Teacups

In my china cabinet I have several lovely china teacups. One of these I bought in Halifax, Nova Scotia some 25 years ago. Another one I bought in England at about that same time. The rest of them were given to me by my Aunt, who came from Scotland as a young woman, so I think they would be at least 75 years old.

They mostly just sit in my cabinet gathering dust, but a few years ago I used them every week for awhile. It was after I had retired, and during the day I was home alone most of the time. As I had my devotions one day, I was impressed with the well known verse from Revelation 3:20 that states Jesus said He would come in and ‘sup’ with me; so I decided to provide a place for this. I would set out a couple of my special teacups, fill them with coffee or tea and imagine my Lord sitting with me, to ‘sup’ with me. It was very easy to just tell Him my heart as we had our ‘tea party’.

This brings to mind ‘cups’ that our Savior mentioned in the Scripture. The first one, which stands out to me, was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before He was crucified. He prayed "O Father if it be possible, let this ‘cup’ pass away from me." I have read different thoughts on this; some say He was afraid of the physical part. I do not believe it was physical at all. I believe it was my sin and your sin that He knew He would bear. He was not to just carry it as a load, He would drink this ‘cup’ of sin, and it would become a part of Him. He knew it was at this point of time when sin and God would clash, and God would have to turn away from His Son. Oh, what a bitter cup!

Jesus accepted that first ‘cup’, and now He can offer us a ‘cup’, the cup of communion as He says "this is my blood which was shed for you, drink ye all of it." Are you ready to drink of that cup? Am I ready to accept what He did on Calvary and give Him my life, and my all? Are you?

When we have given Him our life, we will then be able to do as He asks in Matthew 10:42: "whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is my disciple, surely I declare to you he shall not lose his reward."

I may have some lovely bone china teacups, probably valuable only to me, but

He provides the blessings to fill my spiritual cup, to last for all eternity.
"Fill my cup, Lord,
I lift it up, Lord!
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul;
Bread of heaven,
Feed me till I want no more—
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole!
(By Richard Blanchard)

Favorite Parts of the Bible

I was once asked what my favorite part of the Bible was. It is difficult to pick out a favorite section of the Bible. I have gone through it chapter by chapter, every day for the past several years, and each time I go through it again, I glean something new from the most unexpected areas.

These past few weeks I have been reading I Chronicles. In I Chronicles we learn about David’s life, but there are many chapters listing genealogies, names of warriors, and musicians, and tabernacle workers and all listing whose sons they were. This can get very boring, but right in the middle of all the ‘sons of’ may be a gem. Chapter 4 is an example that shows lists of names, and suddenly 2 verses about a fellow named Jabez, whom the Lord blessed.

Then after plodding through more lists of names, and sons of so and so, in chapter 26: 5 it says: ‘Peullethai the eighth; for God blessed him." Then on it goes listing more names. I had to stop and think about this. At first I thought the person it was speaking of was this Peullethai, but as I reread it, and noticed the punctuation, I realized the one being blessed was in verse 4, Obed-Edom. Obed-Edom had been faithful to God in caring for the Ark when it had been dropped off back in 2 Samuel. Peullathai was one of Obed-edom’s sons, so was blessed, also, because his father had been faithful. This can be a lesson to us as parents. If we are faithful, our children will be blessed as well. Verse seven even mentions the grandchildren.

Elsewhere in this same book are words of David, sounding very much like a Psalm. Some examples are I Chron. 16: 8-10: O give thanks to the Lord, call on His name…Sing to Him, sing praises to Him…Glory in His Holy name." And in verses 31-34 of chapter 16 we have all nature singing: "Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice…Let the sea roar…let the fields rejoice. then shall the trees of the wood sing out for joy before the Lord…O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving kindness endure forever."

All this from what I thought was the very ‘boring’ book of I Chronicles. I once read that 'you may look lightly upon a Scripture and see nothing; meditate upon it often; there you shall see a light, like the light of the sun.' This must be what it means, as I have found that the more I read the Scriptures, the more nuggets I find and the more light comes through.

Another thing I have found with the Old Testament, it shows us the most base of human nature. God’s chosen nation did despicable things, turning away from God time after time. And then the Old Testament ends nearly 400 years before Christ is born. It would almost seem as though God had turned away from man, was just washing His hands of the whole human race.

