WHAT MATTERS

THE UNDEFINEABLE

"Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]." 1 Cor. 13:7

Can my love bear up under all things?  Does my love believe the best of everyone?  Does my love wane or hold up under all circumstances?  Does is endure everything without falling apart?  Oh, that it were so.

Love.  An undefineable attribute apart from God.  All we are--poor or rich, educated or uneducated, wise or foolish--is only useful in the exhibition of love.  Human love is flawed.  Always.  But God within us--Spirit indwelling--pours forth pure love.  Unselfish love--unconditional--no strings attached.

"Love is an indefineable word, and in the Bible it is always used as directly characteristic of God--'God is love'."

"If human love is always discreet and calculating, never carried beyond itself, it is not of the true nature of love.  The characteristic of love is that it is spontaneous, it bursts up to extraordinary ways, it is never premeditated." Oswald Chambers

Love is everflowing, and is only produced by the indwelling Spirit of God within us.  Apart from Him, we can only hope to attain a measure of manufactured imitation.  So how do we love?  How do we show love?

I believe it is only in the total surrender of ourselves, our will, our desires, our rights to the presence of God Himself within us.  And it is through Him others know love---His love manifested in all its purity.  Love is so pure we do not know it has moved from God to another.  That is one of the reasons we are always surprised when someone says how much we mean to them.  Pure love is transmitted through the Love of God in us and manifested by our actions when we have put others before us and our own needs.  Hence the verse:

"Love does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking..." 1 Cor. 13:5c

May we each find ourselves leaving more of us behind than seeking something in others.  May God gain all glory and praise from the surrendered life we lead to manifest His love to others.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2008]

 

GREAT QUESTION

EXACTLY WHAT DOES MATTER?

TO YOU.

TODAY.  hmmmmn?

I mean...besides chocolate cake.

A dear friend with whom to share it.

A good cup of coffee.

A relaxing conversation.

EXACTLY WHAT MATTERS TO YOU?  selahV

WHATSOEVER I DO

is what matters to eternity.

And, it matters to God.

"Doing is a servant's language of devotion." Bruce Wilkinson, A LIFE GOD REWARDS.

What kind of servant am I?  I ask that often of myself.  I constantly compare my service to that I see in others.  I watch them volunteer.  I witness their selflessness, their generosity, their kindness, their energy.  I stand amazed, I kneel in contrition.

"...For we shall all stand before the judgement seat of Christ...Each of us shall give account of himself to God."  Romans 14:10:b, 12.

Preceding this passage from Romans, are verses questioning why we judge our brothers.  We see alot of judgement these days.  We pass judgement on others all the time.  We look at the failures far more often than the successes.  We remember the negatives longer than we do the positives.

When I stand before Christ, I shall be accounting for myself, not my brother.  When my brother stands before Christ, he shall be accounting for himself, not me.  So why do we judge our brother?  Paul asked a very good question there.

Is it my place to discipline my brother?  Is it his to discipline me?  Should I not be more concerned with correcting my own mistakes than correcting another's?  Should I not be more attentive to the board in my own eye than the speck in my brother's?   Should not he be more concerned about himself than me?

Wonder if we all majored on ourselves and our relationship with the Lord, if the world would be a bit saltier?  Wonder if we resisted the urge to be the Holy Spirit for others, if our churches would be better lit on the hills in the world?  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007] 

FIVE REASONS I DIG JESUS, PLUS ONE

 1~~ The fact that He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and the well from which He gives life is always full and always satisfying.  No matter how much I drink of Him, He never runs dry.

2~~ The fact that He enjoys loving me in spite of me.  He loved me before I loved Him.  That is about as amazing as I can comprehend.  I know how horrible I was (and am)--you don't.  You never will.  But I do, and I know that if Jesus loved me before I ever knew Him, then He is one incredible Savior!  He put the meaning into the command "love the unlovely."  And then He reconciled my husband to me through His blood and allowed me to see unconditional love from an earthly perspective of I Corinthians 13.

3~~The fact that He dwells in me, and I in Him and we in God, and I can trust Him to keep us all together forever.  And because He gave His life for me and mine and saved us all, I know when I die and go to live with Him eternally, that He has my son waiting in heaven to greet me.  And all my friends and family in Christ will be there with us.

4~~The fact that He is seated on the right hand of the Father, making intercession for me.  Without His help, I'd be toast.  So I really dig the fact that I don't have to worry over the eternal bun-roast.  I'll be at the banquet table dining on life-everlasting, not because of any good I have done, but because of what He accomplished in obedience to the Father when He died on Calvary's cross.

