God Reveals His Attributes

Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth; who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.  (Exodus 34:6, 7).

Even if we had the right to, we mustn’t judge folks who don’t respond to God’s love as easily as do we.  Too many people have been abused by their earthly father, which makes it difficult for them to trust their Heavenly Father.

I’m blessed because my birth father – though not perfect by any means – modeled for me many Godly attributes.  He was kind and gentle.  He set rules to keep me safe, and he disciplined me thoughtfully and cautiously – always with love and never out of anger – when I broke those rules.

Our Heavenly Father is compassionate, slow to anger and always ready to forgive.  He also promises to discipline those who make no effort to obey Him.  He gave us rules for living because He loves us, not because He wants to things difficult for us or to keep us from enjoying life.

As grateful children we respond to His love with obedience; we obey because we trust Him; and we trust Him because He is trustworthy.  He will never let us down.

God, you are our perfect parent.  Your word tells us how to live.  Your crucified son, Jesus Christ, shows us how to live.  Your discipline is only as harsh as our rebelliousness requires, and it’s always gentle because of your unfathomable love.  Thank you.

Sandra Milholland, Abilene, Texas

Heard a Good Story Lately?

I love a good story.  Always have.  In fact I don’t know anybody who doesn’t enjoy listening to a good story. Stories have a way of awakening our minds and stoking our imagination. As a story unfolds we naturally anticipate “what’s next”?

I think that partly explains why Jesus told stories. Scripture calls them parables. Jesus had a knack for taking slices of everyday life and serving them up as pictures of what kingdom living is all about. Someone once said to me, “I think about the parables as ‘talking in crayon’”.

Most teachers in Jesus’ day talked about faith in rather complicated terms. Spiritual conversations were mostly heavy and uninteresting. But, Jesus’ style was different. He used stories and imagery from everyday life that allowed his teaching to stoke the imagination and turn the heart toward a divine perspective of life.  He told stories about a farmer planting seed, fishermen and fishing nets, hidden treasure, weddings, and banquets, stewards operating large estates, lost coins, lost sheep and lost sons, trees struggling to bear fruit, and a guy fixated on building it bigger and better until the day he suddenly died. He drew on experiences, attitudes and events that everybody knew about. And, tucked away in every story was a punch line about the kingdom of God.

These simple stories were re-told by gospel writers for a reason. Who among us hasn’t been overwhelmed by life? We know how crazy life can get. We know about its seductions. We know the occasional struggle of trying to hum “this little light of mine” in a world that scoffs at faith and says, “live instinctually”. These stories bring strength and perspective disguised in simple plot lines.  Consider this:

• Has God thrown seed across your life? If so, what kind of ground are you? Am I? Is the seed still bearing fruit in us?
• Do we live oblivious to the fact that Jesus will return or do we, like the stewards who took care of the estate, carry on knowing the master could return any day?
• Do we respect our faith like the guy who found buried treasure in a field and sold everything to buy the field?
• Can we hear the Father’s invitation to come to His table or are we too busy with “our lives” to hear the most magnificent thing any person can hear – the call of God through the gospel of His Son?
• Would we hunt for a person like the lady who searched for a coin or a shepherd a lost sheep or a father his estranged son? And, do we know how to throw parties for people who have come back from the spiritual dead?

Point? We need these stories because they can help us stay focused on what really matters in life.  

My encouragement to us all is to spend some time traveling across the landscape of Jesus’ parables. Tucked away in each story is a “faith awakening” that can bless our lives.

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas

Remember

Sometimes when we are told to “remember” something, it means merely to recall the facts of the matter. Other times, it means that there is something we must do.   For example, if I tell my granddaughter, “Remember you put a cake in the oven.” It is not enough that she recalls that fact. If she does nothing else, the cake will burn and be ruined. But if she watches it, takes it out of the oven when it is done, and ices the cooled cake, then the family will have a lovely dessert.

In 1 Corinthians 11:2, Paul praised the Corinthians for remembering him in everything and for holding to what he had taught them. In the same chapter we are told to take communion in remembrance of Jesus. When we do, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes again. Remembering often demands action.

The lady in the following true story remembered to do most of the necessary things when making a special cake.

It was his birthday, and she wanted to serve him a birthday cake he would always remember. So she gathered everything she needed: the recipe, the ingredients (yes, she was making it from “scratch”), mixing bowl and spoon, baking pan, etc.  When she took the cake out of the oven, it was beautifully done. When the cake was cool enough, she spread the icing on it, adding the icing roses she had made.  When she finished, she stood back to admire her work.  It was the best cake she had ever made; and she was known for her beautiful and delicious cakes. Yes, this cake was the masterpiece that she had hoped for. Surely he would always remember this birthday and this cake.

As she glanced at the clock, she realized that she needed to hurry to get the kitchen cleaned up so she could cook supper. The first thing she must do was wash the dishes she used in making the cake. It was then he heard her scream. He ran quickly into the kitchen to see what happened.

He found her crying beside the ruined cake, which was on the stool she always sat on to wash dishes. But on this day she had put the cake on it to decorate it. The back of her skirt was covered with icing, so he got a dinner knife and began scraping off the icing. Between her sobs she managed to say, “I wanted it to be a cake you would always remember.” As he continued to scrape off the icing, my cousin gently said, “Don’t worry, Honey, I’ll never forget this one!”

Sometimes what you need to do is scrape off the icing and comfort the cook!

Nancy Ferguson

Abilene, Texas