Aptiva

Like the finest apple tree in the orchard      is my lover among other young men. I sit in his delightful shade      and taste his delicious fruit.- Song of Songs 2:3 The word of God celebrates the love that a man and woman can have for one another. Set in the heart at the start of creation, God calls us to "fruitful and multiply", less stated, but implicit in Adam's response to his newly created equal Eve, is "enjoy one another as you multiply." We should delight in our husbands and wives, celebrating our differences, marvelling at how both aspects of God, male and female, can become one through marriage. Sadly Dear Reader, many let this teaching, this expectation, this promise become a memory. They truly let the fall of humanity effect the way they express their marriage. Far from finding delight in one another, many criticise, control, or abuse. Yet God is one of second chances, and while the sun shines opportunity exists. Jesus the car...

Using a dull ax requires great strength,      so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom;      it helps you succeed.- Ecc 10:10 As the wisdom of "the teacher", Solomon shows, he understood rest. Solomon knew that to get the best from any tool, one needed to take care of it's function. In this example, the axe blade needs to be kept sharp. Time spent sharpening the axe, allows more efficient work later on. We need Dear Reader to understand humanity is exactly the same. We need to give not only time doing the work set before us, but also time to sharpening our blade, by resting from that work, and re charging. We need to refresh. How varies, for some, a good book, others exercise, some a coffee and chat. What ever your method, we need permission to do this, and God gives it, it's called Sabbath. The living God took a nation held in slavery, who were forced to work all day ever day, and his first gift to them was, "A Sabbath Rest....

An open rebuke      is better than hidden love!- Proverbs 27:5 Love is very misunderstood. It has become popular to equate love with permission. The argument goes "If you love me, you will support me in all my choices" it is then taken further, "If you fail to support me, then you don't love me and actually show hate." The world fails to understand that God is love, and God is a God of limits. Love has boundaries. In this word of God, we may see the obvious, "being told we are doing something wrong, is better than keeping quiet and thinking we are loving someone", yet we may miss the subtle, " Rebuking in public is loving, keeping quiet and letting disaster come is unloving" Now Dear Reader, this does not mean we have licence to say what ever we want, to whomever we want, whenever we want, claiming to be following God's "proverb of love." Discernment is needed, which is why a proverb never works in isolation, and w...

If you set a trap for others,      you will get caught in it yourself. If you roll a boulder down on others,      it will crush you instead.- Proverbs 26:27 I love watching Road Runner, this strange cartoon, where Wile E. Coyote tries to capture this odd bird. Every time he attempts to do so, he uses elaborate schemes to trap the Road Runner. Not only do these schemes fail to work in trapping the bird, they always backfire and hurt Wile E. Coyote. (who admittedly seems strangely robust to ultimate destruction!) Yet this funny cartoon brings God's word into play. God warns that a "life lived to bring others down, will ultimately bring you down." Think about it, you may have witnessed it. Spite and bitterness eventually hurts the ones who express this, more than it hurts the ones they are bitter against. If we live with an attitude of desiring the worst for others, we see this sickness of spirit coming to dominate us. ...

Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die;      save them as they stagger to their death. 12  Don’t excuse yourself by saying, “Look, we didn’t know.”      For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew.      He will repay all people as their actions deserve.- Proverbs 24:11-12 History abounds Dear Reader with the excuse "we didn't know!" Yet time and again this vain rhetoric is exposed as lies to cover over the truth, "we didn't care." The Carpenter, who was a refugee, fleeing from Herod, finding himself taken by his parents to Egypt, fleeing from political persecution, fleeing from the slaughter which took place in Bethlehem. In Egypt they found welcome, they found a temporary home, prepared by the father for this family to hide out in. The family of the Christ, shamed in their society for having a child out of wedlock, forced to take an arduous journey while Mary wa...

The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion out there!      If I go outside, I might be killed!”- Proverbs 22:13 We can Dear Reader, be terrified by fear. Fear when mastered, can be useful to us for survival, conversely, when uncontrolled becomes Satan's tool. It works both ways, as this proverb implies. Not only does fear prevent people from doing things, they use it as an excuse for their own laziness. "Take no risk, I am safe, it's better where we are, change is bad!" become our catch cries  The truth is, change is inevitable, but the growth which could come with it, is not! We need to take risk, or a believer would say, we need to show faith. We cannot let the thought of future failure paralyse our present. Yet often, those who claim to follow the carpenter, do just that. They desire not to rock the boat, or change what seems to be presently working FOR THEM. Worse still, they can idolise the past, "remember when we used to do this?" they a...

