Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 When to turn a deaf ear

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Ecclesiastes 7:21-22 Click on this link to read the passage. You may select your preferred version of the Bible after the link opens.

This verse tells us not to pay attention to every word people say to us. Does that mean we don’t have to listen to anything people tell us? Of course not. The key to understanding this verse is the word “every.” As in all of life, we are expected to exercise discernment over what we believe and what we reject.

This verse is more specifically referring to cursing. When you hear someone speaking to you in this manner it is usually safe to assume that they may not have your best interest at heart. There may be good reason for them to be angry with you, so give it that much consideration and apologize if needed. But if the remarks are not justified, you are encouraged to let the words blow over as you continue what you were doing in peace. You don’t have to take those harsh words to heart. We are reminded to recall a time when we in our anger spoke harshly (cursed) at others. How often have we done this and regretted it later?

Negative Words: At the heart of cursing and words spoken in anger or out of jealousy is the spirit of negativity. Negative words can destroy us if we allow them to get under our skin. They defeat us in every way by destroying our confidence and undermining our efforts to reach our life goals. We must learn to ferret out these negative words and thoughts and rise above them. They must not get in the way of using the talents God has given us and becoming all that He wants us to be.

Father God, giver of all wisdom, help us to have discerning hearts able to know when the words that come from the mouths of those around us are spoken for our good or for our detriment. Enable us to shed negative words and thoughts that would destroy us, and help us to soar above them in your truth and love. Grant us your peace that we might live.

© 2010 by Janice D. Green

Jesus is the only way to God – John 14:6

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If you believe something with all your heart, then it’s right for you. Or is it? A lot of people want you to believe that. They want to believe there is no true right and wrong in this world. They want to make up their own rules.

From the beginning of time God has been trying to teach us what is right and wrong. Adam and Eve broke God’s first rule by eating the only fruit in the garden God told them not to eat. People have been choosing to break God’s rules ever since that day.

God gave Moses ten rules called the Ten Commandments. But the people broke those rules as well.

Many hundreds of years passed and the people kept breaking God’s rules. Then God sent Jesus to teach us how to live in a way that pleases God. He taught about serving God by loving people. He taught people to take care of other people’s needs instead of only thinking about themselves.

Jesus healed people. He helped blind people to see, deaf people to walk, and crippled people to walk. He even raised people from the dead.

The religious leaders didn’t really care about the people. They liked to look and feel important. But Jesus could see right through them. They became jealous because the people listened to Jesus. Jesus said he was God’s Son. This really made the religious leaders angry, so they had Jesus killed. They caused him to be crucified on a cross.

The best part is that Jesus didn’t stay dead. Jesus came back alive and appeared to many people again. After many days, the people saw Jesus float up into heaven. He promised to come back again one day. We are still waiting for that day. It could be very soon.

If we will learn all we can about Jesus and about how he taught us to live, we will grow closer to God. One day when Jesus was talking to the people he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6  NIV)

Don’t miss the joy of knowing Jesus in a personal way. And don’t miss out on the chance to live forever with Jesus. Read about Jesus in the Bible and pray to God every day. And don’t let anyone fool you into believing there are many ways to God. That doesn’t fit what Jesus said.

Copyright © 2010 by Janice D. Green

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Jonah 3:10-4:11 What is the “take-away”?

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For prior background for today’s post, skim Jonah 1:1-3:9. Today’s post is in reference to Jonah 3:10-4:11. Click on the links and you may select your preferred translation from within Bible Gateway.

Jonah was not the typical prophet. He doesn’t exactly offer us a great role model to go by. So what were the Israelites to learn from this prophet, and what is our “take-away” for the book of Jonah?

  • No one can run away from God. He is everywhere.
  • God gives us second chances.
  • God loves even the worst sinners and expects us to love them too.
  • We can serve God with a willing spirit or begrudgingly. Our relationship with God suffers when we serve begrudgingly.
  • Serving God isn’t about personal satisfaction, we are the servants.
  • We don’t limit God with our resistance to his call, but we miss his blessings.
  • God wins, sometimes in spite of his “called”.

The first three points above are self-explanatory and were discussed in my last post. I mention them here for the purpose of review.

Does it matter how we serve God? Jonah was not a willing messenger, but at least at his second call he went. He hated the people he spoke to as he begrudgingly gave them God’s message. Jonah resented the very God who gave him the message to deliver.

Has your service to God ever resembled Jonah’s service? Have you ever participated in a church function out of a sense of duty even though you secretly resented that you were expected to be there? What happened to your sense of joy in serving the Lord?

Why do we serve God? Jonah wanted to have the last word. He told the Ninevites that God was going to destroy their city, and he wanted to see it happen. To Jonah, it was all about being seen as right when it was all over, it was all about Jonah.

When we serve God, it isn’t about us. It shouldn’t matter if we are recognized as great leaders. What really matters is our obedience to God and our relationship with him, even if the people we are trying to serve don’t seem to respond. The greater prophets in the Bible seldom experienced the joy of seeing revival among those to whom they ministered.

Is God limited by our failures to respond to his call? Not hardly. God is God and he will accomplish his ends one way or another. God was not surprised to see Jonah board the ship to Tarshish. Nor was he surprised to witness Jonah’s pouting when Ninevah was given another chance. Perhaps God chose Jonah because he knew this would be his response. Perhaps God knew the Ninevites needed to see an angry man who would shake his fist at them saying something like, “and He’ll do it too! He just had a whale swallow me in the bottom of the sea and spit me out so I would come here and tell you this!”

