When a person believes on the Lord and is saved, they become a Christian. There are also several other things we call ourselves, such as believers, saints, the body of Christ, the family of God, and probably several other things I can't call to mind right now. But there's also another name for us that we don't hear very often, and that is Sought Out. I found this in Isaiah 62:12, that says, "And they shall call them a holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and thou shalt be called; Sought Out, a city not forsaken." We have been redeemed by the Lord. Jesus paid a HUGE price to save us! Besides the years He spent on earth being rejected and living in a lowly position, His death is almost unfathomable. He was whipped with 40 lashes, which is almost murder in itself, because that was the absolute maximum amount you could beat someone without them dying. And then after He carried His own cross for a long way, He had huge nails driven through His wrists and feet that attached Him to a crude, splintery cross. Then the soldiers sat at the foot of that cross to enjoy a game of cards while they waited for Him to die so they could go home.
And because of this huge price, we are supposed to be holy. When I try to tell little kids about God's holiness, I define it as "absolutely perfect, not sinning at all." I think most of us already know that we're supposed to be holy too, so we don't do a lot of the things the world does that we know to be wrong. But I think we also oftentimes overlook certain areas of that 'not sinning at all' part. We tend to look at the "little" sins like getting angry, or being proud, or complaining, as rather trivial and we don't really feel that bad when we do them. But God hates sin, and it grieves Him very much when we commit even the "smallest" one. And yet, sometimes it's just so hard to remember not to do those things, especially if they are a habit in our lives.
That's where the name Sought Out comes in. When I hear the name of something, an image immediately comes to my mind. If I hear the name 'elephant' I immediately get an image in my mind of a massive, grey land animal bearing four legs, big ears, and two thick tusks. Why? Because ever since I was a little tiny kid, I have seen pictures about elephants, my mom has told me various facts about elephants, I've seen elephants in the zoo, I've read about elephants, I've thought about elephants, and I've learned about elephants in movies. They're kind of a part of my life, just like bees and flowers and paper and computers. Now we can make the name Sought Out a part of our lives, so that whenever we think of it or say it, we'll remember the verse that says we are redeemed of the Lord, we are a city not forsaken (Jesus is with us all the time to help us), and we need to be holy.
So my challenge to you is this: every time you hear the word ‘Christian,’ you remember what Christ has done for you. And every time you call yourself a believer, you think about what you believe in, and if you remember our new name, Sought Out, you think about the price Jesus paid for you, and your responsibility to remember that you are a city not forsaken, and the things you need to do (no matter how small) to be holy.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
September 18, 2008
While I dead-headed hydrangeas today, Malachi thought they were so much fun, and he throwing them around and playing with them, and laying in them.
Who would've thought the death of hundreds of beautiful flowers would make for such a fun occasion?
Inspecting a dead hydrangea
and he was totally stoked about helping me clean them up!
I've put on a few pounds since you last saw me........
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Banishing Backsliding
Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived. When he became king, God said He would give him anything he wished for, and Solomon asked for wisdom, so that he could be a good ruler to his people. For the first half of his life, he did some great things for the Lord. He built an incredible temple for Him, he judged his people righteously and prudently. But the end of his life, he had completely turned away from the Lord and was serving other gods.
I think this happens to a lot of people. They will be following after God and living good lives, and later in life, have completely turned their backs on Him. I’ve seen it in many people I know that are close to me, and have heard lots more stories of others. What causes someone who falls away from the Lord to do that?
It’s called backsliding.
It’s what the Israelites did all through the Old Testament. They would be following God and keeping His commandments for a while, and then pretty soon, they were going to the idols in other countries and totally living in sin. Jeremiah talks about this a lot, and he’s the one who calls it backsliding, which God portrays as being very serious. He quite often makes known His displeasure in the way they have completely forsaken Him by proclaiming harsh judgments on them.
But you see, backsliding, as horrible as it is, is not just something that we see in the Israelites or the people that have turned their backs on God. It’s something that all of us do (whether we want to admit it or not). I’d like to ask the question: How did Solomon end up the way he did? I mean, he couldn’t have just woke up one morning and decided he didn’t want to walk with God anymore! He started by marrying wives from different countries—something God had told him absolutely NOT to do. So he started going away from the Lord by not following the commandments God made. He kept making little decisions (I’ll just marry this girl from Egypt, and build this other girl a temple for her god, and I’ll just worship this idol a tiny bit…) every day.
And if we’re not careful, that same thing can happen to us. If we decide to skip reading our Bibles for a few days, or stop praying so often, pretty soon our Bible reading will become more and more infrequent and we will lose any interest in prayer or fellowship. Sometimes I look back at my life and remember how a few months or years ago, I had felt really passionate or convicted about various things, and I realize that as time has gone by, I’ve forgotten about them, and they don’t matter to me anymore. Doing things like this can either weaken our relationship with God, or, if it goes on for too long, they can destroy it.
