The Light of the World is Jesus

The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin,

The Light of the world is Jesus!

Like sunshine at noonday, 
His glory shone in;

The Light of the world is Jesus!


Come to the light, 
’tis shining for thee;

Sweetly the light has dawned upon me;

Once I was blind, 
but now I can see:

The Light of the world is Jesus!

No darkness have we who in Jesus abide;

The Light of the world is Jesus!

We walk in the light when we follow our Guide!

The Light of the world is Jesus!

Come to the light, 
’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, 
but now I can see:
The Light of the world is Jesus!

Ye dwellers in darkness with sin-blinded eyes,

The Light of the world is Jesus!

Go, wash at His bidding, 
and light will arise;

The Light of the world is Jesus!

Come to the light, 
’tis shining for thee;
Sweetly the light has dawned upon me;
Once I was blind, 
but now I can see:
The Light of the world is Jesus!

No need of the sunlight in Heaven we’re told;

The Light of the world is Jesus!

The Lamb is the Light in the city of gold,

The Light of the world is Jesus!

--Philip P. Bliss

Remembering

Freedom is not Free

So Thankful

We walk by faith, not by sight

Oh, LORD, I miss her.  I still struggle with “why” she didn’t share with me. We had always spoken about every aspect of life—- every joy and every agony——nothing was ever held back between us.

She was so very dear to me, so precious, a gift from God.  As she slipped away I longed for her to talk with me about it.  The sadness to leave, but the joy to go and see Jesus! —-no longer experience pain, no sadnesses, but only gain because of Him!

Faithful to me to the end she loved me, she rallied to be “up” and act like she was “fine".  She obviously wanted to protect me from grief before its time—-and so I allowed this for her.  At first I tried to bring her situation up in conversations so we could talk about it. I wanted to share with her how much I loved her, how much I would miss her, how we would meet again, and what joy it would be! But she wanted to love me and protect me in her own way---so I let her do so.

This precious woman loved me as a treasured daughter.  My “other mother” she would say, a true friend and a dear sister in Jesus.

Oh, LORD, I miss her. Praising You for weaving her into my life!

All my hope is in You, my precious Savior!

Philippians 1:21-26
"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 
But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; 
and I do not know which to choose. 
But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart 
and be with Christ, for that is very much better; 
yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. 
Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all 
for your progress and joy in the faith, 
so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus 
through my coming to you again."

2 Corinthians 5:1-10
"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, 
we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens. 
For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our 
dwelling from heaven, 
inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 
For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because 
we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal 
will be swallowed up by life.
Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us 
the Spirit as a pledge.

Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are 
at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 
for we walk by faith, not by sight—
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the 
body and to be at home with the Lord. 
Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, 
to be pleasing to Him. 
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each 
one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he 
has done, whether good or bad.

Great for an attitude adjustment

“No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap.”

--C. Snow

What Wolverines can find

Our Wolverine kitty found a Baltimore Oriole on our front porch this week while watching the world go by at the storm door. 

Let us humble ourselves before an Almighty God!

Philippians 2:1-11
"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, 
if there is any consolation of love, 
if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, 
if any affection and compassion, 
make my joy complete by being of the same mind, 
maintaining the same love, 
united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, 
but with humility of mind regard one another 
as more important than yourselves; 
do not merely look out for your own personal interests, 
but also for the interests of others. 

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 
who, although He existed in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, 
and being made in the likeness of men. 

Being found in appearance as a man, 
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, 
even death on a cross. 

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, 
and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, 
of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father."

Do not think more highly of yourself

After a long winter our spring began to unfold with everyone's dormant grass turning now to a beautiful, lush green.  Everyone has had to mow, and perhaps, mow again.  Our whole world here is beautiful with each yard looking fabulous, no matter if they take care of their lawn with fertilizer or not.  The newness is fresh, beautiful, and clean ---

--- unless you were to walk up close and look intently at each yard.  

The lushness is sometimes a facade to what is reality. When you get up close and examine some of these lush, green lawns you may notice all the ugly imperfections which will only become worse as spring turns to a dry summer, a drier autumn, and then another bleak winter.

