dW 02.27.09

 

scripture

 

Psalm 51:1-7

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

 

quote

 

When people wanted to kill a bear in the ancient times, they hung a heavy log over a bowl of honey.  The bear would push the log away in order to eat the honey.  The log would swing back and hit the bear.  The bear would become irritated and push the log even harder, and it would return and hit him harder in return.  This would continue until the log killed the bear.  People behave in the same way when they return evil for the evil they receive from other people.  Can't people be wiser than bears?

Leo Tolstoy

dW 02.25.09

 

scripture

 

James 1:17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

 

En Espanol

 

quote

 

It’s tough in the desert.  It’s bewildering.  It’s destructive.  It’s hellish.  Yet the testimony of the Old Testament, and ever more strongly, of the New, is that out of it comes new growth, new insight, new certainty that a God of love is at home among us.

Charles Elliott

dW 02.23.09

 

scripture

 

Matthew 5:13-16

Jesus taught saying, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

 

quote

 

Ninety-nine Christians in every hundred are merely playing at Bible study; and therefore ninety-nine Christians in every hundred are merely weaklings when they might be giants.

R. A. Torrey

 

thoughts

 

In the ancient world salt was of great importance for life. Salt was used for healing purposes, preservation of food, and to flavor food. It was so valuable that people actually used it similar to currency in business transactions.

 

How does salt lose its saltiness? By being permeated with substances foreign to it. Therefore, Jesus is saying here that we need to indeed be engaged in the world but do not become like the world. Jesus is the only person who is able to engage the world and remain clean, pure, untainted. We must engage it but keep returning to the standard of God’s Word and be rinsed and resent, rinsed and resent, rinsed and resent…