A Glorious Church

Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

I know all the husbands get excited when reading Ephesians 5 and it says, "Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord." Then, we take a step back and are floored (hopefully) when we read, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church..." That is, in the way that Christ loved the church, so ought we to love our wives! Ok, I've got work to do.

But, as I was thinking on the verses following, a new perspective became strong in my mind. Why did Christ love the church and give Himself for it? So that He could sanctify and cleanse it - to make the church pure and holy, clean. Husbands, we ought to love our wives, by soaking them in the word (washing of water by the word). Which will cleanse them, make them holy (Psalm 119:9, John 15:3).

And the reason that we want to soak them in the word, and make them holy and without blemish - vs. 27 - that we can present them as glorious! Christ did it so that "he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Husbands, as we love our wives and desire to have a sanctified and clean bride through the word, then what we are doing is making her glorious. She looks wonderful; she is admired; she is praised by those that see her.

Husbands, love your wives.

Of course, this post doesn't apply to me, because my wife is already as glorious as can be!

Just a thought...

Memorials

Well, I owe this day to Aaron Putney. You see, I woke up with this kind of like blurred vision that I get right before I am hit with a migraine. Now, when I get hit with a migraine, I'm laid up in bed for a solid 24 hours. Well, when Aaron and I were a part of a missions trip to Zambia about 4 years ago, I got my blurred vision and he introduced me to Excedrin Migraine medicine. I just pop some of those in when I get that, and the migraine is stayed off. So, even though I'm not 100% today, thanks to Aaron at least I have made it to work!

Anyway, thinking of that trip reminded me of a thought that I've had recently. You constantly see throughout the Old Testament that God was telling His people to setup memorials of great things that He had done in their lives. One example that comes to mind is when they crossed the Jordan River, they were to take 12 stones and build an altar to remember the crossing.

I think God would have us do the same thing in our lives. When He does a miraculous work in our lives in some way, I think He'd be pleased if we were to make something, or bring something around that would remind us in the future of the way that God worked. It also gives us the opportunity to share that with anyone else that asks about it - like our kids. I'm really not sure what kind of memorials would be good, but I think the principle is sound.

Just a thought...

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...

Following Joseph's Example

One of the verses that I chose to be a memory verse a couple years ago has really made me stop and think every time I read it: Genesis 41:38, "And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?"

Joseph had just interpreted Pharaoh's dreams predicting the seven years of plenty followed by the seven years of famine. He showed himself to be a wise man, and Pharaoh recognized that Joseph was full of the Spirit of God. Do you catch that? The lost world, recognized that this man was full of the Spirit, and he wanted him to lead his country.

How many times does Joseph's example stick out to us? He ran away from temptation with Potipher's wife. He was forgiving when his brothers showed up after having sold him into slavery. He was a godly example.

What was Joseph's solution when Egypt was facing, or about to face, a tough economic time? If you don't remember, he taxed the people 20% across the board for all of their increase during the seven years of plenty. That sounds fair. That way, when the seven years of famine came, he had stored enough to be able to provide for the people of Egypt, and more, for all the people that came to buy food from them.

Ok... now that I've strung you all along long enough... What about Joseph's actions during the time of famine? The people of Egypt, whom he had taxed the seven years prior, came to Joseph, the government, and needed food - no problem, he sold it to them. Then, when they couldn't afford to buy the food any more, he took their cattle off of their hands. Then when the cattle was gone, he took possession of their lands. He made a deal with them that they could work the government's land, and keep the 20% tax going. It sounds like Joseph's actions were designed to improve governmental control over personal areas.

In politics, I am a conservative. I don't believe that we ought to support people that do not work (1 Thessalonians, Ephesians 4, etc.), which is today called welfare. I disagree with those that think it's ok to end a baby's life in the womb, and therefore disagree with a government that would be willing to let tax money be given to groups that encourage abortion. There are some ungodly things going on that I think displease God. In those areas, I would be willing to stand and fight.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most politically savvy guy around. However, big government, while definitely not American, is it really the Christian's place to stand up and fight against it? So, the government gets control of the car industry; they take control of the banks; they regulate the "free market" with minimum wages and other regulations. Yeah, it's un-American. History teaches that it doesn't work very well. But since this is not my kingdom, is that where I need to be fighting? Joseph, the man filled with the Spirit of God, used his wisdom and cunning to increase the government's control of goods and property, and to limit the rights of the people.

Alright... I'm ready... let the stones fly!

Just a political thought...

Modern Missions part 2

Friday's post was about the deputation process. Today, I want to talk about an idea of means of support for a missionary were they not to "do deputation."

This is a theoretical idea that I have here - not scriptural, but logical to me. What if the missionary's pattern was to work hard on finding 10 families on their mission field. The missionary goes and teaches them the gospel, baptizes the believers, and then teaches them to observe all things... like tithing. Were a missionary to find 10 families who would be obedient to God in all those steps, the missionary could be supported the equivalent salary as those to whom he is ministering.

I know, I know... we Americans couldn't live on the salary of some of the countries to where we go. We would need to have more than those people in order for us to live. Because we... well... um... we need more, right? I mean, because we're Americans we need more money to live on... um... huh.

Anyway, just another missionary thought