Reflections from February 15, 2010

Luke gives us Paul's words today from Acts 18:9-10, "Now the Lord spoke to Paul in thte night be a vision, 'Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; ...'"

This is a promise that I think we can rely on as well. However, I'm not sure that it's a promise that is made to each individual Christian today, but more as a collective body. All Christians should understand that God's word will be spoken to all nations on the earth, baptizing them, teaching them and making disciples of them before Jesus returns. So, while there may be individual Christians that are silenced, that are attacked, no one will ever be able to silence the Body of Christ and stop the advancement of Jesus throughout the earth.

From Proverbs we have Proverbs 14:23, "In all labor there is profit, But idle chatter leads only to poverty."

Pretty clear! (I like straight forward messages from God.) We need to work for our living cause if we don't, we'll live a life of want and poverty.

Proverbs 15:19 is our second verse for Monday, "The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns, But the way of the upright is a highway."

Have you ever gottne tangled up in a thorn bush? Sometimes when I'm clearing brush and I pull vines off trees with thorns and roll them up for the burn pile, they get caught in my pants legs and shirt sleeves and they're hard to get off without ripping the clothes. Laziness is like that according to Solomon. You get tangled up on laziness and it's hard to get out of it. All you want to do is lay around and the more you lay around, the worse you feel about it, and the worse you feel about it, the more you want to just lay around. But when you work honestly and in an upright way, it gives a sense of purpose and meaning to your life. You have duties, responsibilities, and a purpose for life. It provides the motivation to do many things. And it keeps you in a closer relationship with God.

Blessings to all