noun. – the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
This post is inspired by the PROMPT: VALUE from Kate Motaung and the Five Minute Friday crew. in 2018. The challenge is to write for five minutes. No editing. I encourage you to go to the link-up and read what others were inspired to write.
But God values us as His children. Actually, He gives us our value. We are His children. And because of this, we have great value. We are nothing without him. We can do nothing without Him.
This hymn, One Day was introduced to me in my teen years. We had moved from Ohio to Wisconsin and being in the middle school Sunday School class, I was required to take part in the Easter program. This hymn was the theme of the program.
At the time, I didn’t particularly like the song mainly because it was a bit slow for my tastes. But over the years the song stuck in my heart and mind because it tells the story of Jesus from beginning to end; from the virgin birth to the cross and resurrection and on to the day still coming… His return… Oh, Glorious Day!
Hymn Writer ~ J. Wilbur Chapman
Full Name: John Wilber Chapman, 1859-1918 Birth Year: 1859 Death Year: 1918
A Presbyterian evangelist. He served in several local churches before becoming an evangelist, preaching with the infamous D.L. Moody, as well as preaching many evangelistic events on his own. He had many preachers who were trained under him including Rev. Billy Sunday.
He wrote this hymn as well as two others
“Jesus, What a Friend for Sinners” (another favorite of mine) “‘Tis Jesus”
We are being featured at Faith and Worship Link-up!
Hymn Studies at Gracefully Truthful
The writers at Gracefully Truthful are doing a series of hymn studies this month. Click on over to read my contribution to the study on One Day.
1 One day when Heaven was filled with His praises, One day when sin was As black as could be, Jesus came forth To be born of a virgin, Dwelt among men, my example is He!
Chorus: Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me; Buried, He carried My sins far away; Rising He justified freely forever: One day He’s coming– O glorious day!
2 One day they led Him Up Calvary’s mountain, One day they nailed Him To die on the tree; Suffering anguish, despised and rejected: Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He![Chorus]
3 One day they left Him Alone in the garden, One day He rested, from suffering free; Angels came down o’er His tomb to keep vigil; Hope of the hopeless, my Savior is He![Chorus]
4 One day the grave Could conceal Him no longer, One day the stone rolled away from the door; Then He arose, over death He had conquered; Now is ascended, my Lord evermore![Chorus]
5 One day the trumpet Will sound for His coming, One day the skies With His glory will shine; Wonderful day, my beloved One bringing; Glorious Savior, this Jesus is mine![Chorus]
I was thrilled when I heard that Casting Crowns had placed the lyrics into a new contemporary song, Oh! Glorious Day. What a beautiful rendition.
We can sometimes feel that we just want Jesus to return. We need him here with us. But friends, He is here with us. He is within our hearts. And each of us, as the church, are a part of Him. We are His hands, His feet, His mouth, etc. – 1 Corinthians 12:27
How God Confirms His Message
It amazes me when God verifies His message to us from various unconnected sources at the same time. It tells me this is something serious to think about.
So Mike and I watched all three God’s Not Dead movies this week. We didn’t even realize there was a third, but that’s the one that got my attention. After seeing the movies, I sat down to do my daily study of the 7 Feasts of Israel. And the same message was brought out to me again.
What struck me is this…
We, the Church, are not just the temple of God, where He lives but we are the Body of Christ. That means we are His hands and feet. Others see Christ through our actions. So the question is... Are we allowing Christ to love and comfort others through us? Are we being Jesus to others? It’s something to think about.
We want to hold on to the “stuff” we have. We want to hold on to our own rights. But this wasn’t the way of Jesus. He gave it all up for us. And we should be willing to give it all up for Him.
The third confirmation was in a sermon.
What is your greatest treasure?
Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
Matthew 6:21
Where is your treasure? Are we storing up treasures in heaven or here on earth? You know, if we have treasures here on earth, they will not last. Treasures on earth will burn up. They will not be of value when we stand before God. The treasures that are stored in heaven are our actions – living like Jesus – Serving others. Those are the things that will last eternally.
FiveminuteFriday.com
Let’s Start Being Jesus.
We need to get our hands dirty. It’s not necessarily, getting our government to do these things.
Devote yourself to good works – Titus 3:14
Hospitality – Romans 12:1
Be compassionate and kind – Colossians 3:12
Treating others better than ourselves – Philippians 2
Bear with One another and forgive – Ephesians 4:32
Do not without good from others, when it is in your power to do it. – Proverbs 3:27
Thees are just a few of the things we can do to “be Jesus”. These are the things that will last.
