Weekend Words

Sorry I didn't get a post up last weekend.  Lots of headaches/migraines to contend with but feeling better now.

Form Beside the Still Waters...

Facts or Feelings? Read: Romans 3:11-22, 1 John 1:5 - 2:5

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." - 1 John 2:16

"How could anything that feels so good be wrong?  It certainly doesn't hurt anyone."  Ward is a professing Christian who frequently uses recreational drugs.  He excuses his sinful behavior by the absence of any guilty feelings.  Mark, another professing Christian, is living with an unmarried woman, yet he adamantly defends this relationship since both of them are so very happy.  After all, there's a Bible verse that says, "If our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence towards God" (1 John 3:21).

Our Creator designed us with a variety of emotions, but He never intended that our feelings overrule the facts taught in His Word.  All sin is associated with some form of pleasure, whether it be material, sensual, or emotional.  But the fact remains that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4).  God's Word, not our personal feelings or preferences, is the only reliable standard to distinguish right from wrong.

Strong feelings, however, can also result in discouragement for no valid reason.  An overly sensitive conscience, a tragedy, or a difficult circumstance may result in feelings of God's withdrawal or rejection.  these emotions can cause serious discouragement and even despondency.  But Jesus is a Lord of compassion and mercy, not a vindictive tyrant like the false gods of heathen peoples.  "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).

May we be fully convinced that the facts of God's word always outweigh personal feelings.  and may we allow the Lord to work through us to charitably admonish sinners and reassure saints with the same truth.

Pete Lewis - Halsey, OR

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy." - Psalm 16:11

From In Green Pastures...

Fault-Finding.

It is strange how oblivious we can be of our own faults and of the blemishes in our own character, and how clearly we can see the faults and blemishes of other people.  Finding so much wrong in others is not a flattering indication of what our hearts contain.  We ought to be very quiet and modest in criticizing others, for in most cases we are just telling the world what our own faults are.  Before we turn our microscopes on others to search out the unbeautiful things in them, we had better look in our own mirrors to see whether or not we are free ourselves from the blemishes we would reprove in our neighbor.  There is a wise bit of Scripture which bids us get clear of the beams in our own eyes, that we may see well to pick the motes out of the eyes of others.

In all thy Ways.

Do we make much of God in our lives?  Is God really much to us in conscious personal experience?  Do we not go on making plans and carrying them out without once consulting him?  We talk to him about our souls and about our spiritual affair; but we do not speak to him about our daily work, our trials, our perplexities, our week-day, work-day life.  We are to shut God out of no part of our lives.  We must have something besides human nature, even at its best, if we would be ready for all that lies before us.  We must get our little lives so attached to God's life that we can draw from his fulness in every time of need.