Saved or Rescued

Is there a difference in definition between "saved" and "rescued"?  According to Webster there is very little.  But, in reflection of certain situations, I believe there can be a difference, one that may be ever so slight, and yet ever so important.  I even believe it can be the difference between life or death.


My dear friend Webster says that saved means to "deliver from sin".  I admit that I was a little surprised for the dictionary to take this fairly religious point of view on the word. The second definition was to "deliver from danger".  I looked up the word rescue and found, "to free from confinement or danger, to save, to deliver".  The differences may not be enough for one to normally comment on, but I believe I see a difference.

A few days ago my husband and I were talking about a situation that we have with our adult son.  His marriage is ending, he has no dependable transportation, no job, no place to go, and of course no money to achieve any of these. These problems, and many, many more, are long-standing, and over the years his cries for help and then abuse of the helper have caused him to alienate family and friends alike.  He has, as the saying goes, burned all of his bridges and has no one to go to, and he has no where to go.  His closest family has explained to him time and again that his hope is not in what his family or friends do for him.  His hope, and at this point, his only hope is in Jesus Christ who can and will turn his life around.  Our son has stedfastly refused to take this step in his life, and consequently his life is unbearable for him.  His last phone conversation with me was to say that he has nothing to live for, and he wants to end his life. 

There have been circumstances in this man's life that have caused him to believe that the world owes him, that his family owes him, and he has lived this way for so long that he knows nothing else.  How does someone watch two hardworking parents all of his growing up years become an adult believing just the opposite of what he saw? I can't answer this.  I can only rely on what I believe.  I believe in a Savior that can lift a lost man up from his grave of sin and despair and plant him on solid ground.

Today I am recognizing more and more a generation of adult children with this same mindset.  They don't want to work, let alone work hard.  They don't want to do a job that they consider not theirs to do.  They want at age 25 what our generation didn't have until we were 50, and they want it given to them.  This generation of which I speak has been pampered and spoiled with money and technology, and they have come away believing that they deserve it simply because they breathe.  We forgot to teach them that all these things in their lives wouldn't make them happy.  The things only cause them to want more.  There is only One way to happiness, and they don't seem willing to sacrifice to have it.

Yes.  I forgot to tell him because I didn't know Christ until my son was 15 and his brother was 17.  I didn't know the Truth, so how could I teach it to them?  But I cannot take the guilt upon myself when I have presented the Truth over and over to them.  As adults, my sons have continued to hear the Truth, then walk away to continue their lives of sin and depravity.  They have made their choices, and I am not responsible for their false thinking and bad decisions.  But I am responsible for praying for their salvation and deliverance.  My job as a "mommy" is over.  But my job as a believer in Christ demands my diligence in prayer, and it demands my unfailing and unconditional love for my sons whom I love beyond measure.  My greatest comfort is knowing that their Creator loves them infinitely, and because of that love He will pursue them for as long as it takes for them to recognize how much they need Him.

I am continuing to pray, and I am expecting great things from God for my sons.

I'LL DO IT MYSELF!

I have a husband who, bless his heart, thinks if I have come to him with a problem that I want him to fix it.  I think this may be God's fault because I've read that most husbands think this way.  But all I really want is to talk about it to someone.  I just want him to listen to me, then I'll go take care of it.  I wonder if the reason for this is that, usually, men just don't talk, bless their hearts, unless they have to.  If they don't need help why would they talk?

Think about how God must look at this conundrum.  On one hand He watches a woman telling her loving husband about the kid in the back of her class who just won't follow directions and can't keep his hands to himself.  When she's finished her rant, dear, sweet, loving husband begins to recite a list of all the things that she needs to do to correct this youngster.  He may even have the audacity to put this list in writing for her.  "Follow these (my) guidelines (instead of yours), and you will have no more problems." This is what she hears him saying.  Her next decision will probably be to never talk to him about her job ever again.  "I'll do it my own way!  What does he know about it, anyway?"

On the other hand is the loving husband who is home from work, tired, just wanting a little peace in his world, and she's got a problem, and, God forbid, she wants to talk.  "Fine," he thinks to himself.  "I can take care of this for her, and then I can get back to peace and quiet.  This can't be too difficult.  It's a child, for heaven's sake!  Why can't she do this herself?  No.  I have to do it for her!"

Wanting to "take care of things myself" is typical in hundreds of different scenarios, not just between men and women.  But I wonder if it is one of the biggest chasms between man and God.  God is in control, but man wants to do it himself.  God says to man, "Trust in Me."  And man says, "I have to do something!"  "How can it be resolved if I don't do something?"

