Wood, Hay, Stubble & Plastic

    The Apostle Paul said, "as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, (For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.) I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood , hay, stubble;" and plastic? (1 Cor 3:10-16)

    I work in the bottled water industry. (I am not at liberty to say which bottling giant I work for but it's not Hershey.) Most days I watch as empty plastic bottles come into my filling room at several hundred bottles per minute, the air is evacuated from the empty bottles, and streams of pure water replace the displaced air.  The filled, capped, bottles then run (at several hundred bottles per minute) through a labeling machine and then off to the next stage of production.

   While at work, my mind on spiritual things, I see analogies abound.  We believers are like these plastic bottles.  Empty and, well, "plastic".  If we do not lay aside the lusts and works of the flesh to make room for the Spirit daily, the rivers of living water, that Jesus said would be characteristic of believers, cannot flow through us.

   We may have a good label, we may "go through the motions" properly, but if we are not filled and running over to others then we are building the wrong things on the right foundation.

    We believers are all like a container of water, labeled (if we belong to a church), but we are also made of "plastic".  That part of us that is called the FLESH.  The FLESH is ugly.  One Star Trek encounter had the alien life-force calling us "ugly bags of  mostly water." or something like that. It's true, that's what we are.  Part of us is still deeply affected by our fallen Adamic nature.

   We need to be careful how we build on the Foundation of the Truth.  "Are we so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are we now made perfect in the flesh?" (from Galatians)  Anything that we fake; that we have to plaster on a "plastic" smile and muttle through, will be wood, hay, and stubble.

"Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

Let's be sure we are building with gold, silver, and precious stones; those things that only the Spirit of God can produce.  "He must increase, WE must decrease!"

Pray Without Seizing

                We were heading up to the Rangeley Lakes Region here in Maine for a few days of R & R earlier this week and on the drive north the subject of prayer came up.  I don’t remember how it came up, but my nine year old daughter took the occasion to inform us that her devotional in the morning was all about that.  She said that she learned we are supposed to “pray without seizing.” To which she was astonished when we all had a good and hearty bout of laughter.

                She ordinarily is a very proficient reader but we explained to her that the word she pronounced “seizing” is actually pronounced “ceasing”.  We are supposed to pray without stopping.  We, in our minds, in our thought life, can enjoy constant unbroken heavenward dialogue.  We lovingly praise the Lord, petition for others, pray about our needs, and “yes” we do it without “seizing”.  Without grabbing, without clutching our fist, without confiscating what we think we want.  We pray saying, “LORD if you would be pleased with it, I’d like to go and do this or that.” And “LORD if it be your will I would like…”

                We bring our requests to God, we have not because we ask not, but we have to be careful not to ask amiss and pray selfishly, share your heart with the LORD, leave the answer up to Him.

“He must increase, WE must decrease.” By the way, He will and does answer.  Sometimes He answers in very clear, profound, and specific ways.  But if you’re going to expect specific answers you’ll need to get specific with your requests.

A Black Man is my Brother

You mean, “A Christian black man is your Christian brother, Don’t you?” No. I mean a black man is my brother. And an Asian man is my brother, and a French man is my brother, and an Italian man is my brother too.  The Apostle Paul, while standing on Mars Hill and speaking to the men of Athens, said that God “made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,” (Acts 17:26 KJV).  We are all descendants of Adam, and we are all descendants of Noah, we are all of one blood.  You can ask a geneticist why we have different races in the human race.  I am sure he/she can give you an acceptable answer.

I used to get more than slightly offended (in my days of Pharisee-ism) when someone at work or elsewhere, who named the name of Christ, but didn’t walk as He walked, would call me brother.  I would think, “You’re not my brother!” but the truth of the matter is that he is.  So are the in-your-face homosexuals I used to work with, and the man who while under the influence of alcohol smashed up my car, and the lawyers who helped OJ Simpson, and OJ, and the IRS agent downtown who seems to lack compassion. They are all my brothers and sisters. That is to say, as part of the Human ‘family’ they are of one blood with me.  Perhaps you don’t like this but it is nevertheless true.

