Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

God must have loved formal worship services – he made so many of them.

God instructed Israel to meet for worship three times a year, Passover, Pentecost & Tabernacles. He gave exact prescription concerning the actions to be done at each. This was also done with other times of worship, such as the Day of Atonement, which was a week after the feast of Tabernacles. Attendance at these was not mandatory as it was with the three. In addition to required times, individuals or families could worship in special ways whenever they could afford to do so financially, sacrifices called peace offerings or free-will offerings.

If the things written aforetime “learn” us anything, we should see that God does not leave us adrift concerning how to worship him; it is not up to us. We are not allowed to choose actions that make us feel good.

On the screen at many churches, every Sunday the projector flashes that “Worship is 24 X 7 X 52.” Aside from simple math causing you to realize this would give you a day off every year, this is true. Rom 12:1 teaches that we are to present all the duties and works of our lives to God as worship every day.

Some have jumped to the conclusion that means that there is no formal worship or that there is no difference between that worship and that which one does during the week. Some even declare that actions reserved for the First Day in the New Testament may be done at any time.

Such attitudes surely come from careless or biased reading of the Scripture. Several times in the New Testament, God instructs what we are to do when we come together. These both imply that there should be a formal gathering and that things are to be done there that cannot be done on Thursday over supper at home. 1 Cor 5:4, they were not to withdraw from the disorderly separately but “in the name of the Lord Jesus, ye being gathered together” (1 Cor 5:4). The Apostle Paul makes it clear that the Lord’s Supper cannot be taken individually, but must be taken at a formal gathering of the church (1 Cor 11: 17 & 33). Further, He makes a clear distinction between “church” and “home” (1 Cor 11:22, 34).  

Again 1 Cor 14 repeatedly discusses what can be done in the assembling and what cannot. Vs 19 “in the church, I had rather…” Vs 23, "If therefore the whole church be assembled together" (sort of hard to fit the modern house church concept with gatherings all over the place into that!), Vs 26 "When ye come together"…. (these instructions may not apply to the 24 x 7 worship or women could never talk? Vs 34). In CONTEXT, "Keep silence" refers to spiritual gifts, not normal speech.  A man who can speak in tongues is to "keep silent" if there is no interpreter. First, he can talk, just not speak in tongues. Second, he can tongue speak at home all week if he chooses.

Paul commands a treasury for a church benevolent action in order that gatherings not be made when he arrives. If each keeps his treasury at home, then gatherings are needed on Paul’s arrival. That treasury was to be collected on the first day of the week (1 Cor 16:1-2).  We use this example as the only way God showed for the church to gather the funds needed for its works. Operating a business or other methods are not authorized for the church, though an individual may operate one and donate as much as he chooses to the church.

Just as in the Old Testament, God describes a formal worship, not 3 times a year, but weekly on the first day of the week. The New Testament includes things to be done in the manner he says. We can choose to do as Israel did and do our own thing, but we will cease to be Christ’s church.

In the past, it is possible that too much emphasis was placed on what happened at the assembling. (I do believe most of those people did a great job with daily worship, though they did not often call it that.) Now, as so often happens, the pendulum has swung the other way with the primary emphasis being placed on the daily worship and the formal assembling worship often down-rated in order to make that emphasis.

Both extremes are wrong.

Worship God in the Church Assembling. Worship God daily.

If therefore the whole church be assembled together…. if all prophesy, and there come in one unbelieving or unlearned, he is reproved by all, he is judged by all; the secrets of his heart are made manifest; and so he will fall down on his face and worship God, DECLARING THAT GOD IS AMONG YOU INDEED.  (1Cor 14:23-25).

