DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- EARTHEN VESSELS - CRACKED POTS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – EARTHEN VESSELS – CRACKED POTS

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us" (II Corinthians 4:7).

Patsy Clairmont, a popular Christian comedian, has a routine called "God Uses Cracked Pots." In her monologue, she refers to herself as an earthen pot that is damaged and cracked (hopefully nota crackpot). God created us perfect, but sin has damaged His intention for us. But the very imperfections and flaws can be the vehicle for God to demonstrate His power and His glory.

All of us have our weaknesses. But God can use us even in our weakness to accomplish His purposes. Noah got drunk, but God used Him to save the human race. Moses had a speech impairment, but God used him to deliver Israel from Egypt. Joseph had a problem with pride as a youth, but God used him to preserve the family of Jacob. David had a problem with lust, but God used him to build a kingdom. Peter had foot in mouth disease, but God used him to be a powerful preacher and leader in the early church. There are many other examples in Scripture of people who had their imperfections, but those weaknesses do not limit God. He can use anyone who is available. As the old saying goes, God uses FAT people. FAT is an acronym that stands for – Faithful, available, and Teachable. It is the power of Christ in a person that accomplishes God's purposes, so that all the glory belongs to Jesus. The song says, "All the glory belongs to Jesus. All the praise belongs to Him. All that I am, or ever hope to be …. All the glory belongs to Him."

We are all cracked pots in one way or another. We each have our own blemishes and flaws. But even in our cracked pot condition, "We do not lose heart, Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day" (vs. 16). God is at work in our lives, renewing and changing us. This is a life-long exercise, being conformed to the image of Christ.

Bill Gothard presented a program called "Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts." He distributed to the participants a button that read PBPGINFWMY – another acronym meaning "Please be patient – God is not not finished with me yet." Other people may give up on me, but God never does. The Potter knows what vessel He desires, and He is forming me according to His plans. I am still a work in progress – still on the potter's wheel as I yield to the Master Potter.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- LIVING LETTERS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – LIVING LETTERS

"You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart" (II Corinthians 3:2-3).

Ken Taylor paraphrased the Bible for his children to make the Bible more understandable.  He started with Paul's Epistles and called it "Living Letters."

We, as people who have receive the Gospel and have the Spirit of the living Christ dwelling in us, are living letters to a world who may never read the Bible. May our message always be clear, unhindered by a veil that dims the message of the letter – that Jesus saves and has transformed our lives.

"You are writing a Gospel, a chapter each day, by the deeds that you do by the words that you say. Men read what you write, whether faithless or true. Say! What is the Gospel according to you?" (Paul Gilbert)

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- FORGIVENESS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS --  FORGIVENESS

"Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices" (II Corinthians 2:10-11).

The particular situation Paul was referring to was the sin of incest that Paul addressed in the first letter to the church at Corinth (I Corinthians 5). There was a man who was sleeping with his father's wife. There were two problems inherent in this situation. One was the immorality of the man who was a part of their fellowship. The other was the attitude of the church. They did not mourn and grieve over the man's sin, but rather were proud (puffed up), praising themselves for their tolerance. Paul told them to put the man out of their fellowship.

When we come to the second letter, apparently the church had followed Paul's exhortation and had disciplined the man, and he had repented, but it seems that there were some who would not forgive the man. Paul was telling them to forgive the man and receive him back into fellowship. This is called reconciliation. The goal of church discipline should always be more than just judging sin, but it should be that the offender be reconciled to the fellowship.

We are not ignorant of Satan's devices. He will take advantage of anything he can to cause chaos, turmoil, and division in the body of Christ. Unforgiveness is one of those devices. If Satan can use unforgiveness to separate people, he can hinder the work of Christ in and through that fellowship.

Jesus said offense would come. It can come in a marriage or family relationships, in the church, or in other areas of life. It is a part of our fallen world. God calls us to forgive that person who offends us. Paul wrote in another letter, "forgiving one another, if any has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do" (Colossians 3:13). How did Jesus forgive us? Completely. He does not carry a grudge against us. He says we must do the same thing.

Oh, the grace of the Lord Jesus, who forgives our offenses against Him. Completely. Eternally. Praise God for His forgiveness.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- GOD'S COMFORT

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – GOD'S COMFORT

"Blessed be he God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" (II Corinthians 1:3-4).

Today, we are considering God's comfort. I know it goes without saying that comfort means ease. To comfort someone is to bring some rest or ease to their hurting body, soul, mind, or spirit. The opposite of that is dis-ease.

If there was anyone who needed comfort, it was the Apostle Paul. He was attacked by Jews and Gentiles, and experienced much physical suffering. But his testimony was that He was comforted by the God of all comfort.

