Where does my help come from?

"I lift up my eyes to the hills–where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2

Being the person God created you to be

     I read this devotional story in Streams in the Desert, Jan. 7 and just had to share it. If you are a Christian struggling to be joyful in this decaying world, then you might be inspired by this story, too. 

     A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning, and found everything withered and dying. He asked the oak that stood near the gate what the trouble was. He found it was sick of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine. The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes, like the vine. The vine was going to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the peach tree. The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac.

     And so on all through the garden. Coming to a violet, he found its bright face lifted as cheery as ever. "Well, violet, I'm glad, amidst all this discouragement, to find one brave little flower. You do not seem to be the least disheartened." "No, I am not of much account, but I thought that if you wanted an oak, or a pine, or a peach tree, or a lilac, you would have planted one; but as I knew you wanted a violet, I am determined to be the best little violet that I can."

Others may do a greater work,
But you have your part to do;
And no one in all God's creation
Can do it so well as you.

     Be the best little violet you can be - God knows your heart and your desire to please Him!

Are you a lost coin?

     The coins felt heavy in the woman's hand as she opened the little box to put them away. They were a reminder of her wedding day. Her parents had given them to her before she got married and she often removed them from their hiding place to relive an important part of her history. They were a reminder of the happiest day of her life and she could almost hear the voices of her parents and envision the joy on their faces as they blessed her on her wedding day. The faces of those who came to share in her special day were also etched in her memory forever. 

     Daylight was fading as she counted the coins into the little wooden box where she kept her treasures. 

     She gasped as she counted a second time, one of her precious coins was missing. There should have been 10 coins, but only nine were counted. In her musings about the past, she must have dropped one of her coins. It had to be in the house somewhere. She knelt on the floor and looked about for it, but could see nothing in the approaching darkness, so she lighted the oil lamp and searched again. 

     She was beginning to get frantic and knew that she had to find her lost coin. It must have rolled across the room or got wedged under a piece of furniture. She got out her broom and began systematically moving furniture and sweeping the floor. 

     "I cannot rest tonight until I find it," she spoke to herself as she continued sweeping and searching.

     Something in the corner caught her eye as she moved the lamp to the floor in order to see better. There was a sparkle, visible only in the lamplight and her precious coin was discovered leaning against the wall. She quickly picked it up and held it between her hands offering thanksgiving to God for helping her find it.

     In her excitement at finding the coin, she ran out the door and across the courtyard to her neighbors' home, explaining to her friends all that she had gone through during the course of the evening. 

     "Rejoice with me," she said. "I have found my lost coin!"

     Before we accept Jesus into our hearts, we are like that lost coin. He knows that we are there, because He created us, but we are lost in our sin. 

     Jesus told His disciples the parable of the lost coin to teach them about entering the kingdom of God. Each person in the world is precious to God, we are as valuable to Him as the coin was to the woman in the story. God searches for those who are lost as carefully as the woman searched her home for her coin. He will turn the world upside down in His search for us and stop at nothing until He finds us and then He rejoices with us when our lives become intertwined with His.

     "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents," said Jesus. 

   

“Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

(Luke 15:8-10) The Message

Loving God

How can we return love to a God who has shown us so much love?

     When you truly love someone, whether it's your grandchildren, children, spouse, siblings, parents or just a good friend, you offer expressions of your love through gifts, by spending time with them, fixing their favorite foods or just giving them a hug. There are so many creative ways that we can show our affection to those we love, but how do we show our Heavenly Father that we return His love?

     A number of years ago, as I was praying, I imagined myself climbing up onto God's lap. He invites us to spend time with Him and since Jesus portrayed God as a Father, it's easy to imagine sitting on our Heavenly Father's lap and telling Him about our concerns or just resting quietly in His loving arms. (I think He really likes that best.)

     As I imagined myself as a child resting in her father's arms, it occurred to me that I'd like to give Him a big hug. My mind knows that physically it's impossible to hug God, but my spirit told me that I should just do it. And so I pictured myself turning around in His lap, reaching up to hug His neck and then whispering in His ear, "I love you." 