How can we bring unity to our marriage? our families? our nation? to the world? We cannot have unity without love. We need to create an atmosphere of love.
And, sadly, few of us truly know how to love one another.
I searched the scriptures for these “above all, have love” commandments. These scriptures were surrounded by instructions on how to create an atmosphere of love. I believe, if we surround our lives with these instructions, it will create an atmosphere where love will grow.
In these days, it seems we have lost all ability to love as Christ loved us.
Our love has grown cold, just as He predicted in Matthew 24:12
And Most important of all, LOVE
First the Prerequisites …
New Life in Christ. [Colossians 3:1-4] There is no love without God because God is Love. We must first look within to see if we have allowed Jesus Christ to come into our lives and transform us. Without Him, we cannot have the same attitude as Christ. [Colossians 3:1-4]
Put off wickedness and evil. [Colossians 3:5-9] If Christ is in us, then we must put off evil things. He cannot live together with evil. We must no longer have things such as sexual sin, anger, rage, spite, slander, lying, and abusive language, in our hearts and minds. We must live godly lives that exemplify Christ.
Now that we are in Christ …
We should show to others …
Compassion and kindness – Jesus said, “Treat others as you would want to be treated.” Put yourself in their shoes. Help them however you can. You don’t know what they have been through so just be kind and caring.
Humility – As Paul said in Philippians 2 “Don’t consider yourself better than others.” Get over yourself and consider the interests of others.
Gentleness – Proverbs says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger”. How can we show love if we are yelling and screaming at each other or calling one another names?
Patience – Proverbs says that the one with self-control wins out in the end. Don’t get upset when other people succeed. Let God work it out. Psalm 37:7
Forbearance – In others words, give each other the benefit of the doubt. Put up with each other’s faults. Don’t we all make mistakes from time to time? One version of Colossians 3 says “Make allowances for one another and forgive..”
Forgiveness. Forgive, because God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32 Think of Christ on the cross. He said, “Forgive them. They know not what they do.” We, too, should forgive.
This seems hard to do,
… especially when the other party is not acting the same way. But truly this is how they will see Christ in you. It’s how they will find Christ; and thus, filled with love as well.
Indeed, we cannot do it on our own. We must allow Christ to live in our lives. We must give our lives totally over to Him so that He has every part of us. Then we will be controlled by Him and these things will come naturally. And His love will cover everything.
We must study his Word, worship Him, guide others to Him, and be thankful.
Let the word of the Anointed One richly inhabit your lives. With all wisdom teach, counsel, and instruct one another. Sing the psalms, compose hymns and songs inspired by the Spirit, and keep on singing—sing to God from hearts full and spilling over with thankfulness.
Colossians 3:16, The Voice
So it goes back to where we first started…
Find Jesus and allow Him to take control of your life.
When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, he launched into the longest sermon ever recorded. At the beginning of that sermon are what we know as The Beatitudes. My husband recently preached a sermon from Matthew 5:3-12, and he stated,
The Beatitudes are “holy attitudes for living the Christian life.”
v. 3: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Poor in spirit: humble. A servant knows that they are reliant on God. The desire to serve God by serving others comes from the love that God pours into our hearts. The more we allow, the more he bestows!
v. 4: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
We tend to link this verse with earthly sorrow and mourning for a loved one who has died. But consider the sorrow that comes because of separation from God because of our sin? Sorrow for our sin brings us into the comforting arms of Jesus.
v.5: Blessed are the meed, for they shall inherit the earth.
Jesus was meek, but not weak. Meekness is not spinelessness. It’s humility. Meekness is knowing that you need God.
v. 6: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
How intense is our hunger and thirst for God? How much do we desire to be more like Jesus, to have more and more of His love filling us? Until we know that what we are seeking is God himself, we will not be satisfied.
v. 7: Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Where would we be without God’s love, mercy and grace? Where would we be? When Jesus taught what we know as “The Golden Rule, (love your neighbor as yourself), He was teaching simple mercy.
v. 8: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
A pure heart is an unselfish heart, a heart with pure motives, a heart like Christ. The more we can truly be like Christ, the more likely we are to bring others to Him.
v. 9: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.
