Because I grew up on the Prairie, where I could see for miles and where innumerable stars filled the sky every night, I find it difficult to imagine how people in some cultures survive where the citizens teem like ants boiling out of a bed someone has kicked.
Great Expectations
Tell us about one thing (or more) that you promised yourself you’d accomplish by the end of the year. How would you feel once you do? What if you don’t?
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/great-expectations/
My goal has always been to be a better reader. In college I wanted to read the assigned books with discernment, but ended up skimming to find required information. I made good grades, so continued that “skimming” habit far too long. Now my goal is to read more and genuinely search into what I read–dig deeper and mine the gold nuggets. This would especially apply to my Scripture reading.
A domestic goal is to finish a quilt for each of my children and grandchildren–surely not all of them this year, but at least one a year. Most quilters quilt so their offspring have a remembrance of them, but my quilts are geared to a specific need the receiver has or to a specific memory. I have been trying to make the patterns fit the person so that they would be timeless. A sample of my work and philosophy may be found here:
http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Johnson/Edna/Elizabeth/1939/quilting.html
If I am blessed with good health, I hope to continue my present schedule, following my husband everywhere. It is easy to see that human lifespan is limited and life is too short to miss a minute with my mate.
GOD’S CHILDREN WILL BE LIKE HIM
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).
When 1 John 3:2 says we are the sons of God, John appears to be speaking of the resurrection. The only indication of being like Him was something John had never seen. John had seen the heart of Christ and therefore the Father (John 14:1-8), so he is not talking about growing in the heart of Christ in this verse. We must settle on the alternative idea of being like Him in the resurrection.
Paul had his hope set on the resurrection. He first described the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:37-44, and then he made the contrast between Adam and Christ very clear. We have been born in the image of the earthly in the fact that we are in Adam’s physical image (1 Cor. 15:49). We are in the form of man (Phil. 2:6-8). Paul then noted there will come a time when we will be in the image of the heavenly (1 Cor 15:49). The image of the heavenly was in full context of the resurrection. Paul also noted that Christ was the first fruits of our resurrection (1 Cor. 15:19, 23).
Jesus’ resurrected body is glorious (Phil. 3:21). On the road to Damascus, Paul saw the resurrected Christ in a marvelously glorious body that was so magnificent that he was totally blinded by it. Moses saw God’s glory when he saw the back of God, making his face to shine. The children of Israel could not look on Moses’ face because it was so bright. However, when Paul saw the resurrected Christ, it must not have been the eternal body of Christ, since John says it does not yet appear what we shall be (1 John 3:2). If Paul had already seen what we shall be, then John would not have said it is unknown what we shall be.
Jesus asked the Father to give Him the glory He had before the foundation of the world. In the book of Revelation, we may have a picture of the kind of glory God has. “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away; and there was found no place for them” (Rev. 20:11).
When Christ returns, we shall see Him as he is; however, just seeing Him is not our only hope. We also have the hope of being like Him (1 John 3:2). The Holy Spirit testified through Paul that in the resurrection our physical bodies will be transformed to be like His glorious body (Phil. 3:21). All of God’s children, from the least to the greatest have this hope of being resurrected in the image of His glorious body. John said that it does not yet appear what we shall be. However, he further testified that when we see Him we will be like Him. What a marvelous hope we have in Christ””not only to inherit an eternal home in heaven with Him, but to have a body like His as well.
QUESTIONS: 1. In the resurrection, what body will Christians have? (1 Cor. 15:42-44)
2. Are the first fruits of the cotton crop the same as the rest of the crop? What about a wheat crop? What is the meaning of the term “first fruits”?
3. Explain how Jesus was the first fruits of our resurrection.
4. Romans 8:18 speaks of a stark contrast between the glory that shall be revealed in us and something we have to endure. What is that? (Acts 14:22)
5. What was David prophesying about in Psalm 17:15?
6. What was the image of the earthy in 1 Corinthians 15:49?
7. What two kinds of bodies are described in Philippians 3:21?
8. According to Matthew 22:30-32, what will we be like in the resurrection?
9. Luke 20:36-38 also talks about the resurrection. How is that described?
10. Can we go to heaven in flesh and blood as we are today (1 Cor. 15:50-58)? Describe what will take place that day.
DO GOOD AND SHARE
“But to do good and to communicate forget not:
for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Heb. 13:16).
