Hard work is it's own reward. . .

. . .that's a proverb that we've all heard and I believe there is a whole lot of truth in it.

It has certainly been true in my case over the past week or so.

I've been working on the second part of my first foray into theological postings. It's been hard work; reading and studying and thinking and praying are all hard enough, but writing! That's hard for me. And the difficulties goes up expotentially when the topic is one of a theological nature.

I posted the first part a week ago, thinking that it would force me to get busy and actually finish the work. I thought it would make it easier to commit to getting the writing done, but it hasn't. Not that I haven't been working steadily, mind you, but it just seems so far from ready.

I read others' postings and they just seem so effortless. I often wonder if they just sit down and start typing or if they ever agonize like I do. Today's post at Pyromaniac is a good example. From the reader's perspective, it seems as though the posts just roll out and simply appear for us. We don't see the study and the thought (or, in the case of Phil and others the years of education, ministry experience, and the wisdom of years of serving Christ). We see the final result and are awed by the apparent ease of it all.

I wonder if I'll ever really be satisfied enough with this current installment to actually publish it. Silly, isn't it? I've got just a handful of regular readers and very few people will ever read it. And yet, the hard work really has been it's own reward. To meditate upon Christ's obedience in His temptation and its implications for me (and for you) has been a type of reward--a blessing beyond measure.

God's Minute

November 1

Now abideth faith, hope, and love. -- 1 Corinthians 13:13

OUR Father, Who art in Heaven, we thank Thee for Thy wonderful love to us--a love that is infinite and eternal, a love that will not let us go. We love Thee, we adore Thee, we praise Thee, yet we humbly confess that we have not always loved Thee with our whole hearts, and that we have not always loved our neighbor as ourselves. In many ways we have sinned and come short of Thy glory. Have mercy upon us, O God, according to Thy loving kindness and according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot our our transgressions. Abide in our home today. May it be none other than the house of God, and the very gate of Heaven. Send us to our daily duties with the conviction that we are about our Father's business. May we live and labor and love as seeing Him Who is invisible. Grant that we may be Christlike in all our dealings with others, whether it be in the home, or in the social circle, or out in the business world. Unify and purify Thy Church, O Christ! Make it a great soul-winning Church. Thy Kingdom come! Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Our prayer we humbly make in the name of the Lord Jesus, Who loved us and gave Himself for us.

Amen.

Walter L. Lingle, D.D.,
Richmond, Virginia

(Presbyterian readers may find the link re: Dr. Lingle interesting.)

Sunset over Lake Geneva

I went to a Women's Retreat in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin over the weekend. Here are a couple of pictures I took Friday evening.

Wish I'd said that!

Today I am introducing a new category of posts: Wish I'd said that!

The first one comes from Kim at The Upward Call. I chose this for my first entry because it truly is something I have thought and even said for quite some time, albeit not nearly so well. Kim's whole post is excellent and thought provoking. You can find it here.

"When I talk to some of the teens, and I talk to them often, I often detect a general lack of understanding of basic doctrines. They can tell me all the gory details of the end times, what kinds of judgments will happen, down to what they things the scary creatures in Revelation will look like. But many of them cannot verbalize why it was necessary for Christ to die in order to provide redemption. They can memorize verses in order to get points at youth group, but most of them can’t tell me what those verses are all about. It’s a very behaviour oriented kind of Christianity. And it’s so prevalent that when they see others who don’t behave as they do, they perceive it as the other person not being unified with the body of Christ. Teenagers are already obsessed with how other kids behave; having them base their Christianity on how they behave is simply adding fuel to the fire."

Charles Spurgeon Quote of the Month

Rebecca of Rebecca Writes has declared October "Charles Spurgeon Quote Month". Here is another of my favorites in honor of this last day of October:

But to close: have I one here who is saying, "What must I do to be saved, for I feel myself condemned?" Hear thou Christ's own words—"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Dost thou ask me what it is to believe? Hear, then, the answer. To believe is to look to Jesus. That little word "look" expresses beautifully what a sinner is to do. There is little in its appearance, but there is much in its meaning. Believing is letting the hands lie still, and turning the eyes to Christ. We can not be saved by our hands; but we are saved through our eyes, when they look to Jesus. Sinner! it is no use for thee to try and save thyself; but to believe in Christ is the only way of salvation; and that is, throwing self behind your back, and putting Christ right before thee.

C.H. Spurgeon

Look to Jesus! Not only is that the remedy for lost sinners, it is also the remedy for discouraged and weary saints. Look to Jesus! Remember who you are in Christ and all He has done for you, and be comforted.

TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Helen H. Lemmel