Dene Ward
           

Sometimes I think in our efforts to be so careful about doing exactly what God has said to do, we ruin perfectly simple commands with all sorts of convoluted logic.  I recently heard one of those old notions again:  since we cannot pray 24 hours a day, “Pray without ceasing,” must mean to be in a prayerful attitude all the time.  When I was a child I never did understand that, but I assumed I would when I grew up.  I still don’t.  It says “pray,” not be in a prayerful attitude, and exactly what is a prayerful attitude anyway?  I know for a fact that you cannot be in a prayerful attitude 24 hours a day any more than you can pray like that.

Have you ever tried to play a 40 page Beethoven sonata from memory?  Believe me; trying to remember the fingering and the notes, not to mention getting the nuances just right, takes all the concentration you can muster.  How about singing German lieder?  As an American who does not speak the language, trying not only to remember words that sound like gibberish to me, but knowing when the “ch” sound is a frontward cat hiss and when it is a backward throat scrape, takes all the brain power I have.  I am sure that some of the things you do take equal concentration—one cannot do them and pray at the same time, nor even have a prayerful attitude.  And I defy anyone to have a prayerful attitude while he is asleep!

One of the works of the Holy Spirit was to take God’s words and put them into words we humans could understand, 1 Cor 2:6-13. The way to understand 1Thes 5:17 is simply to use words and phrases the way they are ordinarily used.

Suppose you have a checkup with your doctor.  He says your cholesterol and blood pressure are both up, and asks, “Have you stopped taking your medicine?  Have you stopped exercising?”  No, you tell him, but instead of believing you he says, “How can you lie to me like that?  I am standing right here in front of you and you are neither exercising nor taking your medicine at this very moment!”  I hope you would get a new doctor immediately because you certainly cannot communicate with this one.  You have not stopped taking your medicine because you still take every dose on schedule.  You have not stopped exercising because you walk every morning.  Nothing has caused you to change those habits.  Just because you are not doing it at that particular moment does not mean you have “ceased,” and anyone with common sense would know that.

How about a Biblical example?  Daniel prayed three times a day, Dan 6:10.  When his enemies tricked the king into making the law that anyone caught praying to anyone besides him would be cast into a den of lions, did Daniel cease to pray?  We all know he did not. He still prayed three times a day.

So the passage means “Don’t stop praying.”  If you begin to have one problem after another, don’t blame it on God and stop praying.  If unbelievers make fun of you, calling you a superstitious fool for believing in a higher power, don’t be embarrassed and stop praying.   If you have great successes, don’t start relying on yourself, forgetting that God can take it away in a flash--remember the great privilege you have, and don’t stop praying.  Pray without ceasing.
 
Bow down your ear, Oh Jehovah, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.  Preserve my soul, for I am godly. Oh my God, save your servant, who trusts in you.  Be merciful unto me, O God, for I cry unto you all day long, Psalm 86:1-3.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward

The last several of my entries have used the lives of people in the Bible as illustrations of eternal Biblical principles. I want to try that again, using a lesser known Biblical person. This man is so obscure that even some of the better read Bible students out there might not know much about him. His name was Abraham. *Wait for laughter to die down.*

Of course, we all know of Abraham. The father of the faithful. When we first meet Abraham (then called Abram) in Genesis 12, his faith is already at a legendary status. God tells him to leave all he knows to travel to a foreign land, which he as yet knows nothing about. Abraham then leaves! In leaving Ur, Abraham left a surprisingly modern city. There is archaeological evidence of indoor plumbing among other conveniences. When he left, he lived the rest of his life in a tent. A very nice, very plush, very comfortable tent, but a tent is still a tent. A house is much better. In leaving Haran, Abraham left his family and all he knew to be a stranger and live among strangers. Abraham’s faith in God and His promises was so strong that he willingly left all.

As strong as it was in the beginning, Abraham’s faith had room to grow. Many of the stories of his life over the next 25 years deal with his struggle to understand God’s plan and to even help it along. We first really see this in Gen. 15:1-4:

“After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ But Abram said, ‘O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.’ And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: ‘This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.’”

