The Tortoise and the Birds

Philippians 2:3-11

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

I once heard a funny story that I thought I’d share with you: There once was a bright green tortoise that had a big dream: to travel the world. He had always dreamed of seeing the world, smelling the different smells, meeting new creatures…. It was his grandest dream. For many days he wondered if there was a way he could accomplish his dream. One day, as he watched a large group of birds flying through the air, an idea came to his mind. Clearing his throat, he began to call the birds. Finally, two curious birds flew down to see what the tortoise wanted. The tortoise explained that he wanted to travel the world and see new sights, hear new sounds, but he was too slow to do so. He politely asked the two birds if they would be willing to help him. He explained that perhaps the two birds could hold a stick between their beaks, and he would hold on to the stick with his mouth, while the birds flew around the world. It was a clever idea indeed, and the birds, wanting to help the tortoise, agreed. Minutes later, the tortoise was up in the air with the birds, his life-long dream finally being fulfilled. I’m such a smart little tortoise, he thought to himself. Who would have thought of such an idea? As he peered down below him, he saw some humans talking amongst themselves, “Wow! Look at that! Those birds must be mighty smart to have come up with such an idea!” Anger began to boil up inside the tortoise. The other human added, “I guess I really underestimate the intelligence of birds!” That did it. The tortoise could not handle it any more. He had to put these silly humans in place. Yelling out he screamed, “Hey! You… AGGHHHH!!!” As soon as those first words left his mouth, the tortoise had unwillingly let go of the stick he was holding on to, and fell down to the ground far below.

          There’s this small five letter word that gets many of us into trouble: pride. We all struggle with it, and it’s a cause of much trouble today. The wisest man once said, “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 Many arguments start because we do not want to admit that we’re wrong. Many fights start because both sides do not want to show their weakness. People fight over power and position, because of pride. That’s how the world does things, always defending self, always thinking better of self than of others, but that’s not God’s way. Jesus lived a life of self-denial and humility. He once said in Matthew 8:20 “And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”” You see, if Jesus, the King, God Himself, was able to live outside, sleep on the grass, surely we can be humble too. Humility is God’s way, and I am sure it would save us from a lot of trouble.

\Picture Story: Once again, I found this picture on the internet, but I chose this Indian and Greek fable because it has a powerful moral to it.

Perfect Reflection

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The moon is a beautiful sight to behold indeed! Sometimes when it’s late, and I get a chance to look out the window, my eyes are always drawn to the brightly shining moon in the night sky. It’s bright light always give a warm, soft feeling inside. But the moon can only shine because it reflects the light from the sun.  Without the constant, glistening sun, the moon would be as dark as the midnight sky; barely visible. Only through the sun’s rays, the moon is able to be illuminated by a brilliant glow that points to the still brighter brightness of the sun. In the same way, we are to perfectly reflect the image and character of Christ. In this world darkened by sin, we may not be able to replace Christ when He was on earth, but we can be a beautiful reflection of Him. When we allow Christ to be reflected through our lives, we point people to the living Creator. We may not always get a chance to speak to people of God’s love, but we can most definitely live our lives representing Him. And when we do so, we are silently pointing to Christ. Sometimes that’s all it takes; a perfect reflection.

Picture Story: Once again, this is not my picture (as you can see from the bottom left corner,) but this is a beautiful picture of a solar eclipse; the time when the moon finally meets the Son.

What Goes in Must Come Out!

Luke 6:45

⁴⁵ A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

                           I once read a true story, and this a little how it went: Amanda* screamed as her kitchen burst into flames. She desperately tried to put the fire out, but it had become too large and was quickly spreading through her kitchen and to the rest of her home. What a mess I’ve created! Amanda said to herself. Not knowing what else to do, she ran to the phone and dialed 911. Beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. The fire department were on their way, but the flames began to spread rapidly. Finding herself trapped in the living room, she hoped they would find her soon. The minutes seemed like hours, when finally she was carried out by a firefighter. “You’re a fortunate young lady. With that kind of fire, you could have easily been killed.” Still, she had lost most of her home to the flames, and it would cost her a large sum of money to repair it all. But what had started such a fire? Amanda was reluctant to say at first, but finally admitted that she had read a story where they had used water, oil, alcohol, and toothpaste to make a magical, powerful potion and she had attempted to make the same potion.

