Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

Of course, we all know to read the label and follow the directions. But I keep discovering new ways this rule applies. After years of bearing well, my muscadine grapes began, as the Bible describes it, "casting their fruit." This was a major disaster as not only did we and our friends enjoy the fruit, Dene made the only true grape jelly I ever ate. Commercial grape jelly is primarily sweet and only slightly grape. So the county agent came and said it might be Boron deficiency. I immediately ordered some from Amazon and began applying it. The next year, the vines only cast a few grapes so I was eager to continue the program. But, sometime over the winter, my brain sparked across a dried up synapse and I thought to read the label on that laundry staple 20 Mule Team Borax and found it was a boron compound! And guess how much cheaper it is than boron? Then there was Oxyclean Bathroom Cleaner. Did you know that it is ordinary hydrogen peroxide? I can buy a lot of that for the same price and reuse their sprayer. Be careful, not all Oxyclean products are just peroxide, read the label!

So, when Jesus picks you up and reads the label, what ingredients will he see? Will "other ingredients" be the highest percentage? When we introspectively examine ourselves, sometimes we list ingredients that Jesus is not looking for. Surely you have noticed that in the judgment scene where he separates the sheep and the goats, not one of the ingredients had to do with right church or right worship?  In fact, it seems that even religious works and deeds count for little (Mt 25:31-46; 7:22; James 1:27).

So, we go to the right church that does Bible things in Bible ways and we even manage to pray more than at meals and study our Bible some. Those things are not high on the list. They are "other ingredients" to build us up and strengthen us so that our faith will lead us to fill ourselves up with God. Worship is whom you become, not what you do (Gal 2:20).

Thus says Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glories, glory in this, that he hath understanding, and knows me, that I am Jehovah who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for IN THESE THINGS I DELIGHT, SAYS JEHOVAH (Jer 9:23-24). Knowing God has more to do with who you are than the religious stuff you do, "Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? then it was well with him. HE JUDGED THE CAUSE OF THE POOR AND NEEDY; THEN IT WAS WELL. WAS NOT THIS TO KNOW ME? Says Jehovah (Jer22:15-16).
When Jesus reads your label, will it say, "sports, video games, TV bingeing, recreation, vacation…but he went to church."?

Or will it say, "lovingkindness, justice, righteousness, cared for the poor and needy"?
 
But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death no more hath dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: but the life that he lives, he lives unto God. Even so you reckon yourselves also to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey the lusts thereof: neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Rom 6:8-13)

Keith Ward

Since Keith has retired we sit on the carport nearly every morning with a final cup of coffee, talking and tossing treats to Chloe, watching the hummingbirds dogfight, listening to the squeaky whine of titmice fussing over the feeders, counting blooms on the Mexican petunias, and trying to decide if the clouds bode well or ill for the day.  Even in the summer, we enjoy our time, but in the summer one thing changes—the quiet of the country becomes the roar of the big shop fan.  That fan makes it comfortable enough, as it blows away the gnats and mosquitoes, and turns the early morning humidity into a cool breeze instead of a heavy and suffocating blanket.
            As a born and bred Florida girl, fans were a large part of my childhood.  We did not have air conditioning until I was a teenager, and central air did not come along until Keith and I had been married three years.  Not that it wasn’t invented, but it had not yet reached our income level.
            I remember summer afternoons at my grandmother’s house, sitting on the porch under the shade of oaks and chinaberries, listening to the soft whir and tick-tick-tick-tick as her old oscillating fan swept back and forth across us, evaporating the sheen of sweat and cooling us in the process.  That fan felt wonderful.  In an air conditioned world, I doubt many but my generation have known that feeling.
            This morning I came across Genesis 3:8 and saw a margin note I had never noticed before.
            And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day…
            Did you know that word “cool” can also be translated “wind” or “breath?”  God created everything, including the cooling effects of wind and, thus, an evening breeze to cool off His earth.  So even the perfect garden must have become a bit warm during the “heat of the day.”  Surely God had already created the ability to perspire, as well, since that is essential to the function of the body.  Man, as he worked in the garden (Gen 2:15), must have become warm and must have sweated.  Then God sent the evening breezes to cool him off.  It wasn’t until after he sinned that the work became difficult and the heat and the sweat became intolerable, just as it wasn’t until after then that conception, which I view as the whole of the female condition, became painful.
            You can find that word again in Prov 17:27:  He who spares his words has knowledge, and he that is of a cool spirit has understanding.  “Spirit” is “wind” is “cool.”  So now I have fans and breezes and dispositions in my mind, and it all came out this way: If I have a hot nature, I need the cooling effects of the Spirit, and what better way than to read the word he “breathed” to cool me off?
            Many of us are foolish enough to put ourselves in situations where we know we will be tempted to anger, where we know we will be pushed and prodded and even shoved right in its path.  Why?!  We tell our children to avoid situations of temptation.  We tell them it’s downright stupid to go certain places and not expect trouble.  But we sometimes even contrive them, almost as if to flaunt our freedom to do so.  Then we shout out, “That shouldn’t have been so hard,” as we fall, flailing our arms for some sort of lifeline that isn’t there.  We decided we didn’t need it.
            This might be more motivating:  Not only can God cool us, but with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked, Isa 11:4.  One word seems to say it from every angle, just as the old oscillating fan hit from every angle.  Cool yourself off with the Word of God, and don’t go near the torrid zones.
 
​Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city, Prov 16:32.
​Good sense makes one slow to anger… Prov 19:11.
​Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools, Eccl 7:9.
 
Dene Ward

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Psalm 103:1
 
            In our Psalms class we came upon this call from David to bless Jehovah, a wake-up call directed first to himself as he sat complacent and satisfied with his ho-hum worship, and then later to the people who were following their king’s lead.  The question quite naturally arose then, how can a man bless God?  So we did a little research.
            Your first thought might be that there are two distinct words for “bless”—one for God blessing men and one for men blessing God.  Not true.  Both are the same Hebrew word.  It doesn’t take a Hebrew scholar to look at the anglicized word barak in several different verses and see that it is indeed the same word.
            Here is something else we discovered with but a small amount of time searching the scriptures:  “bless” usually does not involve physical things.  We tend to think that way in our all too materialistic culture.  When asked to count our blessings, what do we list?  When we ask God to bless us, what do we expect?  Yet in the scriptures, I found that well over half the times the word “bless” was used it involved nothing more than what we might call “well wishes,” wanting good to happen to the other person.  Now think about the opposite—if someone curses a person, what is it exactly that he wants?  He wants evil to befall that person.  We understand that perfectly fine; the problem comes when we think a blessing involves a tangible gift.  Of course, we cannot do that for God, but we can give God other “blessings.”
            We checked out over 300 verses using the word “bless,” many of which involved men blessing God.  It helped enormously when we saw the various ways that word is translated in the KJV.  In fact, some of these things completely lost there punch in the newer versions.  Let that be a lesson to you not to completely ignore those older versions.  They lasted a long time for a good reason.
            Five times the word is translated “salute.”  In the newer versions that word is translated “greet.”  There is a world of difference between saluting someone and simply saying hello.  Salutations involve respect.  Especially in 1 Sam 25:14 the difference between David’s men “saluting” Nabal and just greeting him color how we view Nabal’s reaction—it was completely out of line if he had been saluted.
            One time the word is translated “congratulate” (1 Chron 18:10).  When do you usually congratulate someone?  When he has received an accolade or a well-deserved award.  This word involves honor.
            One time the word barak is translated “thanks.”  This word denotes gratitude and appreciation.
            Three times it is translated “kneel” or some variation of it.  That word signifies humility and submission. 
            All of these are other English words used to translate the word “bless” found in Psalm 103:1, Bless God, O my soul.  So how do we as mere mortal men bless an Eternal and Almighty God?  We show respect, we give Him honor, we appreciate the things He has done for us, and with humility we submit our lives to Him.
            Can a disobedient person bless God?  Read that last paragraph again.  No, he cannot.  Can a self-righteous person bless God?  No, not a chance in the world.  Can a half-hearted Christian, who somehow thinks there is a minimum he can do to get by bless God?  None of those things show honor, respect, gratitude, and humility. 
            Be careful before you read Psalm 103.  It demands a whole lot more than most people want to give.
 
Then David said to all the assembly, “Bless the LORD your God.” And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage to the LORD and to the king, 1 Chron 29:20.
 
