The King's Daughters

Psalm 45 is a two-part Psalm. The first 8 verses are Messianic in nature, speaking of King Jesus, who is fairer than the children of men, has grace poured in His lips, is most mighty with glory and majesty, full of truth, meekness and righteousness, and is called "God" by the Father in vss 6-7 (this is quoted in Heb 1:8-9). What a great King we follow!

The second half of the Psalm is directed to "Kings' daughters." When I read that Psalm, I wish I were a little girl... Ok, that doesn't sound good, but let me explain! First of all, we all know that the King's daughter is a princess. What little girl wouldn't want to be a Princess to the King of kings?! The King greatly desires the beauty of them; the King's daughter is all glorious within.

What a great desire we as fathers ought to have for our daughters. That they would be the King's daughters. That is, until you look at verse 10 more carefully...

Psalm 45:10: "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;"

You're telling me that the daughter is supposed to forget her people and her father's house? You're telling me that I am supposed to be training up my daughters to forget their father's house!? Really, to forget me?! I don't like that thought at first glance. But that is what God wrote.

Fathers (and Mothers too), are you willing to actually train up your daughters to follow so whole-heartedly after King Jesus that they would forget their father's house? That's what the daughters are supposed to do according to Ps 45:10. I know that sounds difficult, but when we compare it to Luke 14:26 and Matthew 10:37, we'll find that that is the cost of discipleship.

My challenge for me today... Can I really purpose in my heart to train my daughters to follow Christ, knowing that may mean that they forget all about me?

Hmm... Just a thought...

Liquid Plumber

My sink had a clog in it recently. The water would not drain down very well. It would take a good couple minutes for the sink to drain after you ran enough to, say, shave or brush your teeth.

Finally, I got sick of it. I decided that I was going to do something about it. So, I went to the store and bought some Liquid Plumber. I followed the directions and poured the stuff down the drain, and then I let it sit. 15 minutes later, I was able to run water through it no problem!

I did it! I fixed my sink! I feel pretty good about my plumbing skills. I should go pro...

Now, you (at least, those of you that are critical) are saying, 'Andy, um, you just poured something into the sink. It was really the Liquid Plumber that fixed it - if anything, the creator of Liquid Plumber should be getting the credit here.'

That wasn't very nice of you to say, you critical person. Oh, but yeah, that's what I would have said! And we'd be right. I really didn't fix my sink's drain. All I did was pour the stuff that somebody else concocted into the sink.

Have you ever been there in a spiritual sense? Have you ever been on a spiritual high for something that has happened, and you start to take credit for it? Have you successfully witnessed to somebody else, and thought - 'boy, I'm a pretty good soul-winner.' That's like me saying, 'I'm a pretty good plumber.'

Let's be sure to give God His due. But by the grace of God, I am what I am.

Just a thought...

A Little Privacy Please

I miss blogging... It is a good discipline for me to post things here, so I find it profitable for me, and I enjoy hearing from both of you, my readers. It makes me really iron out some of the things that I think about. I pray that it is profitable for at least someone else too. Anyway, here we go again, with today's Lunch-Time Thought.

I hear people cry about how the government with its surveillance is an invasion of privacy. There are people that don't want our intelligence people in the US to have the ability to eavesdrop or monitor communications where they deem important, because then they might use it to watch what "I" am doing.

Well, frankly, I don't have a problem with it. I would rather have people watching what I'm doing if it means they are allowed to watch what people that want to hurt us are doing. Oh, but wait, that would mean that I would have to act appropriately so that I would not be embarrassed... is that all that bad?

Paul teaches in Ephesians 5 that I was "sometimes darkness." I did not like the light because my deeds were evil. But now, I'm exhorted to "walk as children of light" (vs. 8). He goes on to tell us not to have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, and that it is a shame to even speak of the things done of them in secret (vss. 11-12). Again, we find that bad things are associated with darkness, so that nobody finds out! Then an interesting verse:

Ephesians 5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Anything that makes manifest is light. Whenever my deeds are scrutinized, then they are in the light. I can't hide them. If I know that somebody is "invading my privacy" and watching my every action, then it is going to encourage me to stay clean.

Although, I suppose my philosophy is hypocritical, for I still do want to go to the bathroom in private!

Anyway, just a thought...