WORTH-LESS

Have you ever heard an adult tell a child, "you're worthless?" I have overheard an individual tell another, that so-in-so is worthless. Some times that accusation is based on a person's actions, or attitude, or maybe just someones looks; hence the picture of the gentleman in my blog. Who knows, he might have just won the world championship "girn" contest. The point I want to make is this ... the root word "worthless," cannot mean without any worth or value whatsoever. "worthless" raises a question. When someone says, "he is worthless, we could ask, "worth less than what?" The truth of the matter is that we are all of worth. In God's eyes no one is with out value.

The Psalmist says in

Psalm 8:1 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory in the heavens. 2 Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. 3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, 8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. 9 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Some translations say in verse five that we are made a little lower than God. If someone tells you that another person is worthless, ask them, "worth less than what? Yes we are sinners, Paul says "there is none good, not even one." But Paul was talking about a goodness or rightness that commends us to God. No where does the Bible say we are of no value. We are the crowning act of God's creation. On the sixth day of creation, after God had created man, He said, "It is very good."

Unfortunately in our churches and families we suffer from what I call a "spiritual inferiority complex." God showed his love (his expression of our worth) that even while we were in sin, He died for us. He spread out his arms on the cross, and said, "this is how much I love you." We are to love as God loved. It does not matter what a person has done or said, or what their attitude is or what they look like, they are only worth less than God himself. Jesus told his disciples;

John 15:9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. THOT: HOW YOU LOVE OTHERS IS REALLY HOW YOU LOVE GOD

NOT SALLY, A ROAD MAP

A few weeks ago I made a trip to south Texas. I wanted Sally to go with me. But I could not find her. I looked high and low, but she was no where to be found. Marie said, "you will just have to go without her." "But I really need her on this trip," I protested. Alas I left by myself and returned the same way. I found Sally after I returned. By the way, if you have not figured it out yet, "Sally," is what I call my GPS unit.

You say, "so what? What is all this leading up to?" Just hang on to your bloomers. There is a lesson to be learned and a point to make.


What I did take with me was the direction of my destination. I had the name of my destination. I had a friend that had prepared a place for me to lodge when I got there. I did not know how long it would take me. I did not know the number of times I would take unnecessary detours. But I did have a very important book. It was an atlas. It was an atlas of the United States, because an atlas of Europe or Asia would never get me to my intended destination.

I noticed on my journey that sometimes the road was smooth and at times it was bumpy. I noticed others parked along side the road side, perhaps having some kind of trouble. I would often stop and consult the atlas, and it never let me down. There were times I felt surely the atlas was wrong, because it seemed to me (my feelings told me) I was going the wrong way. But I kept doing what "the book" showed me to do. Though it was against my masculine nature, I even stopped a few times and inquired as to directions. Some folks were traveling faster than I, and some were traveling slower. And it seemed to me that many more were going in the opposite direction from the way I was traveling. I got tired at times, and had to stop and rest. I had to take nourishment to keep going.


But I finally arrived in a place I had never been before. The room was reserved, and the accommodations were better than I could have hoped. My host took me out for supper that evening, and I went back to my "little mansion" and had a peaceful night.


As believers we are on the road to heaven. We do not have an instrument that speaks literally of every turn we need to make. We are not told how long the journey will take. We are assured we will get there.



Not every one is going in the same direction, and the truth is, there are more going the other way. Sometimes the road is smooth and sometimes it is rough. There are hazards, and detours, some put there by the Lord, and some of our on making. Sometimes it seems were are not making any progress, and at other times it seems we are traveling faster than we really want to. It is helpful to have those we love and trust give us encouragement and counsel as we journey down this road... a dear brother or sister in Christ, a Pastor, our parents or grandparents. Most important of all we have an eternal atlas, The Book, The Word of God.



Paul told Timothy in his first letter to him, that the Scripture was inspirted by God and was benificial for what we are to believe, what not to believe, how to not behave and how to behave as we travel the road to heaven (see 1 Tim 3:16)


In that car I was aware of an invisible presence keeping me safe and on the right track. You and I as believers have the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, to encourage us and to instruct us as we travel.



See John 16:13 But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all truth. He will not speak his own words, but he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is to come.14 The Spirit of truth will bring glory to me, because he will take what I have to say and tell it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take what I have to say and tell it to you.


And when we get to our destination, there will be a place reserved for us by our Friend, whose name is Jesus. Unlike the earthly room I enjoyed here, the fee has already been paid. Jesus will take us out to Supper, not a fast food place, which is adequate here, but there it will be the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.


When I go back to Texas I would still like to take "Sally," but on my way to my mansion in heaven, there are no substitutes for The Word of God, The presence of the Holy Spirit, and the encouragement of Gods people.


THOT: WHICH ROAD ARE YOU TRAVELING? WHAT IS YOUR ROAD MAP, AND WHO IS YOUR GUIDE? Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one gets to the Father except through me."

A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP

The dictionary defines the noun form of symbiotic (symbiosis) as: any interdependent or mutually beneficial relationship between two persons, groups, etc.

