• Dene's Blog
  • About Dene
  • Contact Dene
  • Dene's Recipes
  • Dene's Books
  • Dene's Classbooks
  • Gallery
  • Recommended Sites
  • FAQ & Tutorial
  Flight Paths

Greetings

3/31/2015

0 Comments

 
Salute one another with a holy kiss…Rom 16:16.  
    Over the years I have heard a lot of people make a big deal out of this, asking, if we are going to be so picky about things, why we don’t go around kissing one another all the time.  They usually stand there smiling, completely satisfied with themselves for having “caught” us.  It is perfectly easy to answer.  We can find many different greetings in the scriptures, all of which appear to be acceptable to God--kissing, embracing, bowing, or simply speaking to one another with standard greetings of the day.  Greetings vary from culture to culture and by not specifying one, God has given us tacit authority to practice them all.  
    As usual, these folks have focused on the wrong part of the phrase.  It isn’t the “kiss” that we should emphasize; it is the type of kiss—a holy one.  In fact, the choice of greeting in this illustration seems the perfect one to use since it was a dissembling kiss that betrayed our Lord.  Today we Americans would simply say, “Greet one another with a holy handshake.”
    So what makes a greeting “holy?”  Sincerity obviously, and especially so if we are contrasting it with a kiss of betrayal.  Do we shake hands with good feelings in our hearts, or is there a metaphorical knife hidden in the other hand, ready to stab the person we seem to be accepting as soon as they turn around?  Will we say pleasant things to their faces, then slander them when they leave?  Or perhaps less obvious but more prevalent, will we call one another “brethren” when we really don’t want to be around one another any longer than we must?
    A lot of people hang on to agape with glee, spouting that handy definition, “seeking the other’s good whether you like him or not.”  It’s almost like they are shouting, “Oh goody!  I don’t have to like that brother after all!”  
    Pardon me?  “It’s not phileo,” they say, “so it doesn’t mean we really have to like one another.”  What then do they do with all the passages that talk about brotherly love and kind-heartedness?  Do they just cut them out of their Bibles?
    For one thing, we have made too big a distinction in those two words.  In the early first century, agape was not looked on with the approval we do now.  How exactly would you feel if someone said to you, “I care what happens to you, but I don’t much like you?”  I think I might be insulted, and that is one reason Peter had such a hard time in John 21 accepting Jesus’ question, “Do you agape me?”  To him, it was far more important to phileo the Lord.  It took the rest of the century and into the next for that word to become the deeper love we often talk about.
    Do a little research and you will find that the two words are often used interchangeably in the New Testament, much of which was written closer to the middle of the first century, when the meaning of agape was still evolving.  In 1 Cor 8:3 and 16:22 we are told to love God.  One uses agape, the other phileo.  In Eph 5:25 and Titus 2:4 we are told to love our spouses.  One uses agape, the other phileo.  In John 13:23 and 20:2 we hear about “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”  Guess what?  That’s right, one uses agape and the other phileo.  That little tidbit only took me about 5 minutes to look up.
    You can tell a lot about people by what they emphasize in the scriptures—their pet peeves, their personal interests, even who they have a hard time loving.  Make sure that your greetings, whether a handshake, a kiss, a hug, or a simple wave of the hand, are holy.

Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren [phileo + adelphoi], love [agapao] one another from the heart fervently, I Pet 1:22.

Dene Ward

0 Comments

Filling in God's Blanks

3/30/2015

0 Comments

 
Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

Like most government agencies, Florida Department of Corrections has a number of forms to be filled out.  One that inmates must sign for me is totally useless; the purpose for it ended over 10 years ago but we cannot get it removed.  So I hand it and another senseless form (unnecessary but not known to be totally without purpose) to the inmates, with the parts that they need to fill in marked with exes –signature, date, DC# (Department of Corrections number).