The only way to truly have peace is through Christ. Even when we get that peace, Satan will try to steal it or disturb it. We should seek peace in Jesus, and we should let Him be our peace.
v. 10: Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
v. 11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
We read, hear and see stories of Christians persecuted for their faith. These persecutions range from “no public prayer” to execution for your faith (depending on where you are in the world.) We must stay strong in our faith. Jesus told His disciples that this would happen, and sure enough, it does!
But Jesus also said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2)
v. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Being persecuted for our faith is nothing new. It has happened since the old testament prophets were proclaiming their faith in God.
Finally, Our hope is in Christ.
My point in all of this is a simple one:
BLESSED.
If we live according to God’s Holy Word,
… follow the teachings of Christ,
… accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior,
then WE ARE BLESSED.
No matter what each day of life brings,
joy or sorrow,
good or bad,
in abundance or in want,
we are so blessed because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Count your blessings, and have a great day!
Glenae Atchison
It’s Your Turn!
Add a link to your post about Leaving a Legacy. We’re looking forward to reading it.
Spiritually, when we think of comfort, we probably think of consoling someone in their grief or loss. And this would be something that we naturally do. We also think of how God comforts us through our sorrows. But let’s think for a moment about how much comfort we should expect to receive. As Christians, should we be “comfortable” all the time?
[ctt template=”3″ link=”PAGse” via=”yes” ]As Christians, should we expect to be comfortable all the time?[/ctt]
In today’s society, we are told that we all should be able to live in the lap of luxury, be comfortable. If we are living right then God will bless us. But I wonder how much this is what God really wants for us. I’m thinking that when we are comfortable we tend to forget God. So maybe we need to just be more content wherever we are in life.
God’s Word says
“In this world, you will have trouble.” John 16
And in James …
2 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. James 1 If we are always comfortable, we usually tend to stay put and not really grow. It’s like the birds with their babies. The nest is made soft and comfortable when the baby birds are born, but when it is time for them to leave the nest, the mother will stir things up, make it uneasy so that the baby bird will decide they want to leave. In doing so they learn to fly, learn to hunt for their own food and fend for themselves.
In her book, Unashamed, Christine Caine says that
God gives us comfort to make us comfort-able, not necessarily comfortable.
So What Do You Think?
How is it for us?
Do we want to stay in the nest, nice and cozy?
Do we complain when things get uncomfortable in our life and ask God, “Why is this happening?” and beg Him to remove us from the trial?
Maybe it’s time for us to grow up and learn from the trials and then pass the blessing on to others.
Earlier, I began a discussion about our talk as Christians. How are we to respond to the ugly talk that is everywhere these days? I gave the first step in how to show Christ in response to others ugly talk. Now let’s discuss step two. Continue reading →
I am saddened by the foul and abusive talk that is being spewed out all around our country. One might want to speak up and voice an opinion but the response is so ugly that they decide to keep quiet. I don’t want to talk politics here but what’s a Christian to say?
Now, I’m not really interested in what a Christian should stand for politically. I’ll leave that between them and God. I am more interested in how a Christian should speak about his beliefs and defend his faith in an anti-christian world. It was Billy Graham who said,
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, [Matthew 9:36]
I get disturbed when I watch the news these days. Whether you look at the protesting crowds or the ones they are protesting against, you see so much that is not of God.
But recently, I did a study about kindness and goodness. It has caused me to look with a different lens upon the crowds. Jesus looked at the crowds and had compassion on them. He saw that they were lost and wandering and had no true leadership.
MORE THAN COMPASSION
But He had more than just compassion and kindness; He also delivered goodness to them. He did whatever was in His power to help them. In this instance, we read further and see him instruct his disciples to pray to the Lord that He bring workers into the fields to bring in the harvest. In others instances, he healed the people. Another time, he fed them. And another time He taught them.
WHAT ABOUT US?
So I am wondering when we see the crowds, do we feel compassion or disgust? Do we reach out and give them a hug, or try to teach them or offer a cup of cold water, whatever it is we have in our hands to give?
[STOP]
THE CHALLENGE
image credit to Five Minute Friday
My challenge to myself today. Begin looking at the crowds through God’s eyes. Ask God to show us the need and begin to work by showing the love of God.
I’ve put together a page of scriptures to help us divert our eyes to look at the crowds as God does. Maybe it will cause our hearts to become more compassionate. CLICK HERE for a free printable.
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