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Posts Tagged ‘Piety’

What shall we call it, careless following?

Posted in Consequences, Implications, Obedience, Piety, tagged , , on January 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Even in the midst of victory through repentance and calling upon God written about in 1 Samuel 4, I see so much ignorance about God and His ways. it is not the obvious foolishness that lost the ark to the Philistines (1) or the evil neglect and conduct of Eli and his sons (2), nor even the “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25) syndrome of the era between Joshua and Samuel. This is somewhat more subtle. Why is the ark at Abinadab’s house for 20 years and Israel pining after God rather than erecting the tabernacle and having the Levites install it there? I s Abinadab a Levite?

In our freedom in Christ and nonchalant worship and careless piety and overconfidence in our knowledge of God and our arrogance in “speaking things into existence”, what blessing, victory, and influence are we missing? What 1 Samuel 8 (3) scenario are we failing to avoid in our self-assurance and lack of seeking God’s counsel and following what He has already prescribed and warned about in His Word? (4)

  1. 1 Samuel 5
  2. 1 Samuel 2:22ff
  3. “Give us a king to judge us.” 1 Samuel 8:6
  4. Example: How the ark should be carried: Numbers 1:50, 2 Samuel 6:6-8, 1 Chronicles 15:2

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D12M, Ways of the Wicked

Posted in Blessing, Consequences, God's Law, God's Word, Piety, Sanctification, tagged , , , , , , on January 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

In Psalm 1:1, the psalmist lists three ways of the wicked to be avoided: “counsel…path…seat.”

Counsel is the advice or wisdom of the wicked, and therefore of the world. Walking in their counsel means that you have more than heard it or considered it. It means you are heeding it and have more than your toe dipped in this way. If you are day and night meditating on God’s Word, I cannot see how you would get past the considering and rejecting it phase.

Path or way is the rut or habit that sinners run in. We should not even stand there, let alone walk or run there. Keep your way far from that way, even if you must bushwack across country to avoid it. In reality, however, heed “Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls.”” (Jeremiah 6:16)

Seat is a place of repose. In their self-satisfied, self-important perspective, scoffers mock the righteous and anyone who would dare to seek for truth. Do not take up your repose nor linger in their presence, but rather run out of earshot.

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At Long Last

Posted in General, God Thoughts, Grace, Piety, Poems, Struggling, Work of Jesus, tagged , , , , , on February 3, 2019| Leave a Comment »

On the drive to church this morning,
I wrote the first verse of the following poem.
Hands free communication (as with a cellphone) disallowed me
to write it down, so the beginning of the second verse was lost
to me before I could write it down. But the direction in which
I was thinking remained for the rest of the poem to come this afternoon. God’s grace and goodness are so great, especially in contrast to our inability to comply to His commands and wishes.

So much wickedness in my heart
Made in God’s image, tarnished art
Frequent failings, falling away
To often straying from the way

Desire to follow ever grows
Distracted by pleasures and woes
Many small failings of the heart
Who will give me a brand new start?

Jesus only, beginning, end
Power to enable, transcend
All my failings and weakness
Distracted thoughts and selfishness

All by grace He has given me
From Him any good that you see
This fragile glass His strengths reveal
Demonstrates His goodness is real

One day my faulty service gone
Perfect obedience will dawn
In good time I will be steadfast
Then I will see God at long last

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Weeds

Posted in Gardening, General, Photo, Piety, Random thoughts, Sustaining, tagged , , , , on July 7, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Let me begin with a few excuses: 1) not much time, 2) more than normal rainfall, 3) injury, and for good measure 4) wasn’t sure it was worth it. My wife had asked me to weed the flower beds in front of the house several times. I must confess that the only thing that got me motivated to actually start was the avoidance of another chore I detest more, scrapping paint. Now that I’ve blown my cover about a few of my procrastinating personality flaws, here is the point I considered while yanking crabgrass leaders out of the soil.

Weeds run deep. They grow fast. Ignoring them makes their removal harder. Weeds can choke the life out of things. Apart from poison that contaminates everything, the only way to prevent weeds is to replace them with desirable plants that leave no room for weeds.

I have another flower patch that has very little weeds in the middle of it. Weeds have no room for roots and very little sunlight. The various kinds of lilies simply grow too close, having produced more bulbs with each passing year. I will not be thinning them because I don’t have to weed that area. English gardens make more sense, with their crowded beds of profusely blooming flowers. Undesirable weeds just can’t take root in this environment.

It is the same way in our lives. It is not enough to root out something unprofitable or wrong in our life. We must replace it with something better, more desirable, healthier, God-pleasing. Otherwise the weeds will return all the faster in the cleared, well-tilled ground we just cleared.

It reminds me of what Jesus said, “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” (Luke 11:24-26) What Jesus states is in the more extreme, related to demon possession and salvation. But even for those of us who are already saved by His grace, we need God in every area of our lives filling up the void spaces, working righteousness in us, teaching us prudence, kindness, and discipline. Our lives filled with the good things of the Lord are far less likely to be encroached upon by the seedier tendrils of sin and unbelief.

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Weeds all gone

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Totally gone

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Dead azalea, too

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A transplanted daylily (not the one in bloom) and a Purple Speedwell

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A Gayfeather and White Speedwell with volunteer Cala Lily in between

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spreading Purple Verbena

Now that I’ve begun to clean the inside of the cup, I guess it’s time to spruce up the outside as well. Oh, I hate scrapping paint.

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Myrela

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