Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor (Paraclete) to be with you forever - The Spirit of Truth.”
John 14:16, NIV

The Book of Job begins with a depiction of a heavenly gathering of angels before the Lord, and Satan “also came with them” (Job 1:6). I note that the literal translation of the Hebrew word used here for Satan means “accuser.”
I quickly slide off into a daydream; I envision a heavenly court, not unlike a Perry Mason script, where the Prosecuting Attorney is Satan, “The Accuser.” God is on the High Bench, of course, and the Defense is in good hands, being the Paraclete, the Counselor of John 14:16,
I am not an observer from a back corner of the courtroom, however. I find myself in the witness chair, front and center, the subject of this trial, the Defendant!
The Prosecution begins by opening a large ledger, and my heart shrinks within me. Satan maintains not only a very sharp pencil, but has kept a scrupulous and thorough accounting. I think of the words of the Prophet Isaiah, when he saw a vision of the Lord, high and exulted: “Woe to me,” Isaiah cried, “I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5).
Satan begins. They are all listed there, sins of omission, as well as sins of commission. The gross as well as the petty, laid out for all to see. Am I to be like the wicked of the First Psalm, as “chaff that the wind blows away?” Satan is skilled, and cunning. He has well earned the title of “The Accuser.”
As a glowering “Accuser” completes the presentation of his case, he closes his ledger with a sharp “Thunk” of finality.
In despair, I realize that I can do nothing but throw myself upon the mercy of the court. I am reminded that the prosecution is only half of a trial, however. The Defense, the “One who Walks Alongside,” begins. He, too, opens a ledger. All in the court, including Satan, strains to see what is written there. It is a list of names; the Counselor runs his finger swiftly down the page, stopping at a name, and looking up at the bench, proclaims, “I present to the Court, that the defendant's name is written here, in the Book of Life.” Heads nod. Satan scowls, and rises to object.
“Your Honor, it is apparent the defense is ignoring the facts.”
The objection is denied. The Counselor asks that the defendant step down for the moment, and asks to present evidence that all of Satan’s accusations are null and void, because they have been purged from the Heavenly record. Again Satan rises. “I object, Your Honor. My records are complete, and factual. Surely the defendant must be found guilty. Justice must prevail.” Again, the objection is denied.
The Counselor calls another witness. “Please tell the court”, he asks, “ why the defendant should not be found guilty in this case.”
“Because I have already paid whatever penalty is due to this defendant,” states the witness. “How can that be?” sputters Satan. “Can sin be forgiven?”
“Yes,” Jesus replies. “Though sins be as scarlet, they shall become as white as wool, and the one who believes in Me shall not perish, but have everlasting life. While he was yet a sinner, I died for him.” Stretching forth His hands, He holds them up for all to see.
Thomas, one of the Apostles, sitting to one side, nods, and smiles.
I can but only acknowledge, “My Lord, and My God.”
Well, it is only a dream, isn’t it?

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: “The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.” (Proverbs 20:7)

Probably no other endeavor has more lasting impact than the influence we parents have on our children. We may well quote Proverbs 22:6 , “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it,”or, Paul’s advice to fathers, “bring (your children) up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:4) We should not, however, interpret that to mean merely “Laying Down the Law.” Actions speak much louder than even well-intentioned words.
Consider Barnabas, The Encourager. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” (Acts 11:23, 24a, NIV.) If our lifestyle follows that of Barnabas, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, setting an example for others to observe, well and good.
If our words are not consistent with our actions, if they see us leading a worldly lifestyle, filled with self-interest, overly competitive by nature, not only in sports, but also in business, politics, and on the highway, we can rightly expect them to follow that example.
A child is stained by people they come in contact with, every bit as much as my hands were stained brown while gathering walnuts (a fall ritual and a badge of honor for me as a boy but the despair of my mother.) The stain would eventually wear off, but, for a time, bore evidence of my brief contact with the walnuts. The stain of our influence, for better or for worse, may forever mark a child
I recently witnessed a beautiful example of proper parenting at the supermarket. A mother and her preschool age daughter were shopping together. The girl wasn’t riding in the cart; she was picking out each item to place in it. As they moved along the isles, the mother would discuss each item on the list, sometimes making suggestions, at other times allowing the girl to make the choice. They worked together. No conflict between a harried mother and crying child here!
I believe that this mother will soon be able to trust her daughter to not only do the shopping, but to make wise selections. To train up a child means developing a trusting, loving relationship, tenderly encouraging and guiding the child a step at a time toward a lifestyle that will last forever.