5~~The fact that He has "been there"!  therefore He can relate to me in every aspect of my life.  That gives me greater perspective when I go through trials and temptations.  He shows me how to walk through the midst of wolves, sleep in the middle of storms, see in the darkness and hear His voice in the silence.

6~~The fact that His mercy endures forever.  So even though I deserve justice, He's going to give me mercy forever and ever and ever because He doesn't hold grudges.  And by golly, He's finally got it through my thick skull not to hold grudges either.  Mercy's alot more palatable than unforgiveness.  Digests better, too.

I'm tagging:

Karen at TNT, Tried and True, because she is a dynamite gal who loves Jesus and I love reading her thoughts.  But I have to force her to write them or she keeps them selfishly to herself.

Brad Reynolds at Guardian Ministries because he needs an incentive to post a new post.  And what could be better than sharing 5 reasons you thoroughly and completely love Jesus?  Love, uh, and dig are synonyms, yes?

BrittLeigh at Aletheia Liberty because I know she'll have lovely, gracious thoughts which will stir my heart when I read them.  (And also because she has enough friends that she'll be able to tag five and then some.)

Colin because I enjoy his take on everything.

Peter Lumpkins because I know he's got 5 more reasons in him.  And I loved the other five he wrote here.

MORE THAN A WORD

Kindness~~

  It's more than a word.  It's an outpouring action from the indwelling spirit of God.

In my case it was a bouquet of daisies and peach roses nestled in a yellow teacup.  Karen, my dear friend from Kentucky sent me the bouquet for my birthday. The amazing thing about the bouquet pictured is that Karen is a gal I taught in youth group in the very first church my husband pastored.  It's amazing to me that I left enough love behind over 25 years ago that she loves me this much today to extend such a generous act of kindness.

And she knew the essence of my being.  She knew that 3 roses were symbolic to me.  She knew my favorite flowers are daisies.  She knew my love for hot brewed tea and honey.  So the lovely bouquet was arranged in something I could use after the flowers had faded.

But there is another joy this spirit-filled gesture rendered to me.  I took the three peach-colored roses, wrapped their stems in copper ribbon, and hung them on my memory bouquet of roses from the chandelier in my dining room.  They lend a lovely display for my country decor.

All the roses in the arrangement have significance.  My granddaughter's wedding, my daughter's Mother's Day bouquet to me, my son's memorial roses, and now, Karen's roses.  They all snuggle together and remind me of the closeness I have with all who've given me roses blessed by love.  In time, these lovely peach roses will dry out and the color will fade into another.  But love and kindness will linger as a life-long treasure in my heart.  And that's what matters to me and, I think, to God.  selahV

MORE ON KINDNESS, FOLLOW ME HERE.

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007]

   

LITTLE THINGS OF LIFE

"...its leaf also shall not fade or wither..." Ps.1:3c

"...but its leaf shall be green..." Jer.17:8c.

Lovely things.  Green things.  Fields, trees, leaves.  LIFE.  Such is those things we see that flourish in the summer sun~~corn rows, new mown grass, unearthed sod, fruit-filled pear trees.

Little things.  A tiny gray moth resting on a sunflower leaf posing for his picture.  Did you notice?  Delicate traces of orange tipping its wings.  No fear at all that I might snatch it from its perch and place it on an insect display underglass.  Without concern it smiles at me.

A blade of green grass.  A collection grown to be harvested.  Deep cuts severing the sod, rolling it in gigantic bales.  Lying in hot Oklahoma sun, watching others as they're rolled and readied for pickup.  Where will this grass go?  Where will it grow?  Another part of town?  Across state lines?  Here, it has fulfilled its purpose on Route 7 just off I-44.  Here it was planted in red soil.  Spring and summer rain bathed it.  Sunshine beckoned it to life.  Man takes it to another place, perhaps some home where children play croquet. Eventually it shall wither and be no more.

Tiny things.  Baby pecans, popping out on sprawling limbs.  Each smaller than an appleseed.  They grow.  They gather life abundantly, to be harvested, to fall to earth and die to become life again. 

Clusters of pears cling stubbornly to branches overladen with fruit.  Some give up their growth to summer winds and drop prematurely to the ground.  Others rest quietly, waiting for the fullness of their time to be separated from their life-giving source.

Life...it is all around us.  God's perpetual flow of life declares His goodness, His bounty, His provision.  Yet none can compare.  No; none to the fullness we have in Jesus His son.

"For it was in Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and unseen..." Col.1:16

Man, the crowning glory of God's creation.

