Worthless to Priceless

WORTHLESS TO PRICELESS

Leviticus 26:32:  “I will lay waste your land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.”

            Appalled means shocked, disgusted, or sickened.  Leviticus 26:14-39 and Jeremiah 16:17-17:6 partially list God’s punishment for disobedience, especially worshipping worthless idols as gods.  The extreme costs that the Israelites endured after they failed to follow God’s Word were the pits!  Jews exiled (removed from) their homeland and total destruction of Israel are historic facts that mirror prophetic punishment. 

            Yet…”Praise God” worship shines through that muck.  Everything He causes—even the most horrific—is ultimately a blessing.  God made His own land desolate for a reason.  While His kids were scattered throughout the world for over 2,000 years, Israel became a desolate wasteland.  Even “your enemies who live there will be appalled” was the silver lining of blessing. 

            Though many countries tried to develop the land and make it profitable, Israel’s fruit refused to come out of lockdown.  If Israel would have been the blossoming garden she is today, her kinfolk scattered throughout the world would not have been able to return and invest in her as they did.  As far into modern day as 1867, the famous writer Mark Twain visited the Holy Land and declared Israel a wasteland.

            He said, “A desolate country given over wholly to weeds … a silent mournful expanse … a desolation … we never saw a human being on the whole route … hardly a tree or shrub anywhere.  Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

            God’s miracle unfolded a century after Mark Twain.  On May 23, 1967, Israel’s rebirth as a united country became headline news!  That didn’t happen as easily or as fast as that may sound.  Beginning in early 1800’s, Jews had secretly been purchasing parts of the Holy Land.  (There was no demand for that land everyone considered worthless).  But to displaced Jews, Israel is priceless.   

             Despite how often His people are carried away from God’s promised covenantal inheritance to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Canaan will always belong to Israel.

            Israel celebrated her 50 year anniversary on May 23, 2017!

Take Home Nugget

            Consider this investment on May 24, 1626: Peter Minuit purchased a tiny island off America’s coast from Native Americans.  They considered that land mostly worthless.  Yet the Native Americans accepted a bundle of cloth, beads, and various trinkets worth 60 guilders as payment for the island.  60 guilders exchanges from $24-$1000 today. 

 

            That “mostly worthless” island became Manhattan, a “priceless” patch of land off New York City today.

Your ways, Your timing is perfect, Father.  Help me to trust You in everything I do!  Amen.

Adapted from “Hidden Blessings” from Holy Land Moments.com.  Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. May 18, 2017.

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Spoken Word Power

SPOKEN WORD POWER

James 1:12-26

James 1:26:  “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.’”

            Spoken words are powerful.  Do you remember in whose image you are created?  Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make men in our image, in our likeness, and let him rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the  earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’” (Emphasis mine).

            God said this after He spoke all things into being: light, darkness, earth, moon and sun…land and ocean, creatures and plants.  Why don’t people recognize the power in our own spoken word?  Loose tongues have the power to build up to life or tear down to destruction.  Quick and angry speech plunge us headlong into sin!  

 

            Sanctification [sank-tif-i-KA-shon] comes after salvation.  People hear God’s spoken Word and believe in Jesus.  God’s Spirit transforms us anew into Christ-likeness.  Accepting Jesus’ offer of forgiveness of sins and eternal life reveals that God’s Word is living and active!

            A story in the Bible shows the prophet Elisha healed a man from leprosy.  (See the previous devotion Sticks & Stones, Feathers, and Leprosy).   Hearing Elisha decline payment for that miracle, his servant caught up with the healed man.  Lying that Elisha reconsidered and did want a reward, the servant received clothes and some silver.

              Elisha discovered what his servant did and cursed him aloud.  Immediately, the servant and his sons were covered in sores from leprosy.  They were sent away to live in total isolation from people, as the law dictated.

            This was when the Arameans surrounded and took control over the Israelites, who were starving.  Elisha prophesied to the Aramean king that God would bring abundance after the famine, but the king didn’t believe him. 

            At the same time, the diseased men were also starving.  In desperation, they decided to surrender to the Arameans.  God caused the Arameans to hear loud noises which they presumed were an invading army, and they fled in terror.  The diseased men arrived at the Aramean camp to find it deserted.  Then they discovered lots of food and other treasures.

            The starving men filled their bellies.  Then they decided this wasn’t right and shared with their brethren.  All the Israelites benefited from the Aramean bounty with God’s provision of abundance!  (See 2 Kings 7:3-20 and the lesson below).   

   

Take Home Nugget

            The diseased men represent those who lie and hate.  Everything they say is self-serving at others’ expense.  Elisha teaches proper speech that encourages and blesses others.  

Empower me to use the power of my spoken words to bring life, Lord, in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Adapted from “The Power of Speech” from Holy Land Moments.com.  Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. April 28, 2017.