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Malachi wrote, “Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another.”
Malachi 2:10, NIV

“Father” is one of those generic words that we all understand to mean our male parent. Sometimes known as “Daddy,” sometimes as “Pop.” These days, we may have to qualify that by inserting “biological” or “adoptive,” but familial relationship is probably first in our thoughts, that is, a man who has begotten a child.
Actually, there are numerous ways the word “Father” can be used, including as a noun, or as a verb. One who is the founder, producer, or author is said to “father” that product or cause, especially if that person cares for or looks after something as a father might.
Father is an often used term in the Bible, as one might expect in a paternalistic society representative of Biblical times. Adam, of course, is noted as the first father. But, quickly, now, who is the most famous father in the Bible?
My pick is found in Matthew 6:9, and affirmed in Malachi 2:10. Surely you have heard the first reference, if not the second.
There is no doubt that He qualifies as the “founder, producer, or author” in the fullest sense. Isaiah 64:8 proclaims, “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
Jesus taught extensively of the Fatherhood of God. The Lord’s model Prayer begins, “Our Father . . .” (Mt. 6:9-13) The Latin reference to The Lord’s Prayer is “Pater Noster,” Our Father . . . (See language note.) Even at twelve years of age, Jesus referred to the Temple in Jerusalem as “My Father’s house. (Luke 2:49)
Jesus, The Son, reveals the Father to those whom He chooses. He tells the woman at the well, “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. (John 4:23)
How do we get we get words like “paternal” when our word is Father? Some of our ancestors took the “p” sound of Greek and Roman “pater,” and shifted it to the “f” sound. In German it became “fater.” Middle English “fader” eventually changed to “father.” We go back to our linguistic roots and say, “paternalistic” rather than “fathernalistic.” (My spell checker does not like that word!) By the way, “mother” derived from “mater” so we also get “maternalistic” on the feminine side.

When a male child is born, they ask, “How is the mother?”
When a man is married, they ask, “What did the bride wear?”
When a man dies, they ask, “How much did he leave the widow?”
And they say it is a man’s world?
Author Unknown

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Giving Thanks

Scripture: And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.
(Acts 27:35, NKJV)

