Not every king lives in a castle

This "fairy tale" castle in Germany once again reminded me of the royalty that I have been seeing so much of on TV the last few days.  Its hard to imagine what it must be like to live in such splendor, but I am sure it would become commonplace after awhile.  Today, as I watched the marriage of William and Kate, something the minister said impressed me.  He said something like: "in one sense, every wedding is a royal wedding".  How true; each of us is royalty because we have been adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters.  Naturally, I thought of these verses from the book of 1st Peter....

1 Peter 2:1-9 (WEB)
1) Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking,

2) as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby,

3) if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious:

4) coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious.

5) You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

6) Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed.”

7) For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone,”

8) and, “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.

9) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:

Each of us is very, very precious because of the price that God paid for each and every one of us.  We may live in a shack, a townhouse, a mobile home or a castle, but we are loved with a love that shows how special we are.  We are God's, we are a royal priesthood and precious in his sight.  It might be nice to become the king of England, but we each have a high calling.  Besides, I will have something in 5 years that William will not... a full head of hair!!

Nanny, Nanny, Nanny!!!

To my "Western" mind, this little story sounds ridiculous.  Somebody turned into a goat?  Really?  Yet, the Bible talks about miracles; miracles with a purpose... to confirm that that which was spoken by a prophet or apostle of Jesus was the truth.  Here is one example.

Acts 19:11-20 (WEB)

11) God worked special miracles by the hands of Paul,

12) so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and the evil spirits went out.

13) But some of the itinerant Jews, exorcists, took on themselves to invoke over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

14) There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did this.

15) The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?”

16) The man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

17) This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. Fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

18) Many also of those who had believed came, confessing, and declaring their deeds.

19) Many of those who practiced magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. They counted their price, and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.

20) So the word of the Lord was growing and becoming mighty.

How do we understand such things in our present day?  The answer is a tough one, but to me, God has proclaimed his word and so it just doesn't seem applicable.  In the book of Acts, God used people like Peter and Paul to proclaim the new faith and people needed something to have confidence in them, so miracles were necessary.  To those who tried to speak in God's name without authority... good luck, you will need it.  If you are looking to get better from a disease, take your medicine, see a chiropractor, go on a diet or begin an exercise program... whatever.  Only thing is, play it safe.... pet the next goat you meet with kindness... hey, you never know!

Things change for the better

Most of the time, Florida is a wonderful place to live.  After all, they don't call it the "Sunshine state" for nothing!  Hurricane season is an exception to the previous sentences of course and when the wind blows here, hang on for dear life!!!  Yet, Florida is where I live and where I will stay, but at times I miss upstate New York.  Especially when I know that the fall season has arrived with all its splendor and its at times like this that I remember what it was like to live there....

Ezra 3:1-13 (WEB)
1) When the seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem.

2) Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.

3) They set the altar on its base; for fear was on them because of the peoples of the countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon to Yahweh, even burnt offerings morning and evening.

4) They kept the feast of tents, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required;

5) and afterward the continual burnt offering, and the offerings of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to Yahweh.

6) From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh: but the foundation of the temple of Yahweh was not yet laid.

7) They gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, to them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

8) Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who were come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of Yahweh.

9) Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to have the oversight of the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites.

10) When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh, they set the priests in their clothing with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Yahweh, after the order of David king of Israel.

11) They sang one to another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel.” All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid.

12) But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

13) so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

Deportation, living in a strange land and homesickness must have been hard on the Jews.  They loved their homeland and longed for their GOD!  Now, the time had arrived to restore the temple and fully return to the GOD of their fathers.  Some wept for joy and some for sorrow because the memory of past times was a hard thing to deal with.  Yet, even for those who wept, there must have been something wonderful, because God blesses you right where you are and with what you are capable of handling.  Just like the picture evokes mixed emotions in me, so the sight of the new temple must have done the same for those at the rebuilding.  I have learned over the years that GOD never takes away something without putting something these in its place.  Oh, it may not look the same (the colors or shape may be different), but the blessing is there nonetheless!  Remember, God is not a God of the dead, but of the living and life with God is life indeed.  Bring on the change!!