Dene Ward

Nothing annoys me much more than a chirping smoke alarm.  Yes, yes, yes, I tell it.  I know you need a new battery.  I will get to it as soon as I can.  
            Maybe it’s because I am the only one around here who even needs the smoke alarm.  Keith not only can’t hear the chirping, he can stand under the thing when it goes off and not hear it.  As long as I am in the house I can wake Keith up and get both of us out in time should a fire start.  If only the toaster and the broiler and the occasional spillover on the burners didn't set it off too.
            Warnings are often annoying.  How about the various beeps in your car?  For us, it’s just the ding-ding-ding when you leave the keys in, but I have friends whose cars ring, buzz, beep, or whoop-whoop-whoop when they back up too close to something, pull in too close to something, swerve a little too close to the lane markings, let their gas tanks get too low, open the wrong door at the wrong time…  Honestly, I don’t know how they stand to drive at all.
            But only a fool ignores warnings.  And there are quite a few of them out there—fools, that is.  Just try warning someone about losing their soul, and you may well lose a friend.  They get mad, they strike out with accusations about your own failings, they tell everyone how mean you are.  Trouble is, ignoring the warnings won’t get them anywhere they want to go. The danger is still there.
            If I don’t answer the call of the chirping smoke alarm with a new battery, I may very well burn to death one night.  Telling everyone how annoying the thing is won’t change that at all.  If I don’t answer the warnings of someone who cares enough about me to brave losing his reputation and being hurt, my end won’t change either.  It doesn’t matter whether I thought he was mean or whether he needed a warning just as badly as I did.  I know the first reaction is anger.  I’ve been there myself.  But anger never saved anyone, nor accusations, nor whining and fussing about my hurt feelings.  There is a whole lot more at stake than a few feelings.
            Heed the warning when you get it, no matter how you get it or from whom.  It may be the only one you get.  People aren’t like smoke alarms.  Not many of them will put up with your bad reactions.  They’ll either stop chirping, or never chirp again.  Then what will you do when the fire starts?
 
"Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life, Ezekiel 33:2-5.
 
Dene Ward

     When my boys were growing up, because we were always living on a shoestring and could not buy them expensive gifts, I always let them choose the menu for their birthday dinners.  Creating a celebratory meal made their inexpensive gifts seem larger, I hoped.  I had also bought a string of shiny multi-colored letters saying "Happy Birthday" that I strung up over the windows behind the table which hung there the entire week.  Their birthdays were only a week apart and, I hoped, that made it seem like the party lasted longer than it really did.  Now that little string of letters hangs up over my grandsons' birthday table—a tradition passed down to the next generation.
     The meals they asked for were always "favorites." Sometimes the combinations were a bit strange and whenever I asked what they wanted, it was always with my breath held.  Hot dogs and potato chips (we seldom had snacks around the house so a bag was a treat) made sense, but New York Strip and Kraft macaroni and cheese (and it HAD to be Kraft) was a bit of an odd marriage.  Another time it was homemade pizza (nothing frozen or takeout would do) and broccoli—yes I had a little boy who loved broccoli AND Brussels sprouts.   
     I thought of that in a moment of writer's block a few weeks ago.  I have been doing this blog since 2012, and an email list three times a week 6 years before that.  While I don't mind rerunning a post here and there, I hate to do it with great regularity.  On the other hand, there are only so many topics just like there are only so many different foods.  Sooner or later you are bound to repeat yourself.  I actually have some favorite posts.  When I do a rerun I always wonder who will remember it.  Sometimes I don't!  But just like you always need certain nutrients, you will always need some of the same reminders in your spiritual life.  I do too, or they wouldn't be on my mind.  Several of the New Testament writers talk about "reminding" their readers of things they had learned long before, so we are in good company.
     So you may find yourself remembering, if not a particular post, then the topic itself.  My old brain is slower these days and I sometimes repeat myself.  I hope yours won't mind a repeat here and there and you are always welcome to ask for a "favorite article" to be run again.  Even if it's not your birthday!  I am sure there is someone somewhere who needs it.  Maybe even me!
 
Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you about these things, although you have known [them] and have been established in the present truth, and I think it right, so long as I am in this tent, to stir you up in reminding [you],2 Pet 1: 12,13
 
To ask for a rerun article, click on Contact Dene, or leave a comment on a post.
Dene Ward
    

