Month: February 2017

TeacherStudent

The Source of Truth

The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in people who are trustworthy.

(Proverbs 12:22)

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As a high school teacher, I received numerous “excuses” for late homework, incomplete homework, or no homework submitted at all. The majority of these explanations were not true. Some students would retract these excuses and provide honest information, but many would strongly continue to declare these excuses as “truths” and even obtain the support of friends who, likewise, strongly stated the “truthfulness” of their friend’s excuses. Lying was acceptable and definitely desirable- if it worked.

A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape. (Proverbs 19:5)

Lying didn’t work with me though.  One student was shocked that lying would be punished by serving an hour in after-school detention. In disbelief, he asked me several times if I was actually serious. Lying was not a “big thing” to him. It still isn’t seen as a “big deal” to many in our society and culture today, especially when it works to one’s advantage.

“It’s official: Truth is dead. Facts are passe. Oxford Dictionaries has selected ‘post-truth’ as 2016’s international word of the year.” 1

The international word of the year is an untruth, a lie. Yet, it does depict the decline in our society regarding belief in the One standard for Truth:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

Truth IS Truth and there can be nothing beyond it, after it, or supplemental to it. God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” This leaves no “pre” or “post” interpretation. TRUTH IS. This, also, leaves no “pre” or “post” interpretation.

The danger in not confronting untruth is that someone may never be set free to enter the joys of being with the Lord.  Instead, one may be left to the wiles of Satan: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  (John 8:44)

Lying IS a “big thing.” It can result in an eternity without God. Ignoring untruth, remaining silent, being noncommittal can affect someone’s eternity—and our own as well. “ 16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.  (Proverbs 6:16-19)

 “It’s official: TRUTH IS ALIVE!” It is our responsibility to spread the Word of Truth.

 1 “ ‘Post-truth’ named 2016 word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries” By Amy B Wang November 16, 2016 http://www.washingtonpost.com.

(Sharon G. Tate blog 02/26/17)  teacherforjesus.com Meditations on God’s Word

TeacherStudent

Behold the Light of God!

Light of the world

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17)

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Peering out the plane window,
Clouds drifting, shape-shifting,
An opaqueness one cannot penetrate-
Until the plane climbs higher,
Breaking through the cloud barrier,
Rising to meet the sunlight,
Bursting forth in brilliance
To shine across faces of travelers,
Blinded until their eyes can behold
The glory of an endless sea of light.

The difficulties we face in this life can seem unending at times. We lose our focus, adrift in uncertainty and the unknown. Nothing seems to have a definite form, like the changing clouds. We cannot break through the cover to see the light. Yet, we know it is there–on the other side.

The Lord is waiting. His Light will show us the way. We must rise to meet Him, bursting through our own cloud barrier, to see His brilliance and behold His glory.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

(Sharon G. Tate blog 02/19/17) teacherforjesus.com Meditations on God’s Word

TeacherStudent

Jesus Defines Love from the Cross

Father-Forgive-Them-245lpmc

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
(1 Corinthians 13:13)
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Valentine’s Day, a time when the card companies, flower shops, and candy stores take in the profits. Love is in the mail and in the flower shop vans– sent and delivered. Love is in the stores where merchandise is promoted for one’s sweetheart. Love is in the restaurants by candlelight. Love in one day –February 14th.

Can love be fully expressed in a day? There was ONE DAY when love was truly demonstrated and given, not with candy, flowers, cards, or dinner at a fancy restaurant–but on a wooden cross.
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)

Jesus gave us the example of what love is through His actions:
(16)This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (17) If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? (18) Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.  (1 John 3:16-18)

Our Lord exemplified humility on the cross as He took our sins upon Himself. He showed great patience with us, even as sin continued while He endured this trial. He acted in gentleness, not lashing out at those who were crucifying Him, but instead asking the Father to forgive them–to forgive us.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2)

The love Christ showed to us all that day on the cross, with outstretched hands held by nails, has endured past those dark hours to the sunrise when He arose and to every sunrise thereafter and yet to come. Love knows no boundaries of time.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are                 tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.                                    (1 Corinthians 13:8)

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Purchase the card, the candy, the flowers, and go to the restaurant on Valentine’s Day, knowing that it is only one day of many. Love is washing dishes, doing laundry, watching the kids to let a spouse rest, sitting quietly together without conversation on the beach, staying up all night with a sick child, spending time with an elderly neighbor, listening to a baby sleep. Love is in the days.

To know Love is to know Christ, the crucified Savior, the victorious Redeemer:
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

(Sharon  G. Tate blog 02/12/17) teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word

TeacherStudent

God’s Direction in the Path of Life

path to life

“You make known to me the path of life. . .” (Psalm 16:11)

The high school was in my backyard, an easy walk across the lawn and a small field to the complex grounds–until the day workers began building the fence. It was constructed, link by link, the full length of the street. There was no gate, and it was too high to climb over, although I did examine the fence closely for a possible way to get through to the other side.

Finding it impossible to breach the fence, I had to start walking to the end of the street and up the next block, waiting for all the traffic at the entrance drive to the school, before arriving at the high school grounds. Such a waste of time and effort, I fumed for days. The other path was so accessible, so easy, before the fence denied this access.

ACCESS DENIED. How many paths were changed during the course of our lives? How many roadblocks of some kind were put in those routes to divert our walk elsewhere? How many times did we long for the easy, familiar way when all along God had other plans for us on this new journey?

“The steps of a man are from the Lord,
and He establishes Him in whose way He delights…”
(Psalm 37:23)

What did I gain from this new path to the high school? I encountered other students that I didn’t normally see. Some became friends. It was good exercise. I noticed more about my own neighborhood and neighbors on the walk. My perspective changed about the easy route. It was almost automatic, footsteps moving in the same tread-worn path. It was solitary, for no one else walked that way. The other route was more engaging with people, nature, and my own awareness of surroundings I had not really observed.

What can we learn from the paths God denies to us? What can we gain from the paths God directs us to in life? What can we give to others we meet on this course? How can we carry out the Lord’s Will in the direction chosen for us?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make straight your paths.”
(Proverbs 3:5-6)

ACCESS GRANTED.

(Sharon G. Tate blog 02/05/17) teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word