Category: Photos

Posted in Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom

God’s Dishonor Roll – Part 3

Posted on by Katharine
English: The Last Supper of Jesus Christ
The Last Supper of Christ

Consider the times of Jesus. The whole New Testament demonstrates to the world that Jesus is the Son of God by His deeds and by His death. And His 12 Apostles had a front row seat for the whole thing.

Let’s look at what they saw, as recorded by Matthew the Apostle:

Jesus drove out demons, as recorded in Matthew 8. Jesus told the wind and the waves to be still in Matthew 8. They saw Jesus heal the sick and raise the dead. They were there, we read in Matthew 12, when Jesus spoke to the Pharisees like no one had ever spoken to them before. In addition, in Matthew 26, they were there for the Last Supper, when Jesus established a new covenant with all of humankind.

Yet in spite of all these things the apostles were privileged to see, in spite of all the things that were designed to strengthen their faith, “You will all fall away,” Jesus told them, “for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’” Matthew 26:31

How could anyone fail God with Jesus walking alongside him?

The disciples swore they would not leave Him, but they were about to find out how weak they were.

They walked with Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus told them to watch and pray. However, they were so tired that they could not even keep their eyes open. Then the soldiers arrived and took Jesus into custody. The disciples were so scared and so startled that they turned and ran for their lives. Jesus was right. They all fell away. They failed Jesus and they failed to keep the faith.

What about us? In church, it’s easy to pledge our allegiance to Jesus Christ. But when we are out in the world, it is not so easy. Out there, we consider other things:

Our marriage.

Our job.

Our finances.

Our family.

Our health.

Our worries.

As much as we want to serve God, there are times when it is hard. We fail, we sin, we deny Jesus as Lord, and we fail to keep the faith.

Yes, we are in pretty good company with God’s dishonor roll of failures. Thank God, He is not finished with us!

Tomorrow: Ar-r-rgh! What to do! What to do!

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Posted in Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom

God’s Dishonor Roll – Part 2

Posted on by Katharine
English: Moses Pleading with Israel, as in Deu...
Moses Pleading with Israel

Let’s look at more examples of God’s Dishonor Roll.

In Exodus chapter 2, we read that Moses killed a man with his bare hands.

God could have said, “I’m not working with this guy. He’s a hot-tempered man! He’d be a terrible leader!”

But instead, 40 years later, in chapter 3, we find that God chose Moses. He told Moses He wanted him to be the man to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. He wanted Moses to be the one to tell Pharaoh, ’Let my people go.’ Even though he killed a man and was a fugitive from justice, He still wanted him to lead His people out of bondage.”

Even Moses thought God was making a mistake.

He made excuses for not being up to the task.

He wanted God to choose someone else.

Moses felt like a failure and unqualified for the task.

He was afraid. He didn’t want to fail again. Have you ever been there?

God could have agreed and selected another person, but He didn’t give up on Moses and enabled Him to show forth God’s miraculous power.

Furthermore, God met with Moses,

this murderer,

this weak man,

and talked to him as a friend. He gave Moses His Law and Commandments, the Old Testament.

“As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” Exodus 33:9-11a.

Or how about David, a “man after God’s own heart”, who failed greatly: Coveting another man’s wife, he committed adultery with her and planned her husband’s death on the battlefield to cover up his sin.

God could have been done with David and removed him as king of Israel, as He had done with David’s predecessor, Saul, but God had made a promise to David and He kept it. David suffered consequences of his sin, but he continued to rule as king over Israel. He, and his descendants, continued worshipping God.

“When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.” 2 Samuel 7:12-14a

More tomorrow.

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Posted in Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Husbands, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom, Wives

God’s Dishonor Roll

Posted on by Katharine
English: Abram's Counsel to Sarai, c. 1896-190...
Abram's Counsel to Sarai by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

I wonder how many have never done anything wrong.

How many could stand before God and say, “I have never made a mistake. I have never failed at anything.”?

The truth is that we’ve all made mistakes, experienced failure, sinned, falling short of God‘s plan, God’s intention for us.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

“Failure” is the one label we don’t want.

We fear failure.

If I fail what will happen to me?

What will other people think? Will I be rejected? Will anybody love me?

Will God send me to hell?

The fear of failure is universal, causing enormous amounts of stress.

Students fear failing a class.

Parents fear failing their children.

Others fear failing the Lord, failing in Christianity, failing to live sinless lives.