The writer of Hebrews says, "Faith is leaning toward God in complete confidence and trust in His power, wisdom, and goodness." (Amp. Bible. italics added)  Many times our faith needs feet and hands to accomplish God's power and wisdom, but first comes the faith, the knowledge of and intimate relationship with God the Father and His Son.  When we "put on the armor of God" then we will know the power and wisdom that we need to answer our daily problems because the constant in our lives, the Holy Spirit, will guide us through.  Yes, sometimes I may still need to talk it through to a friend.  But all I will need in the end to solve or alleviate my problems will come from the Counselor, God.  He does good work.  Even at my best I'll probably make a mess.  God's Word is the best resource I can ever need.

God Doesn't Want the Scraps

I am a fan of crossword puzzles.  I've worked them since I was a young girl.  When I first started mom and I worked them together, then I began working them on my own.  I also am very interested in words, and to this day I love to learn a new word as often as I can.

If you work crossword puzzles then you will probably be familiar with the word "ort".  We almost never use it in today's world, and to use it in your conversations would probably cause others to pause and give you an inquiring look   or a look of doubt that you know what you are talking about.  Ort is a word that describes left-overs at the end of a meal.  Ort is what the pigs were fed on the farm.  Ort is the scraps that no one wants.  It is ort that I am thinking about today, that I want to use in my conversation, so don't look at me funny.

Those of us in the Christian church who call ourselves, and think of ourselves, as good Christians need to constantly be looking at our walk with Christ, testing and checking ourselves, and listening closely every day, twenty four/seven as the saying goes, to the Holy Spirit to guide us to completeness in Him.  Most of us have a long way to go, and learning to recognize the Spirit's voice is key to our walk.  To hear the Holy Spirit we must be willing to give the Trinity our full attention, our all.  And I am brave enough to say that every single one of us can do better.  He does not want, nor does He deserve our ort.

My guess is that most of us go to prayer if and when we have time.  When we awake in the morning there is much to be done to ready our family and ourselves for the day.  When we get home at the end of the day we are tired, worn out, and there's more work to do.  Meals and children and social activities, along with many other things, take all of our time, and by the time we get to our bed we have little left.  So we say a quick prayer, "Oh God, thank You for this day and please, God, help me to sleep!" What God just received was what little you had left for Him. 

Sunday mornings can be so hectic, and even during the week some of us spend so much time serving Him in our areas of ministry.  Wonderful!  But beyond serving Him, are we saving back the best part of our time for worship?  Or are we doing so much for God that we have no time to be with Him?  I believe God wants you and your time first, then your service.  Sometimes I've done so much for Him, I don't have time for Him.  He gets my scraps.

Another place we sometimes struggle, or perhaps don't even consider, is our tithe.  If I tithe and don't have enough left over to buy the extras in my life, I must make a decision.  And, often, we give to God on Sunday what is left after we have paid everything else.  You can reason this away, but I believe God is First in all things, even my money.  It is His.  He allows us the privilege to have it, and if we pay Him the ort that we have left over we have given to Him no more than we would give to the animals in the barnyard or the dogs at our feet.  I can reason that I can only afford to give Him a small portion, but God doesn't deserve to be robbed any more than you or I do.  My leftovers are the height of disrespect to the One who loves us beyond our power to understand.

When I go to my Father and I am in need I will never hear Him say, "As soon as I am finished with this one I'll get to you.  I'm busy right now", or "I think I can give you five minutes tomorrow at noon.  I'll try to fit you in  then."  He will never be too tired or too busy to listen and give me what I need to plod through.  God will never tell me, "Sorry, I'm a little short this month.  Can I pay you next week?"

God is my refuge and strength; an ever present help in times of trouble.  He deserves my very best at all times in return.  My God deserves to receive the cream of my crop, the finest and the most that I can give.  I'll save the ort for the pigs.

What Am I Going To Do?

One of today's headlines reads:
Police: La. man decapitated disabled son, 7. Yesterday's television news was of a fifteen year old stabbing his grandmother to death in Atlanta. Another headline I read yesterday was about a mother who killed her three children. A woman in Florida was accused, but aquitted, of killing her two year old. A family of three siblings were just arrested in the last few days after a crime spree of bank robbing and attempted murder of police officers. The list of such frightening scenarios goes on and on, more of them every day. What, if anything, has changed in this wicked world? Hasn't it always been wicked? Haven't we always had such news and more? Can it get any worse?

