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Do all things without murmurings and questionings: that ye may become blameless and
harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world;
Philippians 2:14-15 ASV
Did you ever try to go through a day without
complaining? I just had a couple of days off work. I thought I'll go back to work on
Monday and not complain. It was a great thought. I just couldn't do it. Especially after
learning that I was being 'pulled' to work in an unfamiliar area.
As I listened to my co-workers, I discovered that most comments were complaints. There
were complaints about the staffing, complaints about the holiday decorations still being
up, the complaints about no Christmas bonus, complaints about the weather. Really, what's
wrong with complaining! Well, what does it accomplish. It does tend to set the mood for
the day. If God is really in charge of things, why complain. Our complaints are actually
criticisms of His command.
If we could try not to complain just for one day it might make a
considerable difference. A positive comment to our coworkers might just set the mood for
the day. Maybe work or our entire day would be more enjoyable.
We have no more right to put our discordant states of mind into the lives of those around
us and rob them of their sunshine and brightness than we have to enter their houses and
steal their silverware.
Julia Moss Seton
January 12
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord
and not for men" Colossians 3:23.
Duty, responsibility, obedience: what onerous 20th century words! One person goes to war,
another to the kitchen, another to his or her desk at the office and another to the
classroom. Each is to work enthusiastically, dependably and honorably.
We cannot do it all, much as some of us would like to do much more, but we can do our
fragment of the whole work. We join the work of others who have gone before us and will
come after us. Our duty is to do our part resolutely and satisfactorily. It is useless to
fret over what we are unable to do, for we all have limitations. Another part is another's
responsibility, and it is waiting for that person, just as our work waits for us.
Sometimes it seems impossible to get started on the day's work. Dwight L. Moody gives
advice that might help: "Some say if only my fears and doubts will leave then I will
get to work. But instead you should get to work and then your fears and doubts will
leave." Samuel Johnson gives a sage suggestion, also: "Great works are performed
not by strength, but by perseverance." And Ruskin tells us: "Every noble life
leaves its fiber interwoven forever in the work of the world." "...A great door
for effective work has opened..." 1 Corinthians 16:9. Each day is that door. We can
forget about yesterday and its laziness and failure. "Being confident of this, that
he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ
Jesus" Phil. 1:6. Being confident is the secret to the success of working for God and
not for men. God knows about the perspiration and perseverance. We can place our trust in
Him to know our strengths and weaknesses and how much we can do. Sometimes relatives and
friends are not so merciful.
Pat Nordman ©
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Excerpts from today's Spurgeon's Devotions |
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Spurgeon's Morning for January 12 |
Spurgeon's Evening January 12 |
"Ye are Christ's." -1 Corinthians 3:23
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"I have yet to speak on God's behalf." - Job 36:2
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When tempted to sin, reply, "I cannot do this great wickedness, for I am Christ's." Immortal principles forbid the friend of Christ to sin. When wealth is before you to be won by sin, say that you are Christ's, and touch it not. Are you exposed to difficulties and dangers? Stand fast in the evil day, remembering that you are Christ's. |
A Christian is not to be a village in a valley, but "a city set upon a hill;" he is not to be a candle under a bushel, but a candle in a candlestick, giving light to all. Retirement may be lovely in its season, and to hide one's self is doubtless modest, but the hiding of Christ in us can never be justified... |
T |
The Dime
Bobby was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow. Bobby didn't wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any. The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job of keeping out the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour already. And, try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother's Christmas gift. He shook his head as he thought, "This is useless, even if I do come up with an idea, I don't have any money to spend." Ever since his father had passed away three years ago, the family of five had struggled. It wasn't because his mother didn't care, or try, there just never seemed to be enough. She worked nights at the hospital, but the small wage that she was earning could only be stretched so far. What the family lacked in money and material things, they more than made up for in love and family unity. Bobby had two older and one younger sister, who ran the household in their mother's absence. All three of his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their mother. Somehow it just wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had nothing. Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started to walk down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't easy being six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to. Bobby walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window. Everything seemed so beautiful and so out of reach. It was starting to get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly his eyes caught the glimmer of the setting sun's rays reflecting off of something along the curb. He reached down and discovered a shiny dime. Never before has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby felt at that moment As he held his new found treasure, a warmth spread throughout his entire body and he walked into the first store he saw His excitement quickly turned cold when the salesperson told him that he couldn't buy anything with only a dime. He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line. When the shop owner asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if he could buy one flower for his mother's Christmas gift. The shop owner looked at Bobby and his ten cent offering. Then he put his hand on Bobby's shoulder and said to him, "You just wait here and I'll see what I can do for you." As Bobby waited he looked at the beautiful flowers and even though he was a boy, he could see why mothers and girls liked flowers. The sound of the door closing as the last customer left, jolted Bobby back to reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid. Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter. There, before Bobby's eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses, with leaves of green and tiny white flowers all tied together with a big silver bow. Bobby's heart sank as the owner placed them in a long white box. "That will be ten cents young man." the shop owner said reaching out his hand for the dime Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give the man his dime. Could this be true? No one else would give him a thing for his dime. Sensing the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, "I just happened to have some roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like them? This time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed the long box into his hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the owner was holding for Bobby,
he heard the shopkeeper say, "Merry Christmas, son." As he
returned inside, the shopkeeper's wife walked out. "Who were you
talking to back there and where are the roses you were fixing?"
Staring out the window, and blinking the tears from his own eyes, he
replied, "A strange thing happened to me this morning. While I was
setting up things to open the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me
to set aside a dozen of my best roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at
the time whether I had lost my mind or what, but I set them aside anyway. The shop owner and his wife hugged each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the bitter cold air, they somehow didn't feel cold at all. |
But my mouth would encourage you; comfort
from my lips would bring you relief. Job 16:5 (NIV) by Cathy Vinson "Having...boldness
to enter into the holiest...new and living way...consecrated for us through the curtain,
that is to say, His flesh...." Hebrews 10:19-23 Send a note to
Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion. Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found
HERE Religion
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January 12 Genesis 34:1-36:43
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Today's Devotion
Penetrate
How human we are to try to keep many options open! We resist putting it all, our faith
upon that line. But God in His wild desire for us to come through that curtain will
orchestrate circumstances that will cause us to put it all on the line...He either will
move expediently or He won't. Though it isn't natural to continually demand a pinpointing
from God, there are those times so obvious that we must: a rising child's temperature in
the middle of the night, the news from a phone call and no one to shoulder it, the
suddeness of a calamity...
Such things are orchestrated that we might penetrate! The tear for penetration has already
occurred!! The Son of God has let His flesh become that curtain that separated the most
Separated place from us. The Father beckons us in many ways from behind that curtain, and
if we will hear, it will be irresistible but to bring all of us through it.
"having boldness" - means (all + speech) all speech, freedom, unreservedness of
utterance, cheerful courage. He wants our every
unhindered word.
"new and living way." The way is in place, dedicated, perfected. "New"
- originally meaning freshly slain. "Living" - preserved, alive, to come to be,
to become. It has become for us. The Way is now there to walk upon.
"true heart" - unconcealed, manifest (a-negation of to forget, to escape
notice), actual, true-to-the-fact. He wants all us our heart facing Him behind the
curtain.
Please consider the numerous other beckonings brought forth in these few verses. Can we
see? He wants all of us BEHIND THE CURTAIN and has pulled out all the stops that withhold
us. Come! Plant yourself. Full frontage, centered. Come to be fully viewed.
The setting is established. The excellent timeliness of putting it all on the line has
come.
The Son of God
has let His flesh become that curtain that separated the most Separated place from us.
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