Beware Of The Dog!

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

"He that passeth by, and meddleth with strife belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears."   Proverbs  26:17

     Never catch a dog by the ears, for it is the most sensitive part of his body.  Pull his tail if you must - but not his ears - never, unless you want to be bitten.  Solomon compares this foolish, dangerous act with persons who meddle in other people's affairs.  But sometimes you can't avoid it and you are unwillingly involved.

     Pity the poor preacher who is expected to patch up a quarrel between husband and wife.  He has "two strikes on him" before he begins.  If he takes the side of the wife - the husband is mad.  If he sides with the husband - the wife is angry, and if he refuses to take sides at all - both of them are ready to snap at him - for trying to take a dog by the ears.  If the couple are unsaved, then we can often help them a great deal, probably show them that their troubles would be solved if they would only accept the Lord.  But when Christians who know the Lord and His Word cannot patch up their squabbles, what chance has an outsider who comes in to tackle the longeared dog?

     Some time ago a lady called begging me to come over right away because her husband threatened to leave her.  "Please come over, please, and straighten this out!"  They had been feuding for days.  I asked her if she was a Christian and she said  "Yes."  "Is your husband a Christian?"  The reply was  "Yes, and he's listening on the extension phone."  "Well,"  I said,  "if you are both Christians, you can settle your trouble immediately.  I am not coming over until after you have read together Ephesians 4:32.  'And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.  That is God's solution - try it first, and if that doesn't work, call me and I'll come over.  But you must believe Ephesians 4:32 and do it.  If it fails, call me."  I am still waiting for the call.  Don't bother others with your problems when you have the answer right before you in the Bible.

"Bread For Each Day"

Ephesians 5:14, 22-33

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

22. Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
23. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
24. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.
25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
26. That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
27. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
28. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.  He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
29. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
30. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31. FOR THIS CAUSE SHALL A MAN LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND SHALL BE JOINED UNTO HIS WIFE, AND THEY TWO SHALL BE ONE FLESH.
32. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
33. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence (respects) her husband.

Back To The Altar

Come, sit, and enjoy a cup of tea or coffee in the comfort of the Lord:  "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."  Ephesians  4:31

   "Unto the place of the altar, which he (Abram) had made there at the first."  Genesis 13:4

     Abram had built an altar on a mountain between Bethel and Hai (Genesis 12:8); here he had worshiped and was happy.  Then a famine came and Abram, unwilling to trust God, went into Egypt (type of the world) and got himself into a peck of trouble.  (Have you read the Scripture - Genesis 12:10-13:4?  Well!  Stop! and do it now!)

     After his narrow escape in Egypt he returned to the altar called "The place of the beginning," and was restored to fellowship.  Are you, my friend, out of fellowship, away from the altar where you started? Remember how happy you were when you first met Jesus?  What has happened?  You have forgotten where you began - at the cross.  Don't forget where Jesus found you - retrace your steps, confess your drifting, and begin anew at "the place of the beginning."

     An ancient legend tells us that the little dwarf, Zacchaeus, lived in Jericho to a ripe old age.  Every morning at sunrise he would go out for a walk, and when he returned he was always beaming with joy as he began his day's work.  His wife became curious to learn his holy secret and one day followed him.  He went to the old sycamore tree he had climbed when Jesus saw him  (Luke 19:4-5), took a pail and proceeded to pour water on its roots all around.  Then he pulled the weeds, and with folded hands, he stood reverently looking up into its branches fora  few moment and said,  "Thank you, Lord, thank you!"  and smiling, went about his task for the day.  If each day you go back to the place of the beginning and say,  "Thank you, Lord!"  it will keep you happy.  Take time each morning - no matter how busy - for a word from Him (in the Book), and a word with Him (in prayer).  Try it!  It works!

"Bread For Each Day"