Will a Man Learn To Follow Directions Part III

A few years ago I got a GPS for Christmas.  I told you traveling in West Virginia is by markers.  I don’t speak “marker” and got lost frequently.  Vicki bought it and after unwrapping presents that morning Stefani and I went outside to install it in my car.  When the voice came on it was a woman’s voice.  A quick-minded daughter of five years old informed me I now had three women to listen and take directions.  I said “Three?”  Stefani said, “Yes Daddy, me Mommy, and GPS!”

It is true a man who is blessed with a wife should listen to them.  Many man like the part a wife is to submit to her husband.  They forget the concept of mutual submission spoken by Paul in the verse directly ABOVE Ephesians 5:22.  Now in every organization a final decision might have to made, but a wise man will listen to the advice, feelings, and thoughts of his God-given wife.

Since they are the other part of the One-Flesh concept God makes when he unites the two, it would be foolish not to listen to her.  Also we are feed her and nourish her because no man hates his own flesh.  At times I wanted to protect her from the pains of ministry.  She hungered to help me.  One dealing with a potential health situation, I did not tell her I was seeing a doctor.  She felt I did not trust her.  Men, they don’t think like us and we need to remember to treat them as the “weaker vessel.”  It is not looking down but understanding they think, feel, and reason differently.  This gives us a different perspective—one which should be considered. 

The answer is we can learn to take directions. 

Will a Man Learn to Follow Directions Part II

Last night I took Vicki to her favorite restaurant for dinner for her birthday.  I can not tell you how many she has had because I have learned to follow directions in the past of this matter.  Tonight I am taking her out again to see a "chix flix" she has asked to see.  Also tomorrow I will clean the house and take our daughter to shop for her mom's special day and then the family will gather together to celebrate her birthday and her mother's which was March 1.

See a man can learn to follow directions when he loves the object of his heart.  Likewise, a follower of Jesus will do what he says from a heart filled with love for him.  Jesus said if we love him we will obey his commands.  If we only love ourselves we will follow the desires of a selfish heart.  The person then becomes the object of his own desires. 

My love of Vicki is eclipsed by the love I have for the Lord.  He teaches me to love her as the "weaker vessel" and to love her as Christ loves the church and was willing to give up his life for the church.  These are tough qualities but they could not come from an humanistic love for Vicki, but again my love for the Lord.

A man can learn new "tricks" to please a woman in his life, but it take a Christian man a real purpose to love his wife with a commitment to last through the better or worse, richer or poorer, sickness and health.  Thank you God for my wife and another year of her life to teach me to love. 

Will a Man Ever Follow Directions? Part I

Several years ago I attended the funeral for the mother of a church family.  It was over two hours away and I needed directions for an unfamiliar area of West Virginia.  I was told to take the interstate to the area near Clarksburg and then follow the four-lane to Parkersburg.    Near there I was to turn on this small country lane and follow it for a few miles.  I was to look for a house with deer in the front and then look for a graveled country road on the right and go up the hill to the top and the little church and cemetery would be on the top. 

I have learned the hearer stops listening after seventeen seconds and you can imagine listening to these directions with Attention Deficit Disorder.  The word I focused upon was “deer”.   Growing up in Orlando I guessed the family had pet deer.  I found this small country road, which was so small our van and a pick-up truck passed each other with inches to spare.  I must have gone up and down the road several times and never found the deer but found the small lane and eventually the church.

After the funeral, I asked the daughter about the house with the deer and how she knew there would be deer in front of the house.  She had a small smile as she explained, “The family had left those white Christmas deer in front of the house for years and finally took them down.” 

It wasn’t the fact I did not ask for directions but in many rural roads in our state people navigate not by street signs or route numbers but identifying markers.  Houses, trees, barns, and even rivers and creeks mark the way for many.  Markers are good ways to navigate if you understand their importance.   A man can follow directions when he understands the importance of the markers in his life.   God tells us the stars are markers he placed to identify sacred seasons.  Men have markers God has placed in our paths—other Godly men.  I need to take instruction from them as I unlearn worldly ways in which I was raised for the ways of the new birth.  Men who have followed the paths of other Godly men and walk closely with the Lord are the markers for my life and the place I need to go to restart the journey if I get lost. 

