Obvious

P 2698 Some things really are as plain as the nose on your face.

/ DVH

Thank God we always have HIS MIRROR! The bible clearly reveals to us that we cannot love God and hate our brother. “We love because He first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister IS A LIAR. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” 1 John 4:19-21. And just in case we think we can wiggle out of that particular idea on a technicality, Jesus Himself answered the whole …  “Just who is my brother?” scenario, brilliantly, in the story of the Good Samaritan. He made it clear, my brother or sister is the person I want to avoid, or the person I blame for making ME feel bad!

We can be easily fooled into missing out on our new life in Christ’s life-giving lessons, by dismissing our own personal responsibility to fix things. Being reconciled means humbling yourself not just shoving the blame off onto the other person. We can’t just silently excuse or dismiss our need to cherish Him, and His Word above everything else, and hope He won’t notice! Fixing stuff isn’t just a process of negotiation, and agreement – true reconciliation means we can go back to walking with each other in love, as quickly as possible. The aim is change – not pretending! Self-deception is the worst kind of deception.

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.” Romans 12:17-19. Personally, I ask the Lord for His help to sort me, and the other person out. I let Him know I am happy with what He wants to do about it, either way. And I aim to take the low road – because I probably did something or other! His Presence is way more important to me than my ego. People who protect themselves have fragile egos and, sadly, they can easily miss opportunities to die to self.

I recommend true reconciliation with others highly, because that action quickly diagnoses all the greebilies that hang around, unnoticed, in our own lives. These creepy critters disguise themselves as terrible wounds that have been inflicted on us – and that means many times we avoid the stab-ber like the plague. Have you ever noticed how dead-set easy it is to prove your point and get sympathy for your sorrow when somebody hurts you and everybody else can see it was their fault? My advice is to give sympathy a swerve and go for the Gold – walking with Jesus.

Oh the temptation to feel justified can be such a battle. We can easily want to bad mouth that person who did us so much harm! We can end up collecting other people who agree with our assessment of the perpetrator’s behaviour like we’d collect postage stamps! The temptation rises up to go over and over the events in our mind, revisiting what we should have said to put that other person in their place. Of course YOU don’t do that … and … neither do I! Where is the faith in self-justification? Nobody should owe anybody anything but LOVE … and that situation is only diagnosed by the One Who paid it all.

Unless we choose to leave our fate in His hands, we can end up wasting our time and effort trying to paint a picture of how right WE are and how wrong the other person is. Of course they are wrong! It’s often as plain as the nose on anyone’s face who is at fault. But the real point is this … our response is our response. And guess what? The only thing we have any power over is OUR RESPONSE. Um … ‘turn the other cheek, and walk the extra mile’ seem familiar to me.  You know if Jesus had avoided the toxic people WE WOULD ALL BE DEAD IN OUR SIN!

Yes, I know I am advocating letting that person who hurt you or I go free! But that’s what Jesus did for US, and He didn’t put any caveats on what He did either… He died once for all. That’s what the book says. So that serial killer who has despatched numerous people in ghastly ways… can stand on the same ground I do. GRACE. Sin is a great leveller, and fast recognition of what I’ve done, is a brilliant way to get humble quickly! That murderer can change their life too, just like I did. Meanwhile it is so dumb to keep lists of things anyone did! Just give it all to Jesus quickly, and make sure that you fix things with that other person too – to both people’s satisfaction.  

The thing that has a permanently lasting effect on us is to value Him above all the bumps, breakages and bruises this life hands out. It’s as plain as the nose on your face. My advice is …keep your mirror handy – we all need it! Bye. 👋

P 2685 It’s SO obvious!

/ DVH

I Corinthians 10:12-13: “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

Often when I am writing this blog each day, the Lord has already given me a scripture, or He points me in a direction that He wants me to go. Sometimes hubby shares a verse with me that has spoken to him, and I read through those verses prayerfully. I am listening for the Lord’s smile. Yes! I know that sounds weird. How on earth can you listen for a smile? I have no idea, I just know it happens. Moo-ving on …

Today’s two verses are verses that have haunted me for years. I know all about temptation, because I have fallen into it – lots, and getting out again has proved to be very costly. I got myself into those messes but I expected the Lord to rescue me and get me out with no contribution from me! However, today I read this scripture again for the umpteenth time, and I saw that I’ve been mis-reading a portion of it. A very important bit I might add! Does that ever happen to you? You read away and think ‘yes, yes, I know that bit, blah blah blah,’ and you move onto something else. 

New thought especially for today: When we eat, we bite, then we chew. There’s a lot to be said for chewing, it helps your digestion! It’s the same thing with the Word. You sit at the table the Lord has already prepared for you, and tell your enemies to go take a hike – and you bite off a bit of the scripture and, hopefully, chew on it. Except for 50 years or so, I’m pretty sure I didn’t chew all that thoroughly on this scripture.

Let me enlighten you: It seems that I have always stopped reading at the words:“He will provide a way out …” Retrospectively speaking that oversight was an extraordinarily dumb move! Six little words, that’s all I missed … but they are the whole point of this particular instruction. I have been in some deep dark holes and when I couldn’t find the way out, I started complaining at the Lord … (that’s never a good plan BTW )… that there was no way out, and what was He thinking about giving us that verse, when there WAS clearly …no easy let-off-the-hook way out! Sigh.

I should have kept reading! ← I’m just going to leave that there, because all temptation is common to man and somebody out there in blog land may need this particular thought too. The last six words change that whole instruction. Lemme repeat them for you… and me!  “… so that you can ENDURE IT.”  In other words, the way out, has a purpose!

The way out is NOT actually a WAY OUT, it’s the way IN … to gaining endurance. Sigh. I could’ve used that bit of info many MANY times in the last 50 Years. It would have saved me from myself. Instead of me looking for a ‘way out’ sign I should have been looking for a ‘way IN’ sign. How to stand firm in the face of temptation and gain endurance.

Instead I was busy looking for the exit sign. To be truthful, I’m pretty sure I actually saw just what I wanted to see. So here’s me literally and figuratively, on my face repenting! No wonder I fell flat on my face so many times, that’s a good place to repent from! Those six words I’ve written above, make a huge difference. Paul is not just telling us that the Holy Spirit will fish us out of whatever temptation we fell in to, He’s saying He will help us to stand fast  – as we resist the temptation! And standing fast gives us endurance.

Here’s what endurance means in the dictionary: “The act, quality, or power of withstanding hardship or stress.The state or fact of persevering.” Hmmm. Like I said, I could have used that quality in my life lots of times – there were times when I was pretty quick to bail out on what the bible said, in favour of Brother-so-and-so who said much nicer and more palatable things … like: “God will give you what you want, here’s a bunch of verses to prove it.”

I can’t blame Brother-so-and-so. My faith is up to me, not him! So if I let him mislead me it’s my own fault. This is a good place to remind everyone that it is a great idea to check up on what anyone else tells you. The fact that you might like what they are saying is no guarantee that it is right! Faith is personal, and we are not baby penguins who get their food pre-digested from their parents. When we read the bible it means we are settling into some prayerful work.

Now I have read those six extra words I will never forget them, but I could have saved myself, and others … ‘Oh Lord, forgive me for messing up things for others!!’ Amen! I could have saved myself and other people a heap of sorrow and suffering, not to mention the fact that I was misreading the Lord so badly!! — when it was all so obvious. 😞