     Old age gets evermore undignified.  We were headed for Sunday service when a little pain started deep in my chest.  At first, it just felt like indigestion so I said nothing.  After a few minutes, the pain deepened and a minute or two after that, it ran up my throat until it felt like someone had a hand around my neck.  Okay, I thought.  This is not indigestion.  At that point, Keith figured out something was wrong and he said, "At least church and the hospital are in the same direction."   The pain began to fade after 10-12 minutes until it was completely gone, but the next morning I called my primary care doctor "just in case."  He had me in his office the next day giving what seemed like a pint of blood.  The next day I heard from a cardiologist and the next I was in his office.  "I think you need to go to the ER," he said after I told my story, and after a little thought and more advice, that's where we went.  Before the day was over, I was admitted.
     People came in the room every 15 minutes wanting something or other, usually involving more blood.  I wound up with bandages on my right hand, plus the crooks of both arms.  Each arm had an IV with four empty ampules, another "just in case."  When I held up my arms, it was like I had an udder hanging from each one.  During one "visit" I stained half of a towel bright red that ran all over the pillowcase it was supposed to be protecting and soaked the pillow beneath.  I also had leads all over my chest and eventually had to have a nurse help me change into the hospital gown.  I simply couldn't get through the spider web of lines to pull anything over my head without hanging myself.  Even she finally yanked off the leads so I could undress, and then carefully put them back on.  After 2 days full of tests I made it home late the second night because a very sweet nurse took a liking to us and stayed an hour and a half after her shift ended to get us home. 
     The result of all this?  Are you old enough to remember all those old black and white movies that came on after the late news?  The ones where the patriarch of the wealthy family has a heart condition and must keep a vial of little pills handy in case he has a heart attack?  And as soon as you see that scene, you know that sooner or later, someone will upset the old man on purpose and when the chest pains start and he reaches for his little pills the bad guy will keep him from getting to them and he will die of "natural causes?"  But true to the continuing cliché, some great detective will figure it out and the murderer will be caught after all?  You know those movies?  Surely that is out of date by decades, I thought.  But not so.  I am now a walking cliché with my vial of little pills next to me all the time.  At least we have no murderers in the family, but these little pills are nitroglycerin and after I take three, if they do not work, we are to call 911.  Does that mean if an EMT has to start CPR we will all blow up?  Clearly I have seen too many old movies.
     Despite my flippancy, this did sober us up for a few days.  How likely is this to happen again?  Well, they did give me those pills.  But the answer seems to be somewhere between maybe and probably.  So we will take precautions.  A little scare never hurt anyone did it? 
     And to be honest, it isn't the first scare we have had.  An automobile accident that could have been a lot worse, an illness that could have been fatal or at least debilitating, a violent crime that could have left me a very young widow.  I am certain that everyone has had moments like these, incidents that reminded you of your mortality and how easily things could have gone horribly wrong.  Here is the question for today:  what have we done with those reminders?
     God has always sent reminders to his people and they have almost always refused to pay attention.  And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have you not returned unto me, says Jehovah.  And I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.  So two or three cities wandered unto one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have you have not returned unto me, says Jehovah.  I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees has the palmer-worm devoured: yet have you not returned unto me, says Jehovah.  I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have you not returned unto me, says Jehovah.  I have overthrown [cities] among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning: yet have you not returned unto me, says Jehovah. Amos 4:6-11.  If you are familiar with the prophets, you know that is only one of many places where God castigates his heedless and faithless people.
     So is every bad thing that happens a warning of impending destruction, an ultimatum ending in "or else?"  Not always.  Despite what we may want to believe, despite what some religious people preach, God never promised us a life of ease.  We live in a cursed world where sin and death will seem like they are the winners, where we may well be persecuted for doing right, and where the curse upon the earth makes itself known again and again.  So no, not every bad thing that happens is a warning or a punishment.  Job teaches us that if nothing else.  But we would be foolish to ignore those things, to laugh them off as if they mean nothing.  The one thing we can do when these scares occur in our lives, whether big or little, is to remind ourselves that we never know when God will call us, we never know what day will be our last, and we should always be prepared, serving God and his people, doing good works, and shining our lights into a dark world. 
     So I have been reminded.  Maybe now I am more ready than ever before.  How about you?
 
 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that aught be written unto you.  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.  When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape.  But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for you are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober 1Thess 5:1-6.
 