Keith Ward

All summer I had been watching those monarch butterflies flit over my flower beds. Every couple of days I carefully checked the herb garden twenty feet away for signs of their caterpillars.  That’s what I read somewhere—that monarch butterfly caterpillars are the dreaded parsley worms that can wreak havoc on that herb almost overnight.  Nothing happened.  My parsley grew well and was never infested.  Somehow I got off easy this year.  I thought.
            Then in mid-October we went away for a week.  We returned on a Friday night, after dark, too late to see much but the back porch by the light hanging outside the back door.  The next morning we stepped out for a stroll and saw what had happened.  Every sprig of parsley was completely bare, only the bright green stems sticking up completely naked—except here and there for the bright green worm still clinging to the bush it had just decimated.  I am not so paranoid as to think that somehow they all got together and planned the attack for while we were away, but it was certainly suspicious.
            Satan, on the other hand, is perfectly capable of planning his attacks that way.  He waits until we are most vulnerable.  He waits until we have experienced a crisis in our lives, until we are frustrated by circumstances, until our defenses are down, and then he zooms in for the kill.  Being on the alert when you are tired and hurt is not easy, but that is exactly what we must do, standing guard as a soldier in the Lord’s army. 
            One of the greatest benefits of being in the family of God is having people who care enough to watch your back.  All of us should be aware of the crises in our brothers and sisters’ lives.  Too often we are so consumed with our own affairs that we don’t have time to watch out for others, and that means we are too consumed, period.  Then we wonder how a brother could fall so far, why a sister was caught up in such a sin, why a family has “suddenly” disappeared from among us.  How in the world could those things have happened?  They happened in part because everyone was too busy to notice.
            What do you do when announcements are made in the assembly?  Is that when you spend your time arranging your books, glasses, and children on the pew, the time you flip to the first song and look through it, the time you know you can spend a little longer in the ladies’ room before you need to be seated?  Those announcements should be your greatest tool the next week as you figure out what you need to do for whom, how you can encourage a brother or sister in distress, what you might say to one whose soul is in danger.  How much do you hear when you are finishing up a conversation that has no bearing on a soul, or racing to your pew before the first song begins?  Those pieces of news are about service, and that is the most important part of a Christian’s life, considering one another…Heb 10:24.
            Be aware of the timing in the lives of others too.  Is it the first anniversary of a widow’s loss?  Is it a season that makes being alone that much harder for the single?  Are ordeals approaching in people’s lives that might make them more prone to Satan’s attacks?  We have a job to do; we have service to offer; we have comfort to give and sometimes exhortation and rebuke when we see those attacks making progress in the lives of another.
            If we see them.  If we care.  If we aren’t so wrapped up in ourselves that we miss the attacks and wake up one morning to an almost overnight slaughter in the garden of God.
 
Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees; and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed, Hebrews 12:12-13.
 
