Refreshing Our Spirits With Scripture

6.29- You get to decide how to react to your neighbor.  You can criticize what they do our find a way to build a bridge.  We received a note in the mail from a neighbor who had been derided for letting her grass get too high.  Someone had tapped a note to the mail box and left an unsigned letter that she must mow her lawn.  She wrote this note back to all of us that her father and grandfather had been deathly ill lately.  She explained that another neighbor had just mowed it for her.  This is what being a good neighbor was all about.  Not an unsigned letter. Proverbs 11. 12  Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense,      but the one who has understanding holds their tongue.

6.28- Grace is God's unmerited favor.  With some thought, prayer and observation we can find words that a clear and communicate in a way that finds favor with God and people.  It has no become popular in our culture to be radical and offensive in our communications.  This may be popular with the world, but it is not the way of grace and truth. Proverbs 10. 32  The lips of the righteous know what finds favor,      but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.

6.27- I think it was Mark Twain who said that the difference between the right word and the wrong word was lightening and a light bug. Proverbs 10. 20  The tongue of the righteous is choice silver,      but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

6.26- Wednesday I went to the health club to work out with weights to improve my leg strength and balance.  Two different guys came up to me who normally just say hi, but this time both of them took extra time to tell me about themselves and ask about how I was doing.  This surprised me and I was greatly uplifted and encouraged.  If you had asked them did they do anything special to help people today they would probably say, "No." Proverbs 10. 21  The lips of the righteous nourish many,      but fools die for lack of sense.

6.25- I often watch politicians on television talk around in circles to avoid saying a few simple words that are, "I was wrong." Proverbs 10. 19  Sin is not ended by multiplying words,      but the prudent hold their tongues.

6.24- I made a mistake. I used two clean cups, inside and outside. I put in fresh coffee. I put in milk that was out of date when I had fresh milk. It didn't look right. It didn't taste right. What should I do? Pour in more fresh milk? No. Pour out the coffee. Pour out the milk. Get clean cups. Get fresh coffee. Get fresh milk. It looks good. It tastes good. Application life lesson. More later maybe... Mark 7. 18  “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19  For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) 20  He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21  For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22  adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23...

6.23- What if you knew you had exactly one hour to tell the most important people in your life what you think would be the most important things for them to know and that would be all you would ever be able to tell them. What would you tell them? I would tell them that God loved them. I would tell them I loved them. I would tell them I hoped they would love God, others and themselves. I would tell them that God is love. I would tell them that the way you see what love actually is is by reading the life of Jesus. Romans 5. 5  Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we [ a ] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2  through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we [ b ] boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3  Not only so, but we [ c ] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4  perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5  And h...