"Broken or Just Plain Puzzled"

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13

Chapter 13 goes one step further and mentions the three gifts that are common for all Christians: ”faith, hope, and love. Verse 13 says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love

Paul’s point is that, essentially, faith, hope, and love are united; what happens to one happens to all. And what happens is that they “remain.” Agape love is the ultimate gift it involves faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will. It is distinguished from the other types of love by its lofty moral nature and strong character. Agape love is beautifully described in 1 Corinthians 13

I notice, as I get older, I feel more in a weak position in many ways. My body lets me know that parts are tiring. My mind seems to forget things that once were nearly routine. Before I retired, I wondered about job security. Did I save enough that my finances will last just one day longer than I last? Will I be able to afford the medications I need to sustain my life with quality? Will I still be able to "get around" so I do not become more isolated?

So many new challenges at a time when I seem less able to meet them "Ever get the feeling your stuff strutted off without you?"  There is plenty to occupy the anxious Pensioner mind and sometimes an interesting question comes to my mind, "Does God love me?" While people of faith often recognize that times of loss and heartache breed doubt and despair, it is less recognized that times of success can feel hollow and create the fertile ground for questioning meaning and purpose.

This usually happens when we suffer or go through trials we briefly stop trusting God and harbored bitterness in our hearts toward Him and question His goodness.  Then I would say to myself,“ Some people (myself included) create their own storms, and then get upset when it rains.

Then I would wonder, “Why doesn’t Satan ever get the blame? Scripture says,” Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

” Never give up on God because He has never given up on you.

The question of whether God loves us – personally and individually – is common. Surrounded by the conditional love of finite humanity, we cannot easily comprehend that God would love us. We know our faults. We know that God is perfect and sinless. We know that we are not. Why would God, who is infinite and holy, love us, who are finite and sinful? And yet the great truth of the gospel is that He does! Time and again,

Scripture reminds us of God’s love for us. That is one of the primary ways You can stop doubting God’s love. By being in the Bible daily. In order to stop doubting, trust must be built. But it is hard to trust a stranger, or even an occasional acquaintance. When salvation occurs and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in one’s heart, it is just the beginning of a lifelong journey (and beyond) of getting to know God. The second way You can stop doubting God’s love is prayer. Prayer may be the most difficult discipline to develop in the believer’s life, but it is also the most rewarding. Our reading of Scripture should prompt our praying.

 “In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.  So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Daniel 9:2-3”.

The Bible has a great deal to say about love. In fact, the Bible says that “love is of God” and “God is love” 1 John 4:7-8; in other words, love is a fundamental characteristic of who God is. Everything God does is impelled and influenced by His love.

The Bible says that God was motivated by love to save the world John 3:16 God’s love is best seen in the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf 1 John 4:9. And God’s love does not require us to be “worthy” to receive it; His love is truly benevolent and gracious: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8.

Faith, hope, and love are the three gifts that will be ours throughout all eternity. God in His goodness gives us the privilege of possessing these gifts today, and we look forward to having them remain with us forever.

PRAYER: God our Father, we place all that troubles us at your feet. It is more than we can deal with today. Thank you for accepting this disparaging and inhibiting nervousness. And now please refresh our newly freed spirit, so we can rise and be the people you intend for us to be. Thanks be to God Amen! 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

God's Steadfast Love

Changes are inevitable at any age. In fact it has been said, "The only constant is change." I love change----after it is all over and I have adjusted. But until that happens, I often feel anxious, fearful, uncertain, confused, and even alone. It is easy to feel that no one has ever gone through anything like this before. My situation must be unique and different. Why is this happening to me, now?

Change that is not of my own choosing is even harder. Am I moving for retirement, selling the home that I have known and loved for so long? Has my employment ended, and time seems to be my enemy? Are the children moving to a distant city? Do I need to rely on others for things I once did with ease? Not easy for the proud and self-reliant. I’ve belonged to that church for many years.  I was attracted to it because of location, the school and ministry, I liked the pastor’s and the people were friendly. I have served the Lord there in numerous capacities and our children have grown up there. I feel so sad with all of the changes; I have such a history with that church. And now…. Does this sound familiar?

The writer of Lamentations may have felt this way too. And in the midst of his fears he remembers the faithfulness of God.

Lamentations 2:21-24
 21   But here is something else I remember. And it gives me hope. 
   The Lord loves us very much. So we haven't been completely

        Destroyed. His loving concern never fails. His great love is new every morning. Lord, how faithful you are! I say to myself, "The Lord is everything I will ever need.

      So I will put my hope in him."

