A LITTLE BIT of news drew my attention this morning. Disputers for the second year protested at the Academy Awards because no blacks were included in the prize. When I was a girl I looked forward to the awards. But thru the years it has become more of a celebration of foul mouth, dysentery and indecent behaviors and exposures. Those who attend the movies tell the tales, but the stars want the accolades of their comrades. They want to be included in the ‘who’s who’ for any given year!
WHEN the super bowl rolls around plans are made and the guest list grows long. Granted, many want to watch the game, but mostly it is about the food and of course who’s on the ‘who’s who’ list. The football fans who attend choose their team because, more than likely, neither team is their favorite! I guess the winners, are the ones who chose the winning team!
COMPETITION is a long running game. Some thrive on competition and others just sit on the side lines becoming engrossed in the success or failures of those who are actually playing the game. It takes more than what I have, to sit that long any more, to watch the game. But I do remember being in the stands watching “Crazy Legs Hersh” running the length of the field in pouring down rain. Was I rooting for the winner? No! I just went because my brother wanted to go and no one else would go with him.
JESUS tells the story of the workers standing on the corner hoping someone would come along and hire them for the day. A landowner drove up and promised them all a days wage and they jumped on board. The job required more workers so mid morning the landowner went back to the corner of hopefuls and hired an additional crew for the same wage. The job was still in progress but not completed at noon, so the landowner became hopeful, and find more applicants standing on the corner and hired the rest of them for a days wage. The landowner went two more times that day and hired more workers for the same wage. When the job was completed the landowner ordered that all workers be paid, beginning the with those hired last. Each were paid a fair wage as promised. Which was the same wage!
WHAT A DAY! Those who worked only one hour were paid the same as those who worked all day. When the men who worked all day received their fair wage, they began to grumble. The landowner responded with “Listen, Friend, I have not cheated you. After all, you agreed to do a days’s work. Now, take your pay and go home. I want to give this man who was hired last as much as I have given you. Don’t I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous!” Matthew 20:13-15
THE CENTRAL theme in this parable is that the workers in the Kingdom of heaven will all receive the same reward, which is eternal life, even though they work different periods of time. Some come to Christ early in life and worked all day. Others do not learn of Christ until late in life, and only work “one hour!” There are differing levels of responsibility. There are different talents brought to the table. God’s reward is the same for all!
“AND JESUS CONCLUDED; So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last.” Matthew 20:16 First last and the last first; Interesting phraseology! This was saying that the Jews, who were first to be called by God, would not receive more than the Gentiles (which is us), who were last to be called. The first to be called to the Kingdom of heaven was the Jews. But God grafted in the Gentiles (adopted us) as well.
WE ARE NOT in competition for who’s who! God’s favor is for those who are on His team. We belong to Him! We are not our own, we have been bought with a price. Let us consider the price paid as we love one another. Let us choose to activate our tired bones and leave our place on the side lines. All for one and one for all! Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/27/16
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Saturday, February 20, 2016
WE ARE MORE..... 2/21/16
A FEW YEARS ago I was diagnosed with ‘High Fructose Corn Syrup Malabsorption.’ This is a fairly new condition caused by the digestive system to not process certain foods. The side affects can vary but mine was muscle cramping in my stomach along with diarrhea, besides other factors. It took many years to find out the problem but what a relief when they told me what I had. It was another thing, when they told me there was no cure and there were no medicines to treat it. A change in my eating habits was needed!
SINCE this condition was new there were few resources for me to read and to understand and know what foods I could eat, and what foods I needed to stay away from. My Doctor said it would be ‘trial and error!’ There was a book written by a married couple. They both had this condition and in reading their discoveries, no two people were alike. The husband could eat green beans but the wife couldn’t. Trial and error was not a pleasant thought. If I chose wisely my life would be good; but if I chose badly life would be miserable.
I HAVE LEARNED that to experiment, was not for me! I didn’t want to know that I was possibly going to hurt and go thru much discomfort by choice. Many times error’s occurred because I didn’t foresee any problems. Because the foods I can’t eat, aren’t generally caused just by high fructose corn syrup; I have to be on my toes all the time. I ask questions at restaurants; I am not afraid to hurt someone feelings, because I won’t even taste their food they have made. I no longer eat the kinds of foods that I have always loved, and that brought me momentary happiness. I discovered when eating only the foods that I could eat, I could be happy all the time.