            It seems quite silly that someone would actually do such a crazy thing, but it just shows us that what goes in must come out. The things we read, watch, listen to, all have an impact on our mind. Of course we may not go to the extreme that Amanda did, but the things we put in our minds WILL affect us in the long run. It may be in small, subtle ways, just like sin. Sin usually starts in the small things, but eventually grows into the things that we would have never even imagined doing before. In the same way whatever we put into our minds will show in the long run. If we are watching violent movies, it will eventually show when we are around people. If the music we listen to contains inappropriate language, we will end up speaking like the singer. But it goes the other way as well. If we read the bible, listen to pure music, we can be shaped more into the character of Christ. So fix your eyes upon Jesus, and be made into the same likeness!

Picture Story: This picture is NOT mine… I found it off Google… but I used it because I think it really shows the point.

~Victoria

*Name has been changed

Feelings

I stumbled on the book "Living by Principle" by Ellen White. Ch 4 is entirely devoted to the subject of feelings. 

We often mistakenly use our feelings as a guide to help us determine if God has heard our prayers, if He still loves us, if we are right with Him etc. The truth is that feelings and faith are not synonymous. 

I highly encourage you to read the chapter. It was so powerful for me, it brought me to my knees. 

Here is the link to the chapter: 

https://egwwritings.org/?ref=en_PH048.30.1

Here are some excerpts:

Holding God's Hand

Hosea 11:3

“When Israel was a child, I loved him,

And out of Egypt I called My son.

 

As they called them,

So they went from them;

They sacrificed to the Baals,

And burned incense to carved images.

“I taught Ephraim to walk,

Taking them by their arms;

But they did not know that I healed them.

 

I drew them with gentle cords,

With bands of love,

And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck.

I stooped and fed them.

The story is told of a young boy who had just gotten a brand new winter coat. The little boy loved his new coat, but above all, he loved the warm pockets. The pockets were so warm that he didn’t need to wear any winter gloves. One day the little boy and his father were taking a walk through their snowy, white neighborhood, enjoying the fresh crisp air, the snow on the trees and the crunch of snow beneath their boots. Unfortunately though, there was much ice beneath the snow, making it difficult for the young boy to keep his footing. Several times he slipped, and probably  would have fallen if his father didn’t catch him. His father offered to hold his hand, but the little boy refused. I’m a young man now, and men don’t hold their father’s hands, he thought to himself. Plus, his hands would get cold if he took them out of his pockets. So the two walked on for sometime, until there was a large, slippery piece of ice, covered in snow. The little boy stepped onto the ice and his legs began to wobble. His father tried to catch him, but it was too late. The little boy was already on the ground, sobbing. Lovingly, the father reached out his hand to wipe the little boy’s tears and lifted him up to his feet. And together they walked on, hand in hand.  

The young boy quickly realized that with his hands in his pockets, it was hard for his father  to do anything for him. Many times we are asking for God’s protection, but we are not willing to give up the things of this world to allow Christ to fully work in our lives. Lets take our hands out of our pockets and let God take care of us!!!

Picture Story: Yes, I know.... I did break the rule this time. I was planning on drawing a picture and then taking a picture of my picture, but I soon found out that my drawing skills need ALOT of work. So I decided to break the rule, and post this picture. I love it because it's so beautiful and I can really see the verse from Hosea through this picture.

Blaming Others

For the last little while, I have found myself reading Psychology Today fairly frequently.&nbsfp;

This morning, I read a very interesting article about offenders who killed children in school shootings. 