But just like God pleads with the Israelites saying, “Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings,” (Jeremiah 3:22), He’s pleading with you to repent of your own backsliding (maybe you’ve gotten lazy about your relationship with someone and need to spend more time with them, or have been getting angry a lot, or have been lazy about doing things you need to get done, or have watched movies you didn’t used to let yourself watch) and use the strength He promises to give you in order to change and get back on track.
Now don’t get discouraged when you see an area you need to improve on, decide to change, and then several days or weeks go by, and you still find yourself struggling with it. That happened to the Israelites too. There are several verses throughout Jeremiah where either Jeremiah or the people are asking God to forgive their backslidings, and help them to do better. One of them is in chapter 14. It says:
“O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You.”
This verse shows that they had obviously tried and failed several times too, but the key thing is to go to God every time you find yourself failing or backsliding, and re-make that commitment to do better.
I think this happens to a lot of people. They will be following after God and living good lives, and later in life, have completely turned their backs on Him. I’ve seen it in many people I know that are close to me, and have heard lots more stories of others. What causes someone who falls away from the Lord to do that?
It’s called backsliding.
It’s what the Israelites did all through the Old Testament. They would be following God and keeping His commandments for a while, and then pretty soon, they were going to the idols in other countries and totally living in sin. Jeremiah talks about this a lot, and he’s the one who calls it backsliding, which God portrays as being very serious. He quite often makes known His displeasure in the way they have completely forsaken Him by proclaiming harsh judgments on them.
But you see, backsliding, as horrible as it is, is not just something that we see in the Israelites or the people that have turned their backs on God. It’s something that all of us do (whether we want to admit it or not). I’d like to ask the question: How did Solomon end up the way he did? I mean, he couldn’t have just woke up one morning and decided he didn’t want to walk with God anymore! He started by marrying wives from different countries—something God had told him absolutely NOT to do. So he started going away from the Lord by not following the commandments God made. He kept making little decisions (I’ll just marry this girl from Egypt, and build this other girl a temple for her god, and I’ll just worship this idol a tiny bit…) every day.
And if we’re not careful, that same thing can happen to us. If we decide to skip reading our Bibles for a few days, or stop praying so often, pretty soon our Bible reading will become more and more infrequent and we will lose any interest in prayer or fellowship. Sometimes I look back at my life and remember how a few months or years ago, I had felt really passionate or convicted about various things, and I realize that as time has gone by, I’ve forgotten about them, and they don’t matter to me anymore. Doing things like this can either weaken our relationship with God, or, if it goes on for too long, they can destroy it.
But just like God pleads with the Israelites saying, “Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings,” (Jeremiah 3:22), He’s pleading with you to repent of your own backsliding (maybe you’ve gotten lazy about your relationship with someone and need to spend more time with them, or have been getting angry a lot, or have been lazy about doing things you need to get done, or have watched movies you didn’t used to let yourself watch) and use the strength He promises to give you in order to change and get back on track.
Now don’t get discouraged when you see an area you need to improve on, decide to change, and then several days or weeks go by, and you still find yourself struggling with it. That happened to the Israelites too. There are several verses throughout Jeremiah where either Jeremiah or the people are asking God to forgive their backslidings, and help them to do better. One of them is in chapter 14. It says:
“O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do it for Your name’s sake; for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against You.”
This verse shows that they had obviously tried and failed several times too, but the key thing is to go to God every time you find yourself failing or backsliding, and re-make that commitment to do better.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Someday Soon, The saga of Miriam Kercher and Hannah Swayze's Future (Written by Miriam Kercher and Hannah Swayze)
Chapter 1
A Day by the River
“Weeeeee!” Miriam’s raisin-like, shriveled old body went flying into the river.” Hannah, I think you finally had a good idea. It took you 55 years, but you’ve finally done it.” But Hannah was to busy searching for her dentures in the murky waters to hear her. They played in silence for several minutes when Miriam gloated yet again. “You should feel this mud over here! It’s great! Why, this sure beats sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for hours while they---“
“Miriam, you maleficent, malingering Kercher! Don’t be saying that aloud or else somebody’s going to overhear you talking about that.”
“Huh?”
“Ooooh, never mind. Just hesh, then alright?” They both quickly forgot the close call they had just experienced, and carried on with their toes-in-mud-digging, swimming, and fishing-for-dentures-ing. Soon it was getting late, and two disheveled, yet jubilant old women headed for the back door of their house, eager to find some chocolate milk. But before they reached for the door handle, Clementine, Hannah’s oldest daughter stepped out.
“Mom! You were supposed to be taking Miriam to the doctor to get her pace-maker put in. Don’t you think it’s time you grew up? After all…you are my mother.” Hannah smiled a toothless grin, and before she could reply, Nella gasped. “Mom! Where’s your teeth? We just bought that set!”
Pointing a long bony finger at her comrade, Hannah accused, “It was her fault. She was up in the dogwood trying to re-tie the tire swing when she fell down onto my head. After I finally got her clawing, gnarling self off my shoulders, they had fallen into the creek.”