Now, that is not to say that they are my Christian brothers and sisters. The bible says “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:26 KJV) and Jesus said “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” (John 3:5-7 KJV)

As I looked into the eyes of my friend McKinley at church this morning and talked to him and his wife Belinda I did not see a black couple.  The color of their skin did not but come as an afterthought.  I saw my Christian brother and my Christian sister, and I saw two people who were also part of the 'universal brotherhood' of mankind.  In your dealings with people; both good people and not so nice people do you see them, and treat them, as brothers and sisters.  Jesus said you should.  In fact not only did He say we should do this, he also walked His talk, He demonstrated His love for all mankind when He laid down His life for all their , all our sins.

Rom 5:6-8 says “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.  For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.  But God ‘demonstrated’ his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Bible says we are supposed to do good unto ALL men, then it says especially those who are of the household of faith.  So I ask again, In your dealings with people; both good people and not so nice people, and people of all ethnic origins, do you see them, and treat them, as brothers and sisters.  Jesus said you should. 

"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;"  Nations is the Greek 'ethnos' from which we get the English 'ethnic'.  All who are born again are born of one Spirit.  We are brothers.

“He must increase, WE must decrease!” and we must honor Him by loving ALL others indiscriminately and without exception.  Obviously, if they are unbelievers, if they are in any danger, eternal or otherwise, we would not be loving them if we didn't find a way to warn them. 

Are they in any danger? See my post "WHO IN HELL CARES?!?!" To Share This or Any of these stories simply click on any of the links below. Stay Humble... Stay Free!

Grinding in the Shop

I have been at my current place of employ for almost 12 years and I have been on the Safety Committee there for nearly as long.  One Thursday morning while day-dreaming through part of a safety meeting (I sometimes do that.)  I heard the plant manager say something about the hazard potential of someone “grinding in the maintenance shop”.

Immediately I saw in my mind’s imagination station what my son and several of his friends would have seen.  In my mind I pictured someone on a skateboard pulling an Ollie onto a bench and sliding the board across the edge of the bench.  What skateboarders call “grinding”.

Now obviously this is not what the plant manager had in mind.  He meant someone working at a bench grinder.  He was talking about, by way of an example, what potential hazards could exist.  I think we were discussing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and he was getting us to ‘brainstorm’ about where we could improve on that.

I must not have slept well the night before because instead of paying attention to him (sorry boss, I really do listen better than this) I was thinking about the words and catch phrases we believers in Christ use and how that must sound to unbelievers. 

We use so many clichés, catch phrases, obscure verses (that they can’t understand anyway), and terms to try to explain the very simple gospel message to them. 

What we say is rarely exactly what people think they hear or what they understand when we do this.  Most of the time they must leave scratching their heads or thinking that we “have a screw loose”. (to use another cliché)

We really should simplify our presentation of the wonderfully profound truth of the gospel.  The truth that we are all basically flawed (sinners), that by breaking our Creator’s moral Laws we are under penalty of death and condemnation (I know, they don’t like to hear that), but because His love is as real and as strong as His Righteous Indignation against sinners, He provided a Savior, Jesus (The sinless substitute) died for our crimes against His holiness to justify us freely, then He rose from the grave triumphantly victorious over death (the penalty for our sin).  If He had remained dead we could have no hope. 

They need to understand that all they need to do is “look to Jesus”, oops, another cliché, all they need to do is believe in, trust in, Him and they can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life rather than eternal death.

The things of God are so very clear to the believer but we need to remember that the spiritual understanding of the unbeliever is clouded, is blocked, and is blinded by the very sin that Jesus wants to save them from. 

 If you are prone to use clichés when talking to unbelievers you will have to make the extra effort to explain what you mean.

If you are not yet a believer and

someone tries to talk to you about

the salvation that Jesus offers,…

If you are interested,…

If you are “thirsty” to know more

but don’t understand completely,…

ask them to explain. 

Tell them to clarify what this or that means. 

 If they have gone out of the way to talk to you about Him

they will take the time to break it down further.

Christian reader, we have to be careful that we are not too concerned with telling them how much we know, we must be careful to tell them simply what they need to know. 

If they become a believer you will have plenty of time to answer questions and share all the wonderful insights God has given you.

“He must increase… WE must decrease!”

Slow on the Uptake

My last name DILL means Descendant of Dill or Dila (The Dull One), another definition is Son of Dullard. (According to the New Dictionary of American Family Names.)

As I mentioned in other Blog entries,

 I am a production worker,

and on the days that I work,

if everything runs well, 

I basically have twelve hours to kill. 