Although I definitely think that the author's claim that

"Blame, frustration, depression, and anger at others, coupled with the means to definitively punish, is a volatile combination." is a huge stretch. (Frankly, I think it takes much more than that to become a serial killer.)

However, what got me is blame. It's pretty much the root of psychotherapy...blame my mother, my father, society etc. for the way they raised me, for the conditions I was brought up in. The sense of responsibility is gone. 

While there is no doubt that our environment and our parents have a strong impact on us, there comes a time where we must take responsibility for our own actions. I know too many people who are complaining about the woes in their life and linking it to their parents. Their inability to control their credit card is because "my mom never taught me how to manage money" or "she was such a bad steward of her finances". Of course, that is not an ideal situation, but the only way we are going to shed our baggage is if we honestly re-evaluate who is to blame. 

The Bible says: 

"But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load."

-Galatians 6:4-5

Why is this so important? God can't help us with our weaknesses if we are forever blaming others. If we don't acknowledge that the problem is with us, we won't see the need for Him to change us. I want to leave on a message of hope!

The good news is this (one of my favourite verses in the Bible):

"And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

-2 Corinthians 12:9

Happy Monday and Happy Week! No matter what our past has been, we can have perfect peace in knowing that God can use our worst weaknesses and make them strengths. Just give it up to Him!

-Nina

Christ-sufficient

 "I can do all things through Christ ^_ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13

We have taken on this attitude of self-sufficiency, relying upon our own strength. Is this the attitude God want us to have? The Bible didn't say, "You can do all things through your own strength," instead it said in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." "I can!" 
"How?"
 "Through Jesus Christ."
 "Why?" 
"I need help and He will be my strength."

 We might be at the pinnacle of self-sufficiency, but God has an amazing way of bringing us down, bringing us to the door of Christ-sufficiency.....weakness. In our weakness we realize we need Christ, we need His strength to carry us.....but first we need to relinquished self and become Christ-sufficient.

I was recently reading the book of Joshua and was amazed at how God showed Israel where their strength lay. In Joshua 5, after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan and crossed over to the enemy side amongst the Amorites, Canaanites, Hivites and all the other 'ites'...God said to Joshua 
"Make stone knives and circumcise the People of Israel a second time.” 

At that point I thought...why didn't God tell them to be circumcised before the crossing of  Jordan while they were in  safety? Circumcision is a painful procedure, but especially so in adulthood. So imagine, all these mighty warriors, grown men who had just been circumsised were standing in the enemy's territory. Because of the circumcision, they were at their weakest point. Think of it, you are physically weak and incapable of fighting, what's more, you're on the wrong side of the Jordan! For an Israelite soldier, that is the last place you want to be! However, do you think God had forgotten that minor detail when He commanded for the men to be circumcised? Of course not! He had a lesson for them to learn...one that we would do well to learn. 

....."When they had completed the circumcising of the whole nation, they stayed where they were in camp until they were healed." 

What if the enemy had attacked? They would have been doomed, but, they were not relying on their own strength.

What was God saying to the Israelites and to us today? My strength is sufficient for you.He is calling us  to rely on His strength and not our own. To become more Christ-sufficient and less self-sufficient. At the point when the Israelites strength was zapped, they had to totally depend on God...in their weakness God became their strength.

Today, face the difficulties of life, not in your own strength but in the strength of the Lord.

Kem :)


Picture Story: I recently decided to teach myself to play the banjo......as I entered the room to begin my first lesson I realized that I had forgotten to bring a stool and the banjo strap.I decided I didn't needed them, but after a minute, I realized that the banjo was way too heavy to be played without a strap or even a  stool. Yet I was determined to play it without them...."I am strong enough, I lifted and carried heavier stuff than this banjo." After about five minute of struggling with holding up the banjo and trying to learned to play a note, I realized my strength was not sufficient.