Free and Full Forgiveness...

"The only way to make men holy, is to teach and preach free and full forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The secret of being holy ourselves, is to know and feel that Christ has pardoned our sins. Peace with God is the only root that will bear the fruit of holiness. Forgiveness must go before sanctification. We shall do nothing till we are reconciled to God. This is the first step in religion. We must work from life, and not for life. Our best works before we are justified are little better than splendid sins. We must live by faith in the Son of God, and then, and not until then, we shall walk in His ways. The heart which has experienced the pardoning love of Christ, is the heart which loves Christ, and strives to glorify Him."

-- J.C. Ryle

Lamp and Light

"Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path."

Psalm 119:105

I've been reading through Deuteronomy, and came across this verse, written for any future king of Israel:

"And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes and doing them..." (Deut. 17:18-19)

He shall read it all his life!

God's Word is so deep and so rich, that we can't fully comprehend its depth, or understand it in all its richness, even in a lifetime...or a million lifetimes!!  Think of those early Old Testament folks who lived for hundreds of years...and yet the Scriptures could be read through all those days and years without ever getting old. If it's ever "dry" to me, it's because of ME, not because it's a boring book!!!  Some portions, I grant you, aren't that exciting :P ...but GOD permeates it all, and because He lives, His Word lives and can change us if we go at it seeking Him in it. 

But you won't ever come to know Him, or understand His heart about matters if you don't READ.

Or, if you don't READ to LEARN the fear of the Lord.

And if you don't READ to LEARN, you won't KEEP and DO.

And it's doing of the Word of God that's important, in the end, if you love Him. Faith is proven true by the works produced by that faith.

But it all starts by reading, and asking the Spirit to show me new things, to give me strength to do what I find there...and to change me into His likeness.  Never bringing my own ideas to Scripture, trying to justify what I want to do by picking out verses, but going FIRST to Scripture for wisdom and understanding, using it to measure everything.

If God required it of the king of Israel, why not us?

Time for Fun!

Look what I got to make for a wedding shower!! 

Clock cookie pops!

Great fun. :)

The MAE are the bride and groom's initials-to-be.

The kiddos were sorry to see these walk out the door. But I had made a practice batch the week before that they got to try, so they really didn't have anything to complain about. :)

Trifles

"Ah! If our likeness to God does not show itself in trifles, what is there left for it to show itself in? For our lives are all made up of trifles. The great things come three or four of them in the seventy years; the little ones every time the clock ticks."

--Alexander MacLaren