Dene Ward

I have been teaching Bible classes since I was sixteen, to literally hundreds of women and children in over a dozen different locations, in several different venues.  Sometimes I wish I could go back and apologize to those early classes.  Experience has taught me so much.  This particular experience has probably happened to every teacher everywhere, probably more than once.
            A sensitive topic was on the agenda so I approached it with more than a little trepidation and a lot of prayer.  What I was about to tell them is no longer popular in the world.  I had prepared myself for possible objections, and steeled myself to stay calm and give thoughtful answers in a calm voice.  Oddly enough, when you defend the word of God, it should never sound “defensive.”
            A few weeks later, one of the young women wrote me a note.  She told me she had not agreed with everything I said, but that she had learned things she never knew before that would affect her views from then on.  She said she was likely to change her mind on some as she considered the things I had presented.  She thanked me for the time and effort I had taken to teach that study.  I still have that note, and always will.
            Contrast this to another young woman who, as the subject was presented, began to seethe.  She compressed her lips into a thin line and narrowed her eyes in contempt.  As soon as I took a breath, she raised her voice, and accused me of judging her personally.  She told me I was wrong in a tone of voice I would not have used on an enemy.  Then she folded her arms, sat as crossways as she could away from my general direction, and lifted her chin defiantly.  I doubt she heard anything else I had to say.
            It was an important topic that should not be avoided, and really, to be responsible before God as a teacher of His word, I could not have avoided it.  No names were mentioned.  I knew no one’s personal history.  I carefully said at the beginning, “I am not aiming this at anyone here because I do not know you that well.”  By her own actions, this person identified herself to all as one who had the problem, and by her own actions she told me that she would not even consider that she might be wrong.  
            I have far more confidence in the first woman’s continuing faith than the second.  I only hope that by making such a big deal out of it herself, that the latter will remember it and perhaps reconsider in spite of herself.  Her problem, you see, was pride.  She wasn’t wrong simply because she couldn’t be wrong.
            But he gives more grace.  Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble,” James 4:6.  That word “resist” is a military term.  It means “to range in battle against,” according to W. E. Vine.  It means you are going to war against God.
            Matthew Henry says it like this:  “In his understanding [the proud man] resists the truth of God; in his will, he resists the law of God, in his passions, he resists the providence of God.”  How many other ways can God reach us?  If we resist all these things because of pride, we will never find his grace.
            I found so many passages where God talks about destroying the proud that I lost count.  Sometimes it was individuals.  Sometimes it was a small group like the church at Corinth.  Sometimes it was the general personality of a nation, like Edom and Moab.  People who are proud will never find God, because they will never admit their need for Him.
            It can all be seen in something as small as a Bible study.  That first listener is far more likely to experience the grace of God.  She is open-minded and willing to listen, and most of all, she is willing to consider that she might possibly be wrong about something.  Peter refers to the same scripture as James in 1 Pet 5:5,6.  Notice, however, the context of this reference. 
            Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elder. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.
            Though he begins by speaking about the elders in particular (5:1-3), he gradually moves on to the more general “older” and “younger.”  As with the constant urging in the book of Proverbs from which the original passage comes (3:34), he expects us to learn from those who are older, who have more knowledge, and more experience.  Perhaps they are wrong, but if we instantly dismiss them because they disagree with us, how can we ever hope to find out?  It all reminds me of children who look at a new dish and say, “I don’t like that,” when they have never even tasted it.  Childish, indeed, and so are we when we are too proud to listen and study because, “I’ve never heard that before, so it can’t be right.”
            Is anything worth missing out on the grace of God?  When it is asking too much of us to say, “I was wrong about that,” or even, “I might be wrong about that,” it will be asking too much of God to say, “Enter in…”
 
Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 1 Sam 2:3.
 
Dene Ward

Last spring, just like every spring for the past 37 years, we planted the garden. That early in the year, the heat is not bad, the humidity is low, and the sub-tropical sun leaves us with only a moderate sunburn.  We came in with dirty clothes and aching backs, sat down together, leaned forward with crossed fingers on each hand held tightly at our temples, squeezed our eyes shut and said, “I hope, I hope, please, please, please grow.” 
            Do you for one minute believe that?  No, we counted five days ahead, and then went out that evening and looked for what we were sure would be there, seedlings poking their heads through the clods of earth, and sure enough, there they were.
            Our definition of hope is very much as I described, like a couple of middle school girls who “hope” a certain cute boy will look their way, or a teacher will change the due date on a big project, or a “mean” girl won’t spread some sort of embarrassing news about them.  “Please, please, please, maybe, maybe, maybe.”  That is not the Bible definition of hope. 
            I knew that, but I am not sure how much I really understood it until I did a study on hope and found passage after passage that made it abundantly clear.
            …Waiting for our blessed hope, Titus 2:13.  That’s “waiting” like waiting for the bus at the regular stop, not like you just walked out one morning with absolutely no knowledge of the city transit system, sat down on the side of the road and “hoped” you had guessed right.
            …The full assurance of hope, Heb 6:11, not just a hint that it might be possible, but completely sure it will happen.
            Hope is a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, Heb 6:19.  How would you like to use the hope we often express as a “maybe” as your anchor in the middle of a storm?
            …Hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised, Titus 1:2. 
            Peter says that our salvation is “ready to be revealed,” 1 Pet 1:5, a salvation he makes synonymous to the “hope” in verse 3.  It’s like a portrait on an easel covered by a satin cloth, just waiting for the unveiling.  God has prepared that salvation “from the foundation of the world,” Matt 25:34.  No one is up there still hammering away on the off chance it might be ready when you need it.  It is already there, available whenever the Lord decides to give it.  Sure.  Certain.  There is nothing cross-your-fingers “maybe, maybe, maybe,” about it.
            Farming is tricky enough with weather, pests, and plant diseases abounding.  If a man had to wonder whether or not a seed would sprout where he planted it, who would ever even try?  Paul uses that very example in 1 Cor 9:10: for our sake it was written that he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes to thresh in hope of partaking.
            Our hope is like planting seeds.  They will come up, and it will come about.  It’s time we left middle school behind with its string of maybes, and became adults who understand the assuredness of our hope, and then use that certainty to strengthen us in whatever situations life holds.
 
