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Gleanings From The Word

Category: sanctification

  • Time is slipping by

    Make the most of it

    Time seems to be flying. It’s already nearing the end of August, and the schools will be starting up in a few weeks. The robins and other birds are beginning to flock up in preparation for their migration south. 

    The fruit trees are heavily laden, and you can see windfall apples wherever there are apple trees. The yellow jackets are getting more aggressive and swarm around anything resembling food, making barbeques and picnics a bit more challenging. We are starting to see the early turning leaves on some trees.

    School supplies are back in stores now. The giant Halloween store that pops up yearly in a vacant spot has already opened. Good luck if you need to replace a piece of summer clothing. Heavy jackets, anyone?

    Time passes. It is a simple fact of this life. Sometimes, it seems to race by, and other times, it creeps ever so slowly, but the clock just keeps ticking. I saw a photo of a child I saw recently as a newborn; she’s a teenager! How is that even possible?

    Time is a priceless commodity, which means that over the years, I have squandered great wealth by unwise use of it.

    We are given very few days to live this life, and none know how many except the Lord (and He isn’t telling).

    Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:13-14 ESV

    Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man! What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Psalm 89:47-48 ESV

    All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:24-25 ESV

    God has given us days to work and days to rest. He gives us seasons of great energy in our youth and seasons of less ability in our more senior years.

    The Lord has given us two incredible gifts. He has given us life itself and the opportunity to glorify God in that life.

    Make the most of it.

    Kevin

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    The Standoff – who wins?

    Jesus tells us to count the cost

    Times change but God doesn’t

    SUMMARY

    Watching the seasons turn reminded me how fast our days actually go, and how easy it is to waste time we can’t get back. Life is short and none of us know how many days we have — so let’s not waste the ones we’ve been given.

    TAKEAWAY

    The turning season — birds flocking, fading summer clothes, early leaves — is a vivid picture of how fast time moves

    Scripture (James 4:13-14, Psalm 89:47-48, 1 Peter 1:24-25) describes our life as a mist and grass that withers, while God’s word alone endures forever

    God has given us two gifts — life itself and the opportunity to glorify Him in it — so the call is to steward the days we’re given

  • Thundereggs – Picture of God’s Hidden Work in Us

    A split McDermit Thunderegg showing the rough exterior and the polished interior

    Thundereggs (or thunder eggs) are one of God’s natural wonders. 

    They are rock nodules that form inside rhyolitic volcanic ash layers, kind of like a filled-in geode. Most are about baseball-sized, though they range from under an inch to over three feet across. On the outside, they just look like plain rocks, but inside they usually have a center of chalcedony, sometimes fractured and filled back in with agate, jasper, or opal. Quartz and gypsum crystals show up often too, along with other mineral growths.

    The real payoff comes when you cut one in half and polish it. What looks like nothing on the outside can reveal intricate patterns and colors inside. And like other agates, thundereggs from the same bed can still vary quite a bit from one to the next, even while keeping a kind of family resemblance. No two are identical.

    Today’s image is of the exterior of a thunderegg beside the cut and polished interior. It’s courtesy of North West Rockhounding. The inside looks far more dramatically beautiful than what we see from the outside.

    For me, they are a great visual reminder of the state of people. From the outside, even on our best days, we don’t seem very much like Christ; it’s even a less attractive picture for non-Christians.

    All people are created in the image of God (Imago Dei), but we are scarred and marred by sin. Believers get a makeover. We are born again and have the imputed righteousness of Jesus, but it takes time, effort and the loving work of the Holy Spirit to transform us.

    There will be a day, though, when all that we were created to be will show through. I can hardly wait.

    He will finish the work He has started in us.

    I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6 ESV

    We come to Him rough, unfinished and unattractive, but He transforms us.

    As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5 ESV

    The beauty of being transformed into His image will be seen by all of His children. What a moment that will be.

    I can hardly wait to see the finished you and me. The world’s finest gems and thundereggs will pale in comparison.

    My God richly bless you.

    Kevin

    SUMMARY

    I share how a thunderegg looks like nothing but a plain rock on the outside, yet holds dazzling color and pattern once it’s cut open and polished. It’s a picture of how we come to Christ rough and unfinished, but He is doing the patient work of transforming us into what we were created to be.

    TAKEAWAY

    Thundereggs form as rock nodules inside volcanic ash, appearing plain outside but often hiding chalcedony, agate, jasper, or opal within

    Believers are made in God’s image but scarred by sin; through Christ we receive imputed righteousness and undergo ongoing transformation by the 

    Holy Spirit

    Philippians 1:6 promises God will finish the good work He started in us, and one day that inner beauty will fully show through

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