Notice that this isn’t a lack of faith, but rather a question that Abraham is asking God. God’s promise requires Abraham to have children. As of this point, he has had none. It was customary at that time for the chief steward of a wealthy man to inherit if the wealthy man had no heirs, and so far Abraham’s designated heir is Eliezer, his chief steward. Abraham doesn’t doubt God, but he can’t see how the promises are going to work out, so he asks. God tells him that his very own son, proceeding from his bowels is the literal translation, will be his heir. And so Abraham continues, some of his questions answered. In the next chapter, though, we see Abraham starting to try to help God’s plan along:

Gen. 16:1-4a. “Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived.”

It’s been 10 years of waiting. Ten years of living in a strange land, surrounded by strange people, because of faith in God’s promises, and yet nothing has happened. Maybe Abraham and Sarah were thinking that God was waiting on them to have the faith to step up and get the ball rolling. Who knows? What we do know is that Sarah was desperate. Desperate enough to try to capitalize on a custom of the time that said that any child born to a wife’s servant was legally the child of the wife. We see this illustrated in the competition between Leah and Rachel, the wives of Jacob, as each gave Jacob their servants to obtain children from. Not surprisingly, tension builds between Sarah and Hagar, but what I want to focus on is that Ishmael was born when Abraham was 86 (16:15-16). Abraham now has a son, his own son, issued from his own body. He thought things were now set up for God’s promises to commence. Thirteen years later, God again appears to Abraham, repeats the promises, institutes the covenant of circumcision and tells Abraham that Sarah will bear him a son. (17:15-16) Abraham then falls on his face laughing at what God has said! From a logical standpoint, this is understandable: Abraham was 99 years old and according to 18:11, Sarah had already undergone menopause. It made no sense that Abraham would have a child by Sarah. He just couldn’t understand how that could be. He believed in the promises of God, but he thought it made much more sense for those promises to flow through Ishmael. In fact, Abraham pleads to God for that to be the case: Gen 17:18 “And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before you!’” God replies, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.” (vs 19). And so, about a year later, Isaac is born to Abraham by Sarah. (21:1-3)

The promised child finally arrived 25 years after the initial promises were made, but it seems that Abraham might still have been hedging his bets. Child mortality rates were high in those days and Abraham might well have been thinking that, if anything happened to Isaac, he still had Ishmael. There is an indication of this when Sarah demands that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away. She had seen Ishmael mocking Isaac and demanded that they be sent away so that Ishmael would not inherit with Isaac. Abraham doesn’t like this because if nothing else, Ishmael is his son. He doesn’t want to send him away any more than any father would want to send a son away, but from God’s response, there might have been more than just that: “But God said to Abraham, ‘Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’” (Gen. 21:12) The fact that God saw fit to reiterate that Abraham’s seed would go through Isaac seems to indicate that, just as Abraham tried to help along God’s plan by having Ishmael, he now was holding a back-up plan for God, just in case. He never doubted God’s promises, he just wanted to understand how the plan would unfold. He wanted to help nudge it along on his time-table, not God’s. He wanted the reassurance of a back-up plan. God has now stripped him of all these things. The next thing recorded is, of course, Abraham’s biggest test.

In Genesis 22, God tells Abraham to offer Isaac to Him as a sacrifice. What must have been buzzing around in Abraham’s brain? Not only would he have been suffering as any father under those circumstances, he would have been wondering about the promises. Ishmael is gone, sent away at God’s command. He has no other sons. God promised that the blessings would flow through Isaac. In this test, we see the culmination of Abraham’s faith. When Isaac asked his father where the lamb was for the offering they were on the way to make, Abraham answered, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” (Gen. 22:8) Essentially, Abraham turned it all over to God and trusted that God knew what He was doing. Yes, we know from Hebrews 11:19 that he thought God would resurrect Isaac after he sacrificed him, but, whatever Abraham’s guess was, he turned the solution of the problem over to God. He no longer needed to understand the plan. He no longer needed a back-up plan to reassure him. He just trusted God to handle things and turned it over to Him. "God will provide”.