As with many housing developments in these last decades, the healthy top soil has been removed before any construction began.  Most of our lawns were seeded or sodded over what was left -- clay.  Soon enough, these healthy looking, lush green lawns which are not continually treated with fertilizer will begin to show their actual unhealthiness.  This unhealthiness has been there all the time -- we just do not see it through the first lushness of spring.  As our time marches into summer these lawns will not look green and lush again until the beginning of next spring when the unhealthiness is once again temporarily hidden from our sight, a facade. 

This reminds me of many Christians who have a facade. There are people who claim Jesus as their Savior who "look" extremely righteous because of their dress, their righteous words, their behavior in public, and their knowledge of God's Word, but underneath their facade, and in their privacy, there is much unrighteousness in their lives which, sadly, they do not see in themselves.  Their words are filled with gossip, falsely proving to themselves that they are better than everyone else.  Their sins run rampant in them because they have thought more highly of themselves than everyone else -- by their own measure, not God's.  They have put themselves up on a pedestal of their own making, and thus blinding themselves from their own sinful pride.

A biblically, healthy Christian, a person who claims Jesus as their Savior, and who thinks biblically right about themselves, is a sinner saved by His grace.  

This person knows they are not better than anyone else. This person knows they are never on a pedestal because they are humbled before the Almighty God who saved them from all their past and future sins. 

Humility is what others see in this biblical person's life, not pride and selfishness.  Kindnesses and compassions, caring, giving, joyfulness even in agonies, and humble praises to our God and King is what others see in a person humbly living in God's grace.

When I am around legalistic, manipulative, controlling, unteachable, selfish, prideful Christians I become mortified at first, and then I begin to grieve deeply for them.  They have made their own trap, they have dug their own pit, and while they have done this they have forgotten their first love ---if, they actually had the true LORD in the first place. LORD, help them!

It is easy to fall into sin. We all do it. 

Every one of us is a sinner, Christian or non-Christian.  

Any one of us can sin, which can lead to another sin, which can build and build until we can fool ourselves and actually believe that we are just fine, that we are better than others, that God is so proud of us. 

As Christians we can allow our sins to "blur" and become a facade of what we think is a "normal life".  Our anger can rage when another Christian has the nerve to point out our problems (our sins) within our lives.  Beware:  These are Red Flags, danger signs in our lives. Look out for them, and then run humbly to the LORD in repentance.

Romans 12
"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, 
as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 

For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be without hypocrisy. 

Abhor what is evil; 

cling to what is good. 

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; 

give preference to one another in honor;

not lagging behind in diligence, 

fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 

rejoicing in hope, 

persevering in tribulation, 

devoted to prayer,

contributing to the needs of the saints, 

practicing hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

Be of the same mind toward one another; 

do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. 

Do not be wise in your own estimation. 

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. 

Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 

If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, 
for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 

“But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, 
and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; 
for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 

Do not be overcome by evil, 
but overcome evil with good."

Our Source of true Joy

An Ever-Present Help

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."
Psalm 46:1

Nothing is more suffocating, more soul stifling than the feeling of hopelessness. When you've tried every option, it's despairing to think that you've come to the end of your rope with no aid in sight. 

Hopelessness breeds when we fail to sense God's hand in the hardship, or the presence of His help. It's demoralizing to feel as though God is off somewhere, distracted by the needs of more obedient saints.

Hope is built on fact. And the fact is God never becomes distracted from your life. He never takes time off from tending to your needs. When troubles come, He doesn't back away to allow Satan a free hand. 

Today's verse assures that not only is the help of God available and accessible at all times, but God Himself is the always-present help in every trial.

"God understands the darkness that we face. He is right there in it with us, 'an ever-present help in trouble.' The Lord of light is your friend in darkness. The Lord of life stands beside you in death. The Lord of hope is your companion in your despair. The Prince of Peace supports you when no peace can be found. The God of all comfort waits faithfully near you. The Source of all joy is close by when death has robbed you of joy.”*

When we've hit rock bottom or are up against a wall, we are easy prey for the lies of the adversary. When we are emotionally distraught, we believe the lie that God has become a casual observer, standing at arm's length from our pain. Write out today's verse and underline the adjective. God is always present with help and hope.
  
You are my refuge and my strength, dear Lord. When troubles assault, may I never be deceived into thinking that I am beyond Your tender compassion. Thank You for being always and ever-present in my trials. I praise You for being in control!

—Joni Eareckson Tada, Pearls of Great Price, May 10

*Paul David Tripp, "You Are Never Alone in the Dark," Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation: Glenside, PA, p 5.