"For it also pleased [the Father] that all divine fullness (the sum total of all divine perfection, powers and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently." Col.1:19 (Amplified)

How blessed is man to be born into this world of God's grace and love.  How blessed we are to have the assurance of a permanent dwelling place in Him~~ Jesus Christ our Lord.  How sweet the assurance that though we are born to new life in Him, we are not like the leaf, the blade of grass, the nut, nor pears.  Such sweet relief to know our future is secured in His almighty hand for all eternity.

What could matter more?  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007]

    

SINCERELY YOURS, SelahV

~~~Sincerity ~~

The very sound of that word conjures up a gentle softness, and honest likeability.  There's not one iota of persuasion attached to it.  No cajoling, no forcefulness, no proving a point.  Sincerity is a genuine light of purity and goodness.

Romans 12: 9,10 commands, "Let your love be sincere [the real thing]; hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.  Love one another with brotherly affection [as members of one family], giving precedence and showing honor to one another." (Amplified)

"Let your love be sincere".  Sincere.  The real thing.  Without wax.

At the time Paul wrote this, many statues were being made and sculpted of goddesses and gods.  Whenever the sculptor chinked the marble or stone with miscalculation, a chunk off the nose or a chip on an earlobe could result.  To cover the mistake, the sculptor would melt wax and fill in the spot.  No one would be the wiser unless the sculpture was placed in the heat of the noonday sun.  Should it be placed in that light, the wax would melt and reveal the flaw.  The word "sincere" in this passage is the same as "without wax".  Sincerity has no flaws, no hidden motives, no covered pimples, no deceitful flattery.  Sincerity is without guile.

Sincere love is pure and trustworthy.

"Love 'thinketh no evil,' imputes no motive, sees the bright side, puts the best construction on every action." Henry Drummond ~~ THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD.

Do we love like that?  Can we love like that?

I think we must.  We must do as Paul tells us to do.  Practice that love.  Work at it until it becomes second nature, then first nature.  We must so surrender our own importance, our own status, reputation and opinion that only pure love is shown to every brother and sister in Christ.  Why?  So others will know Jesus by our love for the brethren--every last one of the brethren.  We are not allowed to pick and choose which brethren to love.  Should we not love even one, someone might be left without knowledge of Christ.

"From the fruit of his words a man shall be satisfied with good, and the work of a man's hands shall come back to him [as in harvest]." Pr.12:14

Can people see a pure holy God when we treat each other with disdain?  Can people see the love of Christ when we show contempt and disgust for our brethren?  Can a lost world desire to know Whom we serve and claim as Savior and Lord when we bow to man, to society, to whims of parties and politics?  Can we exemplify sincerity with our schemes, our backbiting, our fingerpointing, talebearing and strife?  Can we teach and disciple with exclusion, intrusion and confusion?  Can we add one person to the Kingdom of Heaven with our apathy, our waxed-over sin and hidden leaven?

According to Drummond, sincerity "is the self-restraint which refuses to make capital out of other's faults; the charity which delights not in exposing the weakness of others but 'covereth all things'; the sincerity of purpose which endeavors to see things as they are and rejoices to find them better than suspicion feared or gossip denounced."

Oh that we could be so self-restrained!  Oh that we could be so sincere!  May all my flaws be visible to me, oh Lord, as You light the darkest corners of my heart.  Let me bring them into Your presence that You might cleanse me of all iniquity and prune the useless branches from Your Vine that Your fruit would be given Life to harvest in the time You have appointed unto me.  Sincerely yours, selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007]

WORDS, BARBS AND OTHER THINGS THAT HURT

 

A THISTLE'S THORNS.

A WIRE'S BARB.

AN ANGRY HEART.  Each has the potential to hurt.

I happened to take this picture today of an Indian Blanket.  They grow wild in Oklahoma and are the state flower.  When I snapped the photo, I had no idea how visible the barbed wire fence would show itself.  But there it is in all it's potential of ripping into the flesh of anything that dares to trespass against it.  Beyond it's boundaries is a huge meadow filled with acres of wild flowers.  I wanted to get closer and take more pictures.  I wanted to walk through the field and capture more photos of beauty.  But the barbed wire fence warned me of proceeding any further.

People do that.  You meet someone.  You build a relationship with someone.  Then suddenly you are met with a barbed fence of words or deeds that pierce your heart or mind.  And you know that this is as far as your relationship will go.  You see the field beyond...the promise, the possibilities.  But you know this is the boundary.  You can go no further. 

Ever get those white dots on your fingernails?  My momma use to say it was because I told a lie.  So whenever I got one of those spots, I'd try my best to figure out what I'd lied about.

Another addage my momma use to say was when a tastebud swelled up and got sore, I'd been gossiping.  Lands, I spent more time trying to remember what I'd been talking about and with whom.  I had sore tastebuds all the time.