The totally useless form has a heading explaining what its [defunct] purpose is, “I _____________......”  This has no X beside it, my attempt to avoid wasting any more time on it than I must.  Inevitably, the inmate will put his name in the blank, or ask whether I want him to do so.  I reply, “Just where the exes are.”  Sometimes, I look at one who has filled it in and say, “I told you, ‘where the exes are.’ ” They always start apologizing.  They know they were not following the instructions when they filled in that blank.

It seems we have the same problem with the Bible, we cannot stand blanks.  Fantastic (as in “fantasy”) books have been written telling what the other apostles did, what Jesus did as a child, what he did between 12 and 30, etc.  Even ancient people got into the act and books were written to fill in the gaps of famous O.T. characters, some purportedly by those inspired men/characters.

As for us, we bind rules where God left a blank.  Or we decide that since God left a blank, we can do whatever suits us.  Numerous passages can be cited to support the radical notion that when God said nothing, that is exactly what he wanted, “Unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son,”  “Of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priests,” and “In all places where I have moved with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"'  And that last one right after God told David, “Thou shalt not build me a house.”  (1 Chron 17).  Several more such could be listed.

Most religious division comes in places where men filled in God’s blanks.  At least the inmates know they did wrong to fill in the blank, but these theologians still argue that they have the right to do so and certainly never apologize.

“That you may learn not to go beyond what is written.” 1 Cor 4:6

Keith Ward

0 Comments

That Difficult Conversation

3/27/2015

0 Comments

 
An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not evil, all the days of her life, Prov 31:10-12.

    Bathsheba gets short shrift most of the time.  Due to a lot of misunderstanding of cultural practices, she is accused of things she did not do, and blamed for things that were not her fault, but that is not what we are going to talk about today.  Today we are checking in on David and Bathsheba about thirty years later.  David is near death at the age of 70, and Bathsheba is around 50, or even less.*

    David has promised Solomon that he will be king, that, in fact, God Himself has chosen him to be the next king.  Adonijah, as the oldest living son, has other plans.  He sets about having himself crowned even as David lies on his deathbed.  He isn’t being particularly secretive, but he is very careful whom he invites to the coronation.  David’s mighty men are left out, as well as Zadok, who as a result of this becomes the patriarch of the new high priest line promised in 1 Samuel 2, and Nathan the prophet also.

    Nathan comes to Bathsheba.  ‘Haven’t you heard?” he asks her.  Then he gives her careful instruction about telling David the news, and goes along with her to verify her story.  Bathsheba seems more than willing.  Perhaps it is a mother looking after the welfare of her son, but for her to have this close contact with David after all these years, when none of his other wives do, tells me their relationship became the prominent one.  She was the favorite, and as any wife would at this time, she made sure he was happy and had what he needed.

    The rest of the story doesn’t really matter to me today.  Maybe it is because I am older now, maybe it is because I have seen so many women doing it up close and personal, but the verse above from Proverbs 31 sprang to my mind when I thought of Bathsheba’s actions.  A good wife will see to her husband’s wishes, “doing him good and not evil,” even when he is no longer able to function.

    And the only way we can do that, ladies, is to ask what he wants.  If you haven’t, you need to sit down together and ask him those tough questions.  If you have a will, and you should, that will help, but perhaps he has other things, not valuable things, but things he cherishes, that he would like to go to someone in particular.  Find out and write it down.  Perhaps he wants a certain man to preach his funeral.  Find out who.  Perhaps he wants certain songs to be sung.  Find out which ones.  

    Then there are the really difficult decisions.  Does he want to be an organ donor?  Does he have a living will?  If he is very ill already, does he have a DNR?  If he were to reach the point that he no longer knows anyone, how does he want to be cared for?

