A Big Blue Rubber Band

It was a really nice rubber band. It was blue, had about a six inch diameter, and was hanging off the pastor’s wrist … I wanted it.

My rubber band was beige, had about a two inch diameter, was squeezing my wrist, and slowing down the blood flow into my hand.

As we came into the service this AM, we were each given a rubber band. We didn’t get to choose which one we got. Some got big ones, some medium sized ones, and there were also different colors.

I had not realized that everyone had gotten one, so I was kind of proud that I had and wore it on my wrist even though it was a bit too tight. At a point in the service, the pastor asked if everyone had gotten a rubber band. He then held up his wrist, showing us his rubber band, and asked if anyone else had gotten one like his. Like I said, it was nice, it was blue, and it was big. There were about twenty people who had a rubber band like his and he had them stand up.

By now I was comparing my rubber band to theirs, and I was feeling slighted. I also noticed that there were nicer colors. I wasn’t as happy as I had been. I probably even asked myself “Why them? Why not me?“ The pastor then said some folks had a larger role to play than others, and that gave them more accountability. He then used “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” to try and make those of us who were immature enough to be jealous of the “big rubber band people” to feel better. I didn’t feel better.

I was thinking how proud I would have been if I had been given a big rubber band, how special I would have felt. That is when he told the “big rubber band people” they shouldn’t feel proud of having big rubber bands, because they didn’t pick them, but had arbitrarily been given them. Now I really didn’t feel better because I was proud just thinking about if I had gotten one. Now I’m thinking “I’m not good enough to have gotten a big rubber band, I didn’t deserve one, and God is giving me a secret message with this whole ordeal.” I guess some people can handle big rubber bands and some people can’t.

I quietly took the rubber band I had been given off and put it in my pocket. At least my hand began to feel better.

In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. (Ro 12:4-6 MSG)

God Is Light

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 Jn 1:5)

As soon as you see daylight, begin to pray in this manner: O Lord You are the greatest and most authentic Light. The light of this day comes from You. O Light, You lighten everyone in this world! O Light, You know no night or evening! It is always midday with You. Without You all is darkness. Enlighten my mind. Let me see only the things that please You. Blind me to all else. Grant that I may walk in Your ways and find light in nothing else. -John Bradford: Daily Meditations

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day. (Prov 4:18)

For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. (Ps 18:28)

Look Unto Me

“Look to Me, and be saved.” (Is 45:22)

Looking Up

Lord, You’ve given me so much - so much that I can’t even see You anymore! Maybe I should stop looking at all the good things You’ve give me. Maybe I should set all this stuff aside and just start looking for You. (from Jan 22 of Jesus Wants All of Me)

WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says - Look unto Me, and be saved. The great difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and it is His blessings that make it difficult. Troubles nearly always make us look to God; His blessings are apt to make us look elsewhere. The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is, in effect - Narrow all your interests until the attitude of mind and heart and body is concentration on Jesus Christ. "Look unto Me." (from Jan 22 of My Utmost For His Highest)

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Col 3:11-3 NIV) (Emphasis mine)

God is always previous, God is always there first, and if you have any desire for God, and for the things of God, it is God himself who put it there.- A. W. Tozer

Stay The Course

I'm sure that won't happen to you, friends. I have better things in mind for you—salvation things! God doesn't miss anything. He knows perfectly well all the love you've shown him by helping needy Christians, and that you keep at it. And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don't drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them.

Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.

You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him. That's right—you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set. You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it. Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course you set; Then I'd never have any regrets in comparing my life with your counsel. I thank you for speaking straight from your heart; I learn the pattern of your righteous ways. I'm going to do what you tell me to do; don't ever walk off and leave me.

God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course. Give me insight so I can do what you tell me— my whole life one long, obedient response. Guide me down the road of your commandments; I love traveling this freeway! Give me a bent for your words of wisdom, and not for piling up loot. Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets, invigorate me on the pilgrim way. Affirm your promises to me— promises made to all who fear you. Deflect the harsh words of my critics— but what you say is always so good. See how hungry I am for your counsel; preserve my life through your righteous ways!

(All from The Message: Heb 6:9; Jam 5:10; Ps 119:1; Ps 119:33 - All emphasis mine)

Uplook vs Outlook

For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Cor 5:7 NKJV)

One of the gifts I received this Christmas was a mug. The picture was of a guy sitting at his kitchen table. The scene outside his window was a dark cloud with a rainstorm going on. The caption reads, “ It’s not the OUTLOOK, but the UPLOOK that counts!

This was a good pick for me, as I can tend to get a bit gloomy now and then. I have been know to sometimes let circumstances dictate my outlook and attitude.

One of the things our pastor talked about this morning was the twelve spies sent in to spy out the promised land. Ten of them were taken by what they saw and reported "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there” (Nu 13:27-28). “We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are. "And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them." (Nu 13:31-33)

Two were taken by what God had said. “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel” (Nu 13:2). Their report was "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." (Nu 13:30 NIV)

The ten had their eyes upon circumstances, upon what they could see, the temporal, and made their report based upon that.

