What Is Your Hand?

Billy Graham tells the story about a little child was playing with a very valuable vase. He put his hand into it and could not withdraw it.

His father too, tried his best to get it out, to no avail.

They were thinking of breaking the vase when the father said, "Now my son, make one more try. Open your hand and hold your fingers out straight as you see me doing, and then pull."

To their astonishment the little fellow said, "Oh no, dad, I couldn't put my fingers out like that because if I did I would drop my dime."

Smile, if you will but thousands of us are like that little boy, so busy holding on to the world's worthless dimes that we cannot accept liberation.

Drop the trifles in your life.Surrender! Let go, and let God have His way in your life.

The Box Without A Price

An old story has resurfaced - The devil is having a big sales in his store of evil tricks. Everything has a price except for one box that has no price that. It is not for sales. 

 

After almost everything has been sold, his demonic assistant asks him about what is in the box without a price. 

 

The old devil whispers, "It's Discouragement! When all temptations fail, I have this box of potent tricks to use! I have more success using these against the Christians than any other tricks! Once hit, few have the strength or wisdom to rise to their former glory. Many just become mediocre and die fruitless! Isn't that great!"

The Woman Who Called 911 To Ask A Police Officer On A Date

A woman in Aloha, Oregon, called 911 because she thought a deputy who had just visited her house on a complaint was good-looking. After her neighbors reported a noise complaint, two sheriff's deputies knocked on Lorna Jeanne Dudash's door. One of them caught her eye. When they left, Dudash dialed 9-1-1 in a desperate attempt to get the deputy she described to dispatchers as “a cutie pie” to return.

She said that she didn't have an emergency; she just wanted the dispatcher to “throw the cute police back her way”. The “cute” deputy returned, and, once he determined there was no legitimate emergency, he arrested Dudash for misusing 9-1-1. She now faces a fine of up to several thousand dollars and up to a year in jail.

Too Much Temptation Out There!

Karine and her two sons, Jaeden (right) and Gareth(left)

Six-year old Jaeden had found video games to be addictive and needed his mother's help to break the addiction. (During my time, which six-year old ever thought of doing that?)  For almost two weeks, the little boy was doing fine with his abstinence until the final day which was on a Sunday. 

 

After Sunday School, Jaeden could not be found playing with his usual group of friends. He was with eight-year old Chantel, the pastor's daughter, in a classroom far away from where most of the kids were playing. Lynda, the pastor's wife, found only two of them together and was curious. She was surprised by the answer that Jaeden gave. 

 

He said, "I am not joining the rest of the kids because there is too much temptation out there!" 

 

What Jaeden meant was that many of the children were playing with hand-held video games and he was afraid to be tempted by them. 

 

Two weeks prior to the abstinence, Jaeden had prayed to the Lord with his mother, "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." According to Karine, her eldest son was really determined to fight this temptation. Whenever Jaeden scored victories over the temptation, she reminded him to cherish the victorious moments. 

 

After the two-week self-discipline rigor was over, little Jaeden broke out in a loud song and worshiped  the Lord with gusto, "Thru YOU, I can do Anything; I can do All things, cos it's You who gives me strength - Nothing is Impossible!"

Remember the Duck?

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target.

Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes."

But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen." Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper."

Sally just smiled and said, "Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help." She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.

Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done, the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.). Whatever it is, you need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.

The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and mercy that we are saved.

The Guilty Sickle

In the year 1235, a Chinese man named Sun Tzu wrote the first book about forensic entomology: "The Washing of Wrongs." In it, he describes a murder case in which there was some doubt as to which of two sickles was used as the murder weapon. 

Sun Tzu laid them both on the ground and observed that one sickle attracted flies, presumably because there were remnants of the victim's flesh and blood on it. He announced that he had found the murder weapon, and the owner of that sickle confessed to the crime. 

The bible says, "But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the LORD, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out." (Numbers 32:23)

As Oswald Chambers has written: "A man's disposition on the inside, i.e., what he possesses in his personality, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the nature of the one tempted, and reveals the possibilities of that nature. Every man has the setting of this own temptation, and the temptation will come along the line of the ruling disposition. Temptation yielded to... is a proof that it was timidity that prevented the sin before."

So are your sins catching up with you? Are you feeling like keeping your sins hidden is just too much to bear? Why not actually deal with them now? Don’t let circumstances or people other than you be the cause of ‘everything being laid bare’ now. Lay it bare yourself. Be transparent, confess your sins, repent, receive forgiveness, and know the power of God to break confessed sin.

Cookies Versus Willpower

Toad baked some cookies. "These cookies smell very good," said Toad. He ate one. "And they taste even better," he said.  Toad ran to Frog's house. "Frog, Frog," cried Toad, "taste these cookies that I have made." 

Frog ate one of the cookies, "These are the best cookies I have ever eaten!" said Frog. 

Frog and Toad ate many cookies, one after another. "You know, Toad," said Frog, with his mouth full, "I think we should stop eating. We will soon be sick." 

"You are right," said Toad. "Let us eat one last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one last cookie.  There were many cookies left in the bowl. 

"Frog," said Toad, "let us eat one very last cookie, and then we will stop." Frog and Toad ate one very last cookie. 

"We must stop eating!" cried Toad as he ate another.

"Yes," said Frog, reaching for a cookie, "we need willpower." 

"What is willpower?" asked Toad.

"Willpower is trying hard not to do something you really want to do," said Frog. 

"You mean like trying hard not to eat all these cookies?" asked Toad. 

"Right," said Frog.

Frog put the cookies in a box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies." 

"But we can open the box," said Toad.

"That is true," said Grog.

Frog tied some string around the box. "There," he said. "Now we will not eat any more cookies." 

"But we can cut the string and open the box." said Toad.

"That is true," said Frog. Frog got a ladder. He put the box up on a high shelf.

"There," said Frog. "Now we will not eat any more cookies."

"But we can climb the ladder and take the box down from the shelf and cut the string and open the box," said Toad. 

"That is true," said Frog.

Frog climbed the ladder and took the box down from the shelf. He cut the string and opened the box. Frog took the box outside. He shouted in a loud voice. "Hey, birds, here are cookies!" Birds came from everywhere. They picked up all the cookies in their beaks and flew away. 

"Now we have no more cookies to eat," said Toad sadly. 

"Not even one."

"Yes," said Frog, "but we have lots and lots of willpower." 

"You may keep it all, Frog," said Toad. "I am going home now to bake a cake."  

Ray & Anne Ortlund, Renewal, Navpress, 1989,  p. 73-74.

Questions Christians Should Ask Themselves

We can supplement our accountability to others by reading slowly through literature designed to challenge our Christian maturity. Consider, as an example, these questions related to sexual purity that I had to read carefully as I read Kent Hughes' Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome:

1. Are we being desensitized by the present evil world? Do things that once shocked us now pass us by with little notice? Have our sexual ethics slackened?

2. Where do our minds wander when we have no duties to perform?

3. What are we reading? Are there books or magazines or files in our libraries that we want no one else to see? 

4. What are we renting at the local video stores? How many hours do we spend watching TV? How many adulteries did we watch last week? How many murders? How many did we watch with our children?

5. How many chapters of the Bible did we read last week?

Paul Borthwick, Leading the Way, Navpress, 1989, p. 120-121.

Two Things Concerning The Sins of Others

It was F.B. Meyer, I believe, who once said that when we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know: 

First, we do not know how hard he or she tried not to sin. 

And second, we do not know the power of the forces that assailed him or her. We also do not know what we would have done in the same circumstances. 

Stephen Brown, Christianity Today, April 5, 1993, p. 17.