    Life has a way of stealing a man’s identity and our society’s ridicule of the elderly doesn’t help a bit.  The doctor may tell him he can no longer drive.  Be careful what you say to others in his hearing.  You may not think it a big deal, but for some men driving represents more than just going somewhere.  God has programmed into our men the need to provide and protect, and in a society where we no longer face angry natives on the warpath and food is always just around the corner at Publix, he has few ways of doing that.  Driving may be one of them.  Don’t steal his manhood with your comments about this or anything else he can no longer do.  

    We could go on and on with this, but I imagine you have gotten my point.  Because of the emotions involved these things are difficult to talk about, even when we have absolute faith in the reward God promises.  Some men will refuse, but do what you can.  Listen to him when he talks to others and make a note in your mind of what he says if you can’t get him to say it to you, but do your best to know what he wants and then do those things for him when he is lying there completely unable, just as David was.

    An aside here—there are some things a man has no business telling his wife to do.  He should not tell you to never remarry.  Especially if you are young, which is a whole lot older than it used to be to me, Paul himself says you should remarry (1 Tim 5:14).  Death breaks the marriage bond (Rom 7), and he no longer has that hold on you.  And of course, anything sinful you can rightly ignore.  

    Back to our point—please do this today.  Do not use your youthful age as an excuse.  One inch either way and a bullet would have made me a widow at 42.  Then there was the stroke Keith had when I was 49.  I can tell you sad tales of people who have succumbed to disease even earlier than that.  These days women usually outlive their men, especially if they are several years younger, as I am.  It is only sensible to be ready.  How can you possibly “do him good and not evil” when you don’t know what good he wants?

    And then do this for him too.  Sometimes we women do go first.  Tell him what you want.  If you start the ball rolling, maybe it will come more easily for him.  Once you both have it down, you can rest easy, and on the day when one or the other of you finally do go to that promised rest, the one you leave behind can rest too.

The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away…So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom, Psalm 90:10,12

*To read my take on Bathsheba, go over to the right sidebar and click on Bible People.  Scroll down several articles and a couple of pages to find “A Case of Mistaken Identity.”

Dene Ward
0 Comments

Root Canals

3/26/2015

0 Comments

 
These things never happen at a good time, but it seems to me that my two root canals outdid themselves for inconvenience.  
    I had an abscess.  My own dentist did not answer, and his message box was full.  So I spent the morning searching for a dentist who took our dental insurance.  By afternoon I did not care if they did or not—I just needed some relief.  So a new dentist saw me and scheduled me for a root canal the next morning.  That evening Keith had a stroke and I was at the hospital till 1:30 a.m.  
    The next morning, when I considered canceling the procedure, his doctor said, “Go.  Take care of yourself so you can take care of him.”
    That one was not too bad.  It was not the reason tears streamed down my face during the whole procedure,   I know the dentist must have thought I had lost my mind, though, because at the same time I was struggling not to laugh as that old song ran through my head, “I’ve got tears in my ears while I lie on my back in my bed when I cry over you.”  It had been a rough twenty-four hours and hysteria was close at hand.    
    The second time, the abscess started the day before I was to leave with my students for state competition.  When the dentist heard, he scheduled the procedure for the next week, and sent me on my way with pain killers and antibiotics, as well as his personal phone number.  He knew dentists in the city I was headed for and would get me an emergency root canal if I couldn’t hack it.  
    Somehow I managed to accompany 8 art songs, 8 musical theater numbers and 4 piano concerti—about eighty pages of music--even though my students had to take turns holding me up in between.  Or maybe they were holding me down.  The pain killers were doing a number on me and I felt like I was floating.
    That root canal, a week later, did not go so well.  When the dentist said, “Oho!” I was almost afraid to ask.  
    “I thought I was nearly finished,” he began, “but this tooth has five roots instead of four, so here we go again.”  
    Then came the next surprise.  That fifth root was covered by calcification.  We did not know that meant that the anesthesia had not reached it until the drill burst through covering and hit that live root.
    I try to make it a rule not to scream in doctor’s offices, but that time I broke the rule.
    The only two ways to fix an abscess permanently are to pull the tooth or do a root canal, emptying the tooth of all live material, then crowning it, so it looks and functions like a normal tooth.  If you don’t get all the way to the bottom, you will still hurt, and another infection will soon follow.  They say in the old days that people actually died from those things.
    Doing that little job is not pleasant, but if you have been hurting as I had been for days and days, it is definitely worth it.
    And pulling it out by the roots is the only way to rid yourself of sin too.  David said in the 36th Psalm, Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.  You can’t just put a crown over the tooth and expect it to get well; and so you cannot just put on a cloak of righteousness while your heart still leads you in the same evil direction every day.  You cannot take a pain pill and think that will make your tooth well; and so you cannot just sit in a pew on Sunday, not even every Sunday, and think that is enough of a change in your life to satisfy God.
    You pull the sin out by the roots.  You change your habits; you change your associations; you change your schedule; you change your life in whatever way necessary if you have really changed your heart.  Then you put down new roots, planted deep in your heart as well, but this time roots of righteousness.  When they finally become established it will be as difficult to pull them out as it was to pull out the bad roots, but this time, you won’t have to.