Why should we thank God? In the words recorded by Isaiah, “O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.” (Isaiah 25:1)
Breaking bread and giving thanks is a ritual recorded often throughout the Bible. Jesus gave thanks for the seven loaves of bread, broke them according to custom, and fed four thousand men, plus women and children. (Mt. 15:36-39)
One of the most memorable and meaningful rituals is this: “And when He had given thanks, He broke it (bread) and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’“ (Paul, writing to the Corinthians concerning the proper observance of the Lord’s Supper. 1 Corinthians, 11:24).
The ritual observance of The Lord’s Supper had become corrupted at Corinth; many in the congregation were eating and drinking in an unworthy manner. Whoever does so, Paul said, “will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (vs, 27) and “eats and drinks judgement to himself.” (vs. 29)
I pray that your meals and thanksgiving gatherings do not become as those which Paul rebuked, where some take their meal ahead of others, one is hungry and another is drunk. (vs. 21) Especially in a setting, as these suppers were, intended to eat the Lord’s Supper as a church. Paul counsels that we wait for one another, and share, not shaming those who have nothing. (vs. 22)
The scriptures speak not only to manners and custom associated with eating and drinking, but also to giving thanks for all that the Lord has provided. Further, thanksgiving is to be sincere, and not as a recitation of meaningless words. In all that we do, but especially in giving thanks to God, we should exalt His name and praise Him.
It is easy, perhaps, to be thankful when the table is groaning with the volume of food and delicacies to be prayed over. To be in the presence of loved ones, family, and the ambiance of the occasion. To feel that all is well with the world, or at least your corner of it.
Look again at the opening scripture. This could well describe one of Jesus’ many mealtime blessings, perhaps at the house of friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Actually, these words were uttered by the missionary, Paul, in the midst of a storm that threatened ship and crew with disaster: loss of life looked to be imminent.
None of the crew or passengers had eaten for several days. Paul implored them to take nourishment, since all would be saved. “And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.”
Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves. (Acts 27:36)
With Isaiah of old, then, let us pray, “O Lord, You are my God. I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things.” In feast or famine, remember to praise God, as Jesus taught His disciples (and us) and pray for our daily bread, for forgiveness, both toward us, and by us.
And remember His ultimate gift to all, the Body and Blood of the Lord’s Supper.
And as He prayed on that fateful night, “Not my will, Father, but Thy will be done.”

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: Paul wrote, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
(Romans 13:8)
“and if there is any other commandment, all are summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
(Romans 13:9b) NKJV

Love! Oh, how we love to use the word love. We have ‘love’ nouns; we have ‘love verbs. My Merriam-Webster’s© lists entries for:
calf-love; courtly love; free love; light-o’-love; love affair; love apple; love beads; love child; love feast; love grass; love handles; love-in; love-in-a-mist; love knot; love seat; make[1, verb] platonic love; puppy love; self-love.
Definitions include, but are not limited to:
(1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties; ‘maternal love for a child.’
(2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers.
(3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests.
(4): an assurance of love “give her my love”
2 : warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion “love of the sea.”
(5) : the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration *baseball was his first love.*
(6) : a beloved person : DARLING - often used as a term of endearment.
(7) British - used as an informal term of address.
(8) : an amorous episode.
(9 ): a god or personification of love.
etc. . . . . ad ifinitum.

So - what does it mean when we read the word “love” in the Bible? Some raise the question of what kind of ‘love’ Jesus really had for the “Beloved Disciple” and for Lazarus.
Rest assured that it wasn’t erotic love, because the Greek language has specific words, four of them, that we English speakers all lump under the common word, love. The original New Testament uses only two of the four words - philia - brotherly, (love) unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another concern for others, and; agape;
The fatherly concern of God for humankind; a person's adoration of God.
This is a partial listing of quotes from the New Testament that use a form of agape in every instance:

* God is Love.
* Love never fails.
* Love one another.
* Love your neighbor.
* Peter, lovest thou me?
* See how he loved him.
* For God so loved the world . . . .
* Love suffers long, and is kind.
* If I have not love, I am nothing.
* He who loves another has fulfilled the law.
* Now abide faith, hope, love,
* But the greatest of these is love.

March 4, 2007

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com

* Normal
* Scripture: Jesus said, . . ."I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of Truth." John 14:6,7, NIV