Notice that first he "remembers". Life can be so intense that we can forget the hope that comes from our faith in, and our faithfulness from God. Sometimes we even need to remind each other.

Second, he is flooded with the sense that God loves us, and never fails us. He sees God's faithfulness every morning. He has another day in the creation. And he expresses an acknowledgement of it to God.

Third, he makes his daily commitment to God: I say to myself, "The Lord is everything I will ever need, So I will put my hope in him."   Not a bad thing for each of us to do on a daily basis: R-A-C.

**Remember God

**Acknowledge His love and faithfulness to us.

**Commit to our faith and hope in our loving Father. 

Do you know the hymn below? Although I was influenced by many different denominations as a youth, I only became familiar with the below hymn as a kid when I was in an orphanage during Sunday school class.  I would just think with questions, with each new day I heard this song, “Does God gives us the chance to prove His faithfulness?  And throughout history, will He have been proven wrong? But I remembered what my mother said,” For His mercies are new every morning, no matter what”.

Being a child of God means we are never alone in our trials Hebrews 13:5. God gives us the strength and grace we need to endure any circumstance and to overcome any disappointment

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; 
There is no shadow of turning with Thee; 
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; 
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain: Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, 
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide; 
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, 
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Prayer: Our God of steadfast love, we turn to you in our moments of aliment, fear, uncertainty, and in times of passage when the new, the unknown, threatens us with its indecision. Guide us with your great faithfulness, so that all we need to move on will be ours. Gather us in, and wrap us in your everlasting care, so that as we make tentative steps into unknown places, we will know your manifestation with us, and have nothing to fear. 

In Jesus Name Amen.

God Bless You and This Ministry!

Not Overlooked

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! Isaiah 49: 15

This text talks about a mother forgetting her child. Have you heard of the phrase: “out-of-sight, out-of-mind”? It describes how we often forget, especially if we do not see someone for a while. 

Let me tell you about my best friend in Elementary School. We were close friends for most of our elementary years hanging out in Park Town, just west of Laurel Homes in Cincinnati, messing around playing all kinds of sports at times getting into fights etc. After leaving from elementary, he moved to the suburbs near Aiken High School. I continued to live in the Laurel Homes, the west end of Cincinnati. Over the years, we would both be busy. I would talk with him less frequently and there would be periods where I forgot about him. I chose this example because we can wonder if God has forgotten about us. The context of the verse I shared earlier is the response from God when the Israelites thought God had forgotten them. Let me read it again: 

“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!

God’s response to their question of being forgotten is a question:
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?

The mother is the most compassionate person to her child. It’s impossible for a mother to forget her baby. Perhaps only in some extreme situation that might happen. 
The text continues:
“Though she may forget, …” 

Let me read from a book that has an author’s sharing about life in a nursing home and feeling forgotten: 

Is it possible to be loved and forgotten at the same time?
Sometimes that's how I feel. Loved but forgotten, like a once cherished doll left on a top shelf. Outside my senior center, friends and family buzz from place to place. They have good intentions but their lives are crowded with jobs and soccer games, church events and fast food. It seems I am the last thing on their long to do lists.

I volunteer at Bethlehem Lutheran church; on Thursday evenings we have a ministry in which we feed the Homeless, spiritually with the word and with a meal. We also have a bible study, which is called “Salt”. Usually I pick up one of the attendee from an assisted living home for the service and bible study. One day it happened to be snowing pretty badly and I asked him if he wanted to say home. He said to me like he always does, “I must go to my church and worship God with the biggest smile on his face as he gets in the car “. His love for our church and enthusiasm was so God honoring. But then his sadness comes again once we return ,saying to me ,"come visit me some time". I said to myself, "I will, and I will not for get you". 

‘Stop me if I’ve told you this before,’ sound familiar, But for oral history, I will repeat the message above ,"Is it possible to be loved and forgotten at the same time? Sometimes that's how I feel. Loved but forgotten, like a once cherished doll left on a top shelf. Outside my senior center, friends and family buzz from place to place. They have good intentions but their lives are crowded with jobs and soccer games, church events and fast food. It seems I am the last thing on their long to do lists".

The author writes that the friends and family have good intentions but their lives are crowded with jobs, soccer, games, church events, and fast food. They have limited space in their hearts leading them to forget. Think about how often we forget about those in need.

Yet, unlike us, God does not forget. God says, “I will not forget you!” He did not forget about me even when I forgot about Him. In middle school, I attended church weekly, completed a bible course and was baptized. Yet, after a year, I did not see the need for God in my life. I stopped going to church and left the church. In the next nine years, God did not forget about me despite my choosing to forget about Him. He used people and circumstances to show me that He has not forgotten. He sent people to invite me back to church and used a low point in my life to bring me back to Him. After losing my starting job on the team and having most of my best friends move away after college, a teacher friend invited me to learn more about God. Through that invitation, I continued to learn more about God, decided to follow Jesus, and joined the church. God does not forget. 

