Quotes of the month
It is time for thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void thy law.
Psalm 119:26
(Editor’s note: Although the Psalms were written between 1500 and 450 B.C., this particular verse is just as relevant today)
I want to be so anchored in Christ that the chaos around me does not produce chaos within me.
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The church is not an audience to be entertained; it is an Army to be trained and empowered.
The Laughing Christian Website
Masculinity is not toxic, the absence of it is. Weak men are abusive and spiteful; strong,
masculine men are protective and loving.
The Shooters Hangout Website
One day at a time, Sweet Jesus, that’s all I’m asking of you. Just give me the strength to do every day what I have to do. Yesterday’s gone, Sweet Jesus, and tomorrow may never be mine. God help me today. Show me the way, one day at a time.
Free Chapel Church Website
God pulled you out of the pit, so you could go back in and get more people out. Never forget that.
The Laughing Christian Website
The Wisdom of a Sabbath Day
By Barbara Danza, Epoch Times, August 21 – 27, 2024 Edition
Western religious traditions maintain the practice of keeping the Sabbath – a weekly day of rest devoid of work and commerce and centered on reflection, prayer, and family.
In striving to achieve, hustle, get ahead, and simply keep up with the demands of life, such a tradition may easily fall by the wayside for
many modern families. There is wisdom in this practice, however – in stepping away from the day-to-day grind, in resting one’s mind, heart, and spirit, in focusing time and attention on those we hold dear, in the act of personal introspection and spiritual development, and in manifesting one’s ability to discipline oneself consistently, on a weekly basis.
In this day and age, might the observance of such a Sabbath day be a refining and worthwhile custom?
If you think that a day of rest may be beneficial to you and your family, here are six ideas to help you incorporate its observance into each week.
Collaborate: Gather together as a family to discuss and come to an understanding about the importance of incorporating a day of rest into your life each week. Decide which day it will be and consider the ways in which you’ll celebrate it.
Unplug: Make your Sabbath day a screen-free one. There is no rest in the onslaught of information flooding the digital world. Institute a family policy that there will be no phones, no computers, no tablets, no video games, and no television on your special day each week. This decision alone would be a transformative one for any family (the vast majority) that regularly uses any of these devices.
Connect to the Divine: Spend some time engaged in spiritual practice with your family. Whether that means attending a religious service, going for a walk in nature, praying, meditating, or studying Scriptures, do what is most meaningful to your family.
Refrain from buying and selling: The traditional Sabbath includes refraining from commerce. When we consider how much mental, emotional, and physical energy we devote to the activities of buying and selling, we can see the value in refraining from those for one day each week. Such activities, though essential for the practical needs of everyday life, can easily distract us from the deeper, more important things that deserve our energies.
Break Bread: A busy schedule precludes many families from sitting down to a home-cooked meal together each night. A day of rest is the perfect time to ensure this happens at least once a week. Sharing a home-cooked meal together, allowing everyone to contribute to its preparation and cleanup, and conversing and connecting along the way is a simple and wonderful way to strengthen bonds and keep what’s important at the forefront.
Stay Present: Do your best to refrain from focusing on your worries and future plans, your to-do list, or your obligations during your Sabbath day. Instead, foster a heart of gratitude for the many blessings you’ve been afforded in your life and try to keep your focus on the present moment while you enjoy this precious time with your family.
While you may be concerned that a day of rest would negatively affect your ability to tackle all of your responsibilities, you might just find that allowing yourself a weekly chance to reset and refresh your mind and spirit allows you to perform even more effectively in all the roles you’ve taken on in life. Such a practice is the kind that compounds over time, so give it a chance and see if your day of rest doesn’t become one of the best parts of each week.
(Editor’s note: I know this article seemed to focus on families, but trust me, I’ve lived alone since 17 far, far more years than with someone else, and the Sabbath day applies to everyone in every type of living arrangement. Recharging your batteries is good)
Questions about The Sermon on the Mount
by Frank Paul
This article series is in its sixth month. We have covered a lot of ground working through the words of Jesus during His sermon. I think giving it a rest after this last topic, for now anyway, is a good thing. I don’t want to over-saturate the reader on one topic. Perhaps I’ll move on to Psalms or Proverbs; we’ll see. I hope you have enjoyed my attempt to bring clarity to Jesus’ words and making them applicable to today’s understanding and word usage.
The Sermon on the Mount is a section of the Bible that even casual Christians tend to be
familiar with; and most of us are even more familiar with what has been labeled as “The Beatitudes,” found in the beginning of Matthew, Chapter 5. Sometimes with our modern-day interpretation and definition of words, we might find how Jesus spoke back then confusing or troubling, and this series has been an attempt to help the reader better understand our Lord’s words.
The Sermon on the Mount continued well past the Beatitudes, and this month let’s cover what Jesus said in Matthew 7:6.
“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”
At first read this almost sounds contradictory to what Jesus was teaching everyone. His message was to be shared with Jews and Gentiles. Yet here He seems to be
saying withhold telling people who are not worthy about His words. Are any of us worthy? Let’s try to unravel this a bit.
Sometimes when we finally “get it,” we want to tell everyone. Hey, this Jesus person really is the Way, The Truth, and The Life. Hey, listen to this, listen to me and I’ll tell you this great new discovery I have found.
I believe here Jesus is instructing us to use discernment and discretion. Not everyone is ready to hear His words, much less understand them.
Ever been annoyed when the Jehovah Witnesses come banging on your door; sometimes it’s just too much, it becomes more of a turnoff than being helpful.