I think of men like Dan, a godly older gentle-man who taught me patience and how to pray.  I learned from him humility and gentleness.  He was not perfect but was just being perfected and he became a marker for the Christian walk for me.  Thanks Dan.

Liberty or Death

"The year was 1768 when three Baptist preachers stood in a lonely Virginia courtroom accused of preaching the gospel of the Son of God in a manner unapproved by colonial statute. And as true as it was that they had been preaching, it was also true that the Episcopalian Church, the state church of the Virginia colony, would never approve of any competing denomination vying for the souls within her territory. Thus, they stood condemned as many of their brethren had stood before, both in colonial America as well as on the European continent.  But as their indictment was being read, into the courtroom strode a man who had just rode horseback over 50 miles to volunteer his services in their defense. Dressed in a common man’s attire, he was largely unknown to the crowd that had gathered that day, but to those within the bar he was very well known; this was none other than Patrick Henry."  (By Ron Hamman Religion Views, Published on Monday, June 15, 2009 8:20 PM AKDT Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Wassilla, Alaska)

Liberty is the opposite of death.  This is why our forefathers said we had the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Whether it is the slow death of an oppressive government or the confining death of religious dictate, man's liberty is tied directly to his faith or lack of it. I see people who have no faith with family problems which seem over-whelming because they have no source of relief by faith and belief.  They have emotional problems, financial woes, family divisions and eventually a death and second death. 

Christ also knew the freedom of faith with the Father and the lack of freedom which accompanies the body.  He was willing to die to give us this freedom.    "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. " 2 Corinthians 3:17

Our way of life as Americans is based upon the freedom in Christ.  No government decision should limit the exercise of my rights given to me by my Creator.  Patrick Henry also said this: "It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!”  Our only source of FREEDOM.

How We Can Have Homes of Honor I Peter 3:1-7

Years ago people signed test books that they did not cheat on school exams.  Colleges had honor codes against other infractions.  What has become of honor today and how can we restore honor in God's most basic of relationships?  

Women have an opportunity to impact un-Godly husbands and spouses who are not following the Lord.  Ladies your focus must be upon God.  The world says your qualities are best expressed in what you wear but those things change with tastes. A Godly woman that fears the Lord is precious and priceless to him.  A gentle and quiet spirit is not just for women for all Christians are to live their lives this way.  Remembering those women lived in a society that wives follow after their husband’s beliefs, you must know if you have an unbelieving husband nagging or pestering is not the process to salvation. For husbands not doing the things God would have them do your attitude can influence them.  Your internal condition with God will lead to an external peace and confidence in God that will induce a spiritual awe in him.

Men are told women want men to cry and are understanding.  Peter is not down playing the role of husband and wife in the physical sense, but he is letting you know God and Christ must be at the center of this knowledge to treat your wife like you are command.   Ask yourself —Are my children following Christ to the same degree I am?  If the answer is NO, reflect upon the way you treat their mother.    Ask yourself this—Is Christ the center of my life?  If the answer is NO, how can you treat the other half not only as the weaker vessel but also has the position of being created in the image of God and a joint heir with you in the kingdom to come?  Peter says render to her the honor she is due which is distribute or give to the other person their fair share.  She is a valuable possession and one deserving of a special honor. She is the weaker vessel and God esteems her. Prayers are hindered if you do not treat her with respect and if you hold a grudge against your wife—how can you pray?  The answer is not at all.  Anger and unforgiveness are keeping your prayers from going anywhere.  With a harsh word you hurt feelings and the bible asks in James how it is with the same mouth you praise God and curse man? 

Husbands and wives are made into one flesh so God can have Godly offspring.  How can raise Godly offspring without honor in the home?  We must first have honor is our own hearts.

Ode to Aging

An event has journeyed with me since birth.  Its passing marked my infancy, childhood, youth, and adulthood.  It followed me from acne to age spots and from dental floss to dentures.  This monumental event is looked forward to by a child and resisted by an adult.  It has passed with fanfare and with a whimper.  This event is called a birthday and though my next one is a few months away I see them pass faster with each advancing year.