I do periodic tests,

add a few raw materials to my line,

and think ….

(I pray, plan, meditate on His promises ~ IF YOU HAVE A PRESSING PRAYER NEED ~ AN URGENT MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH ~ A SOUL ON THE ‘EDGE’ OF RECEIVING OR LEAVING MATTER ~ inbox my Facebook message box with a brief prayer request and know that I will be praying about it for you.) 

Sometimes, during my time at work, I like to plug words into Microsoft Excel Thesuarus to get a few new synonyms for my 'collection'.

I tried: Dullard and Dolt and got nothing for results.

Then I tried Dull: there we go! stupid, thick, unintelligent, dense, slow, dim-witted, obtuse...

and then I Had to Laugh, also listed was... "slow on the uptake"...

That's it.  If someone asks what my name means I will tell them it means Son of Dila (the dull one).

It means,... 

um,...

I'm,...

well,...

slow on the uptake, that explains a lot!

Funny Huh?

(Unless you're a Dill

and you lost your sense of humor

behind your sense of pride.)

I also tried: "follower" and got admirer,

adherent, disciple, devotee,

fan, and get this...

a "hanger-on".

 If you are a disciple of, a believer in, a follower of, Jesus Christ and you are going through something that seems impossible to get through... "hang-on". Jesus said He would never, never leave you and never, never forsake you. 

After twenty-two years of living in the light of His promises I can honestly say He has never let me down. Though I have "let Him down" too many times to count.  And though you may "let Him down" from time to time, He will not let you down.

In all reality He knows our "up rising and our down sitting, and He knows our thoughts afar off." (from Psalm 139) Because He knows before hand our actions and thoughts, and because He knows the stuff we're made of, it is impossible really for us, those who trust in Him, to "let Him down", rather it is He who waits to "hold us up" and to show Himself strong on our behalf. 

Hang on, don't give up, don't quit... He will not let you down.

Call out to Him. If sin is keeping you from Him, agree with Him that it is sin and call out to Him.  He is faithful and just to forgive it and to clean you up again.  Humble yourself, put Him first...

If there is no sin and your conscience is clear... keep hanging on, He will not allow you to be tested in a greater way than you are prepared to handle.  Continue to praise Him even when it is most difficult to do so...

"He must increase, WE must decrease!"

There'sabigANT in the toilet

While a very dear friend of ours was out of state for a while her 4 year old daughter, Autumn, was spending the week at our home.  One hot mid-afternoon we were all out in the pool cooling off and having some fun when Autumn decided she had to go 'pee' so I instructed her to go inside and use the toilet.

I completely forgot about her and after some time went by (maybe 10 minutes) I had a strange feeling that something wasn't right.  Then it occurred to me.  Autumn, Oh my dear, I forgot Autumn.  I got out of the pool and ran into the house dripping wet. I could hear Autumn crying, and it kind of echoed through the house. "Autumn, Autumn, where are you!" I was really worried.  Her voice led me into the bathroom where she was sitting on the pot.

"Autumn,  what is it?" I said. Through her sobbing she said what sounded like, "There'sabigANT in the toilet!, Waaaaaa, Sob, Sob." She looked terrified. I didn't do anything right away. I was ready with a lecture. "Its just a bug, it wont hurt you, quit crying it will be okay, etc.,etc." Then I repeated what I thought she said, "There's a big ant in the toilet??"

She said, "Nooooooo, I'm slipping in the toilet!".... then I realized.  She thought she was going down the drain, no wonder she looked terrified... I quickly pulled her up off the seat and placed her on the floor. " I'm so sorry Autumn. Are you alright?" , "Get dressed, lets go outside where it's warm."  The air conditioning was running and she was shaking.

I was ready to give her a four point sermon when all she wanted was help out of her trouble.  I am learning to be "swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath" as the Word says but we are so prone to jump to conclusions, speak on first impulse, or assume we understand without qualifying the situation.

"God help me to be swift to hear, help me to have compassion; to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with You. I want You to increase in my life, I want self to decrease."

The following day, 

when it was time for Autumn to do her business again,

I said "Don't fall in." 

She replied, "No, Uncie Carl, It's only when I'm slippery." 

Made me think, we need to make sure we're not 'slippery',

and when we are we need to be willing to accept the 4 point sermon.

"He Must increase, WE must decrease!"