Dene Ward

We live thirty miles from the meetinghouse, about forty minutes with good traffic flow and no construction.  Otherwise it can be up to an hour. 
            To make the before-services meeting of the men who will be serving that day, we usually leave our house about 7:45 every Sunday morning.  One Sunday we passed a hitchhiker at the four-way stop a couple of miles from the house.  He was an older gentleman, decently dressed, holding a sign that said “Gainesville.”  So we stopped and picked him up.  We understood that he was taking a risk too, so as he settled into the backseat we mentioned that we were on the way to church and pointed out our stack of Bibles next to him.  This instantly set him more at ease, and he talked with us some. 
             He was on his way to work at Sears, a good thirty miles from the corner where we had picked him up, and several miles opposite where we were headed.  He didn’t have to be there till noon, but since he did not know how long it would take to get a ride, he had left his house on foot at seven-fifteen and made it to the corner where we found him.  His car had broken down and he was only able to buy a part a week as his paycheck came in, so until he fixed it, he was hitching rides.
            “But just take me as far as you can and I’ll thumb another ride and another until I get to the bus stop in front of Wal-Mart.  If I make it there by eleven I can get the bus I need in time.”  We took him all the way to Wal-Mart.
            Now just imagine this:  you find out your car doesn’t run on Saturday.  You live way out of town where no one else does.  How early would you be willing to get up to hitch a ride to a nine o’clock service?  That isn’t the half of it, people.  What other things do we miss doing for the Lord because we aren’t willing to make a sacrifice like that, because it’s so easy to say, “I can’t?”  This man was nearly 70 years old, yet he spent nearly five hours every morning getting to work, working a whole nine hour shift, and then more hours getting home after work—in the dark.  Have you ever gone to that much trouble for the Lord?
            The next Sunday the man was once again at the four-way stop.  We picked him up and dropped him off at Wal-Mart, after inviting him to sit with us at church till eleven, with an offer to take him straight to Sears afterwards.  He politely declined, and also declined to tell us exactly where he lived when we offered to pick him up and take him to work every day.  But he did tell us that his wife had died several years before and he had lost all his savings paying for her medical care.  “I have to have this job,” he said.  “I am only six payments from paying off my mortgage, but without a paycheck I will lose my home.”
            Ah!  There was the real motivation.  He didn’t want to lose his home, an old double wide on a rural lot.  He got up at 6:30 every day for a job that didn’t start till noon, so he could be sure of getting there.  And he did it so he wouldn’t lose a humble, barely comfortable home.
            We have a home waiting for us too, far better than that man had, a home that is eternal, “that fades not away.”  He didn’t want to lose his home.  Don’t we care whether we lose ours?
 
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God, Heb 11:8-10.                
 
Dene Ward

Make sure this does not describe you.

When I first moved to the US and discovered that many people associate evangelical Christianity with racism, I was bewildered.  The New Testament is one of the most emphatically anti-racist texts ever written.  Fellowship across racial and ethnic differences is as intrinsic to the message of Jesus as care for the poor.  And yet there is a painful association between racism and the breed of American Christianity that stops its ears to the Scriptures and conflates white-centered nationalism with biblical faith.

Rebecca McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity

Chloe doesn’t have much of a sense of smell thanks to her doggie allergies, which alternately cause congestion or a runny nose.  We can throw her a treat and then sit for several minutes unbothered while she searches for it in the grass.  But her sense of hearing must be amazing.
            She can distinguish our car engine all the way from the highway, almost a half mile.  I’ve seen her sit there and watch for Keith for several minutes before he even gets to the gate, before the dogs along the lane begin to bark at his passing because she hears “him” coming.
            And she can hear moles digging underground.  We will be walking along outside when suddenly she stands at point, looking at the grass just ahead of her, then pounces and begins digging, her snout in nearly to her eyeballs as she digs and sniffs (bless her heart, she tries) and searches.  Many times she has brought out the mole and disposed of it.  This year we have had plenty for her to work on.
            Moles are small mammals, insectivores, suited to a subterranean lifestyle.  They have tiny or invisible eyes and ears.  They have the ability to survive in a low oxygen environment by reusing oxygen inhaled aboveground.  That also means they can tolerate the higher levels of carbon dioxide that would poison most mammals.  They avoid each other except in breeding season and fight whenever they do meet.  I couldn’t even find a word for a group of moles.  They aren’t herds or swarms or gaggles or flocks.  Maybe that’s because the word is unnecessary since they never get together.
            Think about all that.  Does it sound familiar?
            Do you know any people with small eyes and ears, many of whom are blind?
             Why do you not understand my speech? [Even] because you cannot hear my word, John 8:43.
            In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Cor 4:4.
            Do you know a group who reuses old oxygen, failing to bring in any new work to revitalize its heart, poisoning itself in the process?
            …Thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, Mark 7:13.
            Do you know a group that avoids each other except in season (Sundays) and then fights when they do meet?
            Whence [come] wars and whence [come] fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your pleasures that war in your members? James 4:1.
            But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another, Gal 5:15.
            If all that sounds like a group you know, even if they call themselves the body of Christ, they are only pretenders.  That is not what he gave his life for.
            I am certain you could come up with other comparisons yourself.  But don’t waste your time on that or you are in danger of becoming one of those moles yourself, festering underground in your own poison.  Just do what you can by being what you ought to be.  Moles are ugly, in more ways than one.  It shouldn’t take much motivation to not become one.
 
