Health (Photo credit: 401(K) 2012)

If a person promotes the things of man without mention of the things of God as primary, then his promotion can only be the result of devils.  There are only two realms on which we can draw our promotions regarding life; that of the Living God, and that of the enemy of God.  Be wise and consider this the next time you hear a commercial about health.

These commercials will instill urgency, fear, and temporary hope (provided you have enough money to afford their extended “hope”).  Who does urgency of the body, fear, and temporary hope come from?  Is this the mark of the Living God in Jesus His Christ?  Obviously the answer is “no”.

It has become the grace of devils to keep you alive in this place of testing as long as they can.  But this “grace” is not for our good.  It extends welcome as long as we consider the body and material wealth as more important than the Holy Spirit and things eternal.  Forsake what they might call “grace” and you will receive their anger in various forms.  This is to our benefit.  For to be rejected by man and devils is to be embraced by the Living God.

We remember the Lord said that if anyone loves his life in this world he will not save it in the age to come.  On the other hand, if we are in love with the thought of losing our lives in this world for the sake of truth found in the Gospel of God, we will keep it for eternal life.

Take note of the vast difference between the message of the devils of hell and the Magnificent Glorious God of Life.  There is a “gospel” of man.  And there is a Gospel of God.  Take care which one you allow to shape your understanding regarding the purpose of the body in which you are presently being tested.

A constrained joy is better than the giddiness of folly.  Once a blessing is received we inhabit a realm of joy.  But as pride goes before a fall, so the unconstrained response to blessing may cause a sowing of the seed of pride.

Better to receive the blessing, deliver the intent of the Holy God of Life, and quickly move to the next encounter.  Keeping our heads bowed to the work at hand is a more sure sacrifice in holy duty.  While, in moments of repose, it is good to purvey our waving fields of Holy bounty, it is more to our advantage to continue sowing until that raised ground of repose is reached.

Then, while we lay peaceful under the Mighty Oak of God, we may take a refreshing luncheon with Him.  It is in this place we learn the proper display of joy which should always accompany the worker of Holiness.

The fool considers that he is due the blessing.  And even the beginning of his enjoyment of the gift becomes an unholy display of wanton behavior.  He ceases his work to consider how tall, strong, beautiful, and wise he is.  He considers that the Lord of Purity recognizes regal personage when He sees it working.

We are but servants who perform as we are commanded.  No man can raise himself up beyond the veil of death.  Even so, once the Lord has brought us to that place we are still but blessed servants of the Most High God.

Our joy now should be as it will be then; full of respect and joy due the Beautiful One who made this place of testing from that which was not.  The remembrance of these things will temper the joy of pride in self.

Receive and sow.  This is the will of God for all His holy people.  Repose when it is come to do so.  There is a Sabbath.  Take joy in duty, not in accomplishment.  In this way we fulfill the desire of He who Lives Forever.

By His Grace.

Words have a power all their own (Photo credit: Lynne Hand)

A word once spoken lives forever.  By our words we will be acquitted.  And by our words we will be condemned.  It is better to be mute than to speak folly with a darkened heart.  The wise man will clamp his tongue till he has weighed the value of sounds it should make.

Many will perceive such silence and pause as that of idiotic disposition.  But there is One who is witness to what is true, eternal, and holy.  His name is Jesus, the Son of the Most High God.  And worthy words, timely, carefully complete and dressed with understanding, with which we might surround that name, are always appropriate.

Thus we speak with great care regarding the ears of our brothers and sisters.  For we are keenly aware that as we treat them, even so we have treated the Lord of Life.  Contemplate how careful man is when surrendering his knees in prayer.  I am not referring to those who by their many words think they will be better heard.  A holy soul will use thoughtful care when addressing the judge who will remember and bring to bear every idle word we have uttered.

How gentle, then, should we be as we let loose that flaming sword of destruction which is housed behind fragile lips?  Better to be thought an idiot of no account than to be joined with those who give daily proof of that title.  We are reminded that the heart is the seat of all words spoken.  Therefore, as we cleanse the heart with contemplation we quench the fire of destruction it wields with delight.

Objectively, we would do well to take the following example in our mind.  We go to the sellers of clothing to dress ourselves for every occasion.  Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall are witness to our attire.  And men, whose tastes will vary, judge our visage with delightful adoration of detail.  A red sock with one that is blue brings laughter for color’s sake.  But the warmth those socks provide is no different than socks of the same mother.  We are counted fools for not observing the sensibilities of those who count themselves as judges of propriety in thread.  Their judgment, however, will leave them a dress of intolerable suffering for holding so tightly to machines invented by human eye.  For they dismiss the glory of soul in favor of the rotting corpse of flesh we all inhabit.

The same is dispensed for us to consume; that our words are so much more valuable than thread.  And if simple minded folk will judge us by the use of it, how much less can we rely on their judgment of our mindful care of eternity in the words we choose to choose use?

Where is the strength of faith the Father has given us?  Do we dare appear foolish for the sake of Holy remembrance on the Day of His final Retention?  He will divide what is true.  We are well advised to keep that moment enthroned in our hearts.  Let that king of heart dispatch our words as a ruler over servants.  Even as a tiny kingdom of its own, we will be held accountable for its intercourse with the nations of others.  So, we do well to strive to send a good report to all who inhabit lands around us.  And we consider that the alliance of wicked nations far outweighs those of the contrite.

All men dress themselves then, not for a seasonable or acceptable report from earth or men.  But we all dress ourselves with a blanket of words we have ordered our tongue to sound.  There is He who is witness to our attire in this manner.  And it is the wise who prepare our clothing to resist that most Blazing Day with ease.  May the Lord of Life bless this word to those who hunger for His Wisdom.  Amen.