Love is not self-seeking

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Love is patient, 

love is kind 

and is not jealous; 

love does not brag 

and is not arrogant,

does not act unbecomingly; 

it does not seek its own, 

is not provoked, 

does not take into account a wrong suffered, 

does not rejoice in unrighteousness, 

but rejoices with the truth; 

bears all things, 

believes all things, 

hopes all things, 

endures all things.

Love never fails; 

*

One of the dearest picture books of mine

A charming story by Virginia Lee Burton, a classic.

"Once upon a time there was a Little House way out in the country.

She was a pretty Little House and she was strong and well built.

The man who built her so well said,

"This Little House shall never be sold for gold or silver 

and she will live to see our great-great-grandchildren's

great-great-grandchildren living in her..."

*

Freedom in Christ

Compare the Freedom we have in Christ 
to slavery in sin, to slavery in legalisms:

Galatians 5

*"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; 
therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of 
slavery.

Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, 
Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man 
who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole 
Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be 
justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 

*For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of 
righteousness. 

*For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means 
anything, but faith working through love.

*You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? 
This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. 

*A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have confidence in 
you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is 
disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. 

But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted?  
Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. I wish that 
those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.

*For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your 
freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve 
one another. 

For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall 
love your neighbor as yourself.” 

But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not 
consumed by one another.

*But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire 
of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the 
Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, 
so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led 
by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, 
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of 
anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, 
and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned 
you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of 
God.

*But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, 
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things 
there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified 
the flesh with its passions and desires.

*If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 

*Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one 
another."

Forgetting and Forgiving

Pride nourishes the remembrance of injuries,

Humility forgets as well as forgives them. 

--Robert C. Chapman

*
"A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight.
When pride comes, then comes dishonor,
But with the humble is wisdom.
The integrity of the upright will guide them,
But the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them.

*
The wicked earns deceptive wages,
But he who sows righteousness gets a true reward.
He who is steadfast in righteousness will attain to life,
And he who pursues evil will bring about his own death.
The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord,
But the blameless in their walk are His delight.

*
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And he who is wise wins souls."

Proverbs 11:1-3,18-20,30

The LORD helps and comforts us

The Owls

Give me a sign of your goodness...for you, O Lord, 
have helped me and comforted me."
Psalm 86:17

Driving home one late afternoon, I felt empty, dry, and bone weary. From that perspective, everything I had done during the day seemed pointless...just so much wasted time. Pulling into my driveway, I whispered, "Lord, I need to see you at work. I need you to touch me in some special, unusual way tonight.”

In my bedroom an hour later, still fighting the blues, I paused by the bay window overlooking our backyard. Suddenly I spotted something in the twilight -- two somethings! -- with large wingspans, fluttering on a branch of my neighbor's pine tree. Then I saw yet a third great bird -- even larger -- perched on one of our pines. They were huge great-horned owls. Before long, the owl from my yard joined the other two. My visiting friend came into the room, grabbing binoculars. Peering into the neighbor's tree, she said, "Joni, those are baby owls!" They had been bobbing, flapping, and hopping back and forth on the branch waiting for their mother -- obviously the larger owl who had been in my tree. We even saw the mother fly away and, within minutes, come back with a mouse to feed her babies.

What a thrill to watch these unusual representatives of God's creation up close and personal! I forgot all about my dreary mood of a few moments before. When the whole escapade was over, I remembered my prayer. I would have thought God would have given me His "fresh touch" through special words from my visiting friend...or maybe a verse of Scripture...or perhaps a vase of flowers surprising me at the kitchen sink. Who would have thought owls would have been his emissaries of encouragement?

Ask the Lord to show Himself to you in new and unexpected ways today. And prepare to be surprised!
  
Lord, I don't want to miss those little "calling cards" of Your presence, Your interest, and Your care. Please keep me alert to all the ways You speak Your love.

—Joni Eareckson Tada, Pearls of Great Price, May 4

No hammers, but grace and mercies

"If we would wisely reprove the flesh in our brethren, 

we must first, after the Lord’s example, 

remember and commend the grace in them."

--Robert C. Chapman

Galatians 6:1-5

"Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, 

you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; 

each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. 

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, 

he deceives himself. But each one must examine his own work, 

and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, 

and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load."