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word,  2 Thessalonians 2:16-17.
 
Dene Ward

I just put a pear pie in the oven, one with a cheddar streusel crust.  I also flavored it with ginger, which seems to have a natural affinity for pears.  If it had been an apple pie, I would have used cinnamon while a cherry pie would have called for almond flavoring.  Some flavors just go well together.  Chocolate and caramel, chocolate and mint, tomatoes and basil, onions and peppers.  A chicken salad does well with tarragon while tuna salad needs dill.  They are natural pairings and any cook of even small experience will soon pick up on them.
            I think as Christians we should have a natural affinity for certain things too.  I would never be comfortable in a bar. I am even a little uncomfortable when a neighbor invites us over for a gathering when I know they will serve alcohol.  I am uncomfortable around people whose language is inappropriate.  I am uncomfortable around people whose dress is less than modest.  It is not that I think myself better than the people who do these things.  Would those same people be comfortable in a gathering of Christians who, after enjoying a potluck meal together, gathered up some hymnals and began to sing?  Of course they wouldn't, but does that mean they would think themselves better than those people?  Then why should that same accusation be made of Christians?
            Romans 8 tells us that we should have a spiritual mindset rather than a carnal one (8:5-8—bear in mind that the capital S there was put in by the translators and could just as well be a lower case s).  If a person's mind is set on spiritual things, he will have a natural affinity for spiritual things.  And, of course, the opposite is true as well.  The mindset we choose is up to us.  Repentance can change that mindset, but, just like a new cook needs time to learn flavor combinations that work well, it will probably take a while to reap the benefits of the new natural pairings of a spiritual mind.  Gradually, it should become easier until it reaches the point that it seems natural.
            Ask yourself today what things you are uncomfortable with.  Is there anything at all?  A Christian with a carnal mindset is an oxymoron.  You might as well slather a beautiful red velvet cake with garlic frosting.
 
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:1-3).
 
Dene Ward

Whenever I see those commercials touting the ability to order your contact lenses online and get them the next day, I want to laugh.  If you can do that, thank your Heavenly Father for the vision you still have and don't complain.  Only two labs in the whole world can create the contact lenses I need.

That means an optician is out of the question for me.  I need a real doctor to fit my strange little eyeballs.  They say I have a 16 eye and a 15 eye.  That's shorthand for millimeters, and doesn't take into account the tenths.  When they are that size the tenths don't really matter.  It's a condition called "nanophthalmos."  If you have a normal sized eyeball, it is 26-28 mm.  Nanophthalmos begins at 20 mm, and it skews all the formulas and makes every procedure much more difficult and risky the lower that number goes.

Because of all the procedures and surgeries I have had, my eyes no longer have the same, or nearly the same, vision.  In the old, pre-surgery days, the corrections in my lenses were +17.25 for the right and +15.50 for the left, a difference of less than 2 points.  Once you hit a difference of 4 or more, any sort of correction for both eyes at the same time in a pair of glasses leads to double vision.  My eyes are now right at a 4 point difference.  I can either wear correction on one eye only, or I can wear contacts, which somehow do not have the same problem as glasses.  Of course, I am wearing contacts, the only way to have even halfway normal vision.  (Neither eye can be corrected to 20/20.)  If I become too old or ill to handle contacts, I will be in a mess as far as my vision goes, assuming I still have it, which is always in question.