RECENTLY it occurred to me that if I can learn to eat only to live, and be successful (for the most part), then I should be able to not sin, successfully. I know that thru baptism my sins are not only forgiven but the Holy Spirit came to live in me. I have help to keep my body under control! Because “All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God!” Romans 3:23 I know I am sinful! I also believe that Christ died for all sins and therefore when I confess and repent of my sins God has promised to forgive me! But I still sin!
WITH THE Holy Spirit within me, what if, even though I am forgiven for all my past sins when I was baptized, what about being able to control my present and future sins? The Word says; “I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me!” Philippians 4:13 What would that look like? Could I actually do that? Has anyone ever lived or is living now, able to be sinless, other than our Savior? If we can do all things, is being sinless one of the things we can do? Paul said; “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” 1st Corinthians 9:24-27
I BELIEVE Paul was closer to becoming sinless than anyone I know about! And yet, he was a sinful man. Paul talks about things that cannot separate us from God especially death, when we belong to Jesus. I believe that continuing in sin can grieve the Holy Spirit and keep us from receiving eternal life. Because although God doesn’t choose to leave us, we can choose to leave Him. How sad for our souls!
“NO, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37 Paul says nothing can separate us from God’s love. If I can control what I eat so I will not physically hurt; like Paul, I can buffet my body so my soul will be pleasing to the Father. I can try and “set my mind upon the things above and not on the things of this earth.” Colossians 3:2
Satan get behind me; I belong to Jesus! Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/20/16
SINCE this condition was new there were few resources for me to read and to understand and know what foods I could eat, and what foods I needed to stay away from. My Doctor said it would be ‘trial and error!’ There was a book written by a married couple. They both had this condition and in reading their discoveries, no two people were alike. The husband could eat green beans but the wife couldn’t. Trial and error was not a pleasant thought. If I chose wisely my life would be good; but if I chose badly life would be miserable.
I HAVE LEARNED that to experiment, was not for me! I didn’t want to know that I was possibly going to hurt and go thru much discomfort by choice. Many times error’s occurred because I didn’t foresee any problems. Because the foods I can’t eat, aren’t generally caused just by high fructose corn syrup; I have to be on my toes all the time. I ask questions at restaurants; I am not afraid to hurt someone feelings, because I won’t even taste their food they have made. I no longer eat the kinds of foods that I have always loved, and that brought me momentary happiness. I discovered when eating only the foods that I could eat, I could be happy all the time.
RECENTLY it occurred to me that if I can learn to eat only to live, and be successful (for the most part), then I should be able to not sin, successfully. I know that thru baptism my sins are not only forgiven but the Holy Spirit came to live in me. I have help to keep my body under control! Because “All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God!” Romans 3:23 I know I am sinful! I also believe that Christ died for all sins and therefore when I confess and repent of my sins God has promised to forgive me! But I still sin!
WITH THE Holy Spirit within me, what if, even though I am forgiven for all my past sins when I was baptized, what about being able to control my present and future sins? The Word says; “I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me!” Philippians 4:13 What would that look like? Could I actually do that? Has anyone ever lived or is living now, able to be sinless, other than our Savior? If we can do all things, is being sinless one of the things we can do? Paul said; “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Well, I do not run aimlessly, I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” 1st Corinthians 9:24-27
I BELIEVE Paul was closer to becoming sinless than anyone I know about! And yet, he was a sinful man. Paul talks about things that cannot separate us from God especially death, when we belong to Jesus. I believe that continuing in sin can grieve the Holy Spirit and keep us from receiving eternal life. Because although God doesn’t choose to leave us, we can choose to leave Him. How sad for our souls!
“NO, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37 Paul says nothing can separate us from God’s love. If I can control what I eat so I will not physically hurt; like Paul, I can buffet my body so my soul will be pleasing to the Father. I can try and “set my mind upon the things above and not on the things of this earth.” Colossians 3:2
Satan get behind me; I belong to Jesus! Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/20/16
Saturday, February 13, 2016
GIFT OF LOVE! 2/14/16
ONE OF the most favorite passages in the scriptures is 1st Corinthians 13! It talks about the way of love and how love can be the most superior of gifts, of all the gifts, mentioned in the Bible. Many of the gifts mentioned in chapter 12 are no longer available to us because we have the WORD; the Bible! God doesn’t have to prove to us in those ways because we are without excuse. Jesus has come, and is waiting for us to join Him in His home in heaven! At my age, that is getting closer every day!
“EARNESTLY desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:31 LOVE! Where are we in loving one another? Where are we in loving our spouse? How do our children respond to our loving them always? What about other family and friends? And then there is loving your church family, and those in the world!