Three's a charm

I didn't grow up in a household with guns, so it seemed a little strange to me when my father-in-law showed me his extensive collection.  Still, I didn't have anything to do with them until my youngest daughter's husband got me interested.  When I saw this shotgun, I immediately thought how much he would love to have something like this.  Three barrels; WOW!!!  You can't have too much of a good thing; RIGHT?  That may be fine with guns, but NOT with the word of GOD.  Consider just two verses from the Bible...

Galatians 1:6-9 (WEB)


6) I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different “good news”;

7) and there isn’t another “good news.” Only there are some who trouble you, and want to pervert the Good News of Christ.

8) But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed.

9) As we have said before, so I now say again: if any man preaches to you any “good news” other than that which you received, let him be cursed.

Its human nature to always want something better; to keep on impoving the current state of things.  The exact opposite should be true with religion; keep it in its purest form, its original one.  How can anyone top the sacrifice of Jesus?  More importantly, why would you want to?  Frankly, I can't think of one good reason.  Anything less than the "Good News" is BAD NEWS!!!  A three barreled shot gun may be a great idea, but an adulterated Gospel, NEVER!!!

The Answer

Obviously, this was a guess.  People will do that; reach for anything that sounds even remotely reasonable, even when it isn't.  To me, this is funny, but then, that's me.  When I saw this I thought of the book of Acts...

Acts 17:22-31 (WEB)


22) Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things.

23) For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you.

24) The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands,

25) neither is he served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.

26) He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,

27) that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

28) ‘For in him we live, and move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’

29) Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.

30) The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,

31) because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”

Mankind longs for God, but most do not make it into a close relationship with HIM.  Why, I wonder?  The Athenians were certainly looking, but somehow didn't find God.  Its not that they weren't religious, far from the case indeed; they were VERY religious.  They just needed to know Jesus.  Simple, but true.  Jesus is the answer.  Sometimes the answer is so simple that its very simplicity seems deceptive.  Yet, God is near, God is waiting and waiting and waiting.  Look, feel, think; God is very close indeed.  Just as close as an open Bible and as near as a seeking heart.  And that is no joke, its a blessing!!!

How is this going to end?

This youngster looks a little afraid, doesn't he?  A bath can be a terrifying thing the first time and this appears to be the case here.  That's true of most things, isn't it, if its going to affect us physically, fear may be close at hand.  If its true at the beginning of life, it follows that its true at the end of it.  Then what?  We die and nothing.  Like Rover, are we dead all over?  To some of us this little saying may be true, but truthfully, if we had a choice wouldn't we want something better than a dog's life.  Consider the following:

1 Corinthians 15:1-8 (WEB)


1) Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

2) by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

3) For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4) that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5) and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6) Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

7) Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,

8) and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

The man Jesus actually lived; this is proven historically beyond all doubt.  His death is well documented and as this passage from the book of 1st Corinthians proves, so is his resurrection.  This is really good news to those of us who know we will die someday.  Like to avail yourself of life after death?  Read Acts chapter two and do what those people did!!!  Don't be afraid, there is a happy ending!

Remember when?

Wouldn't this be a lovely addition to your baby pictures.  Face it, we all do foolish things; we all make many, many mistakes over the course of our lifetime.  Just one more to add to the list.  Even as adults we continue to make mistakes, remember Rhoda in the book of Acts (Chapter 12).  She went to the door and when she heard Peter's voice, she didn't open the door and went inside to tell everyone instead.  I have always enjoyed this one, but somehow this passage from the book of Jonah came to the forefront of my mind.

Jonah 4:1-11 (WEB)

1) But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

2) He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.

3) Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”

4) Yahweh said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

5) Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.

6) Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.

7) But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.

8) It happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

9) God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”

10) Yahweh said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.

11) Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?”

Jonah was a character!  When God told him to go to Nineveh, he disobeyed.  It took being swallowed by a really big fish to make him change, but finally he obeyed and went to Nineveh and preached God's message of repentance.  To Jonah's surprise, Nineveh listened!!!  Instead of being happy about this, Jonah went outside the city and sat down, awaiting its destruction.  Why?  Pride, arrogance and just plain stubborness are the best answers I can come up with.  He cared more for himself than even the young, who don't know their left from their right hand.  Baby pictures remind us of what we used to be like and that can be very cute, but stubborness to the will of God is not something I would like to be remembered for.