If we try to ram our newfound feelings down the dog’s throat or feed it to the pigs, they’re liable to spit it back out and chase us away. People are on their own spiritual journey in life and may not be ready to absorb the Good News, or even want to hear it. All we can do sometimes is just plant the seed and move on.
Once again, I will defer to Emmet Fox’s interpretation of this verse.
“Intelligence is just as essential a part of the Christian message as is love. God is love, but God is also infinite intelligence, and unless these two qualities are balanced in our lives, we do not get wisdom; for wisdom is the perfect blending of intelligence and love. Love without
intelligence may do much undesigned harm – the spoiled child is a case in point – and intelligence without love may ultimate in clever cruelty. All true Christian activity will express wisdom, for zeal without discretion is proverbially mischievous.
It often happens that when people first become possessed of a knowledge of the Truth, they are so overjoyed that they go running about pouring out their discovery to others, indiscriminately; and probably urging them to accept the Truth too. It is entirely understandable that this should happen, for love longs to share its good; but, nevertheless, it is very unwise. If one is spiritually ready, he will be glad to accept Truth, if it be put forward in some way that can appeal to him; if he be not ready, no amount of intellectual discussion or argument will make him so.
Above all things, be careful of forcing the subject of Truth upon the people with whom you have to live and work, especially in your home. It is easy to make yourself nothing less than a constant nuisance by forcing your ideas upon people who cannot appreciate them, because they are not ready.”
Again, Fox explains it well. I might add in closing that although Jesus’ words seem a little odd with dogs and pigs, He gets His point across. Yes, love Me; yes, tell others about
me; just be careful you’re not wasting your words on those who truly couldn’t care less. Jesus will find them when their time is right. Hopefully this helps clarify what Jesus meant in Matthew 7:6 and you have a fuller understanding of His words in this verse.
This will conclude our Sermon on the Mount series for now. Thanks for reading.
(Editor’s note: if you missed the previous five explorations of the Sermon on the Mount, they can be found on our website under the navigational tool bar “Articles.” They covered the meek shall inherit the earth, turn the other cheek, you are the salt of the earth, love thy neighbor, and blessed are the poor in spirit)
A follow-up to last month’s Rapture or Left Behind article.
By Frank Paul
The feedback to this at times controversial topic was surprisingly positive. Many readers expressed a “thank you” for clarifying exactly just what is this Rapture topic all about. Most were stunned that the entire concept was not even part of the Biblical discussion until the mid 1800s; they assumed it had been around as long as the New Testament had been around. A lot of the readers were “whatever,” as long as I get to meet Jesus again.
One reader, Adam, had an excellent response that he was kind enough to put in writing, and I include it here.
Adam: Thank you for sending this. For me, I think that based on the Bible, the Rapture believers are missing the point of what a lot of Jesus said. It appears to me that Rapture believers are in the camp of people that think, in general, that “I’ve already made it to heaven,” or “I’m guaranteed a place in heaven because I profess my faith in Christ.”
Many times in the Gospels, Jesus taught about the importance of the immediacy of one’s focus on his or her surroundings, warning His followers that they could easily slip into the depths of sin at any time, and they may then never escape the clutches of sin before they die. Such an event, which could happen to anyone at any time according to Jesus, could keep a person stuck in sin and blinded to the light of God for the rest of their life.
Jesus warned us, “stay on the alert,” and “keep our lamps lit.” Again, Christ warned us that, “if the light in you is the darkness, how great is the darkness.”
Additionally, Christ warned us, “Many of the last will be first, and the first will be last.” And that He “does not know the hypocrites.” Why would Jesus repeatedly teach an individual that if they are separated from Christ in their behavior, then even if they profess their faith in Christ, they could still go to hell and be separated from God forever, if all one had to do
was say that “I believe” and get to heaven through something that is guaranteed like the Rapture.
Jesus regularly talked about things like the supremacy of His teaching, in that His teaching leads to God more than any other teaching on earth, especially when combined with the Holy Spirit, prayer, the Gospels, the Christian community, and behavioral discipline.
What about the one who is generally holy but sins? Jesus taught, amongst other things, that “their sin comes back to them worse than it was before it left them.” When one sins, it’s like falling into a trap of lies and deception, an abyss from which there is no guarantee of a way out. Indeed, it may be true that people like Rapture believers who say that “I have already made it to heaven, I’m guaranteed a place there” are those that Jesus warned about when He said, “those who see are blind, and those who are blind for me will see.” That last quote from me was paraphrased, but it communicates what Jesus taught.
In my view, the Rapture believers would be better off focusing on serving the needy and the “least of these” on an increasing basis than running around talking about a fantasy that is not really part of the Bible, and is especially not part of the Gospels.
About the end, my view is that Jesus taught that it was not for us to
know, that it is a mystery to us. We do not know the time or place. Our place is to serve, and love, without wavering, running from our sins into the light of God through following and living Christ’s teaching.
Thanks again, Adam; and thanks to all who gave me input on the article. Very helpful and appreciated.
MODERN PSALMS
by Frank Paul
Psalm 1
O, Lord, how long must I waver? How long shall I continue to hurt your feelings? Forgive me, please, for my weakness in the flesh. Raise up my strength of spirit, my heart of love, so that my soul may return to you when my flesh is done with this world.
Psalm 2
I trust in you, O, Lord; the depth of trust that I have never felt with my fellow man. How unique the feeling it is; you are unseen, O, Lord; yet I see you and feel your hand of love upon my shoulder. I am humbled by the care you show your children. I love you, Lord; and I thank you for sustaining me as I travel through this temporary home.
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