The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this: that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever; the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Psalm 92:6,7,12-15.

Dene Ward

0 Comments

Pruning

3/25/2015

0 Comments

 
Our late winter/early spring gardening chores include pruning.  Pruning is serious business.  If you do it at the wrong time and in the wrong way, you can kill a plant.  But correct pruning encourages healthy growth, more flowering, heavier fruit yields, and in general, better looking plants.  Correct pruning can also scare you to death.

    If Keith had not had an experienced friend show him how to prune the grapes, he would never have done it correctly.  Light pruning does not promote fruiting on grape vines.  It takes a heavy-handed pruner, one who knows exactly how far down which vines to cut—and it is much farther than you would ever expect—to make vines that in the late summer provide both greater quantity and quality of grapes.  

    Roses also benefit from good pruning.  Every January or February (remember that we are talking here in Florida before you follow this to the letter) you should cut off 1/3 to ½ of the mature canes, plus all dead or dying branches, as well as those that cross or stray out of the general shape of the bush.  That is how you get more flowers and larger blooms, and healthier, prettier bushes altogether.

    God believes in pruning too.  John 15 is full of the imagery of pruning grape vines, cutting off those that no longer produce and throwing them in the fire, which just happens to be where we throw all our prunings as well.  God has done a lot of pruning throughout history.

    The wilderness wandering was nothing but one big pruning exercise.  All the faithless, those men of war responsible for the decision not to take the land, had to die, and a new generation be prepared.  Do you realize that if you only count those men, on average throughout those forty years, 40 men died every day?  That does not count the people who died of accident, disease and childbirth, and the women and priests who simply died of old age.  Every morning the first thing on one’s mind must have been, “Who died yesterday?”  Those people must have done nothing but bury the dead every single day for forty years.  No wonder they moved so often.

    Then there was the Babylonian captivity.  Ezekiel worked for seventy years preparing the next generation to return to the land as a righteous remnant while the older one died off.  Pruning made them better, stronger, and more able to endure those months of rebuilding, and the years that followed.

    And what else was it but pruning that made God cut off some branches (Jews) and graft in others (Gentiles)?  They were broken off because of their unbelief, Paul says in Rom 11:20, and then goes on to say that if God will prune the natural branches, he will certainly prune those that had been grafted in if their faith fails.

    God still prunes.  We tend to call it by other metaphors these days—refining our faith as gold, Peter says in one of those passages.  “Discipline” the Hebrew writer calls it, adding that the Lord only chastens those he loves.  But all these figures mean the same thing.  Pruning can be painful.  The best pruning shears are the sharp ones, for the wound will heal more quickly the cleaner the cut.  

