Gifts of Love

It's been over a month since my birthday but I have one more story to tell about that day. To look at these cookies one might think, "So what? It's a plate with three cookies on it. Big deal."

Well, that's right. There are three cookies on a plate in this picture. But these aren't just ANY cookies. These are Aunt Mabel's sugar cookies!!

Aunt Mabel is actually my Great Aunt Mabel. She used to work for the railroad and stayed with my grandparents when I was a kid. Her recipe was handed down to my grandmother and then my sister and, now my daughter makes them.

Yes, they're Christmas cookies and my birthday is in March. A daughter's premeditated birthday present for her father. And that brings us to today's topic - gifts of love.

It seems like lot's of people crave expensive gifts. Just look at the car commercials during the Christmas season.

"Oh, honey! You got me a new Range Rover! How sweet."

Gifts from the heart however fall into an entirely different category. The PRICELESS category. My daughter knows me and loves me. You can tell it in the gifts she gives. Surprise gifts of love, like these cookies were, are amazing.

Yesterday evening I was the recipient of another surprise gift. It was a picture sent to me from a former youth group kid. No words. Just the picture. But it was a surprise gift to let me know that I was being thought of. The Lord is SO good!

As a youth leader, there is always a lingering thought - am I really reaching them? Are the words I am speaking having any effect at all? Do these kids know just how much I care about them? Thank you my friend!

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:34-35

Dust

Do you remember the story about the woman caught in adultery? She was brought before Jesus by the scribes and the Pharisees, and they asked him this question:

"³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” - John 8:3-5

Jesus then does something very interesting. He kneels down and starts writing in the dirt with his finger. 

"But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger." - John 8:6

What was Jesus writing? The Bible doesn't really tell us here. But, if we search through the scriptures, we can get an idea. Check this out....

"Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water." - Jeremiah 17:13

Could it be that Jesus, by writing on the ground, was fulfilling the prophecy given to Jeremiah 600 years earlier? I think it was! And what was Jesus writing? Jeremiah tells us! "Those who turn away from you," it says. "Those" are the Pharisees and the scribes. And the "you" is Jesus.

The Bible is amazing. It never lies and always speaks the truth. And then there's this from John's Gospel:

“⁷Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there." - John 8:7-9

The Pharisees HAD to know what writing in the dust meant. And they left.

If indeed Jesus was writing down "those who turn away from you" in the dust, could it be that Jesus was writing down the names of those present? Those Pharisees who had turned away from him, in order, by the date of their birth? Wow!

And they all indeed did turn away from him, one by one, until all of them were gone. Amazing!

"For dust you are and to dust you will return." - Genesis 3:19

We are ALL dust . . . without our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Our names are written in the Book of Life! Not in the dust.

Ups and Downs

"So, how are you doing today?" 🙂

"Well . . ." 🙄

It all depends on the day, right? Life has its ups and downs. We all have our good days and bad. So what can we do to minimize the down days and maximize the ups?

First of all, everyone has bad days. EVERYONE. So accept that fact and then do this: Prepare yourself. How?

Remind yourself. Remind yourself of who you are. And WHOSE you are.

My wife and I were stuck at home on Sunday due to a rather nasty ice storm. So, I decided to listen to a sermon by one of my favorite pastors - Voddie Baucham. There's a link at the end of this story.

What Voddie said was that we often forget just WHO God is. When we remind ourselves of who He is, or more likely, when GOD reminds us who He is, our problems tend to fade away.

When we are feeling good and life is wonderful, we tend to forget the things that God has done for us. Sacrificed His Only Son, forgiven our sins, promised us eternal life with Him in heaven. No more pain, no more death, no more tears. We must remind ourselves of these tnings.

"Remember who is God, what has He done, and what has He promised."

Here's another thing to remember from Voddie: "Christianity is not a test you take and pass. It's your life! It's your breath!"

If we would only remember these things we wouldn't have a problem with ups and downs. Our emotional and spiritual cycles would level out and we can live in the grace that God has extended to us.

Thanks be to God!

This Is Why We Need To Be Reminded - Voddie Baucham