If a man does not help on the farm how can he expect to eat from the harvest?

Or perhaps he works well enough around the house to  beautify and perfect.  All the while he despises the worker in the field whose hands are filthy with the toil he is assigned to accomplish.,

Then again, perhaps that man is the worker in the field, who when he comes home for the evening, sees the toil around the house and despises the beautification.

If this is the family of Christ, how limited is our work?  How joyless is our meal together?  And how can we possibly hope to arrive at the harvest with joy?

He has come upon us as one of us, even to abide in those who live today. They have hated and persecuted those who spoke in the name of God.  They hated, reviled, persecuted and killed the Son of God.  They punished and imprisoned and eventually killed the Lords disciples.  Millions have died at the hands of God haters.

Today is no different.  Do not allow yourself to be fooled.  Today is a day for them to mock and revile.  They call names and punish by isolation.  They fill their mouths with lies as if preparing to spit.  See how they anticipate your destruction.  The overflow of your hatred appears as drool.

The hatred of man for the things of God is coiled like a serpent preparing to strike.  They have despised Him who is lovely from the beginning.  Do not allow them too lull you into sleep.

When the time is right they will strike.  They must try to destroy.  For their father leads them toward death.  He has hated and mocked truth. For this he has been dressed in death.   Do not be surprised that his children wear the same clothing.

I said no one cares.  I see that no one is interested in sharing these words with me.  Life demands too much. 

But then I could not shut up.  I saw that it didn’t matter who cared or not.  I answered to myself, ” who are you to judge whether your service is a value?  Did the Lord grant you final authority on all that you do?”

So I sat for a moment.  And my soul remembered the following passage.

But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.  Jeremiah. 20: 9

A dear friend of mine once told me, “It’s best to take a compliment as if you are dead”.  I believed him.  But it has taken years to be able to understand the mechanics of why that’s right. 

I have learned that compliments float by if you pay them no mind.  But if you hold them and examine their intent, you will be injured. 

You see, they have tiny anchors on tiny chains.  While you are holding them the captain lowers all anchors.  As you examine, your pride becomes exposed.  And the tiny anchors latch to the very roots of pride. 

They’re a real pain to unstick since pride hides in our blind spot.  Usually one must swallow a few “horse pill” size doses of humiliation.   This will reduce the size of your pride and the tiny anchors will loose their grip.

Since flattery abounds, and the threat often comes from nowhere, it’s best to keep taking humiliation as a daily dosage.