“Well,” Miriam defended, “if she hadn’t been accusing me of being a sissy I wouldn’t of been up there in the first place. Hannah Hishbod! You’re a—“ But they could no longer contain themselves and broke out in a delighted cackle. Nella simply shook her head and herded them inside for the third bath of the day. After they had sipped a cup of chocolate raspberry tea and a three hour nap, it was time for bed.
A Day by the River
“Weeeeee!” Miriam’s raisin-like, shriveled old body went flying into the river.” Hannah, I think you finally had a good idea. It took you 55 years, but you’ve finally done it.” But Hannah was to busy searching for her dentures in the murky waters to hear her. They played in silence for several minutes when Miriam gloated yet again. “You should feel this mud over here! It’s great! Why, this sure beats sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for hours while they---“
“Miriam, you maleficent, malingering Kercher! Don’t be saying that aloud or else somebody’s going to overhear you talking about that.”
“Huh?”
“Ooooh, never mind. Just hesh, then alright?” They both quickly forgot the close call they had just experienced, and carried on with their toes-in-mud-digging, swimming, and fishing-for-dentures-ing. Soon it was getting late, and two disheveled, yet jubilant old women headed for the back door of their house, eager to find some chocolate milk. But before they reached for the door handle, Clementine, Hannah’s oldest daughter stepped out.
“Mom! You were supposed to be taking Miriam to the doctor to get her pace-maker put in. Don’t you think it’s time you grew up? After all…you are my mother.” Hannah smiled a toothless grin, and before she could reply, Nella gasped. “Mom! Where’s your teeth? We just bought that set!”
Pointing a long bony finger at her comrade, Hannah accused, “It was her fault. She was up in the dogwood trying to re-tie the tire swing when she fell down onto my head. After I finally got her clawing, gnarling self off my shoulders, they had fallen into the creek.”
“Well,” Miriam defended, “if she hadn’t been accusing me of being a sissy I wouldn’t of been up there in the first place. Hannah Hishbod! You’re a—“ But they could no longer contain themselves and broke out in a delighted cackle. Nella simply shook her head and herded them inside for the third bath of the day. After they had sipped a cup of chocolate raspberry tea and a three hour nap, it was time for bed.
Chapter 2
“Our evil plan is working.”
“Oh no! No no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! There’s NO possible way I’m going to fall for the ‘going quilting at the senior center’ trickery. After all these years of you two refusing to let me teach you how to quilt…” She sighed. “I’m not that stupid.” So Clementine grounded them from leaving the house for 3 days.
A few hours later, Hannah could be found in her rocking chair, newspaper over the face, snoring, when Clementine and her very loving and affectionate husband Moses walked into the living room. “Honey, I’d love to take you to the Bahamas for our Anniversary, but who could we persuade to watch the kids?”
“Well what about Terry? She’s a nice girl, Sweetheart.”
“Yes, I know she is, Snookers, but for a whole week?” I don’t know if she can handle that. After all—“
“Shhhhh! You’re going to wake up my mom, Pookums!”
“Sorry. I don’t know what we’re going to do, Bitsel, but I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
They shook hands lovingly and then left the room. As soon as they were gone, the newspaper flew off Hannah’s face onto the ground and she was running (or hobbling) as fast as she could toward Miriam’s room. As they consulted in whispered tones, Hannah exulted, “you’ll never guess what I just found out!”
DAH DAH DAH DAH
Chapter 3
Chewing for Two?
Pound, pound, pound “Hey you sniveling old women! You let me out of here! I’m going to tell Moses and Clementine about this! Heeeeeeeeeelp!”
“Terry, be quiet in there or we’ll have to duct tape yer mouth.” Turning to Miriam Hannah groaned. “You’re lucky you can’t hear. That girl’s as crazy as a coot.”
“Ey?”
“Nothing. You almost done chewing that gum?”
“Well yes, but it’s lot harder when your chewing for two, and it’s mixed with caramel and popcorn at the same time. I still think we should try my blender idea.”
Triumphantly following Hannah’s reluctant permission, Miriam shuffled over to the cupboard where she took out the blender and began pouring in the ingredients: bubble gum, caramel squares, popcorn, orange soda, and a tad of milk. “Here’s you milkshake, Hanney.”
Blissfully sipping her drink, the recipient of this delicious beverage commented, “You know, we forgot to feed Terry.”
“Oh yeah. After we put the kids to bed at 5, I completely forgot about her. I better go get the tortillas. Too bad that’s the only thing that will fit underneath the door. Oh well. All the less work for me.” She chuckled softly to herself, as she shoved the girl’s meal under the door. “Be good in there, Terry or we’ll eat the tortillas ourselves. Just be grateful you’re in the room with the toilet. We still have to wear our DEPENDS.” They heard nothing but a sob and much sniffling for a reply.
***More episodes from the Being Old While Staying Young Publishing Company are soon to come!
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