That complete trust of God to handle things we can’t understand is the whole point I wanted to make with this. I could have started out by quoting Rom. 8:28 (“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good”) and cited several other passages dealing with trust in God and had everyone reading this saying “Amen”, but it might not have had the punch of seeing Abraham go through the process of reaching that point. I could have gone to Heb. 12:7-11 and written about how God disciplines all His children so that the end result would be their attaining the “peaceable fruit of righteousness” and everyone would be nodding their heads, but then we leave the computer and enter the real world. Romans 8:28 sounds good until you are burying your first grandchild. Discipline for the ultimate fruit of righteousness sounds ok until you are watching your spouse slowly die from a wasting disease. When the career I thought I’d follow my whole life suddenly dries up and I find myself delivering pizza to make ends meet, how does that work for my good? It’s easy to read these passages and say “Amen” in church on Sunday. It is harder to remember them and understand how it works Monday-Saturday. The life story of Abraham shows us that we don’t have to understand it. We just have to believe. When Abraham was trying to understand God’s plan, when he tried to help it along, that’s when he got himself into trouble. It was only when Abraham stopped trying to understand and just trust in God to work His plan that God said to him, “now I know that you fear God”.

So, when the economy changes and I lose my house, how does that help me? How does it work for my good? I don’t know, but I believe that God has a plan and He is working it. When I get passed over for promotion, or even have my hours cut because I’m talking too much about God, how does that work for me? I don’t know, but I trust that God knows and He is working His plan. We are not promised answers in this life. We may never know why the horrible things that happen to us happen. We are told that God is in charge. That God knows what He is doing and He is working for our good. We just have to trust in Him. If we do, and cast our cares on Him, we are promised peace in this life.

Phil. 4:6-7 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Lucas Ward

The other morning I was outside feeding the dogs when I got a bit of a shock.  Wood smoke from the chimney swirled around in the cold north breeze, rustling the one or two brown leaves still hanging on the sycamore.  My breath billowed around me even thicker than the smoke and my hands ached from the cold.  The frost on the ground crunched beneath my feet, and the cold dampness coming through my shoes turned my toes to ice cubes.  Suddenly I heard my neighbor’s lawn mower roar into life.  My subconscious mind immediately went to work and without even thinking about it I was humming the old Sesame Street tune, “One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just isn’t the same…”
            Yes, I do live in Florida, but up here in north Florida your mower sits gathering dust, leaves, spider webs, and other assorted natural trash from November 1 till March 1, and sometimes beyond.  What in the world was he mowing? I wondered.  I never did find out, but it struck me that if I had driven by he would have looked odd sitting on a lawn mower with a heavy jacket, gloves, and a wool hat.  I wonder if he worried about what the people who drove by his yard thought about him.
            You think not?  You’re probably right.  Something needed to be done that involved a lawn mower and so he did it.  It’s really no one else’s business what it was and why he felt the need to do it.  Then why in the world do we get so uncomfortable when we look different to the world?
            We always direct thoughts like this to the young, but peer pressure works on every age, not just teenagers.  Isn’t that why we become uncommonly quiet when certain topics of conversation come up among our friends in the world?  We Americans often argue about our right to be individuals, usually quoting from works like 1984, calling Big Government laws we don’t like “Orwellian” because they take away the rights of the individual.  Then when the time comes to actually stand up and be an individual, to act differently than the mainstream of society, to talk differently, dress differently, live differently, we are just as bad as a teenager who wants to do what “everyone else is doing.”  Like a chameleon, we want to camouflage ourselves and blend in.
            So, can I really do this?  Do I have the strength to stand out in a crowd?  Can I be the one that every Sesame Street viewing child can point out as “not the same?”  God expects me to do just that.  In fact, he says, that if I live by the standards his Son taught I will not be able to help being different.  Some people will hate me for it; but others will respect me for it.  And maybe a few will be influenced to change their own lives.  We cannot have that influence if we are busy putting on our camo gear every morning before we go out.  Yes, the snipers might get us if we go out in blaze orange, but the ones who are looking for a way out of the woods might see us too.
 