    We carry a lot of deadwood on us that God has to whittle away through the trials and experiences of life, and with our own growth in the knowledge of the Word as we learn what is and is not acceptable to God.  It is up to us to use that pruning, shedding the dead wood and cultivating new growth, bearing more fruit, higher quality fruit, and more beautiful blooms.  If I am not growing I can expect nothing more than my whole vine to be cut off and cast into the fire.  

    We want to be that productive grape vine with fruit so heavy and juicy we almost break from the sheer weight of it.  We want to be the rose that brings the oohs and aahs, whose perfume wafts on the breeze to all those around us.  We must submit to the pruning of the Master Gardener, glorying in His work in us, no matter how painful, so that we can “prove to be his disciples,” John 15:8, faithful to the end.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit, John 15:2.

Dene Ward
0 Comments

Product Shrinkage

3/24/2015

0 Comments

 
I reached for a can of tuna the other day and absently read the label:  Net Wt, 5 ounces.   I can remember, and actually have recipes calling for a 7½ ounce can of tuna.  I also remember 1 pound bags of coffee and 7 ounce bars of soap.
    What happened?  The manufacturers attempted to camouflage rising prices by putting less product in similar size containers for the same price.  That morning I must have strained a full ounce of water from that 5 ounce can of tuna.  I needed nearly two cans to make the same amount as 30 years ago.  Eventually of course, the prices did rise.  I can remember tuna for 29 cents a can.  Either way, we get less for more.

    That makes it even more amazing that the most expensive commodity on earth, the one that cost the death of the Son of God, is free.  To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved, Eph 1:6.

    I can recall hearing only one sermon on grace when I was a child.  I guess that is why I remember it.  I can even remember the building I was sitting in.  We have too long ignored the fact that we are saved by grace because we are so afraid someone will think we believe in something unscriptural.  Grace is one of the most scriptural topics there is!

    But now that I hear more about the grace of God, I am noticing a different problem—we limit the grace of God to forgiveness.

    Grace is there to help us live our lives as well.  Paul says that when he prayed to Christ to rid him of his “thorn in the flesh,” Christ’s answer was, My grace is sufficient, 2 Cor 12:9.  In other words, I will help you bear this burden.

    Christ went on to say, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  As long as I try to handle things alone I will never make it.  But when I make myself weak, allowing Christ to take care of me, I can handle anything.  Therefore, Paul adds, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

    And there lies our problem:  we so often will not let Him help us. We refuse, in the popular parlance, “to turn it over to God.”  We keep trying to help ourselves to the point that we do not even see the help He has offered.  If it does not match our wants, if it does not look like the help we have envisioned, if it still involves bearing any burden at all, it can’t be grace, and so we miss out, and have only ourselves to blame.  

    God says He will help.  What else is it but grace that promises, God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it, 1 Cor 10:13?   If I do not endure, if I do not overcome, it is because I do not have faith in the grace of God.  And that will have a huge impact because if I cannot trust it to help me through this life, how can I trust it to forgive me?  

    If we are willing to accept it, God will not hold back this gift.  He will not decrease the amount of grace He gives.   He will, in fact, increase it as we have need.  My grace is sufficient.

     Or maybe it’s just that God’s grace in any amount is far more powerful than any need we can ever imagine.  

If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. When I thought, "My foot slips," your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul, Psa 94:17-19.

Dene Ward

0 Comments

The Danger of Prosperity

3/23/2015

0 Comments

 
As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” Psalm 30:6.

