Put In or Pop Out?

Our family has been reading Show Them Jesus, by Jack Klumpenhower. His main theme is that we should tie our biblical teaching – Sunday School, Bible reading, etc – back to Jesus and what he has done for us. Our children should know that God forgives our sins and provides redemption AND that there is nothing we can do to be worthy of that grace.

The day after we discussed this penetrating statement – “We shouldn’t build self-esteem. We should build Christ-esteem” (p152) – I had an application moment with our seven year old granddaughter. We were reading word cards, an activity she dreads (I just noticed that ‘reads’ is contained in ‘dreads’ ). After puzzling over the word ‘something’ for several seconds, a light came on, she figured it out, and a big grin appeared on a mostly frowny face.

I paused and prayed aloud, “Dear Jesus, thank you for putting that word into Molly’s head so she could know it and say it. You are the one who teaches us, Lord. Please keep it up and help her remember more of these words.” Then I explained to her that it was Jesus who put the thought in her head and exclaimed what a great gift that was. Molly understood part of it. “Yes,” she said proudly, “God popped it right out of my head.” I repeated my version several times, but she was not understanding the difference in prepositions.

So, we still have work to do. It was great that God has gotten credit, but there is a subtle distinction between God putting the word or thought in our head versus God popping the thought out. The first gives credit for planting the thought in the first place. The second assumes we already had the thought and God was just helping it come forth. It may not be a valid measurement, but seems to point toward a lack of appreciation for God’s grace.

This teaching moment reminded me that I am not the one who turns those lights on – it is the Holy Spirit. So I can do what another book our family read – A Praying Life, by Paul Miller – suggests. Pray. Pray for God to work in Molly’s heart and head and bring more true light about himself.

Two Kinds of Fear

The ending paragraphs of chapters 13 and 14 of 1 Chronicles express two different kinds of fear. The first incident is a result of an accident when David and all Israel are bringing the Ark of the Covenant from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem. “And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah (the cart driver) put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God. “   Verse 12 says that David was afraid of God that day.

The Ark was God’s seat in the Tent of Meeting, dedicated in Moses’ time back in the Wilderness. It was a holy spot and was to be treated according to God’s commands. The Levites were to carry the Ark on poles, so David and his friends were not respecting the laws, the Ark, or God by transporting it on a cart like the Philistines had done. And the non-Levite Uzzah actually touched the Ark! David’s fear was born out of the realization he still did not know how to serve this powerful, awesome God. Eventually the problem was solved when Levites consecrated themselves and did the proper carrying in Chapter 15. The experience helped everyone to realize, at least for a little while, that it was important to follow God’s rules.

The second fear occurs after Chapter 14 recounts several of David’s military battles with the Philistines. When the Israelites defeated their foes soundly, “the fame of David went out into all the lands, and the LORD brought the fear of him upon the nations.” God’s plan included the blessing of David and the cursing of his enemies, as promised to Abraham in Genesis 12. While David’s kingship was being established, God protected him and his people by planting terror and dread in the minds of their enemies. The battles did not need to be fought until David’s forces were ready.

So, the fear of the Lord includes obeying his rules and letting him fight the battles. What a great God!

Cool Number Dates – 9/6/15-9/12/15

This week has three dates whose month, day, and year are all multiples of three: 9/6/15, 9/9/15, and 9/12/15.

In addition (pun intended), 9/6 is an Addition day, since 9 + 6 = 15.

And the next (pun also intended) cool day is a Sequence of 3’s: 9/12/15.

Bonus fact: 9/9/15 is our anniversary. 43 years!

More PBS Groaners

PBS (Pearls Before Swine) pun-ishment can be found here.

 

Hi, Goat. It’s me, Pig. I’m at your house. Some guy named Yves is here to destroy your garage.

Oh, yeah. He’s from ‘Destruction, Inc.’ They’re gonna demolish my garage so I can build a new one.

Gee. I thought he was doing something bad, so Rat and I have been standing on top of him to prevent it.

You’ve gotta be kidding me. You and Rat aren’t rally standing on an employee of ‘Destruction, Inc,’ are you?

You don’t believe we’re on the Yves of Destruction?

 

That clinic downtown that did enemas is finally closing down.

How come?

I guess they failed to make some of their tax payments.

So, their enema business was in arrears?

Their payments were behind.

Did the landlord say, “No ifs, ands, or buts”?

 

Save me, Pig! I’m a chicken breast and if the fast food chains get ahold of me, they’ll chop me into little nuggets.

And you don’t like that?

No… I don’t even know what a nugget is.

Then I’ll try to get the fast food chains to stop. Do you want me to keep you informed of my efforts?

Yes. I’d appreciate your keeping me abreast of keeping me a breast.

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Crown Him With Many Crowns is one of those rousing hymns that seem to demand an organ accompaniment. It is an echo of the praise directed even now in heaven to our Lord and Savior. Written by Matthew Bridges in 1851, the fourth stanza has two great phrases: ‘Potentate of time,’ meaning ruler of all eternity, and ‘ineffably sublime,’ expressing the indescribable supremacy of God.

The gospel is clear as praise for the ‘one who died for thee’ and the ‘Redeemer’; all of creation worships him – angels, flowers, souls of mankind. And he is acknowledged as the ruler of all creation.

Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne;

hark! How the heav’nly anthem drowns all music but its own:

awake my soul and sing of him who died for thee,

and hail him as they matchless King through all eternity.

 

Crown him the Lord of love; behold his hands and side,

rich wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified:

no angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,

but downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright.

 

Crown him the Lord of peace; whose pow’r a scepter sways

from pole to pole, that wars may cease, absorbed in prayer and praise:

his reign shall know no end; and round his pierced feet

fair flow’rs of paradise extend their fragrance ever sweet.

 

Crown him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time;

Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime:

all hail, Redeemer, hail! For thou hast died for me:

thy praise shall never, never fail throughout eternity.

Energy Warning

A man walks up a museum, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. The guard at the door informs him, “You can’t enter here, sir. This museum has a strict dress code.”

The man nods and returns to his car. He roots around looking for anything at all in his car to dress himself up, but can’t find anything. In his desperation, he wraps his jumper cables around his neck and returns to the guard at the museum entrance.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t find anything nice to wear, but I was able to put these jumper cables around neck as a tie. Please, I’m begging you, can I come in now?”

The guard replies, “Well,” he pauses for consideration, “alright, just don’t try to start anything.”

Elder Devotion Time

This devotion / prayer time is especially for those who are to be able to teach – elders, pastor, Sunday school teachers. Jason led us at an elders meeting a couple of weeks ago and it was encouraging to hear the responses it produced.

Each person in the group is assigned a verse from Colossians 1.15-29, with the instruction, “Given a few minutes preparation time, briefly explain the verse and tell how you would teach it to others.” Note that there are two important parts – the content and the method.

As one might expect, the methods varied with the content and with the ‘teacher.’ Some suggested a study technique (e.g. what does it say, what does it mean, how does it apply?) which would work for most verses. Some had specific method ideas for their verse – understanding the context, citing other related verses, studying the pronouns.

Each person had worked independently in their short preparation time, but it was interesting and uplifting to hear the brief presentations allude to prior verses and methods as we moved around the room.