Beloved I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims to abstain from fleshly lusts which war after the soul; having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that wherein they speak against you as evil-doers they may by your good works which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.  I Pet 2:11,12.
 
Dene Ward

Have you had a child, or perhaps an older relative, do this?  They notice a sore on their arm or leg and they sit there and pick at it over and over until suddenly they hold out the offending appendage and cry, "Look! It's bleeding!!"
            "Of course it's bleeding!" you want to shout back at them.  After all, they are the primary reason for that.
            We are a complaining people, but if something is bothering you, if it nags at you again and again and again, maybe the fault is your own.  Maybe you've sat there picking at it in your mind, over and over, until it finally bleeds.  Now you have something real to worry about.
            I do realize that all anxiety is not quite that simple.  Some of us do have issues in that regard.  But others just can't seem to leave well enough alone.  Nothing suits us until the blood flows.  And that is exactly the basis for all whining and complaining, for if it is truly something serious that is worth discussing and being concerned about, something you can actually fix, then that's what you do—fix it.  And that is far less satisfying to some people than seeing a problem worsen by constantly picking at it.
            We don't just do this to others.  We often do it to ourselves, wondering "what if" until all possibilities have been exhausted and then starting over again.  Pick, pick, pick.
            You know what the vet does when a dog has a sore spot or a surgery incision or something else he is likely to lick and worry at all day?  He puts a plastic cone around the dog's neck, the "cone of shame" some have taken to calling it humorously.  Maybe we need one of those too.  Leave it alone.  If it takes picking at to make it bleed, it probably isn't that serious to begin with.
            Put an imaginary cone around your neck today.  Christ came to give us peace.  We will never have it until we stop all the picking.
 
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. The things which ye both learned and received and heard and saw in me, these things do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Phil 4:8-9).
 
Dene Ward

Just the other day I was asked how our congregation managed this past, crazy year.  Stupid me, I was just getting ready to say that I feared that trial of a year had hurt the faith of the weak, that several families had moved to other, closer, congregations who had not stopped meeting, and that we no longer had visitors from the community as often as before.  Before I could get any of that out, he added, "Have many gotten the virus?  How many have you lost to it?"  Ah.  So that's what he meant.  Why was I so surprised?
            I suppose my biggest disappointment during all of this is the small concern others have shown over the harm caused the spread of the gospel.  We don't dare invite people to services or even into our homes for a study.  If a few do come we greet them with thermometers instead of open arms.  We aren't allowed in the hospitals and nursing homes to visit and hold services.  My husband's own prison ministry was called to a halt by the state for several months and now that he is allowed back in he is limited to one third the number he had attending before, no matter the size of the room, or the number who desire to come, and even with masks on.  Plus the inmates now have to do paperwork to request a pass to attend, something they never had to do before, and sometimes that paperwork gets lost or delayed and interested people cannot be there.  When I mention these things, does anyone express any grief over the souls that are being lost?  No.  We're too busy counting virus cases, most of which people recover from.
            I wonder what Paul might think if he were alive today.  What keeps coming to me is his exuberant joy when he heard that the gospel was being preached, even while he was in prison, even while he was in chains, even while people were attempting to cause him even more trouble while doing it.  What does he say about that?  "I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, " (Phil 1:12-18).
             This is not to make light of the virus.  I am truly sorry that some people have died.  I know personally some who are grieving and I have ached for them, prayed for them, and done the little I was still allowed to do for them.  But for the life of me, I cannot understand why we as the people of God are not openly grieving over the harm done to the cause of Christ, why someone isn't standing up and saying, "This is hurting the spread of the gospel," and weeping aloud about it; "This is killing the ones who were already weak," and bewailing it.
            Greeting one another with a holy kiss" (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Thes 5:26)—or holy hug, or holy embrace, or holy handshake, or holy however your culture greets—cannot be done over a computer monitor or a smart phone.  We cannot "show hospitality one to another" (1 Pet 4:9) when we are sequestered in our homes.  What does our reward depend upon?  In part, it comes because we have not neglected the Lord Himself by neglecting to visit the "fatherless and widows" (James 1:27) and those who were "sick and in prison" (Matt 25:36).   Except we have been prevented from doing exactly that.  But it seems not to matter at all because we certainly haven't caught the virus, have we?  Rejoice!
           We two are being careful, yes.  We are in that "high risk" group.  We have managed to stay well, despite taking a few chances here and there, like Keith continuing to go to the prison whenever they allow it, and both of us holding the Bible studies in our home and the willing homes of others that were in place before the world fell apart.  And it hasn't kept us from mourning as we see the damage being done to precious souls.  If the church had a flag, it ought to be at half-mast.  Their bodies may be hale and hearty, but the spiritually weak are dying in droves every day as long as this continues, and at a far higher percentage than the physically ill.  But do we care?  Nope.  Not as long as they don't catch the virus. 
           Well, they did catch the virus, the truly deadly one, the one that is always fatal unless the Great Physician heals us of it.  But, God forgive us, no one seems to be mourning over that.
 
