My husband had the bright idea of reprinting some articles from The Hammer, a little magazine I edited for Community Christian Ministries in the late 80′s. This article of mine was printed in 1986, volume V, no. 1. It is slightly edited.
We are told in Ephesians 6 to put on the whole armor of God so we can resist spiritual adversaries and not fall to temptation. But I believe we often get “hit” with our armor off and our shields down because we are in the presence of our Christian friends. When we get together with the saints, we feel safe and are consequently unprotected and not alert. There is one temptation I have noticed that can come at such times undetected. It is disguised as sympathy or Christian compassion.
Here is an example. Perhaps you have been swamped recently with company, and you have more coming. Some Christian friend says to you, “Are you having more company? I don’t see how you do it!” Up until that time you may have had a sweet, happy attitude about your hospitality. But this seemingly innocuous remark can lead you astray. You may remark, “Oh no. I’ve really enjoyed the company!” But later your friend’s remark may come back to you, causing you to think, “I really have had too much company. I should be exhausted.” You begin to feel sorry for yourself. Where you once had joy, you now Continue reading ‘False Comfort’
Have you ever noticed how often people (okay, women) say, “I feel so guilty”? Or, “You make me feel guilty!” Or “You shouldn’t feel guilty about that!” I think it happens quite a bit in casual conversation between women. But first let me define guilty. Guilt is when you have committed a crime or broken one of God’s commandments. You have done wrong. It is a serious thing to be guilty. But often we use it to just mean that we feel bad. Let me give some examples.
Guilty Example #1. You ate something (delicious) and now you feel guilty. You tell yourself you are a big loser because you ate it. Your friend dashes by on her morning run, and you haven’t exercised in a week. You feel so guilty. Should you feel guilty? True guilt is connected to real sin. Did God forbid that you eat it? Did He insist on the exercise? No, but you are counting calories, and that sent you over the limit. You let yourself down. So next time eat a carrot. But don’t convict yourself of sin over it. You can’t confess that kind of guilt to God, because He is not going to forgive you for something like that. What you may need to confess is making up rules for Him.
Guilty Example #2. You show your friend the curtains you made or the sweater you knit or the garden you planted or the bread coming out of the oven, and she says, “You make me feel so guilty!” Now there are several possibilities here. First, maybe she is trying to give you a compliment, and she doesn’t know how to do it, so she compliments you on making her feel bad about her own failings compared to your achievements. Not a very complimentary compliment. And I doubt that she is really thinking this Continue reading ‘You Make Me Feel So Guilty!’
The glory of children is their father, and here is mine, all mine! Today he is 95 years old, and still going strong, by the strong grace of God. I’ve always been very proud of my dad. An Air Force pilot, he fought in two wars for our country. He was wounded in WWII, came home and married a beautiful girl in Wyoming. They’ve had a marriage that has spanned almost seventy years! I thank God for His many kindnesses to me, one of the central ones being a faithful father who loves his family. A glory indeed. Happy Birthday, Dad!
With Easter Sunday just around the corner, it’s not only time to be getting the groceries home for our Easter menu, but also time to be reminding ourselves why we do this in the first place. Why do we go to all this trouble anyway? Because our feasting is celebrating before the Lord, and He is pleased when His people rejoice together.
God Himself is the ultimate host. He loves to spread a feast for His people. He prepares a feast for us, and He prepares us to come to His table. He welcomes us, fills and feeds us, sings over us, and all with joy. We are a people greatly blessed!
God likes noisy celebrations: “The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous” (Psalm 118:15). Imagine what it would be like to walk down a street Easter afternoon and hear loud parties every few houses. The voice of rejoicing and salvation!
So as we make preparations for this upcoming Easter Feast, we should think about how we can imitate our Heavenly Father. What kind of party does He like to attend? Does He like sitting at our tables? Is there peace and joy in our homes, or is there stress and conflict? Over the years, I have stumbled in many ways over the Sabbath preparation. I have fussed, either out loud or in my heart. I have confessed many sins regarding the weekly feast. But each time, God reassures me that I have another chance the following week to do better. I Continue reading ‘The Easter Feast’
By now I’m sure you are all well into your Easter preparations! My fridge is bulging with Easter Dinner ingredients, and the guest list is closing in on forty. I know that sounds like a bunch, and it is, but more than half of that is made up of our children and grandchildren. Everyone will be bringing contributions to the BIG feast!
I wanted to show you this little centerpiece that I put together last week for a luncheon, and then I used it the following day for a church ladies’ brunch, and later that day for Sabbath dinner. The whole thing came from Rachel’s storehouse of ideas. She cut me the laurel leaves from some of her bushes, and told me to stick some lemons on skewers and pop the whole thing in a vase. It took all of a minute to put together, and it’s now almost a week old and still going strong. So if you’re looking for a quick, pretty idea for your table, here it is, courtesy of Lizzie.
Here’s a thought experiment: Think of all the opportunities we have each day in our homes to bestow kindness. Call it domestic kindness. We don’t have to look far to find hundreds of ways to be kind.
1. “And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you’ (Eph. 4:32). From this verse we can see two aspects of kindness, but let’s look first at how kindness is forgiving. How many times in a day can we extend forgiveness? Sometimes it is asked for; sometimes it isn’t. But each time we forgive, we are being kind.
2. And from the same verse, how many times in a day can we be tenderhearted? How many opportunities arise that call for sympathy or pity? How often can we give a kiss, a hug, a word of tenderness, a band-aid, a glass of water? Tender hearts respond in kindness; hard hearts can’t be bothered. Tender hearts are up in the night with sick kids or hungry babies.
3. I Corinthians 13:4 begins with this: “Love suffers long and is kind…” Kindness doesn’t watch the clock with a tapping Continue reading ‘Domestic Kindness’
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