Lion and Shepherd

by   March 4, 2024 with No Comments

By Rhonda Sassano

Jesus, You are more than worthy! You are the Great I Am.  You are the Lion of Judah, and You are the Great Shepherd, even while You are the Lion, because You are our fierce protector and defender.  At the sound of Your Name, darkness trembles! Fear vanishes! Disease dissipates! And I stand strong, every foe vanquished.  Yes.  You are my Great Shepherd.  I want nothing.  I have more than I need. I don’t ask for anything because You already know and have set a plan in motion to take care of me. I choose to rest here in trust and hope, soaking in Your luxurious love for me. Your love brings me to a quiet brook of peace.  This is where you restore my soul and revive my weary heart. I surrender to Your plan.  Help me want for me only what YOU want for me. Help me be still and wait with joy and anticipation to see what You will do on my behalf. You set me on the path to Life, and it is only You who keeps me on that path, because You’ve written your word on my heart and birthed righteousness in my spirit. Now I long to please You, to walk beside You, to hold Your hand. Even when the path grows dark and murky, when blackness settles around me and hides You from my view. Even when discouragement and fear and doubts threaten to overwhelm me, You are still right beside me, leading me through to the other side.  Your authority is my strength and my peace.  The comfort of Your love removes fear. I am never lonely because You are always near. You provide a never-ending, bountiful feast for me, so that I am content with now and don’t worry about the future. You fill me with Your Holy Spirit, and delight in working on me and through me and with me to touch and bless others. As I hear Your Word today, I receive it with joy and thankfulness.  And I ask the Holy Spirit to bring me opportunities and help me recognize opportunities to share with others how Your goodness and mercy overtake me, and how they can join us in eternity with You. 

Keeping Up With Coats

by   March 3, 2024 with No Comments

By Ashlie Miller

Convincing a child to wear a coat in the South is no easy task, especially on a cold but sunny day. Persuading a child to keep up with their coat while at school or co-op is nearly impossible! Hoodies and jackets fill the lost and found box or closet. Many organized mothers with foresight carefully label the inside of their child’s jacket. Those of us who collect hand-me-downs may have a label of a friend (or even a stranger) inside our jackets.

Joseph from the Old Testament in the Bible often could not keep up with his robes and garments. You may remember him as Joseph and the coat of many colors. His many brothers loathed that cloak and hated this favorite son of Jacob. When the opportunity arose, these brothers maliciously sold him into slavery to a caravan of merchants, tore his coat, dipped it in blood, and deceived their father about Joseph’s whereabouts.

Later, while serving in Potiphar’s household, the trusted and again favored servant, Joseph, is set up by the wife of the house, longing to have an affair with him. In the act of escaping her clutches, he leaves his garment in her hands – another opportunity for deception lying in the hands of Joseph’s enemy.

The first garment revealed Joseph’s identity as the favorite son. His later garment revealed his identity as a trusted servant. In both cases, the cloak was taken from him, yet his true identity and integrity remained intact.

Upon salvation, Christians “put on a new self” (Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10); we are transformed from the old to the new (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ clothes us in His righteousness, an identity we willingly embrace at salvation, even if we struggle later to think it is up to us to keep it on through our own merits. Isaiah 64:6-7 tells us that our best efforts towards righteousness (being made right with God) are like filthy rags. It reminds me of the times I let my children choose their clothing for an outing, and they come out with their stained play clothes, thinking they have made a lovely choice. It just will not do.

Thankfully, Isaiah 61:10 shows us the great love of our Messiah, clothing us in “garments of salvation…covered with the robe of righteousness.” Since perfect righteousness is the requirement for salvation (which we are inept at producing and maintaining), we hold fast to the promise of John 10:28-30 that Christ gives us eternal life. No one can pluck Christians out of God’s hand. Better than not losing your coat at school, we have a sealed identity wrapped in something no one can take. Though we may stumble and fall, our repentance reveals that His righteousness remains.

I am so grateful I do not have to keep up with my eternal “coat” myself. Christ has set His name on it and keeps up with it for me! His love is so great that I want to live purely for Him, not to stain my garment intentionally, but even when I fail, He keeps it spotless in His eyes.

Ashlie Miller sorts through coats for five children, sometimes finding jackets belonging to other children. Thankfully her husband, Chad, is type A and does a good job of hanging up his jackets.

Sharing Our Faith

by   March 2, 2024 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

Sharing Our Faith

            When I was in college our church organized the college students into groups and sent us out on campus to share our faith. I was very nervous about sharing my faith on campus. I met the girl assigned to my group, who was a petite person. My nerves increased. Then I met the final member of my group, a guy that would remind you of the incredible hulk minus the green body paint. My nervousness disappeared instantly. No one would disrespect us with this big guy!

