Can I have some breakfast?

My daughter walks into the kitchen almost every morning and asks, “Can I have some breakfast?”  This is her home.  It’s breakfast time.  She is old enough and capable enough to fix food on her own.  There is even food in the kitchen.  And yet, she asks this question almost daily.

After she asked it this morning, I thought about the words Jesus told us to pray to our Father in heaven, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Jesus told us to look to the Father as our faithful Provider.  He will supply all of our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.  (Per Phil. 4:19)

We don’t have to worry or fret about our physical needs.  In fact, Jesus specifically told us not to.  We are God’s image-bearers.  He will care for our physical needs so that we can pursue needs higher than those.

We just have to ask Him to provide for those physical needs, be grateful for and content with what He gives us, and be willing to move on and pursue the higher calling ahead of us.  Our lives are about more than food and clothing.  There is a much higher calling placed upon each of us.

After breakfast, it’s time to get to work.

Eat up!

jamie

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Clothing choices

Pr. 31:25:  “Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come.”

Strength and honor are her clothing.  This is such an interesting verse to me.  I like the idea of being clothed with strength and honor.  What a beautiful attire.

I am not strong in body, but with God I can absolutely be strong in spirit.  It is the Lord that gives me strength.  It is in my weakness that the Lord perfects His strength within me.  It is the Holy Spirit that empowers and equips me.  The Lord, alone, is my strength; for nothing is impossible with Him.  No matter what this life brings, the knowledge that the Lord will never leave me nor forsake me gives me such strength that I can continue forward, in His care.

Honor can come in many ways.  When we do what we say we will do, we are being honorable: keeping promises and commitments, following through, showing up.  Telling the truth is honorable, especially if we can also understand that sometimes truth needs to be delivered in a loving and kind way.  (Sometimes the truth can hurt)  Treating others kindly and respectfully shows them honor, and thus brings honor back to ourselves.  I could go on and on.

Honor is a beautiful accessory to our wardrobes, for sure.  It is something we can ask the Lord to continue to grow in our lives.  I think it is something akin to holiness, which is never out of style.

“She will rejoice in time to come.”  When we have been wearing such beautiful things in our lives, of course when we look back over our lives we will rejoice.  What a wonderful legacy we will have been leaving behind us.  What beautiful footprints we will have laid down in which others can safely follow.  What a glorious testimony we will have given; one of glory to our God and trust in the One who gave us strength to make it through.  🙂

I can’t help but smile as I think about it.  The clothes in my closet certainly won’t bring any level of satisfaction at the end of my life, but this strength and this honor…Oh, Lord, let it be.  Help me, daily, Lord, to wear the attire that has been described in this verse.  I want to honor You above all, Father, and to bring glory to Your name.  I want to be able to show that it was by Your strength that I was able to do things that would have otherwise been impossible.  Help us all, Lord, in the matchless name of Your Son, Jesus.  Amen.

Richly clothed,

jamie

Don’t let the commercials distract you

Pr. 28:6:  “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.”

Not having cable, I rarely see commercials.  Yesterday I watched, in amazement, a commercial about fingernail polish.  It started with flirting and ended with 2 people in bed together.  For some fingernail polish.  Really!?

I am not trying to write a bitter diatribe about our society, but it saddens me when I see things like this.  Sin has a mighty grip on our world.  Sin would have us believe that life is all about ourselves, popularity, status, fame, success, sex, and sexiness.

Millions of dollars are spent daily on indulgences, advertisements, and commercials telling us how our lives should be.  Meanwhile, there are people dying every second from hunger.  Christians are dying and being persecuted for the Word of God.  Young girls are enslaved in human trafficking.  Babies are being killed.  People are dying from the lack of the simplest of the medical care.  There are still some who do not know the Lord as their Savior.

There is a work for us to do here on this earth, and I can assure you that it has nothing to do with wearing the sexiest fingernail polish or clothes, having the sexiest body, having the most impressive position at a company, having the most partners or experiences in bed, or having the most socially acceptable friends.