Sometimes my vision is a bit off because of the difference.  Usually, the brain takes over and the eye that is causing the problem is automatically blocked out.  And when I wear OTC reading glasses, that always happens because the lenses are the same correction, meaning one eye can hardly see at all.  I suppose it all sounds complicated and aggravating, but I am used to it now and only think about what I can see, not what I cannot see, and thanking God that he has sent me to some amazing doctors.

I am afraid some of us have a spiritual optometrist.  We go to him for specialty lenses that we really ought not to wear at all.  We talked not long ago about "Super Hero Glasses," the ones that let you look at Bible characters as being far above our abilities and therefore excuse ourselves from even trying to follow their examples.  (See post on 4/26/24.)  The Jews must have worn those.  They prided themselves on being Abraham's children, but never acted like that faithful obedient man themselves (John 8:39).  Being his children means acting like him, Jesus reminded them, and then called them children of the Devil instead.

Sometimes we ask for glasses that block out the necessary and keep us distracted with things of this world.  The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, ​but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! ​“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money (Matt 6:22-24).  Money is just one of those distractions.  Add to it things like entertainment, things that are not necessarily sinful but which eat up our time, taking our focus from the spiritual.

And some of us ask for bifocals that see the errors and faults of others, but which, like my brain automatically blocks out the bad, will block out our own faults.  ​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? (Luke 6:41), Jesus might ask us. And we would have to say that we had those glasses specially made to do just that.

Then there are those who buy the lenses that will strike out any command of Jesus that we find offensive.  What did he have to say about that?  Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit (Matt 15:12-14).  Something we might do well to remember the next time we find a sermon not to our liking.  We might manage to get rid of the preacher in our self-serving complaints, but it won't change the result of wearing those types of lenses.

And along those lines, we might ask for lenses that completely block out anything that doesn't suit us, that goes against what we have always believed, or that we cannot seem to comprehend.  Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him…(John 14:17), and, For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains" (John 9:39-41).

I could go on and on because inability to see plain Truth is mentioned again and again as various ones reject Jesus, God, and their messengers.  It is so easy to put on those glasses, not corrective lenses, but those that actually inhibit your spiritual eyesight.  Do you realize who that optometrist is who is giving you these glasses?  It is you.  It is me.  We create them ourselves, preening in the mirrors to see how they look on us, and what we mistakenly believe they will help us see. 
 
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 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. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2Cor 4:3-6).
 
Dene Ward

When I was teaching piano and voice, besides my own annual Spring Program and Awards Ceremony, my students sometimes participated in as many as seven joint recitals a year, programs featuring the students of several teachers at once. 
            Sometimes the students were chosen according to their age—the Young Performer’s Recital was strictly for talented beginners.  It was their chance to shine rather than being lost among a studio’s advanced students.  Sometimes it was all about their music—the Parade of American Music featured students playing or singing the music of American composers.  If his best piece that year was Mozart’s Rondo in D, that particular student was ineligible.
            Sometimes a panel of judges chose the students based on their performances in a recent competition.  The year we had five chosen for the Student Day Honors Recital was a banner year for us.  To have one or two chosen from a group of over two hundred students from a dozen studios was a good showing.  Five was almost unheard of.
            At the receptions after these events, we teachers always enjoyed basking in our students’ successes.  We mined each other for teaching strategies and resources.  The experience exposed us to more crowd-pleasing music we could use with our own students, and our students to teachable moments we could discuss at the next lesson.  They could see for themselves why I insisted on such picky things as not taking your fanny off the seat until your hands left the keys when a student from another studio stood up without doing so, looking as if someone had glued her fingers to the ivory.  They could hear why long fingernails were verboten when it sounded like someone was trying to tap dance to Debussy and Haydn.  It also worked wonders for parental attitudes—suddenly they appreciated things they had before viewed as silly.
            My favorite moments after these recitals came when people approached me with these words:  “I can always tell which ones are yours.”  It wasn’t because they played or sang particularly well—every student at these recitals did that—but not every student performed well.  We spent hours on things like how to approach or leave the piano, how to hold a pose over a final note, what to do in a memory lapse, how a singer should hold the mood until the accompaniment stops, and especially how to bow.  It’s one thing to know your piece; it’s another to be able to present a polished performance of it to an audience.
            Sometimes I imagine God as the teacher watching our performances.  He knows we can do it.  He gave His Son to show us how.  …because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow in his steps, 1 Pet 2:21.  I don’t think it is out of line to think of the angels saying to Him, “I can always tell which ones are yours.”  Isn’t that the picture we get in Job 1?  Perhaps not literally, but in essence if nothing else. 
            If life is one big recital, we should learn from the performances of others—what to do, what not to do, why some of the picky things we have always heard are important after all.  We should learn from our own mistakes as well—why do I always miss the same note?!  Your daily practice should take of that.
            God is in the audience, along with all those celestial beings we read about.  As a proprietary teacher myself, I can easily imagine that He wants to hear from them, “I can always tell which ones are yours.”
 
