Tag Archives: dilligence

Stick IT!

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I can’t tell people what to do to gain eternal life.  I can point them to the Lord Jesus.  I can mention the expectations of the Most High God regarding His Holy and Righteous Son.  But I can’t tell them how to put all that stuff into practice.

I can tell them to read the Bible.  But it’s up to them to do it.  I can tell them to pray.  But I’m not suppose to be privy to such a holy event, no matter how short.  I can tell them that they will do well to DO what they learn.  But I can’t make em.

So I don’t try much any more.  I tried to stick with em.  But I didn’t have the stick-to-itive-ness necessary to stick-to-em long enough to see em stick-with-it.  I’ll just stick-to-da-road and write about stick-to-itive-ness.

Worthy Servants

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We present what we are given, and in a manner we have received.  As a man combs his hair, because that is how his hair roots were formed, so we are bent to deliver what we have received.

Should a servant go out and attack his master’s enemies?  How should that servant know the subtle knowledge of his master?   A servant is confined to his service.  He is not privy to the upbringing of his master.  He is sent from the room when conversation of importance are held.  How should he know the full wisdom of his master’s business among men?

Wouldn’t it be better if such a servant were to ask his master, “My lord, is there something I might do to help you against your enemies?  Forgive me, but I perceive that they attack your estate with malicious intent.  I owe you my life, for the sake of what you provide for me.  You have my lowly place at your disposal.”

Such a servant will be respected for the sake of his love and dedication.  That servant may never use a sword against the enemies of his master.  But he will certainly be remembered as one who is prepared to render “good” service.

In the same way, should we give counsel to the Most High God?  Shall we determine to attack and devour His unholy enemies?  Such servants of God will find themselves being counseled by Holy Words.  They presume to know what they cannot possibly know.

Each man of God should speak according to the faith he has received.  But let him take counsel as to his position.  Let him draw a distinction between his lowly and restrained state of affairs, and the Eternity that is the counsel of God’s Holy Wisdom to act among men.

Can I make this clearer?  I must ask, and have asked, myself: “What has the Christ of God allowed you to do for His Holy Kingdom?”  I find that this place of testimony is the pinnacle of my service to the world.  But I must also recognize the value of a life lived as a servant to all men.  Even as the Holy Lord Himself is a servant to all creation.

This is the message given to me personally this morning.  “Remember the place you retain.  Take a good look at where you have been summoned to perform.  Be wary of presumption.  Remember what brought you to the place you inhabit in My Grace.”

I share this with you because I am no different from any man.  The temptation to move beyond the Lord’s blessing comes to every one of His servants, sooner or later.  It is good to avoid the tears of regret that will surely come to the servant who presumes to know his Master’s business.  It is best to revel with great joy that we have done the tiny things He has allowed us to do.

The Insane Farmer

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There was a man who inherited a beautiful Farm.  It was situated on an open plain, high above the valley.  His acreage was mixed with a large open meadow and a forest of trees.  The house on the property was exceedingly well-built and perfectly proportioned for the life of one man.

When he went into the house to claim his inheritance, he found it in pristine order.  It was furnished with everything he might need.  On the dining room table was a note that had been left for the new owner.  The note read as follows:

“You will find this place perfectly suited to you.  I have lived my life here as will you; isolated yet healthy.  Troubled, yet busy.  Farming is no easy business.  But you will grow to appreciate the gift.

You will find a good bag of seeds in the pantry.  Plow and plant a good crop, as seems best to you.  The ground is very fertile.  The crop you raise will produce a good profit for your labor.  You will also find a sled, a saw, and an axe in the barn. 

I leave you with only two stipulations.  Give of the overflow of your crop to the people in the valley below.  And as you find yourself able and willing, produce plenty of firewood.  The overflow of wood you are to bear on the sled to the people in the valley below also.

Otherwise you are more than welcome to live the rest of your life in this beautiful place I have prepared from my successor.”

The soul of the man was overjoyed to do the things required of him.  And in his first year he found the land rich and the trees prime for harvest.  The work was, indeed difficult.  But the joy of harvest overcame the sweat, blood, and frustrations.  After delivery of his first gifts to the valley, he sat well satisfied.  Giving of his harvest had made it all worthwhile.

The man was not a good farmer but he was willing to learn.  And the cutting down the trees was difficult at first.  But he was faithful to deliver his abundance of crop and firewood to the people below.

But there is a reason why this man was picked to inherit this beautiful gift.  The previous owner had been looking for just such as he to hand down the property.  The current owner had a bit of an insane bend.

He would work for weeks as a perfectly rational farmer.  Then the sky would be witness to a moment or two of insanity.

On random days, the morning would see him go to the barn.  He would take his well made shovel and head out to the field.  With wild-eyed diligence, he would dig a small trench around a tiny portion of crop.  When the trench had isolated that portion, he would set it on fire.  With his insanity satiated from his odd work, he would go back to the house with his head hung low.

