Work and Its Rewards
By christon | March 2, 2010
I wish that someone had explained these verses to me when I was younger. Perhaps I wouldn’t have been so driven in my work. Maybe I would have relaxed more and let myself enjoy life.
There is virtue in honest, hard work – no one would argue with that.
But some Christians have the idea that work is all there is to life. To relax, to enjoy life, to spend a little of their hard-earned money somehow makes them feel guilty and lazy. So they keep driving themselves till they are stopped – often for health reasons.
Author of Ecclesiastes tell us that it is “good and fitting” for us to enjoy the benefit of our work ( 5:18 ).
It’s about eating and drinking, and talking about a joyous feast – a banquet with plenty of good food available and all the family gathered around the festivities.
Bible clearly teaches that God expects us to work ( 2 Th.3:10 ). He also wants us to enjoy some of its rewards. Whether the Lord has blessed you with great riches or just enough to pay the bills, take time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
If you’re working hard to make a living, never taking time to smell the roses, now it’s the time to heed the Bible’s wisdom: Find some joy before your life’s day closes
Topics: bible | 4 Comments »
If God Texted The 10 Commandments
By christon | November 18, 2009
Here is one way to communicate the 10 commandments, the older you are the longer it will take to read!!
1. no1 b4 me. srsly.
2. dnt wrshp pix/idols
3. no omg’s
4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)
5. pos ok – ur m&d r cool
6. dnt kill ppl
7. :-X only w/ m8
8. dnt steal
9. dnt lie re: bf
10. dnt ogle ur bf’s m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.
M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl.
Topics: humor | No Comments »
Scars In Life
By christon | July 16, 2010
Some years ago on a hot summer day in South Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house.
In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out the back door,leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went.
He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, that an alligator was swimming toward the shore. His mother in the house was looking out the window saw the two as they got closer and closer together.
In utter fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could. Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a U-turn to swim to his mother. It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him.
From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but she was much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.
Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal, and on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother’s fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.
The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs.
And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, “But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Mom wouldn’t let go.”
You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, or anything quite so dramatic.
But the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He’s been there holding on to you.
You are a child of God. He wants to protect you and provide for you in every way. But sometimes we foolishly wade into dangerous situations.
The swimming hole of life is filled with peril — and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That’s when the tug-of-war begins — and if you have the scars of His love on your arms be very, very grateful.
He did not and will not — let you go.
If you see someone without a smile, stop … and give them yours. God has blessed you, so that you can be a blessing to others.
You just never know where a person is in his/her life and what they are going through.
That is why it is so important that we are not selfish to receive the blessings of these messages without forwarding them to someone else.
Please pass it on or print it out and send it to someone else. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
You don’t have any problems that the Lord can’t solve, please stay encouraged
Topics: love | No Comments »
Jerusalem: Within the Walls of the Holy City
By christon | June 22, 2010
Within these walls lies a mystical city, an ancient promise of peace, so desired that man has warred over it for thousands of years. Over the centuries, its walls have been reddened by the blood of Jebusites and Jews, Babylonians and Persians, armies of Arabs, Crusaders, Ottoman Turks and the British Empire. Sacred city of the soul for one third of the earth’s people, through the millennium, it has drawn mankind to itself like a magnet.
Jerusalem,within these walls and the tiny enclave that is the Old City, some of the greatest dramas in the history of mankind have been enacted. This is a story of that city, crucible of the world’s three great monotheistic religions, symbol of peace in an area of turmoil and dark evil. It is a story of peoples of profoundly different cultures who struggled to maintain those differences, people who have fought each other but now live side by side in sometimes uneasy coexistence.
Jews from around the world pray at the Western Wall, vestige of the second temple, object of Jewish yearning and prayer for two thousand years. Here, built on the sites where tradition says Jesus spent his last moments on earth, was crucified and entombed, is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Most holy of shrines in the Christian world, this church has attracted pilgrims since the time of Constantine the Great. Within the walls of their ancient quarter, Armenians strive to preserve the heritage of a vanished kingdom in their lives and in the hearts and minds of their younger generation. Consecrated under this dome is the Sacred Rock where tradition says Abraham prepare to sacrifice Isaac over which the ancient temples of the Jews were built from which Muslims proclaim Muhammad journeyed to heaven.
Wrapped around the venerable city like the setting for an exotic jewel are the walls, retaining traces of the eras of King Herod, the Romans and Crusaders, last rebuilt by Suleyman the Magnificent four hundred years ago. Outside the walls there is the 20th century, the new city of Jerusalem and the administrative center of the nation of Israel. Inside is a city believed by medieval man to be the center of the universe, a cit known to more people for a longer time than any other on earth. Hre the heart of historic Jerusalem still beats.
Its ethnic religious quarters cling to the sites that give them life. The Dome of the Rock, third holiest place of Islamic pilgrimage after Mecca and Medina, and focal point of the Muslim quarter. The Western Wall, known as the Wailing Wall, symbol of the Jewish quarter. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, core of the Christian quarter that is grown around it. The Cathedral of St. James, spiritual center of the Armenian quarter. Twenty-six thousand souls make their home in the Old City, packed into an area of less than one square mile.
Their story began three thousand years ago when King David bought the threshing floor on this hill as the site for the temple of the Jews one God. Having subdued the Jebusites, he transformed their city into the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and thrust Jerusalem, center stage, in a drama that continues to this day.
Local A: Jerusalem is a place where meanings survive, where names survive. In Jerusalem, everybody has a religion. That doesn’t mean that everybody goes to synagogue, or church or the mosques. But people believe in things. The people who come here are not visitors, they are pilgrims. They come to Jerusalem because it has a special meaning for them, not like coming to another city. We try to give people a feeling they live in acity which belongs to everybody, but everybody has his particular past and his particular history. Everybody who lives in Jerusalem tries to link up with the past — Jews, Christians, Muslims.
Local B: The most important thing about Jerusalem is its people and their variety. They should remain in that variety. They should protect that variety. The people who live here, they are the factor that is most important.
Through the generations, thousands of human beings have been thrust together to live out their lives in the vibrant microcosm that is the Old City of Jerusalem. Bound by their fierce connection to the city, despite their differences, the pressures of the years, the violence and suffering, the resilience of these people and the city itself has preserved its timeless qualities. Even in our era of materialism and uncertainty, the concepts of love, rebirth, brotherhood and peace still shine forth from within the walls of Jerusalem.
Topics: news | No Comments »
Fear Not! Casting Your Cares upon Him
By christon | June 3, 2010
But, Sainst should always be carefree, shouldn’t they?
Let’s begin with this question: isn’t it ordered in a superior way, to be careful for nothing – nearly more than in the Old Testament, where it is written many times: “Fear not …. !” ?
Peter says it very clearly in 1 Pet. 5:7 “…. casting all your cares upon him”, and Paul in Phil. 4:6 says, “Be anxious for nothing …”
Shouldn’t saints be carefree?
Of course! If they are not carefree, then they’ll never have to be concerned with their own sorrows more than 80% of their time, and maybe they would take in just sorrows, too.
But in the most part, they don’t even do that.
The grievances of the Lord, the sufferings of the Lord; today, the sorrows in the Lord’s heart are not able to be absorbed in the minds of many leaders of God’s people at all.
Topics: GOD | No Comments »
« Previous Entries