What kind of follower of Christ are you? Do you willing do what God asks in his Word? Or do you resist his commands with “I know that’s what the Bible says, but I think…” When you feel the voice of the Holy Spirit leading you to do something that takes you outside your comfort zone, how do you respond? When we fail to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, we lose. We lose fellowship with God, we lose the joy of our salvation, and we lose opportunities to experience first-hand the mighty hand of God at work.

Jonah – A historical figure?

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Jonah 1-4 (Click here to read the book of Jonah. It is only four short chapters in length. You may choose whatever translation you prefer on the Bible Gateway website.)

Tomorrow’s Sunday school lesson is on the book of Jonah. I am grieving over the teacher’s manual that supplements the student handbook for this quarter because the writer obviously does not believe in the account as historical fact but only as a parable.  I deeply regret that teachers across the US are given all of this author’s reasons to discount the story of Jonah as a historic book, and I have written to the editor of our Sunday school curriculum about this.

Jonah 1:1-2.  “Jonah, son of Amittai” as he is identified in the book of Jonah was also referred to in 2 Kings 14:25.  This lends credibility to the person of Jonah as a true historical figure. It also gives a time frame for the account.

Jonah 1:17. There is no reason to be upset over the Bible’s use of the word “fish” rather than the word “whale” as the story has been traditionally taught. God was perfectly capable of using either. However, I used Bible Gateway to search the entire Bible for the word “whale” in several translations and found it did not exist. This leads me to believe that the word “fish” in the Bible was loosely applied to any and all fish-shaped animals in the sea.

Jonah 3:3-4. The argument was made in the teacher’s edition that the city of Ninevah would have to be sixty miles wide for it to take Jonah three days to cross it. Jonah wasn’t on a hike. He had to stop and give the message to everyone there. He would not have taken a straight path through the center of the city.

Jonah 3:5-9. Would all the people have believed Jonah? In our time that may seem unrealistic, but consider that:

  1. Jonah would have looked quite strange after spending three days in the belly of a whale. His skin would surely have been exposed to all kinds of gastric juices. His hair would have been affected and his clothing would have been a mess. He probably looked like a walking zombie.
  2. The people surely would have asked what happened and why. Jonah’s experience would have added both conviction and credibility as he gave them God’s message. It may not have been so unreasonable to believe that the people listened to Jonah and took him seriously.

It is sad when we let the skeptics of out time write our Sunday school literature. It grieves me even more to learn that most of our major Christian publishing companies are being bought out by the mega secular publishers. It is important that we as individuals read the Bible for ourselves and teach it those within our sphere of influence. There is too much to lose if we don’t.

Proverbs 3:27-32 Finding ways to help in Haiti

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Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow”— when you now have it with you. Proverbs 3:27-32 (NIV) (Click on this link to read this passage in your preferred version of the Bible. You may select your version after the link opens. )

Who hasn’t yet heard about the earthquakes that devastated Port-au-Prince in Haiti last Tuesday?  It has been the dominating topic on all news casts on television and radio stations for the past several days. The devastation and needs are unfathomable.

What is the Christian response for those of us living in our comfortable homes as our TVs, radios, and computers bring the reality of these people’s sufferings into our living rooms. We can go to our kitchen sink or refrigerator and get a fresh glass of water or other beverage – they are unable to find water. We pat our stomachs after a full meal – they may have to fight to get or keep a serving of food. We can turn the TV off to give us a little distance from the suffering – they can’t.

Sadly, the first response many have to meeting the needs when crises like these occur is to run to our closets and pantry to look for things we need to give away – things we won’t miss. Some want to jump on a plane and fly to Haiti to offer physical labor and expertise. But a closer look reveals some bottle-necks that will keep any of these first responses from being helpful. In fact doing these things may only cause increased hardships for a while.

The airport in Haiti is small and can handle only a little traffic. The roads are so damaged that it is nearly impossible to move clothes and household goods, they are only in the way at this time. The shipping ports were also damaged for getting goods into the country. So initially we can only wait patiently until the bottle-neck is cleared.

As Christians, our first line of defense is prayer. There is no bottle-neck preventing us from praying for the people of Haiti.

The second thing that can be donated immediately is money. Cash is flexible and can be used to meet whatever need is prominent at the time. Unfortunately, it won’t be found on a neglected hanger in your closet or in the back of your pantry with the food that has been sitting in your pantry undisturbed for some time. Cash comes from the bottom of our pockets. In our current economy, reaching for cash calls for greater sacrifice.

We may think we don’t have cash to spare. That’s when we need to turn the TV back on and make some comparisons. Can we truly say we have nothing to give to these desperate people?

We can also start organizing other forms of help to have them ready when the bottleneck is cleared. The Haitian people desperately need water, food, clothing, and volunteers. Volunteers need to have these supplies ready for shipment as soon as the all-clear signal is given.

The following organizations are excellent for getting resources to the people. Not only do they work long and hard to meet the needs of the people, they also provide these services in Jesus’ name and offer spiritual encouragement as well.

Samaritans Purse

The Salvation Army

Mennonite Central Committee

World Vision International

United Methodist Committee On Relief

Global Aid Network

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.