            Sharing our faith isn’t easy. We have to become vulnerable. People can choose to listen and even receive what we share or they can reject what we share and leave us feeling dejected. Rather than risk rejection many of us choose to keep our faith to ourselves.

            If we decide to take the risk, the next problem is discovering how to share our faith. How do you put into words what you believe? How can you share and not create an offense? What do you choose to share? How much is too much or not enough to help the person receive the wonderful gift of salvation? What are the right words to use? Is there a specific way that works every time?

            Sometimes we are left with more questions about how to share our faith and we end up giving up on the opportunity. We feel inadequate to share our faith. We doubt ourselves and believe everyone else can do a better job than we can. Some people think it is best to leave it up to the professionals, those who have the gift of evangelism or pastors. Sadly, it is those who need to hear the gospel who miss out because we allow fear to keep us from sharing.

            One thing we all know that doesn’t work is standing on street corners yelling at those who pass by, calling them snakes, vipers, and sinners beyond the grace of God. No one responds positively to that kind of message. Also, it is not true! No breathing person is beyond the grace of God. We are all sinners in desperate need of God’s love and forgiveness. Sadly, people who spew out this kind of message chase people away from a loving and merciful God.

            The most effective way to reach someone with God’s love is in a one-on-one conversation. It shouldn’t be a forced conversation. It should flow naturally. It’s important that the person knows you care about them. This often means that bringing up Jesus may not occur in the first or even the second conversation. It is important to build a connection with someone before sharing your faith in Jesus.

            I believe the connection comes from your commitment to listening to the other person. We need to understand their situation, their story. I think that developing a friendship will often open the door for you to share your love for Jesus. Compassion and kindness are often keys that can open people’s hearts, not only to you but to the Lord. If we can help them in their situation, they will be more likely to listen to what we have to say.

            Every human being has a deep need to be loved. People will open their hearts to you when they feel loved and cared for by you. Once they have opened their hearts to you, begin to look for the opportunity to share God’s love with them. Tell them your story. Let them know how God has come through for you in the past. When they can see your experience with God’s love, compassion, and forgiveness, it becomes an invitation for them. People are hungry to be loved and accepted, especially by God.

            I want to encourage you to reflect on your personal story and experience with God. Your story can open doors and make a way for someone to find and build a relationship with God. Everyone who has accepted Jesus was drawn to Him by His great love and unimaginable forgiveness. Be ready and willing to share your story, your testimony, with those in your sphere of influence. If you have never accepted Him as your Lord, I encourage you to open your heart to Him. He stands at the door of your heart and knocks, wanting to have a relationship with you. Don’t put this decision off. You can experience God’s complete forgiveness, be freed from guilt and shame, and know for certain that you will go to heaven. But the most important thing is that you can know that you are loved by the God who created you and everything in the universe.  

Contact Doug Creamer at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com

Character and Politics

by   March 1, 2024 with No Comments

By Roger Barbee

Recently I shared with a friend how I disagreed with a well-known economic expert and his views concerning the economy and pandemic. My friend listened to my rant and then told me that he knew the man, had worked with him, and admired him. While my friend valued the expert’s opinions, he admired mostly how the fellow had overcome a chemical dependency after years of struggle. All of a sudden for me, the person who had previously been only a one-dimensional figure who appeared in the news, became a human being. While I still disagreed with his economic views, I appreciated and honored his struggle and his success.

I have been thinking about that conversation and how public figures are too often judged by what we see of them in the media. While we are free, as I did, to reach conclusions about the political or other philosophies of public figures, we should be careful about forming any opinions  concerning their character.

According to my on-line etymology dictionary our word character is explained as “The meaning of Greek kharaktēr meant an “engraved mark” and was extended in Hellenistic times by metaphor to mean “a defining quality, individual feature.”

Certainly the economic adviser had led “a secret life” while suffering addiction. Perhaps like many addicts he was successful as “a functional addict” who led two lives. And when he  began battling his addiction that few folks were aware of, they would never know of his battle against it. His, like all who seek freedom from a chemical dependency, was a lonely battle, but he faced his demons and began to understand them. His character is defined by his success at overcoming his addiction, not by it.

I am not a trained economist, but like many citizens, I have opinions concerning that field and others. Fine. But opinions become dangerous when they lead to character assessment and that was my error concerning the economic adviser. I allowed my opposition to his economic views to become a judgement of the person, not just his philosophy. But when I learned of his struggles with addiction, his humanity became more important than his philosophy.

The American poet Longfellow writes, “Every heart has its secret sorrows which the world knows not, and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad.” The economic adviser is now freed of his sadness, and I hope to free myself of cold assessments of the character of another.

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