Throughout the night perplexity would overcome him with sorrow.  No mater how he reasoned, he could not explain his lack of wisdom.  And as the next morning came, the sky would be witness to him as he sat on his front porch trying to understand.

At first such moments in the morning were filled with sorrow and tears.  But as the years passed, the sky would see him wrestle, in truth, to accept what he could not change.

He was a man mixed with faithful endurance and ridiculous insanity.  Thus the reason for his isolation.  Who in the valley would understand?  Yet by his beautiful inheritance, he gave them what he could.

How many of us are like this man?  Though we know to do good, we find ourselves doing evil.  And how do we find ourselves able to explain this insanity?

Perhaps there are many who can overcome this circus of failure.  But for the majority, overcoming does not appear.

But take note of the man’s response to his own incredible weakness.  He was faithful to deliver the expectation.  And he did not flinch to provide.  While sanity ruled his days, he worked from sun up to sun down.  Determination remained to fulfill his charge.  And who can say?  Perhaps his sane determination was in excess; so as to replace what his insanity destroyed.

When you find those moments of sorrow, endure them with what truth lives in your soul.  Then get back to your feet and get back to work.  There are people depending on what faithfulness you are able to sustain.

Do not let your failings disrupt the needs of others.  They too have their own moments of unexplainable insanity.  But by our meager faithfulness, the community of men is sustained.

P. S. This story makes no mention of grace, nor the Gospel.  But the Grace of God, and the Good News of Christ, are the singular reason for every work produced here.

By His Grace

The Grant

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Let the man who perceives his poverty go to the rich man.  Let the pauper ask for a grant.  If the rich man is truly rich, he will accent.

But let the pauper stay a while to gain wisdom in dispensing this wealth.  For he did not know how to tend to his own.  How will he now tend to that which is freely given?  Won’t he become a pauper again?

Let regret stay a long distance from your door, O’ Pauper.  Stay and learn from he who knows how to retain.

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I have millions of regrets for things I’ve done.  But I cannot allow a singular item to become an item of regret.

I have received a luxurious grant from the Lord, through the wisdom and diligence of an elderly man.

Many years ago, I became a Christian.  When that happened, the Lord brought a wonderful example of Christianity to me.

I learned volumes, regarding the diligence necessary to retain what I had been granted.

Regret came decades later when I realized I left that wonderful man far too soon.  I did end up squandering that wealth, to some degree.
And I paid a heavy price for about 10 years.

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So let it be that a man who perceives his poverty should go to He who is rich beyond measure.  Let him ask.  He will receive.

But let that beggar stay a while.  Let him sit at the feet of a God sent mentor.  Let come what may, secure diligence!

What’s it Take?

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I watched out the upstairs window, at a Blue Jay and a Robin.  “How cute.” I mused.  “They are waiting their turn with a piece of bread.”

But a piece of bread does not flutter when a bird lifts its head from pecking.  It was the Robin’s baby!

For a moment, she took her eyes off her love.  The Blue Jay took opportunity.  Now the baby languishes toward death, while the mother watches from a small distance.  Helpless to hope.  Lacking in size and talent to fight back.  Unable to morn.  Yet unable to look away.

I looked immediately for relevance to humanity, Christianity, and the nature of Spiritual reality.  “How does this apply to us?”

I remembered my thoughts in the shower.  “diligence gives life.  Slothfulness invites death.

Men love to play, rest, relax and be slothful.  Every man either fights against it, or he gives in rather often.  “What’s the matter with just hangin out?”  Everything is wrong with just hangin out!

A buzzard is a fright filled animal.  He loves peace and tranquility.  Yet when hunger comes, he must embrace a certain elevated level of stress.  He hates it.  But it’s a necessity.

Demons are much the same.  They hate righteousness.  They love peace and tranquility.  They are sloth amplified.  So when they come across someone just hangin out, they look with intense interest.  “Is he dead to God?  Or is there still some faith left.  Will he agree with my wicked and unholy desires?  Or will he balk at suggestions?”  If you agree with their enticements, they will consume you.

In my 60 years, I’ve learned that diligence produces peace and tranquility.  When things are in order and finished, there is a time to hang out.  But you won’t find diligent people hanging out to play games till sun up.  They will be tired and ready for rest.

Yet they will take the time to pray; that precious sacrifice of “last hour of strength”.  They will have busied themselves all day with things that matter, taking care of the charge before them.  They will not have even caught the eye of demons.  And, when their day is done, they will ask the Lord of Life to watch over their unconscious mind.  They are diligent to the core.  And they will LIVE.

Rest, peace, play and slothfulness will murder you.  Those who love you will watch with mute horror, as you are devoured by wicked behavior.  Your house will become a trash heap of useless dribble.  And life will elude you all your days.