Splash Mouth

“We need to learn to keep our mouths closed,” my wife said.

I didn’t, “Amen,” out loud but I did in my brain. Just like the Bible says: “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise.”

Now my wife wasn’t actually referring to keeping silent. She was talking about a powerful little spray apparatus we have in our bathroom used to clean our teeth. We’ve discovered if the mouth isn’t closed; water sprays on the mirror, in our eye, and even up our nose.

In a parallel, the words we speak about ourselves askew the view we have of ourselves. Like a splashed mirror, we have a distorted image of how God sees us. Words like: “I can’t, I won’t, I’ll never,” pervert: “Created in God’s image…the righteousness of Christ…more than conquers.”

And we will strain to see God’s all-things-possible-through-Christ banner over our lives.

Words errantly sprayed from our mouth also distort our eyes. One of the most damaging is the way we perceive the people we are in contact with.

When we let words form on our lips and in our minds, solely because of what our eyes perceive, danger lurks. Instead we must more fully desire “the eyes of Christ.”

Water up the nose? Eeeew, that’s just not right.

Noses are far better at receiving sweet smells. God’s nose is no different. David in Psalm 141 addressed God: “Let my prayer be set forth as incense before You.” Fragrant, enticing, emotionally stimulating words of prayer—from our mouths to God’s nose. Are we doing this?

God allows us to speak powerful words. Words of Godly life change. So let us pray; God help my speech reflect this Bible passage: “...words can be a source of wisdom, deep as the ocean, fresh as a flowing stream.”

Lazy--One, Two, Three

I kept running into lazy. Three people in a two days, mentioned “lazy.”

“You’re lazy.”

“I guess I’m lazy.”

“I’m just lazy.”

First lazy: Del talked to Burt after Bible study: “You’re lazy.” Ouch! Seems a little poke-in-the-eyeish. Not exactly. While Del knows Burt’s packed with potential; Burt just isn’t digging in to get to the next level with God.

The Bible says, “He (God) is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Burt is on the edge of opening up some great opportunities, rewards from God. But “lazy” could easily knock him off course. This happens to way too many people.

Second lazy: I had seen John at church only once. He lives down the street in my new neighborhood. Next time I saw him I said, “It was nice seeing you in church.” As we talked briefly, he volunteered a reason for erratic attendance. “I guess I’m lazy.”

The Bible says, “I was glad when they said to me: Let us go to the House of the LORD.” That’s how John seemed at church. “Glad.” He was greeting people and engaged in the service. “Glad.”

A proven pathway to worthy life-experiences is to press through: “I don’t feel like it.” And arrive at: “Let us go…”

Third lazy: Richie, a middle school student, initiated the conversation. His: “I’m just lazy,” was a way of explaining his lack of success at school.

Richie head-on recognized the detrimental effects of his laziness. And he was rightfully shaking the lazys from his life with a thrust into new and positive school activities. This will head Richie toward success.

Bottom line: as Proverbs 13:4 says, “The soul of the lazy man desires and has nothing; but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.”

Be rich!

Twelve Year Old Pickles

“That must be the record,” I said to my wife. She responded, “Has to be.” We were talking about food for needy families. No it wasn’t a record food drive or a record distribution day.

Someone had contributed a jar of pickles outdated by twelve years! We both kind of laughed. Kind of…

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.” And these pickles were definitely for “the least” in our community.

My wife and I agreed: “They didn’t know what they were doing.” It was just a little oversight mixed in with a do-good objective.

Right?

Listen to those words from Jesus again: “'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, the least in society; that was Me--you did it to Me.” So, would a person accidentally have an oops-moment and present to Jesus Christ pickles twelve years past their expiration date?

Introspection caused me to look first at my own heart. And attitude. Do I see the face of Jesus in every needy person? Or do I look upon a single lump of humanity—the poor?

The prophet Isaiah gives challenging advice: “Share your food with the hungry…bring into your house the poor wander…when you see the naked, clothe him.” In addition to these material goods he adds: “Extend your soul to the hungry.”

My soul!

This is taking all God has given me—all the love, mercy, compassion, kindness, grace…and giving, extending all to “the least in society.”

Yes, we will sometimes be perplexed as to how to accomplish this. It’s as if Isaiah knew our thoughts. He adds: “The LORD will guide you continually.”

Free Won't

Thomas had been given a free gift from God. This gift is one way God expresses His love to humans. The gift? Free won’t.

Thomas was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. The Bible says: “But Thomas…was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, ‘We saw the Master (Jesus).’ But Thomas said, "Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won't believe it." I won’t…

Jesus died. Was resurrected to life and had appeared to a few—but not Thomas. Thomas then exercised his free won’t: “I won’t believe.” His God-given choice/gift.

At a small gathering of friends recently, we discussed some men in the Bible whose lives intermingled closely with Jesus—Peter, Thomas, and Paul. I asked the question: “Who can you most relate to?”

Two answered honestly, saying they were like Thomas during the doubting phase of his life. Free won’t in my friend’s lives said: “Until I have more evidence, I won’t fully believe in Jesus.”

I have respect for their searching attitude. But there is a huge, destructive trap that can easily unfurl. I won’t believe until…way, way too often becomes: “I won’t do anything regarding pursuing truth. I won’t believe in Jesus. And I won’t invest any effort into making an informed decision on this ultra-important matter.”

Now Thomas and my two friends (for the most part) have a proper, searching attitude.

(1) Thomas maintained his connection with his believing friends. “And Thomas was with them.”
(2) Thomas never said that believing was beyond possibility. He needed more evidence: “Unless I see…”
(3) Thomas was willing to make a swift, radical change. From I won’t; he immediately responded to Jesus: “My Lord and my God.”