     I have never forgotten the way it made me feel to hug God's neck and tell Him about my love for Him and I know that He was pleased with me that day. I never saw His face but I know He was smiling when I hugged Him. Afterwards I got to thinking that God created mankind specifically to have a relationship with us. I don't think He's lonely, God is self-sufficient and really doesn't need anything from anybody, but I wonder how often we show Him signs of affection. 

     I realize that we often praise Him with songs and words of adoration, we thank Him for the blessings He has given us and sometimes we even thank Him for the trials in our lives which bring us closer to Him, but do we ever really profess our love to Him? 

     "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV

     "And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?" Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NIV

     "Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments'." Matthew 22:37-40 NIV

     How do we love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength? I looked up the definitions of those words and this is what I discovered. The heart is thought of as the place where emotions are felt, so if we love God with our all heart it means that we are emotionally tied to Him. Our soul is the spiritual part of a person that is believed to give life to the body and in many religions is believed to live forever. As Christians, we truly believe that God created us to be eternal beings and that our faith in Jesus Christ grants us eternal life with God. Therefore, loving God with all our soul is agreeing to trust Him with our spiritual being both now and throughout eternity. The mind is a part of a person that thinks, reasons, feels and remembers. Loving God with our mind takes the most effort because we actually need to think about Him on a daily basis and our mind can help us remember all that He has done for us and be grateful to Him. The dictionary describes strength as the quality or state of being physically strong or the ability to resist being moved or broken by a force. Loving God with our strength sometimes requires being physically strong but it also means that we have a strong conviction or faith in Him.

     God knows that we have responsibilities and jobs to perform, He knows that we have earthly duties to tend to and can't spend all our time in His presence. He expects us, as His children, to love Him by living our lives knowing that He is near to us at all times. Remembering that He is available to help us and doing our earthly tasks in the strength He gives us by His grace is one way we can show love to Him.

     Use your heart, soul, mind and strength as you show your love to the God of the Universe and He will smile as you give Him a spiritual hug.

Do You Have a Need?

What needs do you have? Do you need the basics of life - food, shelter or clothing? Are your needs of a more spiritual nature such as peace, comfort, friendship, love? Each one of us has needs even if we can't or won't voice those needs to others. It can be difficult and humbling to admit that we can't make it through this world without some help, but it is in those situations that God works best. He created us with a need for Him and when we finally reach a point where we cry out to Him for help, He is right there. "And my God will supply all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Everything in the world ultimately belongs to God and He can distribute wealth, clothing, food and shelter any way that He chooses. The blessings that He wants to pour out on His children often go unused because we are too proud to ask Him to meet our needs. We think that we are required to meet our own needs and that God expects us to take care of ourselves, but often He is just waiting for us to seek His help and admit that we are powerless on our own. He wants to hear that we need Him.

God often works through others to provide for our needs. Christians are often the first people to arrive at disasters because we know that Christ expects us to be His hands and feet to the world. In Matthew 25:34-39 we get a glimpse into the heart of God.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.’

“Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’ (The Message)

We don't have to look too far to find someone in need. Within our own community this week, our congregation has heard of so many people who have needs both physical and spiritual. A couple from our church lost all their belongings in a house fire, several members have undergone surgery and we have been helping two families who were once homeless get their lives back on track. Another man in our congregation lost his daughter this week to a drug overdose. 

Whether you have a basic need like shelter or food on your table or you have a spiritual need to overcome grief, the Lord Jesus can meet your need. There are churches around the world which are opening their doors and calling upon Christians to help provide food, shelter and clothing; to pray and visit those who have health concerns and encourage those who are sick and grieving.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome that they should share with the Lord's people who are in need and practice hospitality. (Romans 12:13) 

Sometimes the needs of others are just so overwhelming that we don't know where to begin. The small things that we could offer just don't seem like they amount to much, but be encouraged. This week I've seen the people in a small church, with average attendance between 80 and 100, offer to give monetary donations, provide home furnishings and give of their time and manpower to help others. Each donation of a table, bedding, clothing and dishes is being gathered and stored in one location so that all those who are rebuilding their lives can come and take what they need. Each article, each dollar, each minute of time and energy is a blessing. 

