ONE MORE MOVE

This story is about Faust who gambles for his soul.  An artist has painted a picture of a game of chest with Faust on one side and Satan on the other side.  The game in the picture is almost over and Faust has only a few pieces left; a king and a knight, one or two pawns. There is despair written all over his face while the devil looks on in anticipation of his coming triumph.  Many a chess-player has looked at the picture and agreed that the position for Faust is hopeless; it is checkmate.

But, one day in the picture gallery, a great master of the game stood gazing at the picture.  He was fascinated by the look of terrible despair on the face of Faust.  Then his gaze went to the pieces on the board.  He stared at them absorbed.  Other visitors in the gallery came and went, and still he studied the board, lost in contemplation.  And then suddenly the gallery was startled by a ringing shout:  “It is a lie. The king and the knight have another move.”  ONE MORE MOVE.

This is how it is in the human struggle.  No matter how hopeless seems our lot in this world, we have another move.  That move is made possible by forgiveness.  We come to the end of our rope.  We just can’t go on.  We are broken, shattered in our relationship with others and God. The only possible move for reconciliation and restoration is forgiveness.  It is our final and greatest move, to be forgiven and to forgive.

Jesus said to that helpless, hopeless paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven you, take up your bed and walk.”  His sins had paralyzed him just as our sins paralyze us.  Only forgiveness could enable him to be healed, made whole, to start really living again.  Jesus is saying to us, “our sins are forgiven, Christ paid for our sins on Calvary, accept that forgiveness and be healed, make whole.  Take up your bed of responsibilities and walk in newness of life.”

Place your self on the cot and accept what Christ is ready and able to give. What Jesus did for the paralytic He longs to do for us and the people we love and need to learn to love.  We can be forgiven. That is our final and most important move.  There is healing for us in God’s forgiveness.   MAKE THAT ONE MORE MOVE.

HOW TO HANDLE YOUR LOAD

A hurricane was approaching, so the parents of a young boy sent him to his grandparents a couple hundred miles away.   After a couple days, they received a note from the grandparents saying, “Send hurricane – returning boy.”
Every person has either a hurricane or a small boy in their lives.

We all have our load of troubles.  Trouble is as old as humanity and somehow we must learn to face it honestly.  Job said, “Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”  How true.  Jesus said it this way, “It rains on the just as well as the unjust.”  Everyone is involved in the difficulties of life.

May I suggest, first of all, that we accept realistically our load, whatever it is.
Jeremiah stated this when he said, “Woe is me for my hurt, my wound is grievous; but I said, truly this is my grief and I must bear it.”  Jeremiah  10:19   We must not try to escape any responsibility that is rightfully ours to bear.  We are to deal with each day as it comes. Someone put it, “Life is hard by the yard but it is a cinch by the inch.”  We are to live one day at a time. Dr. John Dorsey said, “We live in an explosion of now’s.”   Any person can fight the battles of just one day.  It is only when we add the burdens of those two awful eternities—yesterday and tomorrow that we break down.  It is not the experience of today that drive men mad, it is the remorse and bitterness for something which happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow might bring.  Let us, therefore live but one day at a time.

Another thing about handling your load besides confronting it honestly, is to share your load.  God never intended for us to try to go it alone.  He said, “It is not good for man to dwell alone.”  We were made for fellowship and friendship. Sorrow shared with the right people is a sorrow cut in half.  The lack of communication is one of the biggest failures in our lives.  Most problems which arise between people are caused by not knowing what the person feels, thinks, means.
But, most of all, we must learn to share our burdens with the Lord.  Prayer is God’s gift to every Christian.
Listen to the Hebrew writer, chapter 4, verse 16:   “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.”
Again in First Peter 5:7:  Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.”

With God’s help, you can handle successfully and profitably your load of life.

 

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

You are what you want most.  Now what do you want?

This is not an easy question to answer because many people do not know what they want.  When we do not know what we want, we waste our life chasing wrong things.  Many people want the wrong things.  We become lost in our selfishness.

You want to feel important, to be somebody.   We need to have self worth.
You want to feel secure.  We need to have stability.
You want to be loved.  We need to feel loved.

God alone answers our real needs.  God wants us to want Him.  There is within us a restlessness until we rest in God. There is within us an emptiness, a void, needing God yet not fulfilling that need. God has placed this want within us but how do we respond to it?  Jesus knew that we would pay whatever price for what we really want.  He said, “Blessed (Happy) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.”   Matthew 5:6
Jesus is saying, when we want what is right as much as we want food and drink, when we want goodness as much as some want tobacco or liquor, when the passion for honesty is like the passion of the dope fiend for narcotic, we shall be filled.  When we will walk a mile for God’s truth and the mile seems insignificant beside the satisfaction His truth yields to our souls, then we are on our way to being filled.