    Several scholars believe Psalm 30 concerns the time David numbered the people of Israel and God punished them with a pestilence.  Before we get any further, let me caution you to read this in the 1 Chronicles 21 account and not just 2 Samuel 24.  You will get a much better portrait of David in Chronicles, one much more fitting a “man after God’s own heart.”
    But no matter when in David’s life this psalm was written, he tells us in verse 6 exactly what caused his problem.  In his prosperity he relied too much on himself.  Oh, he recognizes that his wealth and security came from God, v 7a, but he was so smug about it that God “hid His face.”  It was “my mountain,” not God’s, and if this is the time of the numbering, he was so full of himself that he sent Joab around not to take a full census, but to count “those who can wield a sword.”  He wanted to know how strong he was now that his foes were destroyed and his land was at peace, even though God told the people not to worry about such things, but to trust Him.  Even a man such as Joab knew that this numbering was not a good idea.  
    Here is what we as Americans steadfastly refuse to see, even Christians:  there is no temptation so great as prosperity.  Not just wealth, but security and peace along with it.  The scriptures are full of the warnings, but we heed them not.  What do we all want?  To get ahead.  What do we spend our lives doing?  Making money.  What do we dream about?  Being rich.  
    But hear this:  the New Testament does not speak of wealth in any way but as dangerous to our spiritual health.  
      Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Matt 6:19,21.
    As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful, Matt 13:22.
    Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God, Matt 19:24.
    And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions, Luke 12:15.
    But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs, 1 Tim 6:9,10.
    Why do we insist on standing in the rattlesnake’s nest?  I understand wanting your children to have more and better than you did, but I do not want their souls at risk, and from everything I see and read in the Book that really matters, that is what wealth will do to them.  If David can fall because of it, so can you and so can I and so can they.  Any time you feel secure in your wealth, in your preparations for the future or for “unforeseen circumstances,” be careful.  God may very well send you a reminder that you cannot count on anyone but Him, just as He did to David.  It may be the most painful reminder you ever get.

Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven, Prov 23:4,5.

Dene Ward
0 Comments

A Four Star Hotel

3/20/2015

2 Comments

 
About fifteen years ago, a music teacher friend and I attended a state level vocal competition in a small Florida town.  She was the state treasurer, the one who handed out checks to judges and scholarship winners.  I was the accompanist for two of the entrants.  When we tried to make our reservations, the one hotel in town, an old Southern relic complete with ceiling fans and rockers on a wood-planked front porch, was booked solid and had been for months.  Our only choice was the motel up by the interstate.  We did not expect much, given the name on the sign and the price, so we weren’t surprised when we quickly stopped by to deposit our bags and saw the size of the room in the gloom.  We had no time to inspect the premises or even turn on a light or open the shades.  We just dumped our bags and drove on to the competition.

    When we returned about ten o’clock that night, we almost left our things and fled, but there was no place to run to.  The parking lot had been empty at 5 pm, but now it was full of souped-up, high rise, four wheel drive pickups, their fenders caked with streaks of mud and their windows with dust.  Evidently their owners also found their rooms cramped, because it seemed like all of them were standing outside, laughing uproariously at one another’s jokes and adding to their flannel-clad beer bellies by the six pack, several of which they tossed around.
 
    We actually had to pull in between two of those trucks, and all talking ceased as we left our car.  I have never been so thrilled with my regular accompanist’s attire—a plain, black, mid-calf dress with a high neck and long sleeves.  My friend wore a dressy business suit, and we were both on the wrong side of forty, so they let us pass without a word.  When we got inside, we locked the door, put a chair under the knob, and pinned those still closed draperies overlapped and shut.  

    Then we saw our room in the light for the first time.  You could barely get between the outside edge of each bed and its neighboring wall.  The rod for our hanging clothes was loose on one end, and couldn’t support the weight of even my one dress, much less it and her suit.  The soap was half the size of the usual motel sliver, and the bath towels more like hand towels.  The pipes rattled, the tub sported a rust streak the color and width of a lock of Lucy’s hair, and the carpet had so many stains it looked like a planned pattern.

    After we managed to shower in the tepid, anemic stream of water, we pulled down the sheets and my friend moaned, “Oh no.”  With some trepidation I approached her bed in my nightgown and heels—neither of us wanted to go barefoot and they were all I had—and there lying on her pillow was a long black hair.  Her hair was short and very blond, she being a Minnesotan by birth with a strong streak of Norse in her veins.  “Please tell me the maid lost this hair when she was putting on clean—very clean—sheets.”