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.  (Rom 9:1-3; 10:1).
For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil 3:18).
 
Dene Ward

A couple of months ago we met Nathan and his family at a restaurant about 15 miles south of here.  It has always been one of his favorites, primarily for their signature dish:  The Stogie, a one pound hamburger that is indeed one of the best I have ever eaten out.
            Having arrived early, we sat where we could see the street, so we did not miss their vehicle as it passed by the front windows.  Keith went out to help them unload and before long two little boys came running in with smiles, hugs, and kisses.  Judah, in fact, climbed right into my lap and did not leave it the whole time.  Trying to eat even half of my Stogie around him was an adventure, but do you think for one minute I would have told him he needed to leave my lap?  Not this grandma.  I did have to be careful not to drip hamburger grease on his shirt, or drop a tomato or pickle slice on his little head.  But Judah did not think about any of those things.   He just assumed he was safe in grandma’s lap.
            A few months earlier the boys stayed here for several days instead of just a few hours.  They immediately picked up words, phrases, and songs.  When one of them popped up that first night, I reminded myself then to be extra careful.  Aren’t I careful all the time?  Of course, but these little souls were learning from me even when I didn’t think I was teaching!  And what was dropping into their hearts and minds was a whole lot more important than a drop of mustard on their heads.
            If you are acting in any capacity as a teacher in the Lord’s household, the same is true of you.  Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers,  Paul told Timothy in 1 Tim 4:16.  First look to yourself, for it is often said that a person learns more from a sermon seen than one heard.  Make sure your life matches what you teach in every particular.  It is too easy to blind ourselves to things that are obvious to others. 
           Then make sure over and over that what you teach is correct.  Do not ever give an answer you are unsure of.  Never be afraid to say, “I don’t know, but I will find out.”  Never speak off the top of your head if you are at all uncertain.  Make sure the student knows if something is an opinion only.  I can tell you from experience that people will take things to heart you meant as a side note of no importance and they will repeat your words more than once to others, not out of spite but out of respect—they think you know what you are talking about, even when you don’t.
           And it may not be a class situation.  There may be someone out there who watches you with admiration.  Maybe in the past you said something kind to them.  Maybe they saw you do a good deed.  Maybe someone else they respect told them about you.  You are being watched whether you know it or not—every one of you!  Take heed to yourself!
           It isn’t just the little ears you have to worry about out there.  Just like a grandchild implicitly trusts that his grandparents would never teach him anything wrong whether by word or example, there may be others out there who believe the same of you.  What you do and say may indeed save them—and maybe not.
 
Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned…Titus 2:7,8.