GOD’S WORD instructs us that love is the one gift that never loses its power or effect, and we are all called to have this gift. As a matter of fact the scriptures says; “Love never ends!” With love we become closer to being what God has created us to be. “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.!” 1st Corinthians 13:4-7
PAUL defines love in a beautiful way, doesn’t he! I love it when Jim is buying me a card. It can be an anniversary, birthday or a Valentine. I love it because I know he chooses the one I get. It is not just buying a card to him. It has to say what he wants to say! One time he wrote on the bottom of the Valentine; “And it’s true; It really does please me to be with you!” WOW! And we have been married longer than we were alive on our wedding day!
THE INTERESTING thing about love is that we must decide to love. We can’t trust our feelings because they fluctuate. Our brain decides and our heart becomes involved because they both give us notable desires to please God. Because loving is on purpose, we know it doesn’t just happen or come upon us. Although many say they love at first sight and that could be a desire of the heart alone. But when our head gets involved with the heart, we can stop and consider what is best. When you consider that love is the highest form of war-fare; a battle of the mind and emotion, many would not have experienced the complexities of becoming unevenly yoked or not being compatible or becoming involved in a relationship that ends in disaster.
WALKING IN LOVE costs you something. It is the sacrifice of self! That is when your love becomes real. Not light or fat free but the real thing! “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And He said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:36-39
SINCE GOD says that love is the most important thing we can do, we should give it a try! We are to put on love! Revelations says “stay awake and put your clothes on!” Perhaps that is because in Galatian’s it says; “Clothe yourself in love!” If we clothe ourselves in love it can be the answer to all our problems. When we can’t help ourselves, we can help someone else. Perhaps that is why Paul said; “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose " Romans 8:28
“BUT I SAY to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the good and the bad and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Matthew 5:44-45 Forget about yourself and love when there is nothing in it for you! Rewards are nice but they perish. God’s love is everlasting! Praise God for His loving us so that we can love! Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/12/16
“EARNESTLY desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” 1 Corinthians 12:31 LOVE! Where are we in loving one another? Where are we in loving our spouse? How do our children respond to our loving them always? What about other family and friends? And then there is loving your church family, and those in the world!
GOD’S WORD instructs us that love is the one gift that never loses its power or effect, and we are all called to have this gift. As a matter of fact the scriptures says; “Love never ends!” With love we become closer to being what God has created us to be. “Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.!” 1st Corinthians 13:4-7
PAUL defines love in a beautiful way, doesn’t he! I love it when Jim is buying me a card. It can be an anniversary, birthday or a Valentine. I love it because I know he chooses the one I get. It is not just buying a card to him. It has to say what he wants to say! One time he wrote on the bottom of the Valentine; “And it’s true; It really does please me to be with you!” WOW! And we have been married longer than we were alive on our wedding day!
THE INTERESTING thing about love is that we must decide to love. We can’t trust our feelings because they fluctuate. Our brain decides and our heart becomes involved because they both give us notable desires to please God. Because loving is on purpose, we know it doesn’t just happen or come upon us. Although many say they love at first sight and that could be a desire of the heart alone. But when our head gets involved with the heart, we can stop and consider what is best. When you consider that love is the highest form of war-fare; a battle of the mind and emotion, many would not have experienced the complexities of becoming unevenly yoked or not being compatible or becoming involved in a relationship that ends in disaster.
WALKING IN LOVE costs you something. It is the sacrifice of self! That is when your love becomes real. Not light or fat free but the real thing! “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And He said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:36-39
SINCE GOD says that love is the most important thing we can do, we should give it a try! We are to put on love! Revelations says “stay awake and put your clothes on!” Perhaps that is because in Galatian’s it says; “Clothe yourself in love!” If we clothe ourselves in love it can be the answer to all our problems. When we can’t help ourselves, we can help someone else. Perhaps that is why Paul said; “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose " Romans 8:28
“BUT I SAY to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the good and the bad and sends rain on the just and the unjust. Matthew 5:44-45 Forget about yourself and love when there is nothing in it for you! Rewards are nice but they perish. God’s love is everlasting! Praise God for His loving us so that we can love! Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/12/16
Saturday, February 6, 2016
BODY, SPIRIT AND SOUL! 2/7/16
WHAT DID JESUS come to save? We talk about the body, spirit and soul, but do we understand what they are? Sometimes I think I get it and other times I become confused. I listen to the preachers, and their understanding, and read God’s Word in relation to what is said; and I become conflicted. It is sort of like listening to the candidates running for President. Each one states their platform with passion, but those competing explain it their way for each candidate, and your mind plays tricks on you in making a firm decision.
