Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.
Richard Craig, Author at GraceAndWorks - Page 40 of 60
But now, O Lord, you are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand. Do not be furious, O Lord, nor remember iniquity forever; Indeed please look–we all are Your people.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.”
Let the peoples praise you, O God; Let all the peoples praise you. Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.
It must have been around 1960 because we were still living on the farm. I was 10 or 11 years of age. My Dad was strict on getting work done. We always got up at 6 AM and usually quit around 6 PM. He had a plan and knew about how much could be done in a day. When the work was done, we could have some fun or do what we wanted. This story is about what happened one Saturday. Dad was working another field away from home and he had left me in charge of taking care of irrigating the alfalfa field. It was a fairly large field and was flat. We irrigated out of ditches, which is called flood irrigation. The water would come from the underground pump and flow through the ditch to the field. We would set canvasses in the ditch to stop the water and irrigate the field. When that part of the field had enough water, we would set another canvass further down the ditch and pull the one that we had been using.
Saturday afternoon there was a bus leaving from our small town to a larger town with a swimming pool. Dad had told me I could go, but, the water had to be set before I left and had to be reset when I got home. Well, everything was going fine through the morning. About 1:00 now and time to set a canvass and go swimming. I pulled the canvass that I was using and sent the water to the canvass down the ditch that I had set. To set a canvass, you had to take a shovel and poke the edges in the ground and then pack dirt all around the edges so it would hold when the water hit it. I was just hoping the canvass would hold because sometimes they didn’t and would have to be reset while the water was running down the ditch. Yeah–you guessed it–it DID NOT hold. Remember I’m only about 10 years old and now I have to fight the moving water and try to reset the canvass and get done quick enough to go swimming. The harder I worked the worse it got. FINALLY I got it reset and all was good, except, it was now too late to go swimming–the bus had already left. Disappointment set in. Then as I thought about what had happened, I knew Dad would be proud of me because the work was getting done. We’ll go swimming another day!!
God is strict about getting His work done also. He has so much planned for each one of us before we can go home. 12 years ago I had a heart attack and if it weren’t for God and the Doctors, I would not be here today. My conclusion was that I still had more of God’s work to do before I could be called Home. Today I do some preaching, teach adult Bible class 1 quarter per year, take care of this web site and individual teaching and consulting as needed. At 68 years of age I do what I can so when God says I have done enough, He will say, “Well done good and faithful servant you have earned the crown of life”, and he will call me Home with Him. Are you doing your share? And, is God be happy with what you are doing?
God’s work first and then it’s time to play!!
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their goodness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of man witnesses.
Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
BLESSED is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Do not love the world or things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
I WAITED patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth–Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the Lord.
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