2 Corinthians 4:6-10

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

6. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.
8. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed: we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9. Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might be made manifest on our body.

Romans 12

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

1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
4. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office (function):
5. So we , being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members (individually) one of another.
6. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith:
7. Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching:
8. Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity (liberally): he that ruleth, with diligence: he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
9. Let love be without dissimulation (hypocrisy). Abhor that which is evil; cleave (cling) to that which is good.
10. Be kindly affectioned (affectionate) one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring (giving preference to) one another;
11. Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.
12. Rejoicing in hope, patient (persevering)in tribulation; continuing instant (steadfastly) in prayer:
13. Distributing to the necessity (needs) of saints; given to hospitality. 
14. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.
15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
16. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind (do not set your mind on) not high things, but condescend (associate with the humble) with men of low estate.  Be not wise in your conceits (estimations).
17. Recompense (Repay) to no man evil for evil.  Provide (have regard for good things) things honest in the sight of all men.
18. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, VENGEANCE IS MINE; I WILL REPAY, saith the Lord.
20. Therefore IF THINE ENEMY HUNGER, FEED HIM; IF HE THIRST, GIVE HIM DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING THOU SHALT HEAP COALS OF FIRE ON HIS HEAD.
21. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Sometime We'll Understand

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

         " . . . What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter."  John  13:7

     With their limited spiritual horizons the disciples did not always understand what Jesus said and did.  Like the blind man of Bethsaida, their prophetic insight was as distorted as one who sees, "men as trees walking."  Later, at Pentecost, they were to receive a second touch of blessing which would illumine their minds to the meaning of many things.  Therefore in John 13:7 Jesus tells them not to become confused or bewildered by the perplexing events that were to transpire.  They were to proceed by faith, resting on the precious promise that "hereafter" they would comprehend His wise purposes.  So, today, Christ's acts of love to us are often misunderstood.  Yet His apparent "dark dealings" with us will certainly be explained in Heaven, for God knows what He is about.

     The late Dr. H. A. Ironside often told the story of a noted painter who had been commissioned to prepare a great, artistic mural.  The artist erected a scaffold and proceeded to put the background of the picture on the wall.  A friend, coming to the studio, stood quietly at the rear of the room, for he saw the artist was preoccupied in slapping on the dark gray and the deep blue tones.  Wishing to view his background preparation from a better perspective, the artist descended the ladder and moved toward the door with his eye still on the mural.  He was so intent that he backed right into his friend without even seeing him. Enthusiastically he exclaimed,  "This is going to be the masterpiece of my life!  What do you think of it?  Isn't it grand?"  His friend replied,  "All that I see is a great, dull daub of paint."  Then said the artist,  "Oh, I forgot.  When you look at the mural you see only what is there; but when I look at it, I see what is going to be there - and that makes a lot of difference!"

     How wise the Christian who can smile through his tears - confident that he will joyously view the perfect design of his trials in God's tomorrow!

"Bread For Each Day"

Romans 8:38-39

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

Romans 8:36

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

 36.  As it is written,  FOR THY SAKE, WE ARE KILLED ALL THE DAY LONG; WE ARE ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER.

Romans 8:13

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

This Body Of Death

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

     Paul wrote of being afflicted, crushed, perplexed, struck down, and "always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies"  (2 Corinthians 4:10).

     I am carrying around death these days.  I carried it to work today.  I carried it into the shower and off into bed.  I want, with Paul, the moment-by-moment death working in me that allows Jesus' moment-by-moment life to shine.

     Death comes in two varieties; take your pick.  I'm familiar with the dull, half-conscious subsiding into a miserable fog.  Better is the embracing of fresh death served up every moment.  Or rather, fresh slaying - because this kind doesn't happen to one but is chosen.

     It refuses all self-made refuges and self-anesthetizing (think of giving birth and passing up the epidural) because it desires death's lucidity.  It asks, What would happen if this time I didn't weave a cocoon of numbness around myself?  Will I die?  (An interesting inquiry.)  Jesus would have to do something , wouldn't He?  This is virgin terrain for me.

     What are "the sufferings of Christ"  (2 Corinthians 1:5)?  I submit, they are any sufferings of any kind that are suffered in Christ and not AWOL from Christ - whether their origin be persecution or personal folly.

     Paul Simon sings of "50 ways to leave your lover."  Let's posit ways to render a broken heart unprofitable:

     Tactic No. 1 is sour grapes; tell yourself you haven't lost much.  Diminish the other in spurned petulance.  The gain is temporary relief from the unbearable; the casualty is truth.  I'm resisting this, since it is not Christ's "carrying around death."

     Tactic No. 2 is nursing hope when it is wiser to abandon hope.  I choose to carry around death rather than artificial life.

     Tactic No. 3 is the bitter satisfaction of getting in the last word.  I'm biting my tongue and carrying around death.

     Tactic No. 4 is drugs, alcohol, and sleep.  Not options for me.

     Tactic No. 5 is fantasizing.  There is always something they prefer to . . . "reality" (C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce).  I say no to fantasy (20 times a day) and prefer to carry around death.

     Tactic No. 6 is stoicism.  Not allowed (Ephesians 4:32) since we are to make the head hard and the heart soft - rather than the other way around.  The hard says:  "I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame"  (Isaiah 50:7).  The soft heart refuses to build bulwarks against future relationships.

     I'm watching my emotions carefully:  Sad is okay; tearfully sentimental is not.  By His grace we stay the course and "do not swerve to the right or to the left"  (Proverbs  4:27).  Constant communion with God avoids all 50 ways of flinching from sanctifying pain.

     Carrying around death includes resisting the urge to talk too much.  Beware of trying to get from people what you can only get from God.  Your momentary indulgence will leave you feeling sullied with your pain unabated.  Keep grief clean.  Remember too, EVEN THE FRIENDS WHO LIKE YOU BEST SPEND NO MORE THAN FIVE MINUTES A DAY THINKING OF YOU.  God thinks of you all the time; talk to Him.

     Walking around with a hole in your heart is not something to be alarmed at, or dispatched at all costs.  It feels similar to dieting pangs, and both are workable.  But suffering is a waste of pituitary secretions unless you suffer with Christ.  "We felt that we had received the sentence of death.  But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead"  (2 Corinthians  1:9).

     I used to be a mystic in hermeneutics.  I thought "always carrying in the body of death of Jesus" in 2 Corinthians 4 referred to my static positional status in Christ.  I wasn't practicing daily dying but avoiding it like haggis.  Now I'll own death, since Christ owned death for me, and we'll just see.

     Today I read how Peter's mother-in-law had a high fever and Jesus took her hand and helped her up and she began to wait on Him (Mark 1:31).  Jesus, please take me by the hand and heal me too, so that I can get up and serve You again.

Andree Seu