Luke 12:6-7 reads:
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 

Though we forget, God never forgets us. This makes a big difference in our lives. 

God Bless You and This Ministry!

“Sacrificial giving of Self”

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2



Just about anyone would agree that growing is a good thing, but relatively few people actually dedicate themselves to the process. Why? Because growth requires change, and change is hard for most people. But the truth is that without change, growth is impossible.

Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. 2 Cor 8:1-5

Lately I have noticed that I may need to experience a “rewrite”. I’m talking about my personal relationship focused “rewrite” with God. Often I ask myself,” Ron is this a cliché or temporary behavior modification you are having or will it be a permanent and inspirational change that really begins with a sacrificial focus that embraces on what God wants not me”.

Most people fight against this rewrite or change, especially when it affects them personally. As novelist Leo Tolstoy said, "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." The ironic thing is that change is inevitable. Everybody has to deal with it in his or her lives. On the other hand, growth is optional. You can choose to grow, change or to fight it. But know this: people unwilling to grow will never reach their potential.

This rewrite of my thoughts came during Prime timers Bible study as we were studying 2 Corithians 8. I was touched by the words presented by pastor Ross leading our discussion “sacrificial giving of self” my mind thought about change, gifts and the whole process of Ministers of change for me as part of the body of Christ. My question, why so many congregations/people have problems with change? Is it because they expect the ministers/leaders to do all of the work, not themselves?

In Corinthians 8:1-5 Paul begins with an example of sacrificial giving. He speaks about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Paul seeks to motivate the Corinthians by making reference to a longstanding competitor, the Greece and Macedonia. These churches were experiencing the most severe trial, this sort of trial that left them in a condition of extreme poverty. Even more, just as persecution did not take away from their joyfulness, neither did the change of poverty lessen their ability to be generous. Paul says that their poverty surged up in rich generosity and what they gave; they gave entirely on their own by a free choice. Finally, the Macedonian generosity was possible because they gave themselves first to the Lord and only then to Paul. I thought to myself, what a great example, it is not just a financial obligation. It is a ministry mind set, opportunity of change to the saints, those set apart to be God’s possession daily.

Congregations always have many projects going on (seminars, outreach programs, maintenance projects, mission trips, etc.) but must realize that none of these programs would do much good if this change wasn't made first, because without more members making their faith their lives - these things won't be possible.

You see the thing necessary to accomplish is not money. Simply creating a line item for something in the budget process doesn't automatically make that thing possible. We need to understand that the most important thing necessary to accomplish these and all other plans and dreams that we may have as a congregation is changing from part-time faith to a full-time sacrificial faith because we cannot serve a full-time God with a part-time faith. Brothers and sisters if we accept the challenge of living full-time by faith, money, giving of time or dealing with change will not be an issue because God promises to provide all we need if we believe all the time.

Back to that rewrite of thought, before we can experience a rewrite, we must ask ourselves these Faith questions:

Do I believe in change? (Guided by the word of God)

Do I believe people can change? (Trust in God by the Holy Spirit)

Do I believe I can change? (Putting it into Action)

After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”  But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”  And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”  Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”  He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring[d] be.”  Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:1-6

From this scripture, we can find 3 keys to letting God rewrite our story:

1. Fear (Admitting it)

Abraham was afraid that he wouldn’t get what he really wanted. Instead of stuffing this inside and pretending he didn’t really want a kid, he was honest with God. What fears do you need to express to God?

2. Flexibility

Abraham made a shift in how he thought about God. It wasn’t just about what he could get from God anymore, but decided to trust God and serve him even if it meant not having kids on his timeline.

3. Faith

After he admitted his fears and changed his thinking, Abraham made a decision to believe God’s promise about his destiny for him. Do you believe your emotions more than what God says in the Bible?

So, how will we know if the faith challenge has been accepted?

In the book of Malachi, God speaks to His people through the voice of the prophet Malachi. The Jewish people had been slacking in their service to the Lord, holding back on their sacrifices, offering Him sick and injured animals instead of giving their best and trusting Him to provide. God challenges them to change this practice and lays out the reward for those who, by faith, would make the necessary changes. In Malachi 3:10 He tells the people:

... test Me now in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.

So I ask, what rewrite needs to take place in your life in order to make God the priority, and not just "part" of your life?

God Bless You and This Ministry!