    “Okay,” I muttered.  “The maid lost that hair when she was putting on clean—ultra clean and highly bleached—sheets.”

    When we got to bed, it wasn’t to sleep.  Not with the noise going on in the parking lot just outside our door or in the neighboring rooms.  The walls seemed as thin as tent walls.  We rose in the morning bleary-eyed and ready to leave as quickly as possible.  This place offered no “free breakfast” and we would not have eaten it if it had.  We promised one another that if we ever had to come back and couldn’t get a room in town, we would stay anywhere else, even if it meant a fifty mile drive, one way.  
  
      It was a horrible experience, but some of us offer one just like it to the Lord.
  
     For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, Eph 3:14-17.
  
     According to Paul, it takes effort to allow Christ to dwell in our hearts, enough that he prayed for them to have the strength to allow it.  Are you allowing it?  And if you are, what sort of accommodations are you offering him?  

    Making a welcoming environment for him may not happen overnight, especially if we are dealing with deep-seated habits or even addictions of one sort or another.  He understands that, but we must constantly be adjusting our behavior to suit him, not ourselves, putting his desires ahead of our own, becoming, in fact, a completely different person altogether.  Wherefore if any man is in Christ, [he is] a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new, 2 Cor 5:17.

    But this isn’t just a problem for new Christians.  I have seen older Christians act as if Christ is nowhere nearby, much less dwelling in their hearts.  Their language, their fits of pique, their dress, their choice of entertainment, and the complete lack of spiritual nourishment they partake of starved him and ran him off a long time ago, and they don’t even seem to realize it.  What?  Do you really think he will stay in a flophouse instead of the four star hotel you should have offered him?

    What it all boils down to is a failure to live like we have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, Gal 2:20.  Did you see that?  Allowing him to dwell in you (Eph 3:17) and living a new crucified life both happen “by faith.”  Even if you have been claiming to be a Christian for decades, if you are not living up to it, you do not have the faith required.  It doesn’t matter how many times you were dipped into a baptistery if nothing about you changed, or if you have gone back to that old way of life.

    What sort of room are you offering the Lord?  He spent a lot for it, and he will walk out if you don’t live up to the name on your sign—Christian.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Cor 13:5.

Dene Ward
2 Comments

A Beautifully Made Bed

3/19/2015

0 Comments

 
I well remember my children’s first attempt at making their beds.  They were so proud of their accomplishment, one I had not even asked them to do, that they came running to get me, and took me to their room by the hand.
    There were two twin beds, indeed all made up.  The bedspreads hung lopsided, the hem at the head end barely reaching the edge of the bed and the hem at the foot end folding down over itself onto the carpet.  Under it, the sheets and blankets sat in piles and rolls, making the bedspread top look like it was laid over Lilliputian foothills. One of the spreads was particularly “off,” and I was momentarily at a loss to figure out the problem.  At the foot, the bottom sheet showed in a line one to four inches wide.  Since the top barely reached the headboard and it was not neatly tucked in under the pillows, that should not have been.  Then I realized what was wrong--the whole bedspread was on sideways.
    “Amazing!” I gushed.  “What a fine job you have done.”  For indeed they had—for a four- and six-year-old who had been given no instruction at all  
    The next few mornings I asked if they would like to learn some hints that would make bed making easier.  Easier?  Of course they would, because it had not taken long for the new to wear off this activity and for it to become simply a chore.  So they learned how to make a bed properly, and in time they did reasonably well.
    Now imagine if they had shown me that first made bed when they were 14 and 16.  Do you think I would have lavished any praise on them?  I would have expected a much better eye for detail, and much more care in technique.  That does not mean I was lying when I told them at the earlier age that they had done a fine job.  They had done a fine job for their age and experience.
    Now how about us?  How old am I as a child of God?  But—and here is the crux of the matter—how old do I act?  How much have I learned and grown, and does it show in the way I behave every day of my life?
    We needn’t expect the same praise God would give a babe in Christ if we have been Christians for 20 years.  If we have been Christians longer than that, we should have made even more progress.
    Make no mistake, God does love his children, but He has expectations as well.  I must do my best for my Father, trying harder and harder to get better and better.  If my “bed making” is still at age 4 level when I have spent 44 years as His child, He will not be pleased.  And if I love Him, working to get better is not too much to ask.