“FOOD IS MEANT for the stomach and the stomach for food. God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immortality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the Body!” 1st Corinthians 6:13 I believe God did not come to save the physical body! I believe my body will perish and decay, just like yours! The body was created to serve the Lord and the Lord is available to the body.
“THEN THE LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7 With breath God gave man a spirit. He was not only physical but spirit, he was alive! “It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written; The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit!” 1st Corinthians 15:44-45 The body of corruption when buried, will decay and be destroyed, but the spirit within, will live eternally.
THE QUESTION IS; when does the body become spiritual? I believe when the Holy Spirit comes to live within us we put on Christ. “Just as we wear the likeness of the man of earth, so we will wear the likeness of the Man from heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:49 We Christians wear the likeness of Adam in our physical bodies as we live on earth for a short time. We will wear the likeness of Christ in our spiritual bodies as we live forever in eternity! Did you know that we are already living in our eternity?
“JESUS ANSWERED; “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37 Mark includes strength! This passage gives us the most important commandment of all. We are to love with everything that is within us! The second commandment is to love our neighbors; each other and even those who are in the world! “May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way, and keep your whole being; spirit, soul and body, free from all fault, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1st Thessalonians 5:23 Heart, soul, mind and strength are all lumped together as meaning; with your complete self! Did you know that we are triune beings, just as God is? The whole man is spirit, soul and body!
NOW YOU ASK what is the Soul? “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell! Matthew 10:28 The worst anyone could do is to destroy and kill the body. God sent His only son to save our souls from hell and allows it to live eternally in heaven with Him! I believe our soul is who we are! God created the physical and gave us a spirit, and the spirit, when quickened with the Savior, we have hope. The soul is who we are! Man cannot kill the soul and so it can live in heaven or hell! I choose heaven, how about you?
A MISSIONARY when confronted with a robber at gun point, he paused and said to the robber; “Let me get this straight; you mean you are threatening me with heaven?” Christ won the final victory in the Cross and He did it for us! How can you refuse? Even when I do not fully understand; I believe He is the Christ and Savior of my soul! Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/4/16
“FOOD IS MEANT for the stomach and the stomach for food. God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for immortality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the Body!” 1st Corinthians 6:13 I believe God did not come to save the physical body! I believe my body will perish and decay, just like yours! The body was created to serve the Lord and the Lord is available to the body.
“THEN THE LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7 With breath God gave man a spirit. He was not only physical but spirit, he was alive! “It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written; The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit!” 1st Corinthians 15:44-45 The body of corruption when buried, will decay and be destroyed, but the spirit within, will live eternally.
THE QUESTION IS; when does the body become spiritual? I believe when the Holy Spirit comes to live within us we put on Christ. “Just as we wear the likeness of the man of earth, so we will wear the likeness of the Man from heaven.” 1 Corinthians 15:49 We Christians wear the likeness of Adam in our physical bodies as we live on earth for a short time. We will wear the likeness of Christ in our spiritual bodies as we live forever in eternity! Did you know that we are already living in our eternity?
“JESUS ANSWERED; “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37 Mark includes strength! This passage gives us the most important commandment of all. We are to love with everything that is within us! The second commandment is to love our neighbors; each other and even those who are in the world! “May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way, and keep your whole being; spirit, soul and body, free from all fault, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1st Thessalonians 5:23 Heart, soul, mind and strength are all lumped together as meaning; with your complete self! Did you know that we are triune beings, just as God is? The whole man is spirit, soul and body!
NOW YOU ASK what is the Soul? “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather be afraid of God, who can destroy both body and soul in hell! Matthew 10:28 The worst anyone could do is to destroy and kill the body. God sent His only son to save our souls from hell and allows it to live eternally in heaven with Him! I believe our soul is who we are! God created the physical and gave us a spirit, and the spirit, when quickened with the Savior, we have hope. The soul is who we are! Man cannot kill the soul and so it can live in heaven or hell! I choose heaven, how about you?
A MISSIONARY when confronted with a robber at gun point, he paused and said to the robber; “Let me get this straight; you mean you are threatening me with heaven?” Christ won the final victory in the Cross and He did it for us! How can you refuse? Even when I do not fully understand; I believe He is the Christ and Savior of my soul! Jane Ann Crenshaw 2/4/16
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