Now please indulge me as I explain where I’m coming from. I have been reliving some of my more pleasant experiences as a young boy. One of those that came to mind was associated with Dan, our Quarter horse that we used for multiply purposes.

As I thought about my relationship with Dan and his relationship with me, the word “symbiotic” came to my mind. Now call me diluted (ok that’s enough), but the only time I remember hearing that word was on an episode of “Star Trek,” the old television series. I think there was an episode where a new life form was discovered and the whole civilization lived in a "symbitoc relationship." I was not quite sure, but at my gut level I felt that term applied to me and Dan. I came to find that it did.

We were inseparable. I never had one moment when I feared Dan, not that I did not respect him as being much larger and stronger than me, and could hurt me if he so chose. But Dan, I believe, felt as close to me as I to him. Often, I would ride Dan without saddle or bridle. I would put my bare toes on his shoulder blade, grab his mane and swing on his back. I could go anywhere guiding Dan only by his mane. I never tried to take advantage of Dan, and Dan never took advantage of me. Since I did not speak Quarterhorse-ese and Dan did not speak Arkansas hillbilly-ese we just seemed to communicate intuitively and with motions, touches, rubs, and licks (Dan licked me but I did not return the favor). Dan might have plowed in the garden all day, but he never seemed to mind when I got on him for a ride.

Dan was not perfect. He would occasionally have problems with his feet. I often helped my dad put shoes on Dan. I remember asking dad one day as we were shoeing Dan, “Do those nails hurt Dan when you drive them through the shoe and into his hoof?” “Not if you know where to drive them,” was dad’s reply. I was not perfect either. I did not always do a good job of brushing him down or picking the burrs out of his mane. But Dan did not seem to mind. We had an understanding. We were two, but so close we were as one in many ways.

Christ, of course, has no flaws. He understands me completely. I do not always treat Him the way I should. But my goal is to have a symbiotic relationship with Him. Galatians 2:21 says that “We have been crucified with Christ and as believers we died in Him, yet we live, but it is not really we that live, but Christ that lives in us. And the life that we now live here on earth is by the Faith of and in the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, who gave Himself for us and continues to love us.” (My translation)

Friendship is another wonderful application of the relationship Dan and I had. Jesus told his disciples that He would call them friends. It is better to have an enemy than to not have a friend. But to have a friend, we have to be a friend. Friendship takes time to develop. It took Dan and me a while to become symbiotic. The saddest thing I can think of is a husband and wife, living together for years and still not becoming friends. Are you and your spouse friends?

And do you have at least one outside friend that you can really open up to and your friend open up to you … and do so without fear of ridicule or being reported?

THOT: ONLY BY LEARNING TO BE A FRIEND OF GOD CAN WE KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A FRIEND TO ANOTHER.

THE LITTLE RED FIRE ENGINE

All I remember getting that year for Christmas was a little red metal fire engine. I was 4 years old, and in the spring of 1950 after my sister was born we moved to a new farm north of Alpena, AR.

I had been warned to not leave the fire engine laying around in the yard where it could be damaged or run over with the family car. I did not heed that piece of advice and so, not long after the move dad was backing his 1937 ford coupe in the back yard and there was the sound of a certain crunch. It was my little red fire engine. I grabbed it as soon as I could after dad pulled forward, but it was beyond recognition, let alone repair.

Was I sad? Yes. Was I upset? Yes. Was there any expectation that dad would get me another one? No! It was my responsibility, and I had blown it. I did not even ask for a new one. I did not expect a new one. I had already learned from my mom and dad that there are consequences to not being responsible. It is a simple thing to teach, and a simple thing to learn.

Now I did not know anything about the word “stewardship.” Nor any Scripture that might have taught it, but I learned the Biblical principle. When we fail to learn proper stewardship (caring for things entrusted to us) how can we expect others to practice it? When Americans live on 105% of their income, and waste precious resources, how can we expect the government to act any differently?

Every time I hear a fire engine go out on a run, I feel a sense of gratitude that they did not do with that big fire engine what I did with that little toy fire engine.

Dad did not yell at me, or scold me, He just said, “sorry son, that’s what happens when you are careless with your things.”

In America, our material blessings have become weights around our necks and we have lost our focus of what is really important. It may take a generation or two of doing without a lot of things we take for granted today, to restore our sense of balance and our willingness to be responsible stewards.

The Scripture teaches that all belongs to God. And if He can’t trust us with something, He will not let us take care of it. The “fat” years have passed, now we are entering the “lean” years. Yet they may prove to be the most blessed of all.

A story is told of a family moving into a neighborhood next door to a Quaker family. After the Quaker husband and father had watched the large trucks with an enormous amount of material being unloaded he decided to go over and welcome his new neighbor. He said to him, "Welcome friend, to the neighborhood, if thou findest that thou needest something call for me and I will come over and show thee how thou canst do without it."

THOT: A FAMILY CAN BE DESTROYED AS EASILY AS A LITTLE RED FIRE ENGINE, AND TRAGICALLY, IT MAY BE BEYOND REPAIR. LET’S ALL PRACTICE BETTER STEWARDSHIP.