Today's "thought" comes from a daily devotional I use most mornings with my daughters. It's called "Jesus Daily," by Aaron Tabor.
He is a medical doctor specializing in Gene Therapy Biotechnology. I chose two selections from the last few weeks that I thought were especially relevant and instructive. Enjoy
Guard
Your Heart
"...for
the LORD will be your confidence and will keep you from being snared."
Proverbs 3:26
"Have
you ever seen an animal in a trap? Whether it was a mouse trap or a
hunter's trap hidden in the woods to catch small game, it can be a painful
sight even when necessary. Most traps feature some kind of bait to
attract the creature to the snare. When the animal attempts to take the bait --
SNAP -- the trap captures them if not kills them.
We
assume we're too smart to get caught in the simple snares that we've seen used
on animals. However, we fall into other kinds of traps just as easily as a
mouse lured by cheese. Too often we don't take precautions to avoid the
temptations that so easily ensnare us. We dodge the truth when others question
us and even lie when loved ones try to hold us accountable.
If
you're going to escape from the snares of sin, you must be wise and guard your
heart. You will need people to help you keep going and occasionally to pull you
out of a trap. And God gives you all the power you need to escape the enemy's
snares and avoid his temptations (I Cor. 10:13)."
Those who have walked
for any time with the Lord know the snares of the devil are everywhere. They
are as plentiful as the dew-laden spiderwebs one sees when they walk through a
field early on a summer morning. The spiders work hard all night building new
webs and preparing snares in places they were not found the day before. Be
careful then, and be on your guard, they are everywhere and new webs can be
formed to ensnare you even in the most familiar territory.
Love
Sincerely
"Love
must be sincere." Romans 12:9
"We're
all aware of the way the word love gets thrown around quite carelessly. We love
the new restaurant that just opened in our neighborhood. We love crazy cat
videos on YouTube. We love the taste of chocolate. We love certain
movies. We love sunsets and mountains. And then there's the way we
love God and experience his love. One word that often comes up to describe this
kind of spiritual love is "sincere."
We
usually think of sincere as a way to describe someone who's genuine, earnest,
unpretentious, and open about their feelings. While it's uncertain, many
scholars believe the [English] word sincere might come from two Latin words --
'sine' meaning 'without' and 'cera' meaning 'wax.' Apparently in ancient Rome
slaves and builders would sometimes gloss over imperfections in marble and
building stones by filling them with wax [or wax mixed with sand and
colors]. Therefore, someone who was "without wax" could be
trusted as a scrupulous, dedicated craftsman of the highest standards.
When we love sincerely, we build our relationship with God, day by day,
committed to a rock-solid faith."
Because we are often
concerned at keeping up appearances, we can try to make it look like we have a
rock-solid faith when in reality it is filled with cracks that we've filled
with wax. And that "insincerity" is often unexposed until the heat of
trials come, the wax melts away, and the cracks (which were there all along)
come to be seen by all.
Better to be without
wax (sincere) -- admitting and confessing the cracks and imperfections --
while we simply plead the grace of our loving Father to trust him more. For
after all, faith, as I often tell people, is not belief without doubt, it is
trusting God in spite of our doubts. When we go by this definition, we lose the
need to deceptively "fill our cracks with wax" in the hope that
people will think us other than we really are.
With you in that
Christian struggle to be real and dependent on God, rather than fake and hope
we can keep our imperfections hidden, Pastor Jeff