And “Quick to Hear, Slow to Speak” from Portals of Prayer Devotional.  Missouri.  Dcs. Rachel D. Thompson.  May 19, 2017. 

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Sticks & Stones, Feathers, and Leprosy

Sticks & Stones, Feathers, and Leprosy

Leviticus 13:2:  “When anyone has a swelling or a rash or a bright spot on his skin that may become an infectious skin disease, he must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons who is a priest.”

            Ten year old Shakira wasn’t ready to leave school yet.  Kids surrounded one little boy who crouched down with his hands over his head.  “Leave him alone!” Shakira demanded.  As the kids drifted off to their busses, Shakira helped the little boy to his feet.  “Don’t mind them,” she said.  “You’ll return to school a little taller and they will have totally forgotten this.”

            People often speak harshly to one another, so kids learn early to grow what is known as a “thick skin”.  Words are like arrows.  Cruel people know exactly where to aim arrows to cause the most damage.  Surely, this child will return to school a little wiser.  He won’t allow word arrows to cut him to the core in the future.

            “Sticks & Stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me!”

             That’s not true.  Words hurt!

            God rules the serious offense of speaking harshly about others equal to a skin disease that kills.  That’s why we’re created with two gates to contain the weapon of words from shooting out of the mouth.  Teeth and lips can clamp shut, preventing the escape of harsh words. 

            Leprosy is a scary physical disease that disfigures one’s appearance.  Leprosy disrupts people’s lives, separating the diseased from others…because leprosy is contagious [kon-TA-juss].   Contagious means easily spread from one person to another.  God is serious.  Speaking harsh words intended to hurt others is a sin.  Once shot out of the mouth, words’ direction is beyond our control.  Their effect is often   deadly.  That’s why the Hebrew term for someone with a disease like leprosy is labelled motzi-shem-ra, which means “spoke badly about another person”.

            See the lesson linked below for how Old Testament people with a skin disease were treated and what the New Testament advises to avoid this sin.

Take Home Nugget

            Once there was a man who enjoyed insulting someone.  Later, he regretted his words.  He asked a priest for forgiveness, promising to restore the person’s good name.  He was told to cut open a feather pillow and watch the feathers scatter in the wind.  After he did that, the priest told him to collect the feathers.

            “That’s impossible!” the man admitted. 

            “Right,” the priest said.  “Once words leave the mouth, no one can put them back, or trace how far they spread.” 

Holy Father, please help me to think before I speak so that I never hurt another with my words.  I ask this in Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

 Adapted from devotion “Feathers in the Wind” from Holy Land Moments.com.  Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.  April 26, 2017.

J.D. Griffith 

                

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Our Father Knows

OUR FATHER KNOWS

Matthew 6:31-32:  “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”

            “Run after” is the Greek word epizeteo, that means use all your might with sweat and stress.  But epizeteo isn’t how our heavenly Father created His kids to live.  Our Father knows what we need: food, drink, and clothes.  He promises to provide everything we need to live. 

            See God’s guarantee of provision in the lesson, below.  Our Father never intended for us to run after things we need. 

            He always wants us to seek Him first!

            Zeteo is the Greek word for “seek”.  Jesus’ native Aramaic was initially translated into the Greek language.  Greek words are defined specifically.  Zeteo means to hunger, to pant after, or worship.  English words can mean more than one specific thing.  (Consider the English word sit.  Sit can mean take a seat, rest, meet together, or even be placed).  Zeteo simply means to want something without really trying. 

            Jesus is clear in Matthew 6:33:  “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things [food, drink, and clothes] will be given to you as well.”  Caps added to emphasize God’s priority. 

            The Greek word for “first” is proton.  Proton means first in order of importance, the highest place in our affections.  Our Father created us in His likeness so that we might form a relationship.  He wants first place in our lives.  Anything other than God claiming first place in our lives is an idol.  An idol is over whatever or whomever we obsess.  It could be a star athlete or Hollywood actor, a statue, icon, or symbol.  An idol replaces God’s rightful first place in people’s lives. 

            Sooo: hungering after God’s kingdom more than anything is how our Father wants His kids to live.  But what is God’s kingdom?  Romans 14:17 says, “The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  God’s kingdom lives within whomever accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior. 

            God’s Spirit living inside Christians is His righteousness, peace, and joy.  The Holy Spirit meets all of Jesus’ conditions to receive everything we need to live! 

          

Take Home Nugget

            Every Believer-in-Christ can proclaim first thing each morning, “I am the righteous of God in Christ!”  (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Then, we fulfilled seeking the kingdom of God AND His righteous first every day. 

            And then we never need be concerned with getting what we need to live.  What a gift! 

Thank You Father for knowing AND providing everything we need to live, including Jesus!  Amen. 

