Month: February 2018

TeacherStudent

HOPE, JOY, FAITH, PEACE vs A Meaningless Life

2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!”
    says the Teacher.
“Utterly meaningless!
    Everything is meaningless.”

3 What do people gain from all their labors
    at which they toil under the sun?

(Ecclesiastes 1:2-3)

Homeward

Objective–

Perpetual

Emancipation.

8All things are wearisome,
    more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing,
    nor the ear its fill of hearing.
9 What has been will be again,
    what has been done will be done again;
    there is nothing new under the sun.

(Ecclesiastes 1: 8-9)

Jubilant

Onward

Yearning. 

15 Then I said to myself,

“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
    What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said to myself,
    “This too is meaningless.”
16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise too must die!

(Ecclesiastes 2:15-16)

Firmly

Anchored-

Internal

Thinking

Heavenward.

22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 2:22)

Perfect

Eternal

Abba

Centered

Existence.

Which daily mindset will you choose?

 (Sharon G. Tate blog 02/25/18 ) teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word

TeacherStudent

JESUS WEPT. Did we?

A child dies tragically from malnutrition, a teen dies tragically from violence, a young adult dies tragically from abuse, a grandparent dies tragically from neglect. We don’t know them. But do we cry out to God for those lives lost and pray for this not to happen again!

As followers of Christ, we should be the ones who weep. As adopted brothers and sisters of Jesus, who wept with compassion and love, we, too, must have that deep compassion and love for others that would bring us to this point of empathy.

We are the “called out” who have His Light to share:

“9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful Light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (I Peter 2:9-10)

 The time of caring and praying cannot be measured through increments of time or in time lapses. We cannot put in our time during a few minutes of prayer, a ten-minute phone call, or a half hour visitation– and be done. It must be ongoing. “Pray without ceasing.” (I Thessalonians 5:17) Yet, we are called to do more than this:

“16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstancesfor this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 5:16-18).

How do we do all this always, in all circumstances—even when the circumstances are so tragic? The plan is not mine or yours in life and death. It is His. The vision is not mine or yours to fully see beyond the circumstance of the moment. It is His. The strength to endure through life’s hard times and heartaches is not mine or yours. It is given to us by the Lord when it is upon Him that we depend.

“I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

And, thus, we weep and pray through the trials and tragedies of life. And we give thanks and rejoice that we have the Lord who shines His Light to help us find our way to others in their time of need, while we are still holding onto His hand through our own time of need.

 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.  (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

AMEN and AMEN.

(Sharon G. Tate blog 02/18/18) teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word

TeacherStudent

His Voice Speaking, His Light Penetrating Through Our Darkness

8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us again. On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many. (2 Corinthians 1:8-11)

 

LOST.

Dusk wrapped in night.

DARKNESS.

Stars invisible to sight.

FEAR.

Moon hidden from light.

DESPAIR.

Mankind’s common plight.

 

When we are so lost into depths of adversity and affliction,

Where it seems hope cannot exist,

It is in these moments the Lord can be heard speaking,

His Light can be seen showing direction,

Breaking through darkness to remove the grip of fear

And the hopelessness of despair.

 

LOST.

Have you been there, in that place?

DARKNESS.

Have you heard Him, in that blackness?

SPEAKING.

Have you seen Him, through the gloom?

BRILLIANT.

Have you thanked Him, for His Presence?

5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:5-7)

LOST in DARKNESS, FEAR, and DESPAIR.

We only fully experience these when we are without Christ, when we don’t hear Him and see Him at our side as we go through the afflictions and trials of life.

Lord, help us hear Your Words of guidance and sense Your Abiding Presence with us through times of suffering and of joy.  Help us accept and understand that our lives  are being shaped and molded through trial and adversity for Your higher purposes.  Amen.

 

(Sharon G. Tate blog 02/11/18) teacherforjesus.com Meditations on God’s Word

 

TeacherStudent

Ultimate Selfie: Idol of Self

 

 

God is God and I am not“To whom will you compare Me?
    Or who is My equal?” says the Holy One. (Isaiah 40:25)

“The image of man: idol”

In unnatural, unflinching stance,

 The model lifeless posed,

Before a block of solid stone,

   Which soon his likeness bore.

 

From chiseled fragments, features

  Formed upon that marble mass,

A human image cast in white,

   Polished smooth—but cold.

 

Feverishly, the skillful hands

   Worked the tools on stone,

The model’s figure to impose,

   Unnaturally on the mass.

 

The sculptor laid the tools to rest,

   His masterpiece complete,

And beheld the beauty captured

   Within that marble mold.

 

Toward the image stiffly walked,

   The model man without,

Confronting himself—yet not he,

   So lifeless caught in stone.

 

The image idol stood unmoved

   As its human form wept

Bitter tears of erring pride–

   Fallen , beneath an idle stone.

     ***********************

IN CONTRAST: The Creation of Mankind

Living creation, purposeful caretaker, thinking being from GOD—the ONLY CREATOR.

“The Image of God: man”

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26)

Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his  nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.  (Genesis 2:7)

27 So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and     increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  (Genesis 1:27-28)

 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. (Isaiah 40:28)

*********************************************************************

Cloning, DNA manipulation, Gene editing, Resurrecting extinct species. Scientific realities, attempts at breaking the “Divine Safe’s combination lock.” 1 Whatever image mankind “creates” can never completely replicate God’s living, breathing creation. It is hubris to think otherwise, and pride’s end is a destruction as sure as the eventual decay of the chiseled image.  WE ARE NOT GOD.

What idol(s) have each one of us chiseled, shaped, and molded into our own lives

 in an attempt to form something we think could be a substitute or wanted addition

that might seem better, more, greater than what the One God has created for us,

 has offered to us, has waiting for us?

WHEN will we direct our focus toward the outward/other purpose from God here on this earth, instead of continuing our absorption with and into ourselves?

1 Frost, Robert. “The Last Poem.” Robert Frost Poetry and Prose. 1972 Rinehart Editions. p. 480

(Sharon G. Tate blog 02/04/18) teacherforjesus.com Meditations on God’s Word