If these examples describe your feelings, I have good news for you: You are in good company.

Some of the Bible’s greatest men and women of faith were failures. If God had a dishonor roll, it would include MANY well-known Believers.

For instance, in the book of Genesis, Abraham, the man of faith, lied to government officials, two times, about his relationship with Sarah. Both times, he introduced her as his sister instead of his wife, because he was afraid that he would be killed because of being married to such a beautiful woman.

Consequently, poor Sarah was taken into a harem each time and each time, God had to rescue her from potential adultery.

After the second time, God could have said, “ABRAHAM, YOU ARE FIRED!

“You obviously don’t trust me to save you. You obviously feel that lying to people is necessary to save your own skin.

“I cannot work with you anymore.”

But God forgave Abraham both times. And the Lord went on to do amazing things in his life. Even though Abraham showed the fear of unbelief instead of faith on these occasions, God still made a covenant with Abraham, and Abraham learned to believe God. God accounted this faith as if Abraham were righteous.

And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. James 2:23

More tomorrow.

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Posted in Blessings of Habit, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom

Sunday Scriptures – Ready

Posted on by Katharine
House Servants at Stonehouse Hill, estate of F...
House Servants at Stonehouse Hill, Estate of F. L. Ames

Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. I tell you the truth, he will dress himself to serve, and will have them recline at the table, and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

Posted in Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Inspiring, Photos, Sayings, Wisdom

Weekly Photo Challenge: Hope

Posted on by Katharine
hope like a candle
Hope, Like a Candle

Hope, like the gleaming taper’s light,
Adorns and cheers our way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brighter ray.

                                Oliver Goldsmith, The Captivity, Act II

This candlestick was in my mother’s bedroom when she was a young girl. She told of forgetting to blow it out at bedtime, once, and nearly burning the house down. Scorch is still visible on it, in places.

We must always be cautious about hope, not to let it burn too long without checking on it. Let’s always remember the purpose of hope is to lead us to something better. Let’s never merely hope for hope’s sake.

It’s all about follow-through. Yes, hope lights the darkness, but those who sleep don’t need it.

Posted in Believe it or not!, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom

Questions About the Bible – Part 2

Posted on by Katharine
First page of the Gospel of Mark, by Sargis Pi...
First page of Gospel of Mark, by Armenian Sargis Pitsak

More on the New Testament:

The Twelve, the closest and first disciples of Jesus, or their close associates, wrote the New Testament, inspired by the indwelling Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. They wrote what they saw and heard because it was too precious to them to let it go, forgotten.

And because it was the Truth.

These writers also wrote from quite different backgrounds: tax collectors, fishermen, physicians, lawyers—quite a motley crew. Their styles differed, from intimate, highly personal account, to historical record, to the flowery sentences popular among the legal circles of the day.

Although they wrote from sometimes totally differing perspectives, everything they wrote jives. I mean, one was a killer of Christians before he saw the light and began writing about the glory of Jesus. One was a social mis-fit, working with the wrong political party just for personal gain, before he heard the call to follow Jesus. Another was exiled to a deserted island when he produced some of his writings—far from any contact, any library, yet totally in sync with the rest of what was going on in Christendom at the time.

Christianity, always persecuted from Day One until today, forced people to hide in caves and meet in homes, only to be captured and drug away, on trumped-up charges. Therefore, every scrap of communication from the ones who actually knew and learned from Jesus was and is precious to Christians.

They preserved these writings with their lives, copying them repeatedly, in the days before Internet, word processors, typewriters, ballpoint pens, pencils, or even decent paper. They used homemade ink and quill feathers on chemically-treated sheep skins, rolled up on sticks. They were used to it.

As attacks grew, and began coming from within the followers, Christians even had to devise ways to let people know when writings were authentic. They met, even, to be sure everyone was in agreement on which writings were from the original few followers and which were bogus.

Perilous times.

Like today.

Although we cannot know, for sure, what was said in most of these gatherings, we can read what they preserved. What we notice, again, is a consistent agreement with the writings of the Old Testament, although some of the writers were not scholars, sometimes not even very nice guys, before they met Jesus Christ. We notice gorgeous poetic prose, crystal logic, and heart-rending appeals from men, most of whom had never been to college, indeed, who lived where college happened abroad.

And we find amazing willingness to die.

NOT TO KILL.

To die.

To die for the Truth.

Because He had died for them.

And because they knew Him and, as the Truth, He had set them free.

 

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