As a child I took One-a-Day and now there is not one day I don't take fifteen pills.  My pill box expands each year as does the number of doctors I have to see.  My ode to aging reminds me of the things I have done and the regrets I may possess. 

I was not much of a dancer in school and now I dance with Arthiritis.  I have lotions for pain and soft skin.  I have lifts for fallen arches and glasses for my eyes.  Each couple of years I need new prescriptions for glasses and at present have trifocals.  Since my twelveth year I have worn glasses and was called four eyes.  Does this now mean I would be calleed 12-eyes by children?

With each birthday the amount of candles increase on my cake and someday I expect I will need an Open Burning permit from the fire department to celebrate that date.  I think I better get a fire extingquisher before August. 

I have Facebook to remind me of my friends birthdays.  While they someday remind me of mine?  One day I will no longer have them and will walk into heaven to meet my Savior.  I know it will be heaven when I see Him but I hope we don't have birthdays there.  Could you imagine the flames from an eternity of candles?

Proverbs 16:31 (New International Version, ©2010) Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness. Does this mean the few hair I have left after each passing year means a less splendid crown? No, because the bible also says God knows the number of hairs on my head.  I guess this means he also knows subtraction. 

“God’s Accounting System Greater Than Our Sin” Romans 4:1-23

In a few weeks some will pay the government money for taxes.  We try to figure our income but we failed.  When we think of accounting software we might try Quicken but God has a system far different from man.

 When man believes the promises God has given, it is accounted to him as righteousness. In this business term God charged to Abraham’s account righteousness because by his faith he believed God. Paul uses the work of man to drive home the point.  When a man works for an employer the wages he receives are not a gift but an obligation of the employer. God does not owe anyone and cannot be indebted to man by his works.  The bible teaches that the debtor is the servant to the lender and God could never be bound to sinful man and still be God.  The same term of debt or obligation is used of sin in the Lord’s Prayer.  It means sins or transgressions are a debt and a man’s works cannot lead to grace.  Grace is accounted or credited to the believer’s account because the believer trusted in a justifying God. With  God’s accounting system the believer receives a state of righteousness apart from works.

Another action of God’s accounting is the state of blessedness.  David’s history was clouded by breaking three of God’s Ten Commandments.  He coveted his neighbor’s wife, committed adultery, and murdered the husband.  How could such a man do works of righteousness and ever hope to cover these sins? Paul speaks of blessedness—a condition of blessed covers many different words such as “well-spoken of,” “happy,” and “joyful.  This condition of blessedness is considered one at peace with God.  The believer is no longer an enemy of God’s by being in this state of blessedness.  Paul quotes from Psalm 32: “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”  David rejoiced that though he did commit severe sins, God still did not remove his blessings upon him. 

Finally God’s accounting system brings relationship. .  God justifies those by faith and justification is a reestablishment of an ethical and moral relationship.  With God’s choice, I am welcome to come and live in his courts.   PSA 65:4  Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.  We have a relationship of worship—worth-ship to remind us of his wonderful blessings.  We have a relationship that comes with trusting in him like Abraham and we need to follow directly in the path of Abraham’s righteousness.

I love God’s accounting better than Uncle Sam’s because there are never any mistakes. God’s accounting system is not based on my works but the works of His Son who justified me  by faith which I could never pay for and so he paid it for me. 

Our liberty is not by governments

As Americans we celebrate our liberty on the Fourth of July and yet we fail to realize it was not a government which gave us the freedoms but just placed them into a document we call the Bill of Rights.  Our liberty of religion, speech, and others are from a Creator and so He is the founder of our rights.

Just as we have a right to religion we also give others the right to have no religion.  We also have the distinction of allowing others the right to have a religion which opposes Christianity.  A right cannot be abridged by a government nor those who find that religion offensive.

Christ did not come into this world to judge it but to save it.  This is the work of the believer.  We do not judge others but seek to show those who oppose Christ the freedom in Him.  We are saved not by a series of laws or actions but by faith in Him.  Therefore we may celebrate this freedom beyond the Fourth of July to include each day of the year,