day no. 13,051: seasonal affective disorder

Ecclesiastes 11:7

Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.

Attention all people who get depressed in the winter with the dark, cold days; you now have a verse.

Light is sweet and it feels so good to get out and enjoy the sun and the warmth of it on your skin.

It is good for us to get fresh air, warm sun, and grass or sand or some variant of earth in between our toes.

So move south or plan vacations if you are called north.

day no. 13,050: how are babies made?

Ecclesiastes 11:5

As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

If your kids ever ask you how babies are made, tell them you don't know.

It's honest and it's easy.

day no. 13,049: a little birdie told me

Ecclesiastes 10:20

Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king,
nor in your bedroom curse the rich,
for a bird of the air will carry your voice,
or some winged creature tell the matter.

I don't know for a fact, but this may be the specific etymology of the colloquialism, "a little birdie told me."

The point being this: don't say about someone what you wouldn't want them to know you said about them.  Things have a way of getting back to the source.
 
Numbers 32:23

But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.

Even if the natural consequences of gossip do not find you out as stated above in Ecclesiastes, the supernatural consequences will track you down.

day no. 13,048: what we need

"We are often told - or just whispered to - that what we need is more self-esteem. That is false. What we need is more humility and more Christ-esteem." ~ Ray Ortlund, Jr.

He must increase, we must decrease.

 

This isn't an insistence upon our rights or our value, it is a declaration of His right as Lord and His value as Savior.

 

We are valuable because He values us.

 

It begins with Him, not with us.

day no. 13,047: preaching at Candeo

This morning I preached at Candeo Church.

Genesis 26 was the text.

You can listen HERE or watch below.



Here's the main take aways:

1. God is with and will bless us who receive Him because of what Somebody else (Jesus) accomplished for us (vs. 5)

2. God wants us to return often to a place of contemplating all He has already done for us in order to comfort us now and give us courage to go forward (vs.25)

3. God welcomes those who seek peace, particularly when they do not deserve it. (vs. 30-31)

day no. 13,045: you cannot have the Jesus of the Bible and at the same time reject the Bible of Jesus‏

"We cannot have the Jesus of the Bible and at the same time reject the Bible of Jesus." ~ B.B. Warfield

John 10:35

...the Scripture cannot be broken

Jesus said that Scripture could not be broken.

He seemed to believe the Bible was relevant, timeless, spot on and God's unbreakable, impenetrable Word.

You can't believe in the Jesus we find in Scripture and reject the Scripture that Jesus believed.

day no. 13,044: only when it's convenient for you

Acts 24:25

As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.”

Felix called Paul when it was convenient. 

He liked hearing truth when he liked hearing truth. 

When he didn’t like hearing it, he shut it off and turned a deaf ear and hardened heart to it. 

He picked and chose. 

That is convenient, but that isn’t the whole truth and nothing but the one truth sets one free

Don’t make the same mistake of hearing only what you want to hear and becoming yourself the arbiter of what truths you will accept from God and which ones you reject or have no time for hearing.