But I want to suggest that the comfort he needed was more than for physical pain. His discomfort was also in the spiritual realm. Paul had a special love for the Church at Corinth. He had spent perhaps 2 years in Corinth on his missionary journeys (Acts 18). He had poured his life and soul into the Church at Corinth. So he was distressed in his spirit when he heard what was happening in the Church at Corinth.

So he wrote a letter – which we know as I Corinthians -- to address some of these problems. He had heard reports that there were divisions and sectarianism in the Corinthian church; that there were moral problems in the church – incest to be precise. Not only was the Church was not addressing the sin; they were tolerating it and were boasting about their tolerance. He heard that believers were taking one another to court; that they were abusing the communion celebration; that they were misusing spiritual gifts; that there was confusion concerning marriage; that there were misunderstanding about the doctrine of resurrection. What a church!

Sometimes God's comfort comes through other people.  Paul was comforted when he heard from Titus that they had heeded the counsel of the first letter, and their sorrow that had caused them to repent (7:6-12). This brought rest to Paul's spirit. As he wrote later in this letter, "Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort" (7:13).

Paul could comfort others because of the comfort he had received. So as God has comforted us, we can comfort others. God is the source of all comfort.

Jesus gives us His comfort. Just before he went to the cross, He said to His disciples who were distressed, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You believe in God; believe also in Me." The greatest comfort we can know is the assurance that our sins are forgiven through our faith in Christ and that He is preparing a home in heaven for us. The turmoil and dis-ease of a guilty conscience can be relieved, and we are comforted as we confess them to Jesus and receive His forgiveness. Now that is pure comfort.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- A WONDERFUL SAVIOR

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – A WONDERFUL SAVIOR

"The Lord sets the prisoners free. The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; The LORD raises those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the righteous." (Psalm 146:7c-8)

"He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." (Psalm 147:3)

In these Messianic psalms, the psalmist was looking forward to the coming of the promised Messiah who would open the eyes of the blind, raise up those who were bowed down, heal hearts that were wounded and broken by sin, and sets free those who are prisoners of sin.

At the beginning of the His ministry, the Lord Jesus came to the synagogue and was asked to read the Scripture portion for that day. The scroll was opened by the providence of God to the reading for that day to the prophet Isaiah where Jesus read, " 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to bind up those who are bruised, to give sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are captive...' " (Luke 4:18;  Isaiah 61:1-2). 

Jesus was the fulfillment of God's promise to send a Savior.

We have a Savior who has opened our eyes to the wonderful Gospel, who has healed our broken or humble hearts, raised us up and freed us from the bondage of sin, bound up the wounds that were inflicted by sin, and has given us His righteousness.

What a wonderful Savior we have! We have much to praise the Lord for.

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- GOD CARES ABOUT YOU

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – GOD CARES ABOUT YOU

"Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul." (Psalm 142:4)

Have you ever felt like this? No one care about me. No one pays any attention to me. Where are people when I need them?

This was a prayer of David when he was in a cave when he fled from King Saul. He was in a desperate place. His heart was overwhelmed (vs. 3). He cried to the LORD because he was "brought very low" (vs. 6). He was in despair.

When we feel that no one cares about us, we can be assured that God cares. Peter said we can cast all of our cares upon Him, because He cares for us (I Peter 5:7).

God cares about what you are going through today. When we feel like David felt – that our refuge has failed us (vs 4), we can cry out to the LORD and make supplication to Him, pour out our complaint and declare before Him our troubles because He cares for us.

The old chorus says, "He careth for you, He careth for you. In sunshine and shadow, He careth for you."

Audrey Meier wrote this song:

"It matters to Him about you, Your heartaches and sorrow He shares. 

Regardless of what you may do, He wants you, He loves you, He cares.

O yes, it matters to Him about you, believe it because it is true.

Cling to His hand, He understands, for it matters to Him about you."

Love, Dad

DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- GOD'S PRECIOUS THOUGHTS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – GOD PRECIOUS THOUGHTS

Psalm 139:17 – "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with Thee."

Some people view God as a tyrant just waiting for us to mess up so He can punish us. But God is thinking good thoughts about His children – his people. Consider the words of Zephaniah 3:17. To His people, Israel, God said, "The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17). Isaiah 62:5b – "And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you."

We have a heavenly Father who take pleasure in His children. As Psalm 147:11 says, "The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy."

I am reminded of what the Father said of Jesus. "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." How did Jesus please the Father? By always doing those things that pleased the Father (John 8:29).

Sadly, I do not always do things that are pleasing to Him. But I know that as His child, I can come to Him and ask for forgiveness. Like a Father, He still loves his children when they mess up because I believe in His mercy . That's why the end of the verse says, "When I wake up, You are still there." He does not forsake us just because we make mistakes. When we wake up to the smell of the coffee, He is still rejoicing over us.

I have a desire to please God, to make God proud of me, His son, and have Him rejoice over me with singing.

Love, Dad