Weekend Words

 From Amish Peace...

Jesus, the Way

Jesus told them, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one can come to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

The Amish have a slower way of life, but slow and steady isn't the way.  The Amish build their lives around good morals, including telling the truth, but truthfulness isn't the way.  The Amish celebrate life.  They have large families and commune with others.  But living this way isn't what saves their souls.  The life they enjoy is good but not good enough.  Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life."

Jesus is the Way.  The Truth of God, the Word of God, come in the flesh.  Following Him is the way to live.  Dedicating our lives to Him is the way to eternal life.  And to walk in the way, we must read the Word of God and listen to the still, small voice of His Spirit.

It is within Jesus that we will find the life we've longed for.  It might be slower paced, but it also might have seasons of outpouring of love and giving of our time and care.  In Jesus we find life larger than we expected, both here and in eternity.  A life filled with people to walk with, people to circle around us, and people to serve.  To gain that life, we need to turn to Jesus - not to human ideas and rules.

Sometimes we are so busy trying to find the right way - or we're discontented because we believe that someone else's lifestyle is a better way - that we miss out on finding Jesus, the Way.

"Listen to me, all peoples of the earth.  Listen to me, young and old, great and small.  If you want to be saved, you need to leave sin, follow Christ the Lord, and live according to his will.  Christ Jesus came to the earth to teach men the right way to go ... He said: 'I am the way the truth and the life, no-one comes to the father except through me.'"

Ausbund, 82

From Beside the Still Waters...

Stirring Covetousness - Read: 1 Timothy 6

"But godliness with contentment is great gain." - 1 Timothy 6:6

We were driving through the country when we passed a model home that looked very attractive.  There's probably nothing wrong with a house like that, but a thought came to mind.  Can we be guilty of tempting others to covet when we spend extravagantly to dress up our home?  I do believe we need to be careful about our lifestyle, lest we cast a stumbling block before others by stirring covetous desires in them.

I think of the story about a man who used a very old and decrepit tool in his work.  His friend admonished him, saying, "You are not that poor; you can afford something better than that."  The man replied, "Yes, I can, but I don't want to be a stumbling block to my neighbor who cannot afford anything better."  Do we consider that when we set out to improve our situation, or do we think, "I deserve it"?  Very easily we can be an offense to someone without thinking.

The fact is that many problems in today's world involves coveting in one way or another.  This can include wars driven by people who covet power or land.  In contrast, we should willingly accept what God allows to come into our lives.  We show a lack of faith in God when we are discontent and we covet the things of others.  "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5).

Fred Beachy - Crofton, KY

And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. - 1 Timothy 6:8

From In Green Pastures...

Greatness in God's Sight.

The greatest men are but fractions of men.  No one is endowed with all gifts.  Everyone has his own particular excellence or ability.  No two have precisely the same gifts, and no two are called to fill precisely the same place in life.  The lowliest and the humblest in endowments is just as important in his place as the most brilliantly gifted.  The great life in God's sight is not the conspicuous one, but the life that fills the place which it was made to fill, and does the work which it was made to do.  God asks not great things; he asks only simple faithfulness, the quiet doing of what he allots.

If you have 15 minutes, grab a tea or coffee and listen to this uplifting audio from sister Aman at dontperish.com.  She and her husband (brother Tupos) are van dwelling, street preachers in the USA.

(all the illustrations are from my books I ordered from the Mennonite church (Rod and Staff publishers) which were delivered yesterday.  I hope to get a 'home...' post up about that and other updates in the next week.)