…till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: that we may be no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ; Eph 4:13-15.

Dene Ward

0 Comments

Dressing for the Occasion

3/18/2015

0 Comments

 
A few Sundays ago the chill weather made it possible for me to wear my best suit, one a little heavier than anything else I have, one a little more expensive, but a hand-me-down from a friend.  We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to pick up a couple of limited time specials.  That’s one way we stay financially afloat—picking up specials when we are already the thirty miles into town for assembly.
    So we were loading the trunk and as she passed, a stranger said to me, “That’s a lovely suit.  You’ve been to church, haven’t you?  I apologize for being nosy, but would you mind telling me where you attend?”
    Would I mind?!  Of course I spent the next five or ten minutes telling her where I attend, when we meet, who we are, and what we do.  Then I handed her a blog card and pointed out my contact information in case she had more questions.  “Please email me or just call.  I can give you more detailed directions,” I finished with.
    I know a lot of people who no longer “dress up” for church.  They certainly have that right.  But I know a lot of others who go even further—who tell those of us who grew up doing it that we are wrong, that we are trying to be Christians on the outside instead of the inside.  I have yet to figure out why wearing my good suit on Sunday makes me a hypocrite any more than someone who thinks sitting on the pew in jeans on Sunday then dressing up for the boss all week makes him a Christian. 
    In fact, tell me this.  If you were this woman and you were searching, who would you ask on a Sunday about noon at the grocery store—the guy in shorts, tee shirt and flip-flops or the man with a tie on?  The lady with a dress on or the one with cut-offs and an oversized shirt hanging over her waistline?  Maybe there is something to be said after all for making it obvious on a Sunday that you have been to church. 
    But then we have this point—it isn’t what you wear on Sunday that makes the Christian; it’s what you wear every day. 
    Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do you: and above all these things [put on] love, which is the bond of perfectness, Col 3:12-14.
    My neighbors need to see these spiritual clothes every day.  There can be no “dressing down” spiritually after you have “put on Christ” in baptism, Gal 3:27.  The people I work with, the people I go to school with, the people I come into contact with, especially on a regular basis, should know by my speech and my actions that “I went to church on Sunday.”  God won’t accept a “casual Friday” set of spiritual clothes any day of the week.
    I’ve had a great many things make people ask me questions—maybe that’s a good subject for another day, but it all boils down to this—I have to look different.  Whether it’s how I act, how I speak, how I run my family, or any number of ways, it needs to be obvious.  Let’s stop making judgments about one another’s literal clothes, and just go out there and show people who we are with the spiritual wardrobe of a child of God. 

The night is far spent, and the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof] Romans 13:12-14.

Dene Ward
0 Comments
<<Previous
    Picture
    Author
    Dene Ward has taught the Bible for more than  forty years, spoken at women’s retreats and lectureships, and has written both devotional books and class materials. She lives in Lake Butler, Florida, with her husband Keith.


    Categories

    All
    A Wives Series
    Bible People
    Bible Study
    Birds & Animals
    Book Reviews
    Camping
    Children
    Cooking Kitchen
    Country Life
    Discipleship
    Everyday Living
    Faith
    Family
    Gardening
    Grace
    Guest Writer
    History
    Holiness
    Humility Unity
    Materialism
    Medical
    Music
    Prayer
    Psalms
    Salvation
    Trials

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly