"Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." (Proverbs 31:30)
The last scene of the movie, "Patton," shows the general walking his dog on a high plateau in Germany. He is remembering a custom from ancient Rome which reminds all "conquering heroes" that "all glory is fleeting." So is life. Look around; everything you see, "is passing."
Effort to keep people looking young is a multi-billion dollar business, yet some of the people you observe who have had plastic surgery actually look worse than they did before the surgery. You cannot "turn back the clock," not even with a knife. Some weeks ago I was about to do my usual sprint across a street. Half way across I fell. One of my legs told me, "Yo, you are not 20 or even 60 anymore. The 'clock' has moved forward; act like it."
There is, however, something which you and I can still do, no matter how young or how old. We can be one, "....who fears the Lord...." What does that mean? Of course I do not presume to have the full grasp of it. But I do know that what one "fears" one is very careful with and around it. For example, people who handle explosives and/or something extremely valuable are very, very careful as to what they do with it. Now my illustration may "break down" for some, but I can tell you that how I live and walk in Jesus Christ will be very careful, circumspect, "treasure-laying-up" if I am one not given to the, "....deceitful and...passing," but rather one who indeed, "....fears the Lord...."
Everything about me, "is deceitful and...passing," if I do not walk in the, "fear[] of the Lord...." If, on the other hand, I am one, "....who fears the Lord...," I am one in "The Eternal One." Whatever, "....is deceitful and...passing," will not control my life, my "ambition." "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day....For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to "evaluate" every day that which, "....is deceitful and...passing," and that which is Eternal. Amen.
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October/November Mission to Germany, October 28-November 15.
The last scene of the movie, "Patton," shows the general walking his dog on a high plateau in Germany. He is remembering a custom from ancient Rome which reminds all "conquering heroes" that "all glory is fleeting." So is life. Look around; everything you see, "is passing."
Effort to keep people looking young is a multi-billion dollar business, yet some of the people you observe who have had plastic surgery actually look worse than they did before the surgery. You cannot "turn back the clock," not even with a knife. Some weeks ago I was about to do my usual sprint across a street. Half way across I fell. One of my legs told me, "Yo, you are not 20 or even 60 anymore. The 'clock' has moved forward; act like it."
There is, however, something which you and I can still do, no matter how young or how old. We can be one, "....who fears the Lord...." What does that mean? Of course I do not presume to have the full grasp of it. But I do know that what one "fears" one is very careful with and around it. For example, people who handle explosives and/or something extremely valuable are very, very careful as to what they do with it. Now my illustration may "break down" for some, but I can tell you that how I live and walk in Jesus Christ will be very careful, circumspect, "treasure-laying-up" if I am one not given to the, "....deceitful and...passing," but rather one who indeed, "....fears the Lord...."
Everything about me, "is deceitful and...passing," if I do not walk in the, "fear[] of the Lord...." If, on the other hand, I am one, "....who fears the Lord...," I am one in "The Eternal One." Whatever, "....is deceitful and...passing," will not control my life, my "ambition." "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day....For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to "evaluate" every day that which, "....is deceitful and...passing," and that which is Eternal. Amen.
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October/November Mission to Germany, October 28-November 15.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
