Lean not unto your own understanding

I saw the title on the board in front of the church where my sister goes this morning. It got me to thinking that too often we try to use our own intellect to solve problems instead of giving them to an all knowing, all loving, all powerful, God.

I saw that sign and went to my own church. I sat down at my seat and meditated on the following verse.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;-1Corinthians 1:27 KJV

I also thought about about Pilgrim's latest post where he dwells upon taking his wife, Virtue and Baby Pilgrim to a medical appointment. He was worried about his child being uncomfortable when a parent with a child who was suffering more than Pilgrim's. Pilgrim was worried about the other child being called in before his, but Virtue told him that they should let the other child go before theirs. Pilgrim then mused that even though he was supposed to be the more educated one of the two Virtue, taught him a lesson. Click here to read the post. See if you don't maybe see yourself there.

In these times of powerful computers and emphasis on education, we sometimes forget about the Lord and in doing so we end up working hard and not smart.

The Greatest Command

This morning's church service was the worship service since Pastor Wesley's funeral. He had passed over the main pastoring to his son, Jeff several years ago and Wes was serving in the Assistant Pastor capacity from then until he went home with the Lord last Sunday morning.

The message today was from Matthew 22, where one of the Pharisees asked Jesus a question; "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?"

37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38This is the first and great commandment.

39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40 KJV

Sometimes we don't get it as far as the love part is concerned. If you check out the 10 commandments it's broken down this way: the first set of commandments tell us how we should love God, the other set tells us how we should love one another.

God loves us so much that he bankrupted heaven to come to earth and pay the penalty for our sins. We, as humans have a problem showing love towards other, even the brotherly love we get the name "Philadelphia" from. God wants us to love one another with the love he describes through the apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 13. I linked up King James version of that chapter, but you can go to the drop bar and switch to a version you are familiar with.

That love is translated from the Greek word agape, which is the love you can get only from God himself.

I was thinking about this while sitting in church this morning. Most folks who read these words will never come face to face with me in this lifetime, but I love(agape) all those who read these words and want you to be with me in heaven. Click here for the plan of salvation from Billy Graham's web site. (Also remember to pray for Dr. Graham as I saw he was hospitalized yesterday.)

Those who know Jesus as their savior, pray that His love shines through you and others who see this message. And pray the same for me.

Fellow Blogger Using Time wisely

Some of the blog surfing that I have done has gotten me some new friends. One of these new friends is a gentleman called Pilgrim. He writes a blog called Pilgrim's Scrawl, dedicated in leaving the world a better place than he found it.

The post that caught my eye last night was one which he describes himself as a "serial intercessor" which to means that he prays for people methodically. He will pray for you without your knowledge, which to me is very cool. This means Pilgrim doesn't want personal glory for his actions. We should all be that way.

A man of God goes home

I received a call a few minutes ago that pastor Wesley Ball went home to be with the Lord. He was the founding pastor of the South Main Street Church of God in Rittman. He also sang bass with the Mighty Sons of Thunder gospel quartet.

Pastor Wesley was one of a dying breed of preachers, one who preached the Word of God without fear of favor, one of those who had a vision to see souls saved. His son Jeffrey Ball will see that vision proceed.

Pray for the family in this time and pray for the church, that we can continue with Brother Wesley's vision.

Looking unto Jesus...

...The author and finisher of our faith.

We seem to forget those words in this personality driven time we live in. That's unfortunate.

Jesus is our only hope if we want to make it.

We can look up to others if we like, but we shouldn't try to copy them, since as human beings, we all have flaws. Flaws that can only be smoothed out by the masters hand.

We should strive to be just like the master who does the smoothing.