Showing Telling

Men have tried to reveal to the world who Jesus is.

 

 Those who have succeeded

 

have done better at “Showing,” than at “Telling.”       

– eab, 6/23/12

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Worship

Worship first occurs in Scripture in the story of Abraham taking his son to the mountain to worship (Gen 22.5).  It last occurs in Holy Writ as an angel instructs John to worship God, not him (Rev 22.9).  “Worship” appears some 100 times in between.  Worship is important in the Book.

 

You can, as above, worship God on a mountain, and thank God many have. You can worship God on a boat, Noah and his “landlubber” crew did earlier in Genesis, and thousands (including the disciples in the NT) have since.

 

You can worship God as you work.  Millions of farmers have truly worshipped as they worked God’s soil and reaped His harvest, or even sinner farmers have prayed for the Lord to send a rain (even last week?).

 

Our locality does not limit us from worshipping the Almighty.  He is equally close to every valley and hill on all “sides” of the earth.  Our occupation does not limit God.  He likes for men to work and, in fact, has made us so we are happiest when we are working and most dissatisfied when we are being lazy.  (Welfare does not draw men closer to God.)     

 

I hope all of us have sensed God’s presence in our automobiles, our living rooms, on a walk, in the night, etc.  He is not restricted to a church.  

 

With the truth of the above, it is also true that there is no place like a house of Worship.  There is no time like the Lord’s Day.  God’s Day and God appointed place offer us a get-a-way.  They offer us an opportunity to listen and learn, to be humble and holy, to stand, sit, or kneel in His presence.

 

Welcome to this Worship Service.  Happy you are here and hope you will obey the Spirit until you leave happy that you came.

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INNER STRENGTH

 

Without a photo a face fades,

Sculpture, pictures are memory aids.

Images help us remember

Beyond our mental endeavor

Our family’s former men and maids.

 

 

But is an odd jaw, wiry hair

(the limits of a photo rare)

Best? Should we not remember kin

For character, strengths, “stuff” within?

Generosity? Loving care?

 

 

How much better to know their goals,

Inner vibrations of their souls.

What they secretly often sought,

What they seldom – if ever – got,

Much more important than their “moles.”

 

 

Inner strengths have heavenly weight,

So crucial beyond heaven’s gate.

Images we claim not to adore,

Probably we put too much store,

In paint, charcoal, pencil, and slate.

– eab, 7/1/09 

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