Dene Ward

I love shortbread—at its simplest, real butter, flour, sugar, in a ratio of 3 to 2 to 1.  Pat it in a pan and bake it in a low oven.  With black coffee, or hot chocolate, or hot tea, or even good old Southern sweet tea to wash it down, I am happy.  And today makes me especially happy because it is National Shortbread Day.
            What does this have to do with history, you ask?  Like most other things, shortbread has a history.  It was invented sometime in the 12th Century by Scottish women who took leftover bread dough, sweetened it, and then dried it out in the oven to form something called a "rusk", a twice-baked biscuit.  Over time, the yeast in the dough was traded out for butter, and that suddenly made this an expensive treat saved mainly for special occasions.   Everyone loved it, including Mary, Queen of Scots, whose bakers refined the cookie to suit her tastes in the 16th Century.  She was especially fond of a version called Petticoat Tails which were flavored with caraway seeds.
            As to why January 6 was chosen for National Shortbread Day, I have been unable to find the answer.  I wondered if Queen Mary's history had anything to do with it, but no, neither her birth nor death date is January 6, nor was the date of her ascension to the throne.  So we will just be satisfied that today is the day and not worry about why.  Any reason is a good one for eating shortbread.
            One thing I like about shortbread is its versatility.  You can pat it in a round cake pan and cut it into wedges after it is baked.  You can pat it into an oblong pan and cut the finished cookies into fingers, triangles, or squares.  You can roll out the dough and cut it into shapes before baking.  You can stamp an emblem on it.
            Add some chopped toasted pecans and you have pecan shortbread.  Roll those into balls, and roll the baked cookies in powdered sugar and you have pecan sandies.
Exchange almond paste for some of the butter.  Leave out the vanilla and add almond extract; brush the dough with egg white and sprinkle with sparkling sugar and sliced almonds.  Suddenly your simple shortbread is almond shortbread.
            Add the grated zest of a lemon instead of vanilla.  Slather the cooked bars with a glaze made of the same lemon’s juice and some powdered sugar—iced lemon shortbread bars.  (Warning:  this is an adult cookie; kids are not crazy about it.)
            Cut your plain old shortbread into fingers.  Then, after baking and cooling, dip one end into melted semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate.  Leave some plain chocolate.  Dip others in chopped nuts before the chocolate sets.  Plain shortbread has suddenly become elegant.
            You can even use shortbread dough as the base for a layered dessert.  Just bake it and cool it first, enough to cover a 9 x 13 pan.  Add chopped nuts or not before baking as you please.  The layers can be three or four of your choosing—various flavors and mixings of pudding, peanut butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, fruit pie fillings, drained crushed pineapple, sweetened whipped cream, chopped nuts, toasted coconut, chopped chocolate bars, whatever you can imagine.  Chill and cut into layered squares, either light or rich, depending on your choices.  And it all started with a base of butter, flour, and sugar.
            Any time I hear someone say the Bible is no longer relevant, I think of shortbread.  It doesn’t matter for which of life’s situations you need guidance, God’s word contains something to help you.  Not only does it include the principles of marriage, but several real life examples as well—everything from good, sound marriages to marriages dealing with unfaithfulness and abuse.  The same is true with childrearing.  We are not stuck with abstract ideas like “raise your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”  We have examples of parents who made a mess of things—favoritism, lack of discipline, provocation, poor teaching.  We have parents who loved too much and in the wrong ways.  And we have the results of all those mistakes in heartbreaking detail.
            We have stories of neighbors who couldn’t get along and how they settled things.  We have stories of servants (think “employees”) who served well, and those who didn’t, and what made the difference.  We have stories of good masters (employers) and bad.  We have stories of those who handled power well and those who did not.  And if you can’t find exactly the same circumstances you need help with, “As you would that men should do unto you, do you also unto them,” covers a whole lot of territory, including email and cell phone etiquette.
            Just as shortbread can fit any situation from a children’s lunch to a family meal to an elegant party, God’s word works no matter what situation you find yourself in.  Keep a close eye out and I think you will find that people who think the Bible is irrelevant simply don’t want to follow its guidelines.  It isn’t that God says nothing about their situation; it’s that they don’t like His solution.
But that is nothing new either.  Ahab, one of the wickedest kings in Israel’s history, said of the prophet Micaiah, “I don’t like him because he never says anything good about me.”  There was a way to fix that; Ahab just didn’t like the remedy.
            God does not leave his children without guidance in every situation they might encounter.  It is up to us to find that guidance and obey it.
 