Adapted from devotion “Seek First God’s Kingdom” from www.JosephPrince.org.   April 21, 2017.

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Miraculous Times

MIRACULOUS TIMES

Leviticus 20:22:  “‘Keep My decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land I am giving you to live may not vomit you out.’”

            Mark Twain visited Israel on a trip to the Holy Land in the year 1867.  Here is how he described Israel:  “A desolate country given over wholly to weeds … a silent mournful expanse … a desolation … we never saw a human being on the whole route … hardly a tree or shrub anywhere.  Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country.”

            The Hebrews’ absence from Canaan, the land God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (who God renamed Israel), began with Joseph around 1200 B.C.  Joseph was sold by his brothers to a traveling caravan.  The caravan sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials.  Joseph made such a great impression on Egyptian officials—both in and out of jail—that Pharaoh placed him in charge of all of Egypt.

            The Israelites—including Joseph’s family—fled Canaan for Egypt during a famine around 1250 B.C.  The Egyptian timeline is found in Genesis 37:25-Exodus 13:17.  430 years after Joseph, God sent Moses to convince Pharaoh to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  God, Himself, led them back to Canaan.

      

            While Israeli slavery in Egypt began as a choice, Israeli exile to Babylon happened from disobedience to God.  Around 720-450 B.C., the Hebrew nation was hauled off to Babylon.  Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel tell an awesome, often heartbreaking story of captivity in Babylon.  

  

            What that famous writer saw and wrote about so many years ago appears exactly what the opening Scripture predicted.  The land did, in fact, vomit the inhabitants out!  It was only a matter of time when the people disobeyed God’s laws before the land spat them out!  

            Mark Twain’s visit to Israel in 1867 was about eighty years before Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948.  After the United Nations recognized Israel as an independent, sovereign country in the Middle East, Arab countries of Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria attacked Israel. 

  

Take Home Nugget

            Amos 9:14-15 predicted in the 8^th century B.C.: “‘I will bring back my exiled people to Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.  They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will plant gardens and eat their fruit.  I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,’ says the LORD your God.”

            Today, we’re wide-eyed on Israel watching miraculous times—biblical prophecies come true.

Holy LORD, Mark Twain described Israel as a “silent mournful expanse.”  Thank You for transforming her to an abundant garden today!

     

Adapted from devotion “Living Prophecies” from Holy Land Moments.com.  Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.  May 5, 2017.

J.D. Griffith     

            

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Honor & Privilege

HONOR & PRIVILEGE

Philippians 2:1-11

Philippians 2:5-9:  “Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus: Who, being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.”

            Children are blessings from God.  (See the lesson linked below).

            The honor and privilege of being a mother never lessens when sacrificial servanthood is needed.  Every woman who carried a baby in her womb also conceals a sacrificial servant story.  Many will never admit what they refused pursuing when pregnancy altered their lives. 

            Others confess that having children was their life purpose and never sacrificed a thing.  Serving others is some people’s best quality.

            But women forget. 

            She forgot the morning sickness.  She forgot how her body adjusted to a growing bowling ball for months.  The most dreaded event she forgot was labor.  She forgot every inconvenient sacrifice and numbing service (2:00 AM feedings) when her newborn first nestled into her arms. 

            Peering into space, it has no idea what’s happening.  Momma’s voice is the only constant companion in its tiny world.  Naturally, mom coos softly to her infant.  Her voice directs where new eyes scan upwards to focus on her own.  Sacrifice comes automatically.  Mom decides then that she’d do anything to keep her infant safe—from all harm. 

            There are times when constant sacrifice wears thin and serving others becomes anything other than an honor and privilege.  As Jesus spent three years leading a bunch of stragglers, even He wondered aloud how much more must He endure?  Answering Philip in John 14:9a: “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have ben with you such a long time?  Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father…” 

            This happened hours after Jesus had shown the best example of sacrificial servanthood (John 13:3-16).  He knelt down and washed His disciples’ dusty, smelly feet.  Then He suggested, (commanded) that His followers copy this humble example of serving others. 

Take Home Nugget

            It’s only when people stoop down and get dirty that they discover the gold inside the lining of servanthood.  “Dying to self” while pouring our lives into another, “picking up our crosses”, creates the godly legacy that’s remembered for generations (Luke 9:23).  

            Mothers forget to remember the honor and privilege that serving her family is.

            What greater blessing of becoming truly filled can anyone find other than in God’s perfect design of motherhood?

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me the honor and privilege to lead and serve children.  Yours is the gift that keeps on giving eternally!  Amen.

                  

Adapted from devotion “The Service of Motherhood” from www.intouch.org.  Dr. Charles Stanley.  May 8, 2017.

                                            Happy Mother's Day!

J.D. Griffith   
              

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