Sitting at the Master's Table

“Don’t let your dog come near the table when you are eating. Plan to eat first and then feed your dog. Yadda, yadda, yadda!”

If you can follow these rules, more power to you. I tried, failed, and threw away the training manual. I guess I’m softhearted. My willpower melted the first time Molly looked at me with begging eyes as I stuck my fork into a scrambled egg. She has enjoyed scrambled eggs since that defining moment. I can’t share everything I eat with her because it would likely make her ill, but I slip small portions of food to her whenever she sits at my feet and stares at me.

What’s her favorite food? Eggs, beef, bacon, cottage cheese, Swiss cheese, and ice cream. Since she is a Maltese, she would probably prefer a Mediterranean diet, but I wouldn’t. So she will have to be content with my food choices.

GOOD DOGMA

King David wanted to show kindness to former King Saul’s family members. Saul had tried to kill David, but Saul’s son Jonathan had befriended David and even saved his life. Now both Saul and Jonathan were dead, victims of a fierce assault by Israel’s archenemy, the Philistines.

But David learned Jonathan had a crippled son Mephibosheth, who was living in a desert place. Apparently Mephibosheth was hiding from David. He must have thought David would take revenge on him because his grandfather Saul had tried to kill David. But David had kindness, not killing, on his mind, and he dispatched a servant to bring Mephibosheth to his palace.

Second Samuel 9 tells what happened next.

When Mephibosheth entered David’s presence, he bowed low and asked David, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?” (v. 8). David responded by giving Mephibosheth property, servants, and the privilege of eating at the king’s table as one of his own sons (vv. 9-13).

What David did for Mephibosheth demonstrates what Jesus, the King of kings, has done for believers. He has shown kindness to us by bringing us to Him from a desolate place in life, He has graced us with gifts and a title deed to a mansion in heaven, and He allows us to sit at His table, where we fellowship with Him daily and feast on His Word.

Give thanks today for all the good things you enjoy at the Master’s table!

A BIBLE TREAT

“He has taken me to the banquet hall, and his banner over me is love” (Song of Sol. 2:4).

—From Meditations for Dog Lovers by Jim Dyet © 2005, AMG Publishers/Living Ink Books

A Plea for Balance

Vertigo is unpleasant. It hit me suddenly yesterday and threw me off balance. At the same time, my blood pressure spiked. I am feeling somewhat better today, but I am still kind of dizzy.

Balance is something we take for granted until we lose it. If you try to walk a straight path without a sense of balance, you may fall or bump into objects. Similarly, if you try to negotiate the Christian life without a good sense of balance, you will likely fall or hurt yourself or others.

The balanced Christian life keeps us from leaning too far left or right. We stay upright and make steady progress toward the goals God has set for us. The well-balanced Christian does not let feelings push aside his faith. He refuses to let current world crises undermine his confidence in God. He takes a sane, sensible, scriptural approach to prophecy. He majors on the majors instead of on the minors. He depends on Scripture, not circumstances, for guidance. He stays rooted in sound theology, and refuses to let trendy pop psychology govern his actions.

Well-balanced Christians are precisely what a dizzy, tottering world needs.

A Christian Approach to Political Concerns

It must have been tough to live as a Christian in the Roman Empire. The emperors were pagans. None of them held Christian values, and several persecuted believers mercilessly. Nero set believers on fire as human torches. What would Christians have posted on facebook if it had existed in such anti-Christian times?

Would they have scorned, ridiculed, and insulted the political rulers? I don’t think so. Their role was to pray for those who ruled them, submit to every ordinance, serve as ambassadors for Christ, walk in love as children of light, and seek a city whose builder is God.

As citizens, we don’t have to roll over and play dead; we can express our opinions and convictions in love, be gracious, manifest the fruit of the Spirit in our words and deeds, and vote. We can be assured that God is still on the throne and fully in control.

May God bless—and rescue—the USA!

Garage Sale!

I guess you can find a good bargain at a garage sale. I found a good wheelbarrow at a neighbor’s garage sale. He even inflated the front tire for me. Most of the time, though, I walk away from a garage sale wondering why the stuff for sale wasn’t trashed. After all, who wants a size-10 combat boot paired with a size 12? Why buy a rusty grill that can’t stand straight and is full of holes? What does anyone want with an 8-track player? And what good is a rake that’s missing a dozen teeth?

Strange, isn’t it the value some people attach to junk?

Before becoming a believer, the apostle Paul (Saul of Tarsus at the time) valued religious junk highly. He thought God did too. He was proud of his religious pedigree, seminary training, and devotion to religious works and ceremonies. But one day he saw how worthless his religious “treasures” were, so he walked away from them and embraced the Cross. He put his trust in Jesus for salvation. He wrote: “I count them [his religious credentials and efforts] as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).

Martin Luther understood Paul’s value system. He said, “Man only needs Jesus Christ.” Like Paul, Luther stopped trusting his religious affiliation and efforts to save him and, instead, trusted in the sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary.

Ephesians 2:8 and 9 teach that God saves us by grace not works. Religious deeds fit the sinner’s need about as well as a mismatched pair of combat boots fit his feet.

Our on the Salt!

A few protestors are objecting to the emblem attached to the hospital at Fort Carson Army Post. It shows a cross in front of the mountains and the Latin motto, "Pro deo et humanitate," meaning “For God and Mankind.” The emblem must go, the protestors insist, because it violates the principle of separation and state. This is just another indication that secularists might be happy if all Christian symbols were removed from public property.

Perhaps those symbols will be gone someday, but Christians will still be present unless the Rapture removes them. In the final analysis, Christians must serve as salt to preserve our nation and influence non-Christians to believe on the Savior. It is good that Christians live in communities across all across the United States, work in a wide variety of industries, and attend numerous schools. God has shaken the salt everywhere.

The powerful influence of lives that reflect God’s saving grace cannot be capped, muffled, or silenced. Let’s keep the salt level high so people will thirst for God.