We might also read this phrase as doing good by sharing. There are numerous ways of doing good (Matt. 25:35-40; Luke 6:35-36; 1 Thess. 5:15; Heb. 13:1-2; Gal. 6:6), but sharing what we have is one of the ways God specifically tells us to do good (Eph. 4:28). The phrase to communicate means to impart or give to others; that is, to share with them what we have (1 Tim. 6:18). The Greek word means having in common with others. In other words, they were to show liberality to those who were in need, and were to take special pains not to forget this duty. We are prone to think constantly of our own interests, and there is great danger of forgetting the duty which we owe to the poor and the needy. We might also consider the admonition in 2 Cor. 9:12-13 and in Gal. 6:10, which tells what our priorities are to be in giving.
Finally, we know that God is pleased with the sacrifices of prayer and of praise; with the offerings of a broken and a contrite heart: but he is especially pleased with the religion which leads us to do good to others (2 Thess. 3:13; Luke 18:22; Rom. 12:13). This was the work of Jesus (Acts 10:38); and to this work all true religion points (Acts 9:36). The word “sacrifices” here is not taken in a strict sense of what is offered as an expiation for sin, or in the sense that we are by doing good to attempt to make atonement for our transgressions, but in the general sense of an offering made to God. God is pleased with this: 1) because it shows in us a right state of heart (3 John 1:11); 2) because it accords with his own nature. He does good continually, and He is pleased with all who demonstrate the same spirit.
“Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:7-8).
PRAYING FOR OUR DAILY BREAD
“Give us day by day our daily bread” (Luke 11:3).
Daily means occurring every day. The Israelite’s day lasted from one sunset to the next (Gen 1:5; Ex 12:18; Acts 2:14-15; Mat 20:1-6). When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Mat 6:11; Luke 11:3), He was telling them to trust God to provide their food every day-one day at a time.
We are to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread;” that is, “Give us each day the bread which our bodies require, as we pray for it.” We are to depend upon our Heavenly Father in the same way the Israelites depended upon Him for their manna (Exodus 16:27-33). We might pray, “Let us have enough bread today,” because in this way we continually depend upon Him, as children upon their parents.
The Lord wants His children to trust Him and depend upon Him, and He often has given only a portion of “bread” at a time. In Mat 10:5; 9-15, Jesus first sent the apostles out two by two to preach to the Jews (not the Gentiles or Samaritans). See also: Mark 6:8-11; Luke 10:4. At that time He told them not to take anything for their journey other than a staff. Later we see in Mat 6:11; Luke 11:3, He told them to pray for their daily bread. They were dependent on God as much as the birds, for they did not know who would receive them and who would not.
Later, the Lord asked them if they lacked anything when He sent them out without a wallet, and they acknowledged that He had cared for them (Luke 22:35). Obviously they did not lack because they had prayed and had faith in His promise to provide. Finally, when it was time for Jesus to be crucified, He gave his disciples yet another commission (Mark 16:15; Mat 28:19-20) and told them to provide for their journey and also to purchase a sword (Luke 22:36). These were not conflicting directions but directions for different purposes and different situations.
There is another sense in which we need to request our daily bread. We may have an abundance of food and every other convenience, but if we don’t have the health and strength to make use of it, of what value is it? (Eccl 6:1-2) A few verses prior to this passage (Eccl 5:18-19) He spoke of the blessing of God-not just the food in the pantry, but the ability to eat it.
Today, when our pantries and cabinets are so full of food and most of us are so healthy, it is difficult for us to see God’s hand in providing our needs (Mat 6:34). We must trust His promise to provide if the seek the kingdom first (Mat 6:33) and not be anxious for tomorrow (Mat 6:25: Luke 12:22, 29). We must not desire to be rich (1 Tim 6:10), nor should we be slothful in business (Rom 12:11; Pro 30:8) but we should always pray the Lord will provide what we need to live to serve Him (John 6:27-33).
MULIEBRAL VIEWPOINT 