“There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1
The believer is in Christ as Noah was enclosed within the ark, with the heavens darkening above him, and the waters heaving below him, yet not a drop of the flood penetrating his vessel, not a blast of the storm disturbing the serenity of his spirit.
The believer is in Christ as Jacob was in the garment of the elder brother when Isaac kissed and blessed him. He is in Christ as the poor homicide was within the city of refuge when pursued by the avenger of blood, but who could not overtake and slay him.
- Octavius Winslow, 1857
Written on May 21, 2013 at 8:19 am, by Josh Weidmann
There are times in life when fog is all you see in the five day forecast. Shining a light only seems to worsen the problem as the small rays of light are magnified by every molecule of water.
You wait… dream of clearer days… and wonder how you ever took the sun so for granted before.
Days of overcast emotions cause our thoughts to lose clarity. The days of crisp processing, big dreams and bigger expectations are a thing of the past. In these times, all we can do is pray that the Lord will return our heart to a place of zealous accomplishment for His glory.
Last night I had a conversation with a dear friend who lost his father just last week. He is living in a thick fog brought on by his loss. I didn’t know what to say, except that ‘this was all part of a process and don’t worry – the sun will shine again.’
I’ll admit, I feel my way through life more than I think my way through life. My emotions are very powerful. I’ve come to accept that God wired me this way. However, finding ways to withstand the tsunami of catastrophic emotions has been very important to my daily life. Here are things I do when depressing thoughts set in or I am caught in a fog of feelings:
I often joke about Sarcasm being one of my “love languages.” There are a few close people in my life I can tease and they can harass me in return and it just our way of letting each other know that we love one another. Oddly enough, one of those people is my mom. She and I can banter back and forth with the best of them – but our jesting ends with a good laugh and simple statement like, “Man, I love you!”
One of the things I joke with my mom about is how old she is. In reality she is actually pretty young, yet I’ll tease her about being around to help Christopher Columbus build his ship or Dating George Washington in her teen years. Obviously she is not that old but she is now to the point that her kids are grown and almost all out of the house. And all joking aside, at this point in her life, I want her to be proud of the kid she’s raised in me.
In the 22nd verse of Proverbs 23 the Bible states, “Do not despise your mother when she is old.” This passage carries the idea of having love, respect and even honor for your mom, but focuses on not willfully disrespecting her. The Word “Despise” is translated “Buz” in the Hebrew language and it is used six times in the book of proverbs. It means to “To hold contempt, to belittle, or to ridicule.”
It can be easy for us to go beyond joking and actually put down or disrespect our mothers with our words. We get older as they get older and we start to think we are suddenly smarter than them. But how wrong it is for us to willfully loose all respect or reverence for them just because we think we’re right or have one up on them.
Proverbs 23 goes on to say, “Let the one who bore you rejoice.” This mother’s day lets all strive to love our mom’s by not despising them with our words or our lives. Wouldn’t it be great if on Sunday your mom to praise God because of the life she was able to create in you?
Written on May 10, 2013 at 5:10 pm, by Josh Weidmann