Integrity, a servant’s heart, modesty, humility, contentedness, purity, generosity, and honesty are still better.  God created us for a purpose.  I don’t care what this sin-cursed, sexy-fingernail-polish-wearing world says, God’s will and plans are still what are most important.

We still have work to do.  We don’t have time to allow the commercials and distractions of sin, temptation, or possessions to keep us from that work.  We must choose God, choose integrity, and choose to stay focused on the work for which we were created.  We may not be able to save the entire world in 1 day, but we can start with 1 person in 1 moment, and change a life.

We have to regain our focus on what is truly important.  That starving child does NOT care what kind of lipstick, suit, or shoes we are wearing.  The young girl enslaved in sexual trafficking is not worried about your fingernail polish.  The lady dying from a curable parasite is not interested in which Christmas dishes or tablet you’re picking out.  Those things are distractions and they do not matter.

There are people trapped in sin and others who have never even heard of the Lord.  We must reach out and show the love of Jesus and share about His sacrifice and forgiveness now.  It doesn’t matter what our position or status in society, God can use us to save people’s souls.

We must come to our senses.  We have a job to do, and people are counting on us!

Thank you for indulging me,

jamie

 

The trouble with treasure

Pr. 15:16:  “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble.”

Above all, I want to grow a healthy fear of the Lord within my children.  In order to do that, my husband and I must first demonstrate that same fear.  We want to please our Father and show respect to our Savior.  We want our lives to point others to Christ, and not to distract from Him.  It’s not about being perfect.  It’s about loving the Lord our God with all our souls, with all our strengths, and with all our minds.  With all He does and has done for us, showing Him respect is a small price to pay.

The more we study and respect His word, the more I hope we become like Him.  Becoming more like Him, certainly makes us less like the world, and makes us more uncomfortable with the things that seem to be the norm to society.  Our world is more and more about pleasure, abundance, money, and sex; much like in the days of Noah, I imagine.

Shopping for clothing for my 9-year-old daughter proves it, as I am faced with the challenge looking through a sea of “sexy” clothing to try to find ones that are modest enough to be appropriate for a 9-year-old daughter of God.  I would rather my daughter have 4 outfits that reflect our fear of the Lord, than for her to have a closet full of inappropriate, sexy outfits that reflect a fear of man.

It may be challenging to find appropriate clothing, but it is worth the trouble.  While clothing is a great treasure in our society, I understand the trouble that can come from my daughter dressing in a sexy manner.  Not only could it bring unwanted attention, but she could begin to enjoy that attention.  She could discover that looking sexy gives her much pleasure, and gets her things she wants.  The pleasure that it would bring is not a godly type of pleasure.  Her dressing sexy could begin her on a path of thinking that her strength lies within herself, instead of within her Sustainer.

Dressing sexy could cause her to begin worshiping the flesh instead of the One who created all flesh.  Lust could take over in her mind, and bind her to a sinful lifestyle.  She could begin to be judgmental to others who don’t dress or behave like her, or to those who don’t have the same attributes or clothing she has.  Her sexy outfits could cause another to lust after her, thus hindering their relationship with God and possibly sending them on a path towards sin and death.  I could go on, but you get the point.

Maybe it just seems like a harmless tank top, or sundress to some, but to those who fear the Lord, the list of troubles it could bring seems endless.  We don’t need to have what the world has, or do what the world does.  The fear of the Lord is the is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.  We need to focus on imitating the only One worth imitating…not this world or our society.  We are strangers here.  We are supposed to be different.

It would be better for us to have only 4 outfits, 1 mode of transportation, and a house bare of all furniture, with fear of the Lord, than to have abundance, pleasure, and gain and not know the only One that offers salvation.  True treasure lies in our relationship with Him!

Seeking eternal treasure,

jamie