It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy. Proverbs 14:21

Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. Proverbs 14:31

Whether you are the one in need or the one who will meet the need doesn't really matter. What matters is that God is glorified and Jesus is served. If you have a need I hope you will seek out God and His people to help you. Christian churches can be found in communities around the world. If you are thinking that you cannot offer much to help others, think again. Whatever small thing you do for others, you're doing it for Jesus.

Celebrating Christmas

     I've been giving some thought to the true meaning of Christmas and it really is an amazing day that we celebrate as Christians.

     Think about this; Jesus left His home in glory to willingly come to earth, He became one of us and entrusted His glorious life into the hands of those He created. In order to be our savior, He had to become one of us.

     That His glorious birth would be announced by heavenly angels was to be expected, but for those angels to announce His birth to shepherds (the lowest of the low) was indeed remarkable, but also very fitting.

     Everything about His birth points to the reason for His life. He is the good shepherd and we are His sheep. As the Word of God, incarnate, it wasn't just a coincidence that He was placed in a manger when He was born. When you think about the purpose of a manger, it is understandable. A manger is a place where sheep come to eat. We, as the sheep of His pasture, come to the manger to feast on the Word of God.

     His birth not only drew the shepherds, those of low position, but also wise men from distant lands. His life on earth served as a bridge for all mankind and He still, today, welcomes all who seek Him into God's Kingdom.

     A star accompanied Him into the world, shining into the darkness, just as His life on earth has done. He is the earthly reflection of God's glory, a light to the Gentiles.

     "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'
     Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.'
     When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'
     So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them." Luke 2:8-18

     Yes, the birth of Jesus Christ is indeed something to celebrate. The world had never experienced the God of creation becoming a part of creation and it was a monumental day. As you celebrate the birth of Christ this year, thank Him for humbling Himself, stepping down from His throne on high and becoming Emmanuel - God with us! 

It's not too late to work in God's field

     “God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work. “Later, about nine o’clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went. “He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o’clock. At five o’clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, ‘Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?’  “They said, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “He told them to go to work in his vineyard.

     “When the day’s work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, ‘Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.’" 

   Those hired at five o’clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, ‘These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.’

     “He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’ “Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”

Matthew 20:1-16 (The Message)

Some versions of verse 16 add the phrase  "many are called but few are chosen."

     I have often wondered about this scripture - who was Jesus referring to when he said the first would be last and the last would be first?

     I understand the part about the wages that all the workers received. God's grace is for everyone and even those who wait until their dying breath to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will receive the same wages as those who accept His gift of salvation when they are young. Eternal life is the same for everyone who believes in Jesus as the Son of God. We will all enter God's kingdom and live with Him forever. No one is going to get short-changed because they failed to put their faith in Christ while young.

     But what did Jesus mean when He said that the last will be first and the first will be last? I've done some research by reading what some of the world's finest theologians interpreted from this scripture and the answer that makes the most sense to me is this: Jesus was referring to the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jewish people were God's first choice to take the message of salvation to the world. They were the first workers hired by God, the owner of the world (or the vineyard). Those who came to work in the vineyard later in the day are those who have come to a saving faith because of Christ Jesus. We are His followers who willingly sacrifice our own lives to work for Christ in the world, doing whatever He commands. 

     I suppose that the Jewish people have a difficult time accepting the fact that "Gentiles" will enter God's Kingdom and receive salvation yet, their own prophets tried to tell them. Isaiah is referring to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, in this passage.

Isaiah 49:5-7

And now the Lord says—he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength—

he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

This is what the Lord says—the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel—to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers:
“Kings will see you and stand up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

God also told Abraham that through his offspring all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Jesus Christ was Jewish and had Jewish ancestry, yet His biological father was God–the God of the universe–the God who wanted His son to shine His light also for the Gentiles (those who do not have Jewish ancestry).

God had a plan from the beginning of time to draw people to Himself and reward those who came to Him. It's never too late to respond to God's call. Until the day of Jesus' return, He will continue to seek workers to join Him in the harvest field and all those who do will receive the same pay – eternal life!