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:10
 
Dene Ward
 

I almost didn't get it done today.  I just wanted to go lie down and rest after several hectic days that kept me going practically every minute.  Why?  Because it is difficult.  It hurts.  It's hot this time of year, and I get just plain nasty with sweat.
            But then I thought about why I do it in the first place.  Part of it is physical therapy for lumbar degenerative disc disease, a common malady among the elderly—it makes my back feel better.  Part of it is fighting back against some bad heart genes I have inherited.  Plus, it makes me stronger.  I can lift a bag of groceries, take heavy bowls out of cabinets, and get up and down from chairs a lot of easier.  Stiffness is always a problem with age and psoriatic arthritis, but I seem less stiff in the morning or at least get over it more quickly.  All of these are benefits, and so I did my work-out.  It will pay off.  All I have to do is become ill for a week, or have another eye surgery that means "no exertion" for a couple of weeks to see what would happen if I quit.
            Sometimes things like Bible study are difficult.  Sometimes you don't want to sit down for an hour and really engage your mind.  Sometimes you don't feel like praying.  Things in your life put you in a mood that is as far from a prayerful attitude as you can be.   Sometimes you don't want to go sit with people who are discouraging instead of encouraging, who ignore you, who say hurtful things because they have their own issues.  You want to stay away from that assembly as long as you can. 
            Then you stop and realize—those very people obviously need your help and encouragement if they are acting that way, the best place to get any sort of attitude adjustment is in the midst of God's people, and what seems like the worst time to pray may very well be the time you need it the most.  Let's be honest here:  there have been times when the only reason I was at the meetinghouse on Sunday morning was my obligation to God, not anyone else.  But that was exactly where I heard some pointed reminders about Christians serving others instead of self, and what Jesus puts up with in us.  Sometimes we are those clueless apostles time ten!
            So you go.  So you pray.  So you study.  And for that you become stronger and better able to handle life's trials.  You see better the depths of God's Word and what He has given us.  And your relationship with Him and the other people he has offered the same mercy and grace to becomes deeper and more meaningful.
            Remind yourself of those things today.  It's not about being comfortable and easy.  It's about sweat, determination, and making yourself do what you know you must, and being all the better for it.
 
For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries (Ps 112:6-8).
 