The two had their eyes set upon the eternal, the unseen truth behind the seen circumstances guided their report.

Let’s be counted as those who believe God’s Word over their circumstances. Let us not stand upon that which is seen and subject to change, but upon that which is invisible, rock solid, and eternally unchanging. For we live by believing and not by seeing. (2 Cor 5:7 NLT)

It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. (2 Cor 5:7 MSG)

Legalism, Grace, and Mercy

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" (Mk 2:16)

Pharisee-ism repels, pushes away, judges, compares, binds, conforms, weighs down, and imprisons. It says, ”Behold I stand at my door and judge. Prove you are worthy.” It is a legalistic view saying, “ They don’t deserve it, they are not as good as we are. We have to keep them away from us.”

God’s grace and mercy seek. draw, attract, welcome, heal, restores rescue, comfort, help, transform, loosen, lighten, and free. Their cry is, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Whosoever. Come, drink freely of the Waters of Salvation."

What draws us to the throne of God's mercy and grace? Mark tells us that many people were drawn to Jesus, including the unwanted and the unlovable, such as the lame, the blind, and the lepers, as well as the homeless such as widows and orphans. But public sinners, like the town prostitutes and corrupt tax collectors, were also drawn to Jesus. In calling Matthew to be one of his disciples, Jesus picked one of the unlikeliest of men – a tax collector who by profession was despised by the people. Why did the religious leaders find fault with Jesus for making friends with sinners and tax collectors like Matthew? The orthodox Jews had a habit of dividing everyone into two groups: those who rigidly kept the law and its minute regulations and those who did not. They latter were treated like second class citizens. The orthodox scrupulously avoided their company, refused to do business with them, refused to give or receive anything from them, refused to intermarry, and avoided any form of entertainment with them, including table fellowship. Jesus' association with the latter, especially with tax collectors and sinners, shocked the sensibilities of these orthodox Jews. - Don Schwager.

We must ask ourselves, “Am I helping or hindering people from entering the Kingdom of God? What does my life, reactions, and responses say about what I believe?” The following poem may best describe us.

The Star Market
by Marie Howe

The people Jesus loved were shopping at the Star Market yesterday.
An old lead-colored man standing next to me at the checkout
breathed so heavily I had to step back a few steps.

Even after his bags were packed he still stood, breathing hard and
hawking into his hand. The feeble, the lame, I could hardly look at them: shuffling through the aisles, they smelled of decay, as if the Star Market

had declared a day off for the able-bodied, and I had wandered in
with the rest of them—sour milk, bad meat—
looking for cereal and spring water.

Jesus must have been a saint, I said to myself, looking for my lost car
in the parking lot later, stumbling among the people who would have
been lowered into rooms by ropes, who would have crept

out of caves or crawled from the corners of public baths on their hands
and knees begging for mercy.

If I touch only the hem of his garment, one woman thought, could I bear the look on his face when he wheels around?

"Lord Jesus, our Savior, let us now come to you: Our hearts are cold; Lord, warm them with your selfless love. Our hearts are sinful; cleanse them with your precious blood. Our hearts are weak; strengthen them with your joyous Spirit. Our hearts are empty; fill them with your divine presence. Lord Jesus, our hearts are yours; possess them always and only for yourself." (Prayer of Augustine, 4th century)

Walk In Love

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
(1 Jn 4:16 NASB)

… and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ep 5:2 NASB)

… and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ep 5:2 NIV)

Love is not a set of rules, that if we just follow them, we will be doing it right. As a matter of fact, love is more about being than about doing, Love is more about being Jesus to those we are around, than it is about doing something for them.

If we approach walking in love as doing, we will not draw close to the heart of God, nor will we enable others to. We can do and say a lot of good things, without caring about the individual, but only that we respond correctly. However, we will never be Jesus to those around us without loving Him and them. It is far more than a general love for mankind, though we should have that. It has to be individualized. It has to be towards the person who is before us right now.

Love cares … Love helps … Love gives … Love adds … Love values … Love always wants God’s best for whoever is before us. To quote from 1 Corinthians 13 “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;

The kind of love that God requires we walk in cannot be worked up. It can only be walked out as we worked out what God has put within us. It doesn’t come by study, though that illumines our mind. It doesn’t come by being encourage to, though that will increase our resolve. It only comes as we take time to let the tide of God’s Spirit and God’s Word wash through us, flowing in and flowing back out changing us, changing our motives, and changing those around us.

I came across the following poem which seem to fit well with these thoughts.

Walk In Love
By Curtis R. McComis

As sunshine is to the earth, so is love to a person
Without sunshine, a plant will die
So without love a person will also die
Love is our breath of life
Love is the first gift of the Holy Spirit
Love holds a sick person's hand
Love looks beyond our faults and meets our needs
Love is the vitamins that keeps us healthy
Love stays in all types of weather
Love is the same today and forever
Love heals the broken-hearted
Love is not some kind of feelings and emotions
but love is actions comforting the lonely
Love has eyes to see, and ears to hear