But, as the New Testament begins, a baby is born just as predicted in the Old Testament. And as it tells in Isaiah, the baby became the Passover Lamb, and instead of God washing His hands of mankind, His Son paid the price of all the sin handed down through all these generations, that man can be washed in the blood of that Lamb. What a picture of Grace the New Testament gives. And without the Old Testament, we may not see the clear picture of Grace.
　

The Persecuted

For the past few weeks we have been looking at a Beatitude a week, from Matthew 5. The last of these eight Beatitudes on persecution is given a double blessing. "Blessed are the persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven". Then Jesus enlarged upon this by saying "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me."

Some people think that if we are children of God, we should not have problems. If we do have problems then we aren’t praying right. But Jesus said, "the slave is not above his master." Did Jesus have problems? He had no place to really call home; He was badgered and made fun of everywhere He went. He also said, "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you…" John 15:20. So we will be treated as they treated Jesus, and in the end He was hung on a Cross. When we are able to say, "Not I-but Christ", and "not my will but thine be done." Then we will no doubt be persecuted in some way.

Paul states in II Corinthians 12:20 that he took pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake. He felt Christ was worth the cost. Down through the centuries, up until and including our modern day, we have martyrs and those who have suffered for their faith because they knew Christ was worth it. They also knew there would be a day of reward when this life is over. Again, from Paul in II Timothy 4:7, he says: "in the future there is laid up for me the Crown of Righteousness…which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who loved His appearing."

Christ was persecuted, and we are blessed when we are willing to also be persecuted. To give a principle for this Beatitude, it would seem to be that of being identified with Christ. We share in His sufferings. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me…" (Galatians 2:20)

My Prayer:
O Lord, to suffer is something no one likes to think about, yet you have made it clear that if we "suffer with you we shall also reign with you." We know that a faithful witness is going to suffer. You suffered so for me, how can I do less than give of myself to you as a living sacrifice. Paul says he counts "all things but rubbish that he might gain Christ." I would do the same. You, Lord, are worth the cost.
In Jesus Precious Name, Amen

The Peacemaker

The seventh of the eight Beatitudes is talking about being a "Peacemaker." "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." In Webster’s Dictionary it states a peacemaker is "a person who makes peace, as by settling the disagreements or quarrels of others." In the Roget’s Thesaurus, it calls a peacemaker an ‘intercessor, interceder, mediator."

If we want to have a principle for this Beatitude, it would seem to be that of ‘reconciling’. When we are reconcilers we are showing that we are ‘sons of God’, and then we are like Jesus, with a family resemblance.

As a ‘peacemaker,’ Jesus is our peacemaker with God the Father. I Timothy 2:5 states there is "one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus." Jesus took on Himself the body of a man, and paid the price of sin on Mt. Calvary. Now according to Mark 16:19 He is seated at the right hand of the Father. When we accept Him as our substitute, He stands as our mediator, interceding for us, and the Father sees us as He sees His Son, pure and joint heirs with Christ.

We also will find ourselves in a position of being a peacemaker in our every day lives. It may be with brothers and sisters in Christ, of a different denomination, or it may be a different culture. As long as Christ’s diety, humanity, and keeping Christ as the central figure, is not compromised, we can be peacemakers, and can have fellowship with others through our submission to Christ.

Here is what Paul tells us about Jesus, our Peacemaker- example:
"And (He designed) to reconcile to God both (Jew and Gentile united) in a single body by means of His Cross, thereby killing the mutual enmity and bring the feud to an end.
"For it is through Him that we both (Jew or Gentile-far off or near) now have an introduction (access) by one (Holy) Spirit to the Father (so that we are able to approach Him.) (Ephesians 2:16,18 Amplified)

My Prayer:
O Lord, Help me to not put on airs or be judgmental, but to submit wholly to You, accepting all our brothers and sisters in the body of Christ, no matter their creed or ethnic group or culture. In You all barriers have been removed and You are our bond of unity and harmony. We are all fellow heirs, members of the same body, and share in the same promise of You through our acceptance of the Gospel. Thank You for showing me how to be a peacemaker. Amen