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Honor

                 My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge . (Psalm 62:7) Chances are, we’ve learned that our salvation depends on God. At least, our eternal salvation. I suspect none of us is as convinced that our daily salvation (in whatever form that might take) depends on Him, or that we even need daily salvation. That’s something we might do well to pray about and a challenge we would do well to explore, but the rest of the verse is the focus today, because I suspect it leads to our eternal and our daily salvation. Imagine not having to protect ourselves all the time. Maybe that’s easy for you, but it’s not for most of us. Some of us spend our lives fighting against multitudinous threats. They’re not always big or physical, but they endanger something in us that seems important to us. Yesterday, a deaf customer came into the garden center, and my signing has never been good but is way out of practi...
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Suffering

                   For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, (Philippians 1:29)                 This sounds really bad, almost sick in our day. Granted to suffer? That makes it sound like suffering is a good or noble thing. Then again, I’ve read recent calls that the rich should be required to give up more of their money, and the whites should accept humiliation for the sake of other races. We should all suffer a little for the sake of saving our environment. Teams or groups are often called upon to give up something (often money, but sometimes time or the safety of their bodies) for their team’s statistics or some good cause. There are people around the world and through history that we honor who have suffered for the name of Christ. And then, of course, there are the her...
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Faithful and Just

                 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9) To begin, confession isn’t just saying that we did something. It’s a “con” word, meaning that it’s doing something with someone else. In this case, it involves agreeing with someone about the nature of something we believe or have done. It’s the difference between “I took” and “I stole, it was wrong, and I regret having done it.” The next term is “sin.” As I’ve noted recently, this word causes a lot of trouble. But, to explain it simply, it was a term taken from archery and meaning the distance from the bullseye that the arrow hit. In other words, it’s not some great big bad thing. It’s any imperfection. In some cases, we might actually be wrong about something being a sin, but the point is to talk it over with God and let Him inform you. Note: If Scripture says it’s a sin, it’s a sin. ...
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Wages

                 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord . (Romans 6:23) This is one of those “important” verses we’re taught as children like John 3:16. I don’t remember whether I was taught that wages are something you earn or not, but that’s the obvious conclusion. In one sense, we like that. It puts us in at least partial control. We can do something that deserves death. What we don’t like about it is that we don’t get to decide what constitutes sin that is sufficient to warrant death.  There are sins we might agree are sufficient, but telling a little white lie? Stealing a loaf of bread to feed your starving family? Gossip? One one-night stand in 25 years of marriage? Calling someone a nasty name? Using bad language? Killing a dog? Maybe some people would happily state that most or all of these earn death. I agree that most do, but I’m not happy about it. We tend to think ...
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As My Servant Job Has

                 After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. (Job 42:7) If you read the books of Job and the Psalms, one of the things you can’t avoid is the sense that Job and the Psalmist expressed their feelings and ideas about God. Particularly, if you read Job, you’ll find four visitors who clearly tell Job things that we might think are good and true. Job shouldn’t be so arrogant. He should confess his sins, and then God will make everything all right again. And at the end of the book, God reprimands them for speaking what is not true about Him and says that Job was speaking the truth. Time for a close-up of the shocked faces of all concerned. And this is where we usually get stuck in the mud. What truth was Job telling? What truth were his friends not telling? Some...
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Be Strong In The Lord

                  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. (Ephesians 6:10)                 Strong: Middle English  strong , from Old English  strang , of living things, body parts, "physically powerful;" of persons, "firm, bold, brave; constant, resolute; having authority, able to enforce one's will;" of medicines, poisons, "powerful in effect;" of winds, etc., "violent, forceful, severe," of wine, "having high alcohol content." The general sense is "possessing or imparting force or energy; intense or intensified in degree."( Strong - Etymology, Origin & Meaning )                 And, we’re back to this verse, or maybe this passage. It ...
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Blessed

                 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)                 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)               ...
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