Verse of the Day

Proverbs 17:9

On BibleGateway  (https://www.biblegateway.com/) the "Verse of the Day"....popped out at me last Sunday.  It seemed profound, so I took a screen shot and had to wait until I had time to dig into it a bit more

NKJV (New King James Version)

📖 He who covers a transgression seeks love, But he who repeats a matter separates friends.

I liked what it said, but instead of dissecting the verse bit by bit I decided to look up different bible translations of the verse;

NIV (New International Version)

📖 Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.

KJV (King James Version)

📖 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

ASV (American Standard Version)

📖 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; But he that harpeth on a matter separateth chief friends.

Alright, so even with all the "eths" it seems fairly clear. But I don't think it means we are to "hide" or "ignore" an offense, a transgression?

MSG (The Message)

📖 Overlook an offense and bond a friendship;

    fasten on to a slight and—good-bye, friend.

Maybe not to hang on to it?...not keep remembering or bringing it up?

VOICE (The Voice)

📖 Those who forgive faults foster love,

    but those who repeatedly recall them ruin relationships.

BAM!   We are to FORGIVE an offense, transgressions, faults because in doing so we grow LOVE and friendship.  If we can't do that we will surely hurt, even destroy the relationships we have. 

We "cover" them so that we no longer "see" them and we won't continue to bring them up.

Isn't that what Christ has done for us?!  Forgives and covers all our sin, and it is gone, "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12)

🙏Praying that today, if you have someone who has offended you, forgive, put it behind you, seek love and restore the relationship❤

AMP (Amplified Bible)

📖 He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love,
But he who repeats or gossips about a matter separates intimate friends.

Spot Of Paint

What if we wore our sin like a big spot of paint?

I was helping my daughter with a project and inadvertently got white paint on my face...I was worried about getting it in my hair...but she made the comment "it won't be noticed there, with all the white hair!"😉😆

Later as I washed trying to scrub paint off my face...it wasn't coming off....everyone would be able to tell I was working on some sort of painting project!

The thought occurred to me; what if we wore our sin like this paint?  Right out there for everyone to see, it couldn't be hidden or covered up.

We all sin, and mostly we repent and seek forgiveness.

But sometimes we aren't ready or don't want to give up our sin, we want to hang on to it, continue in it.  So we try to bury it or hide it...but what if it was right there splattered on our face?!

Would we be so inclined to want to hang on to it if EVERYONE could see it?  Would we be wanting to walk around proudly with it?

The longer that sin sits the harder it will be to "scrub" away!  It becomes dried and set, more difficult to remove.

It is even like the paint in my hair...we believe that it just "blends in with my good choices, no one will notice." We can try to make it look like "good".

The thing with our sin is it is just like brightly colored paint....ALL over us, because our sin is visable to God.  

📖 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:13

He sees and knows all!

So why try and hang on to it? Work so hard at trying to conceal it?

Many reasons, and they are personal to us; bitterness, envy, greed, pride, hurt, jealousy, lust, gluttony and the list goes on. 

📖 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:6-10

We can justify it many times, but in God's eyes sin is sin, and we have to repent and turn from it.

📖Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  Luke 5:31

📖  "I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:5

When we do that the blood of Christ washes our sin and God sees us clean, no spots or smudges!

📖But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, Acts 3:18-19

🙏I pray today we all let God clean up all those spots we are trying to hide.  Let's make the angels sing!❤

📖  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10

It's All About the Love

There is a song I like by The Ball Brothers; "It's About the Cross"

🎵 It's About the Cross Ball Brothers (Power Point by Tracey Thompson)

It got me thinking...it's about the LOVE ...ALL about the love..the LOVE ❤ that put Him on that cross..

📖 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
The ❤ God had for His creation to give us free will

📖  And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:16-17

📖 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

The ❤ He had for us to give us a way out from the sin we chose, by giving His Son.

📖 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2

That ❤ carried from Him 
through Christ

📖 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10
Christ LOVES ❤ us more than life itself

📖 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE LOVE!

📖 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

🙏I pray that today you feel the LOVE!!❤

Communion Cup

Yesterday was our church's communion Sunday, as, I am sure, were many. I wanted to post some thoughts I had during last months communion.  

My mind went back to when we used glass communion cups..ones that had to washed.

When you would wash it was important to get them clean. To wash every bit of the juice (wine) out of the cup...try to get out all traces, to make them spotless.

It struck me "funny" because that is exactly what the juice represents.  The blood that washes us clean!

📖 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22

There is only One whose blood can wash us!

📖 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[c] so that we may serve the living God! Hebrews 9

We all bleed the same....every race, tribe,  every nation ...we all bleed /hurt the same.

But Jesus was the only One worthy to clean our stain filled souls. To wash us white as snow.

📖 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

    wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7

He was the "lamb without blemish", the perfect sacrifice

📖  For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 1 Peter 1:18-21

And He did it willingly 

 📖 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Matthew 26:28

🙏

📖 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.❤

Hebrews 13:20-21

   

"I See You!"

 I may be dating myself with my next question;

Who remembers "Romper Bomper Stomper  Boo....I see..."  and you waited on the edge of your seat for your name to be one that was said!?

As adults we might not have that same reaction..."oh not today! Bad hair day!"  "Oh, not right now,  I have to lose a few pounds", "I have to clean up, straighten up." Etc, etc.

That came to mind as I heard someone mention how God sees us.

He doesn't need the Romper Room mirror. He can see us all the time! But do we want Him to? 

"Oh...not today, I haven't kicked that habit", "I want to hang on to that bitterness just a bit longer." 

But He does see us, and He loves us!.

You see, the blood Christ shed for you and me washes over us ...and God sees us through the lens of that blood. Christ took our sin, so we look like Christ before our Father!

📖 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! Romans 5:8-9

Better than any Romper Room lens!!!  Right!?

If we believe and accept that God's only Son died on that cross for each of us...then God sees us washed clean!

📖 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John1:7

🙏I pray today that you know God sees you and loves you❤