The works of his hands are faithful and just; all his precepts are trustworthy;
They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness, Psalm 111:7,8.
 
Dene Ward
 

We finally got there in our Psalms class—the infamous imprecatory psalms.  And yes, if you just start reading one of them without any sort of preparation they shock you with their intensity.  Is this really the Bible?  Should a Christian have anything to do with these vicious prayers?  And so we show our ignorance—just as I did for years and years and years.
            You will find all sorts of explanations for these psalms, including the assertion that they are not inspired.  Considering the fact that they are quoted by approved men in the New Testament (the apostles and even Jesus himself), I think we should take a careful step back and completely ignore that one before the lightning strikes.  Look at a few of those psalms yourself without preconceived notions and read carefully.  Psalms 35, 55, 59, 69, 79, 109, and 137 will explain themselves if you let them.
            The psalmist in each case has his relationship with God in good order.  He is under attack, but not for anything evil he has done.  His cause is the Lord’s cause.  He asks God to act “for thy name’s sake.”  His own personal faith has not been affected, but he is concerned that what the weak see will turn them away from God and destroy their faith.  In short, this is not about personal vengeance.  It is about justice.  It is about God keeping His covenant.  Remember when the people stood on Mt Gerizim and recited the blessings of the covenant?  The other half of them stood on Mt Ebal and recited the curses—that’s what an imprecation is—a prayer to curse.  Curses are every bit as much a part of the covenant as blessings are.  These psalmists are asking God to keep the covenant for His sake, not theirs.  (I must make a quick thank you to Tom Hamilton for showing me this.)
            And there is this obvious point:  inasmuch as I cannot become indignant at evil and injustice in the world, I cannot rejoice at the good in the world.  They are two sides of the same coin, a coin that points inevitably to my own moral compass.
            Do not for a minute think imprecations are only an Old Testament concept.  Besides quoting the psalms themselves, the New Testament has a few imprecations of its own.   But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.  Gal 1:8.  That is as obvious an imprecation (curse) as you can find anywhere, and then for good measure, Paul repeats it in the next verse.  Flip over to chapter 5 and read verse 12.  I wish that those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves.  Whoa!  Sounds “pretty severe” as one of my students quietly understated.  Want some more?  Try 2 Tim 4:14,15.  In fact, hang around that book for a good while.  Have a look at Rev 6:9,10.  There is a place for judgment in the New Testament just as much as in the Old.  We would do well to remember that.
            And please notice this:  in many cases the plea comes because of injustice, but in the New Testament nearly all of them are directed at people who are hindering the gospel.  What they are doing keeps new people from listening or undermines the faith of the babes.  This is not about personal vengeance any more than the psalms—it’s about spreading the gospel, about sharing the message of salvation to a lost world, and those who try to keep that from happening.
            So let’s turn this around.  Would it be possible for someone to pray these prayers (curses) about me?  What do I do or say that will impede the spread of the gospel?  Do I complain about my brethren to my neighbors, effectively turning them away from the church?  Do I stand in the parking lot and provoke strife between brothers and sisters with my gossip?  Do I incite rebellious attitudes toward the leadership?  Do my words and actions, and the world’s knowledge of where I hang my spiritual hat, cause people to look down on and turn away from the church and their opportunities to hear the gospel?  Anything that hurts the reputation of the Lord’s body in the community or causes dissension and conflict within makes me a worthy target for an imprecatory prayer. 
            The psalmist always left his request in the hands of God to do His own will, and God very often said yes to those imprecatory prayers.  Read some of those psalms listed above today.  Do you want God to even consider saying yes to those things about you?
 
Dene Ward