Proverbs 21:3 "The  Lord  is more pleased when we do what is right and just      than when we offer him sacrifices." It is said, "It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission", yet this  may  not be a Godly choice. Too often we justify wrong actions then think we can make restitution afterwards! Yet God asks more of us, he wants the right actions first. He wants the right motives first. He wants us to understand the relationship before we break it, merely than try to cover over after we have chosen to mess up. He wants us to think about the future. As we mature in our expression of the carpenter's life this should become a primary indication of our actions. How we consider the future after we have acted!

2 Cor 7:10 "For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death." Proverbs 21:27 "The sacrifice of an evil person is detestable,      especially when it is offered with wrong motives." We can Dear Reader fake it! To all outward markers, the world can assume that we are, repentant, contrite, and seeking forgiveness. Our actions can follow the acceptable methods of the day. In Jewish traditions, this was to bring a sacrifice to the temple and walk through the public display of restitution. To show the watching world that we have "covered over" our sin! In todays' society it may be that a celebrity has to drop from public sight for a prescribed amount of time. It may include a donation to charity, or a public statement asking for forgiveness. Yet how are we to know if this is sincere,...

Proverbs often seems to describe a desired outcome rather than a present reality. Proverbs 15:25 reads "The  Lord  tears down the house of the proud,      but he protects the property of widows." Yet we often see a world where the widow is abused or taken advantage of! Yet, at other places, Proverbs describes outcomes which will take place if God's advice is taken Proverbs 15:5 "Only a fool despises a parent’s [ f ]  discipline;      whoever learns from correction is wise." Thus, if you listen to wisdom from your parents you will be better off. This of course assumes they did the same with theirs. Thus the crux of the matter comes into play. How well did you represent God in all these actions? Three options exists. We can ignore all this advice- "Foolishness" the bible calls it. We can follow advice because it makes us better off, with no consideration of God, but understanding our lives will succeed. I call t...

Prayer can be hard Dear Reader. The idea of talking to an ever listening God, who seems not to respond in the way I want. I sit and dream, what was it like for Peter, John, Matthew, as they sat at the very feet of Jesus? How simple I think it must have been to find out the truth of the world from the very lips of its creator. What wonders did they have revealed and described to them? Then I take the time to read the biblical text. Jesus was a Rabbi, and used the ancient technique of the people he had formed, to teach via questions. I ask myself,  could Jesus describe to Peter a heaven in terms he would really understand? Do words even exists to do this? I read the accounts of the life of Jesus with his disciples, and I read the honesty of those who choose to speak up and have their words recorded. The disciples were confused, they knew someone special was with them. They sensed that the Kingdom of God was near, but who Jesus was, that was clouded. Flashes came through. Pe...

"The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day."- Proverbs 4:18 It's late, or perhaps it's early, it's 4am. The night has seemed long for the few hours I have been awake already. Yet the time is not unprofitable, for in it, God speaks. He speaks through the challenges of Facebook, where friends post concerns and cries for help, for us as the Christ followers to respond in practical ways to the worlds hurts. He speaks through the encouragements of fellow workers, who understand and share the burden of guiding the people of God. He speaks through long ago words of some dead King who had enough wisdom to record his thoughts. Solomon, greatest of the kings of Israel in terms of wealth, power, peace and prosperity. Yet never named above his father David, an adulterer, murderer, and man of war. David, far from perfect, yet we are told he has "a heart after God", for during his darkest hou...

Dear Reader, we understand that throughout history people have brought sacrifices to "appease the Gods." Whatever culture, this is found, and in some cultures still continues. We know from the records of the first book of beginnings, Genesis, that Cain and Able brought sacrifice in their attempt to have relationship with the God who their parents told them about. This was only partially successful, as Cain brought things with the wrong attitude, Gen 4:2-6 "When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.  “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what...

There is Dear Reader, much confusion as to the filling of the Christian by the presence of the Holy Spirit. It should not seem overly complicated. As with any relationships, one can be introduced to a person, and meet them in their entirety, yet not really know them at all. A young couple meet, fall in love and get married. At their first meeting, the future groom had met his whole wife, she hadn't left a part of her somewhere else, she was there before his eyes, and in his presence. Yet at this very moment of meeting her wholly, we also know, he "knows" her not at all. While physically present, her character, her emotions, feeling, thoughts, life and thousands of other things which complete who she is, are hidden to him. With time, patience, and God's love, who she is will become apparent to Him. This of course is a mutual experience. Yet in this unity, where two become one, we know that each will build and shape the other, so that who they were when they met, ...