Dene Ward
 

Imagine for a minute that you are vacationing in a five star resort for which you have paid big money, more than you probably should have.  The flimsy shower curtain doesn’t quite reach side to side in the bathtub, the shower stream is thin and continues to drip after you turn it off.  The room is so cold you have to dress at the speed of light.  There is no television, telephone, refrigerator, or microwave, and the bed is hard.  No toiletries are offered, no room service, and you even have to carry your own linens with you.  How happy would you be?  You would probably not have lasted one night before you demanded your money back.
            Campers put up with all of that, particularly tent campers, and they have a fine old time.  They understand going in what to expect, especially since they are paying a fraction of the amount of even a moderately priced motel.  Even when the weather is dismal, they seldom complain.  You take your chances when you live outdoors for a week.  Isn’t it interesting that the same circumstances can produce both happy people and unhappy people?
            We only wrote one letter of complaint in over 30 years of camping.  Even campers in a state park campground have every right to expect a well-drained campsite.  When it rained our last night there, not only did the site not drain well, it collected water from all the surrounding sites.  We woke up in a pool of water.  The tent floor billowed up around us when we took a step.  At least it was waterproof, or the thousands of dollars worth of Keith’s hearing paraphernalia that we keep charging in the floor overnight (since there is no furniture in a tent) would have been ruined.
            But we didn’t complain because of the rain.  We didn’t complain because it was cold enough for a foot high icicle to form under the water spigot.  We didn’t complain because the wind blew our light pole over, or the bathhouse only had two shower stalls for the whole campground.  That’s what you expect when you camp.  At least there was a bathhouse with hot running water and a heater in it!
            It doesn’t take much to be a happy camper.  Maybe that’s why God has always warned his people about a life of ease.  Take care lest… when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God…(Deuteronomy 8:11-14).
            Our lives on this earth are often depicted as camping.  We are sojourners.  We are just passing through.  Or are we?  How much do we take for granted in these days of luxury?  Every so often I remind myself to thank God for the running water, for the electricity, for the air conditioning.  I have lost them often enough, and for long enough at times, to remember that they don’t just happen; they aren’t “inalienable rights”—they are blessings.
            Ask people today what is on their list of necessities and it will scare you to death.  An easy life makes a soft people.  Self-discipline disappears.  The ability to endure hardship is practically non-existent.  Complaining becomes an art form, and my problems are always someone else’s fault.  The worst result is the pride that causes us to forget God, Prov 30:8,9.
            The results of trials and afflictions, on the other hand, are good, Deut 8:15,16; Psa 126:5,6; 1 Pet 1:6-8; 4:13,14. They make us stronger; they remind us who is in control, and build our faith and dependence upon God.  They remind us of the love God has for his children.  I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, that in faithfulness you have afflicted me, Psa 119:75. 
            A parent who never says no, who never makes his child earn anything with his own hard work, who always gets him out of trouble instead of allowing him to reap the consequences of his mistakes, is not a faithful, loving parent.  These things build character.  Wealth doesn’t.  Luxury doesn’t.  Anyone who “needs” that to be happy will never in this life be a happy camper.
 
As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:17-19
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

My other job is at Lowe's Home Improvement.  One day I was straightening up in the plumbing department when I suddenly began laughing.  I called a coworker over and said, "There is both a lie and a truth in this bay."  He said, "Okay. . ." somewhat dubiously, and I pointed to two connections which were on the shelf next to each other.  "Here," I said, "this is a called a female adapter, but when have you ever known a female to adapt?  They all want things their own way!  But right next to it is a female trap.  Now that's the truth!"  He barked in laughter, agreed, and went back to his job chuckling. 
            Later I thought, "What better way to start a post for a blog site run by my mother than with a little casual misogyny?"  After all, isn't that how the Bible is characterized by the world?  The Bible hates women, declares them less valuable than men, and relegates them to mere property!  Or so the propaganda goes. 
            If the Bible hates women and teaches misogyny, then why is it that the very first Messianic prophecy was made to Eve, not Adam? (Gen. 3:15)  And the very first person recorded using the word Messiah was Hannah? (1 Sam. 2:10, translated "his anointed")  While David received a promise from God that his house would be established forever (2 Sam. 7), Abigail was the first to speak of it. (1 Sam. 25:28)  Jumping ahead, being "born of a woman" was an identifier for the Messiah. (Gal. 4:4) The first to see Jesus raised were women (see each Gospel).  The first person raised from the dead after Jesus was not the Apostle James, nor the martyr Stephen, but Dorcas. (Acts 9:36ff) Clearly women played a pivotal role in God's plan of salvation.
            I haven't yet mentioned Rahab or how her and Ruth's faith was extolled.  Or the salvation of Israel brought by the woman judge Deborah.  Or Esther.  Or how the Davidic line was saved by the fallen king's sister. (2 Kings 11:1-3)  Or the crucial role women played throughout Jesus' life and ministry.  Or. . . .
            Yeah, the Bible sure hates women.

But when the fulness of time came, God sent for his son, born of a woman, born under the law, Gal 4:4.

Lucas Ward