"There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye will see me'; and he veils his face. In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light. Job 24:13-16.
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Joanne Beckley.

1Corinthians 7:17 Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one (man, woman, slave, free, Jew, Gentile, etc), as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And thus I direct in all the churches.
 
Throughout my school years I began to recognize that my classmates would look at me when something needed to be said or done. I didn’t know why, and it was scary to think I would have to stick my neck out and be their leader. By hook or crook I led, but it was never easy, and when I failed, I was at a loss as to why the failure. I then began to realize my father and mother were teaching me by example that it wouldn’t get any easier the longer I lived unless I considered the needs of others, and not my own. No wonder they hammered into me that character must be developed, but only with God’s help. If I won or failed in my leadership, it would rest on my character.
Romans 5:3,4 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope.
 
Leadership is the ability to guide, influence, or motivate others to achieve a goal. It is not suddenly bestowed on untried men or women. Only when approved character and a willingness to lead is recognized will a person be appointed to be a leader. When I read Numbers 32:28, it caused me to think of the past history of Joshua and Phinehas and how they developed into being God’s chosen instruments to lead His people into the Promised Land.
 
Joshua (Hoshea) the son of Nun is first mentioned in Exodus 17 in leading the Israelites slaves in their fight against the Amalekites. Only a month had passed since leaving Egypt and he had these men become a force to be reckoned with! At Mt Sinai he accompanied Moses to the mountain (Exodus 24,32). As a young man, he would serve Moses in whatever way he could (Exodus 33:10), and was jealous (mistakenly) for Moses’ ability to prophesy (Numbers 11). At Kadesh-barnea, he and Caleb expressed full confidence in God, exhorting the multitude to remain faithful (Numbers 13). 40 years later, just before Moses died, Joshua was given the spirit of wisdom and was commissioned to lead the Israelites in conquering the land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 34:9). His faith, his commitment to God, and his loyalty to Moses was conspicuous and unswerving. As Moses’ successor, he faithfully acted upon his principles. He was a brave and competent general, wise in the fight.
 
Phinehas son of Eleazar, was a grandson of Aaron, chief of Korahite Levites (1Ch 9:20). In Numbers 25 Phinehas is first mentioned when he took a leading part in cleansing Israel from whoredom at Shittim before the Israelites entered Canaan. His strong action is also referred to in Ps 106:30,31. His faithful services were secured to his house in the succession of the priesthood (Nu 26:11). Before Moses died, he became high priest and helped Joshua in conquering Canaan. He went on to inquire into the reported idolatry of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (Josh 22), and delivered the decision to fight the tribe of Benjamin (Judges 20:28). His character was marked with strong moral indignation and fine integrity.
 
So, what qualities should a man or woman exhibit in becoming a leader for God? No matter whether this leadership is found in the work place, in the church, or in the home, there are certain characteristics that must be present if that leader is to be pleasing to God.
 
1. Integrity. A leader with integrity draws on his values to guide his decisions, his behavior, and his dealings with others. He has clear convictions about what is right and wrong and is respected for being genuine and consistent. He has a strong sense of character, keeps his promises, and communicates openly, honestly and directly with others.
Col 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, [do] all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
 
2. Willing to make hard decisions. When facing a tough decision, a leader must start by determining what he is trying to achieve. He must consider the likely consequences and recognize possible alternatives. He must then make his final decision with conviction, take responsibility for it, and follow it through.
Romans 11:20b You stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but in awe (of God).
 
3. Encourage others to be leaders. A good leader will recognize courage and passion in others. He will demonstrate his confidence in others to develop their own leadership qualities. He will promote commitment in their desire to become leaders.
1Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.
 
Leadership can be seen in your example of being a faithful servant of Christ. A leader is recognized when you see a need and wisely act upon it, encouraging others to share in providing a solution. A good leader will be willing to teach the gospel, especially on a one-to-one basis. Indeed, you can be a leader for the Lord.
 
Joanne Beckley