I am disturbed with such reportings, but I should never be surprised. I shake my head in despair or in angst or just plain disgust, but if I am to believe what I read in the Word of God I shouldn't be amazed. This is the result of a contemptable enemy of God that is temporarily free to roam this world and snatch the unbelieving up to do his evil deeds and make them his prisoners. God has told us these things would happen, and there is more, and worse, to come. And if not, then it will be the end and I will have no more opportunities to do what He needs me to do.

The political and religious conflicts in Israel have intensfied and seem to be far from the "peace of Jerusalem" that David prayed for. The Church cannot even worship God without strife and conflict within its walls. Children are turning against their parents and each other. All of creation is painstakingly careful not to offend one another, but have no problem offending their Great Creator and Holy Father by ignoring Him, using His name in profane ways, and laughing and ridiculing His faithful. In much of the world Christians lose their lives in horrible ways for being His follower and disciple. And all of this has been the scene since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden.

Every generation has been convinced that the end of the world was near, but the more I read the Word, the more I believe it is closer than we think. So, what am I to do? I keep going to church every Sunday, and I keep praying for those loved ones that are lost to Him. I keep reading my Bible every day, and then, again, I pray for the lost and the sick and the hurting. And tomorrow I will get up and I will pray again, and I will read my Bible and I will be sure I'm in church next Sunday morning.

But what am I going to do about the problem?

And what are you going to do about the problem?

When Is Enough Enough?

When Jesus was asked how many times do we forgive He said 70 times 7, which really meant always forgive. Jesus forgave right up to the cross that they nailed Him to. He loved and forgave the ones who killed Him.

I was acquainted with a man I won't name who was convicted and sent to the electric chair for raping and mutilating two women. He was under the influence of drugs at the time, but that's no excuse. However, while he sat on death row waiting to be executed he came to know Jesus Christ as his Savior. He spent the next eight years telling many of the men he came in contact with about Christ. God used him to bring other men to Him. He eventually went to the chair, but I expect to see him when I reach heaven. He was forgiven by God, even though humanity will probably never forgive him.

God is just and fair. He will do what's right. We must obey Him and forgive one another always whether, in our eyes, they deserve it or not.

The Boy and the Broom

I heard a little story this morning that I want to remember, so I will keep it here in my blog.

There was once a little boy who was bored with his toys, and he wondered what he could do to have some fun. He looked through his house and he spied a broom hanging on a wall. "I know!" he thought, "I'll take this broom outside and ride it around the neighborhood pretending it is a horse." And that's just what he did.

Later that evening after the boy's mother had cleaned up the dinner dishes she went to find her broom to sweep up the floor, but the broom wasn't there where she had left it.

"Son," the mother called out to the boy, "do you know where the broom is?"

"Yes," replied the young man, "I took it outside to play with it, and I forgot to bring it back in."

"Well, I need you to please go outside and get the broom and bring it back in to me so I can finish my work."

"But, Mom," the boy said. "I can't do that. It's dark outside and I'm afraid of the dark."

The mom encouraged him, "Oh, there's nothing to be afraid of. You can go out in the dark because the Lord is always out there to be with you."

The boy walked over to the door, opened it just enough to stick his head out and called out, "Lord! If you're out there, will you please bring the broom in for me?"


We, the church, need to be careful that we don't behave as this little boy did. Sometimes we huddle in our church buildings and open up the doors just enough to call out to God, "If You're out there, Lord, will you please bring in the unsaved to us? We're too afraid to go out into the world and get them ourselves."

This is the purpose of the church in this world, to go out to them and bring them in to Him. We are the nucleus. They are the outsiders, and they need us to show them the way in.

THE ETHEREAL DOGWOOD

As we were driving home from church last Sunday I was struck again by the ethereal dogwood floating amidst the various woods we passed and all along the road side. I have no memory of dogwood before coming to Georgia, though Nebraska may have had them. But here in Georgia you cannot overlook the many, many trees sprinkled throughout the mountains and woods, and the impression is breathtaking because of their great number.

I have four or five dogwood trees in my wooded back yard, and one of them standing alone on the side of my lot is a very pretty sight indeed. But gaze out across a wooded lot and you will catch the dainty white flowers floating against the browns and greens of the sunny and fresh April Spring day. The illusion is of bits of cotton hovering amidst the new leaves, threatening to dance away at the slightest breeze.

This picture will be gone all too soon as the dogwood flowers fade and the rest of the landscape comes alive. Georgia will become lush in greens, and small colors will require a closer proximity to enjoy them. Kudzu will fill any crevice it can and nature will overwhelm the traveler with its show. The sky that had peeked through the branches will disappear. But today the photograph is of whimsey and a gentle feeling of God's subtle beauty.