Today, I realize that neither of those things are true.  But I wonder.  Maybe it would be a good thing if we could visually see what our words and actions did to others by some form of boil, blister or sore to pop up on us after we'd done it.  Maybe we've become so hardened to our ways of mistreating others that the Lord should gives us a heavenly thorn to prick our body as well as our calloused hearts.

I wonder if  we'd look like we had chicken pox.  Personally, I think when we hurt another with our quick tongues, pious attitudes or meanspirited ways, the Lord oughta strike us with a Shingle on our chin till we repent and change.

My momma was not a very nice mom.  She was hateful, angry, bitter and often cruel.  Ironically, in between the slaps, smacks and criticisms, she was forever sharing her mountain wisdom as she sang gospel songs.  One of the most prized sayings I ever heard from her was, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."  That has stuck with me through the years.  Time and time again I've seen the value in the phrase.  It's kind of like "do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Don't you think that is an amazing verse?  If we'd just think before we speak--consider how our words would be received by another.  Would we really want someone to speak to us the way in which we speak to them?  I don't know.  It's possible some people would--even though their words hurt others.  It's possible some people think that little of themselves.  It's understandable to me when a non-Christian does it.  It boggles my mind when a Christian is hateful though.  It really does.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007] 

HEAVY WEIGHTS LEND GREATER GLORY

Having had open-heart surgery, my husband was told to slowly build up his upper body strength by lifting weights.  They showed him a few exercises he could do to help build the bone density in his chest which had been sawed in half.

We start with one pound weights and work up.  HayJae demonstrates.

As he works with the one-pound weight and it becomes easy--without labored breathing--then he can move up to 2 pounds, 3 pounds and so on until he lifts no heavier than 10 pounds.

Because we have worked our way up, when we get to the place where 10 pound weights are used, most likely they will present little problem in lifting.

Such it is with the Christian life.  We face problems of all weights.  Yet, the Lord doesn't give us weight without help.  "Come unto me all ye who are heavy ladened and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you for it is light," our Saviour said.

As God gives us trials and struggles of everyday living, we become stronger in our faith and Christian walk as we entrust ourselves to Him.  As we give Him our cares and cast them upon Him, He strengthens us with those challenges--those weights of life.

Somehow, the more a Christian is dealt difficulty, the harder the difficulty seems to become each time.  I do not think this is coincidence.  I think God knows we will give Him our difficulty and present to Him the circumstance with faith and dependence on Him to get us through it.  I think we get bigger and bigger difficulties (in the eyes of those around us) because He knows we will take His yoke upon us.  As we do, He carries the load.  As others watch us meet the weight's load, God is glorified.  The weight of our heartache is lifted in His grace, for His grace is sufficient.  In our weakness, His strength is made perfect and more visible to others.  And no matter what we face tomorrow, we know He is able to keep us in that tomorrow.  selahV

[copyrighted, SelahV Today, 2007] 

A RIGHTEOUS MAN

"The prayers of a righteous man availeth much."

Exactly what does his prayer avail?  To me, in a brightly lit intensive care unit, it meant a tender hand.  A comforting balm.  A kindness unexpected.  A pastor's love.

When the nurse told me my pastor was on the line, I was surprised.  Normally, my pastor would have called me on my cell or just come in as he'd done earlier that day.  Our Minister of Education and his wife had just left and had prayed for my husband.  So when the call came, I thought they must have the wrong person.

When the operator confirmed I was who I was, she connected me to "your pastor."  I was so amazed that Les Puryear was the voice on the other end.  I've never talked with Les.  We've only known each other through blogging.  And here he was calling to see how my husband had made it through surgery.  Well over a thousand plus miles away.  But he sounded as if he was right there beside me.  I felt the presence of his spirit.  I cannot begin to tell you how touched I was by his gracious compassion and blessed prayer for Bob and I.

Why did he do that?  Why did he track down the hospital we were in?  Why did he take time to call?  Why did he call at the precise moment he did?  Because he is a righteous man, ordained of God--and not of men--to pastor those in need.  Anywhere.  Anytime.

Did it matter that I had a pastor and hundreds of other people praying for me and my husband?  Did it matter that other bloggers had posted calls to prayer for us.  Not to him.  What mattered is that he felt led and prompted by the Holy Spirit to personally make his call and pray with me.  What mattered was he was obedient to God's prompting.  Is that not a righteous man?

I thank all of you again for praying for us.  My husband has a long way to go, but the doctor's are amazed at how well he's doing.  Are we?  I don't think so.  :)  selahV