But, don’t you see, all depends upon how much you want what you want.  You have to decide whether you’ll go all out and let God mold you and make you what He wants you to be.  The task of being a Christian, of living the Christ-like life is not easy.  God’s service is not for softies.  Being a Christian means living and serving God in a dirty world.  It means unpopularity, danger and sacrifice.  It  calls for people to fear (reverence) God.  Of course, we want the blessings of God, we want His approval, we want to go to Heaven, but the real issue is how much do we want what we claim we want?  It costs to be a Christian.  Are we willing to pay the price to be what God wants us to be?  Here is how to do it…

“Romans 12:2 from Phillip’s translation:  “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity.”

What you want is entirely up to you.  You must choose. Do not settle for anything but the best.  Reach for the stars.  Low aim not failure is sin.

 

 

CHRISTIAN MOTHERS

“Mothers come in various sizes: skinny, filled-out, and ‘oops’. They are found everywhere: in maternity wards, over ironing boards, teaching three-year olds “Jesus Loves Me”, up and around while the rest of the family is down with the flu, cutting out store coupons, championing causes, turning right out of the left lane, kissing where it hurts, perspiring over new math, changing her husband’s mind, looking daggers at the umpire who has just called her little one out on strikes, popping corn at the school festival, on her knees with an open Bible, taking away privileges, giving back privileges, pushing piano practice, and sitting in a pew crying while her little girl is being married.

Mothers worry about everything: the war, her daughter’s first date, bike riding in the street, her first gray hair, the baby’s fever, first day at school, her husband’s cholesterol level, her son’s solo drive in the family car, report cards, warmed-over suppers, mistreated children, and too much violence on TV.

A mother is: happiness with tears in its eyes, love with a firm paddle in its hand, joy watching dad and the kids devour chicken and noodles, sacrifice-taking the neck and wings and leaving the breast and drumsticks, foresight-stashing away a little extra for college, faith-singing in the choir, herding primaries, serving the church dinner, keeping up the pledge, making a call, and sending a box to the missionaries.

Being a mother is such a demanding task that God has entrusted it only to females. There is no experience so costly, so rewarding, so aging, and so exciting as being a mother. The day can be a fabulous flop complete with a dented fender, a collapsed cake, a six-stitch cut, and upset bowl of chocolate ice cream on the new carpet, daughter emerging from the bathroom with a new hair shade, and the husband coming home and asking, “what have you been doing today?”

But, when all is quiet, when dad is home and the baths are over and the homework is done and the prayers are said, Mother takes that one last peek into every bed, and seeing the sweet innocent faces asleep, says guiltily: :How could I have screamed at her today? How could I have spanked him?”
And full of faith, hope and love she looks out the window, through misty eyes at the night sky and prays:

Thank you, Father, thank you for the privilege of being a Mother.
By your grace and wisdom help me to teach them to love you as I do.
In the Name of your child, Jesus Christ, I ask. Amen”
Selected

 

TO BE CONTINUED

June Warren wrote this bit of verse under the title of “To Be Continued”.  She wrote:
“Nothing used to irk me more when reading a magazine then to find “to be continued” in the midst of a gripping scene.  I said as much to a friend one day, who said, “you’re all wrong, chum.”  And pointed out that I should rejoice that there was more to come.  I think of this on New Year’s Eve and indeed I do rejoice that life’s to be continued and not have stilled its voice.  It’s not enough however, that time should just go on. We must resolve to better use the year that’s soon to dawn.  So let us face the New Year with courage  and conviction, preserving the best things of the past, meeting the future with vision.”

I agree with June Warren, it irks me to watch a T.V. show and have it “to be continued.”  Then I think, “why the frustration?”  Impatient, to know the end right away?  Uncertain, as to whether I’ll be able to see the conclusion of the show?  Yet, as I think of this theme, “To Be Continued” I begin to see that this is the very essence of life.  It is the very basic law of life that everything continues.  Nothing is lost.  Changes take place, that’s all.  It can be illustrated from the material world but I want to illustrate the truth of this “To Be Continued” from the spiritual.

God started everything. He brought it all into being.  Although sin messed God’s plan up, He continued His purpose by continuing through a very special people, Israel.  From the faithful, He brought forth His Son, the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.  It appeared as if the end of God’s plan happened in the crucifixion of Jesus.  The Romans, through the Jews, killed Jesus and put His body in a grave. But, Jesus would not stay dead.  God continues His purpose in the resurrection of Jesus.  The purpose of God continues as Jesus sent back the Holy Spirit to direct the Apostles in Divine Truth.  People believed this truth and became the Church.  The Church is the body of Jesus. He is alive through Christians.  Christians are the continuation of God’s purpose.  To keep it all continuing, Jesus promised that He would come back to claim His own and take them home to be with Him.    Aren’t we glad that “to be continued” is God’s plan?   We know that His plan and purpose is to seek and to save the lost.

Eternal life is the continuation of a lasting fellowship with God which began when we made our commitment of love to Jesus.  This commitment to Jesus began something that cannot be broken by physical death. The Bible teaches, “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”  I John 5:12    Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me will live, even though he dies…”  John 11: 25

CONTINUATION OF LIFE BELONGS TO THE CHRISTIANS.   Thank God, that “to be continued” is a part of God’s promise to His people.  Just know that for the Christian, “life is on down the road and the best is yet to come.”