I wonder how much of our lives we spend waiting for things to "become normal"? Take the weather, for example. The forecast may call for conditions to be "about normal," or perhaps "above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation."
That's fine, if we know what normal is supposed to be. If we look at the weather over many years of time, certain weather conditions may occur more often than others. The condition we call normal is not absolute; normal may be what we long for, but we can not be assured we will always know what normal is.
If we look back at our lives, and try to choose a period that we could label as "normal," we will realize that a lot of changes occur. Perhaps a more fitting term would be the word "typical." We had a typical childhood; we were typical teenagers. What was normal for those years is vastly different from marriage and childbearing years.
If we contact an illness, we may display symptoms that are normal for that affliction; we would definitely not say we were experiencing normal health, though. Not as we would want it to be.
That is today's "Seed For Thinking." Normal may in part be whatever we wish it to be. If we do not get our desires, our wish, we say things are "not normal."
The Bible is full of many examples where people want a certain condition to exist. "Have our cake, and eat it too." The dilemma - get what we want, but don't change anything. Do we eat the cake, or do we keep the cake uneaten?
Jesus' disciples had somewhat the same dilemma. They wanted Jesus to be with them, forever. That's an understandable feeling. But Jesus knew that the church needed something that would not be available if He stayed with the disciples. John 16:7 relates how Jesus told them that He had to go away, because the Holy Spirit would not come to them unless He went away.
They had all been with Jesus for several years. That was 'normal.' Now Jesus was going to leave them. Jesus observed that they were "filled with grief." (John 16:6)
Jesus was preparing them for a new way of life, and the world for a New Covenant.
His blood was shed for the salvation of all.
Normal ceased to exist;
Normal began on Calvary, and was confirmed at Pentecost.

SPECIAL NOTE: If all we ever do is what we've always done;
All we will ever get is what we've always got!

April 30, 2006

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

* Heaven
* Scripture: Jesus said, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20, NKJV, NIV

The Sunday School teacher asked her students to raise their hands if they wanted to go to heaven. Instantly, enthusiastic hands shot up and were waving all over the class - all except one boy who was sitting on his hands.
“Don’t you want to go to heaven when you die?,” she asked.
“Oh! When I die, sure,” he replied. “I thought you were getting up a trip right now.”
I think most of us are like that. We want to go to heaven - someday, but not right now.
However, in the words of an old spiritual song;
“Everybody talkin’ ‘bout Heaven ain’t goin’ there.”
Jesus Himself affirms this, saying, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Mt. 6:21, NKJV)
Jesus speaks often of heaven, including the model prayer, which begins,
“Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.” (Mt. 5:9-10, NKJV)
Heaven - the place of everlasting bliss - might more properly be called “paradise” to distinguish the abode of God, Christ, The Holy Spirit, Angels and The Just from the firmament (heavens) containing the sun, moon, stars, planets, and other heavenly objects. Hebrews 1:11 and 2 Peter 3:10
note that the heavens (firmament) will pass away, but the abode of God will endure for eternity. God created the heavens and earth to declare His Glory, Righteousness, and Wisdom. (Ps. 19:1; Ps. 50:6; Prov. 8:27)
The redeemed can look forward to Joy, Rest, Peace, Righteousness, Service, Reward, Inheritance, Glory, and the Authority of God’s Word. (Luke 15:7, 10; Rev. 14:3; Luke 16:19-25; 2 Peter 3:13; Rev. 7:15; Matt. 5:11, 12; 1 Peter 1:4; Romans 8:17, 18; Ps. 119:89)
Some things are indeed lacking in Paradise. You won’t find Marriage, Death, Flesh and blood, Perishable things, Sorrow, Pain, The Curse, Night, Weeping, and Wicked people, End. (Matt. 22:30; Luke 20:36; 1 Cor. 15:50; 1 Cor. 15:42, 50; Rev. 7:17; Rev. 22:3; Rev. 22:5; Isaiah. 65:19; Rev. 22:15; Matt. 25:46, Rev. 22:5)
The alternative to ‘Paradise’ is not a nice place, described as a place of eternal torment, everlasting fire, punishment, destruction, of Outer Darkness and a Lake of Fire. (See Matt. 25:41, 46; 8:12; 2 Thess1:9 and Rev. 19:20)
So - you need to be certain your name is recorded in heaven. (Luke 10:20) You must be saved, born again, of water and the Spirit. (John 3:3-6, 3:16, 5:24; Acts 16:31)
That’s a lot to read, I know. (I also know many won’t take the time!) Well, add one chapter more, from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 15. There will come a day when you will be glad you did, and you, too, can exclaim, “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? (1 Cor. 15:55)
June 19, 2005