Sponges

There are 5 sponges laying on your kitchen counter top. Each member of your family has been cleaning up different areas of your home, but all the sponges look the same. You are curious as to what was cleaned in your home, but you can't tell by looking...they all look the same....so
what do you do?

You squeeze each sponge to see what comes out. As you squeeze the first sponge, you see that cola comes out, and so you decide that someone cleaned the kitchen with that one. Upon squeezing the second sponge, you find tub and tile cleaner - that one was used to clean the
bathroom.

Next, in the third sponge, you find motor oil -- hubby was cleaning the garage!

In the fourth sponge, baby powder puffs out when it is squeezed -- yep, the baby's nursery was done with that one!

And finally, in the last one, is floor wax -- that was the one you used on the hall floor!

As you lay the last one down, you look again at their similarity - and they all look the same until they're squeezed.

Christians are the same way. As life squeezes us, different things come out - anger from one, a need for revenge from another, tears from one, remorse from yet another - also greed, untruth, lust - and finally, from one saint, pours forth the love of Christ.

Just like the sponge, we can only squeeze out what is put in - stay in the Word daily, and be in continuous prayer, so that when life puts the squeeze on you (and it WILL), Jesus, and Jesus ALONE will shine forth from you!

Have a blessed, squeaky clean day!


PRAYER
"Lord, change my heart and fill me with your wisdom that I may love your ways. Give me grace and courage to resist temptation and stubborn wilfulness that I may truly desire to do what is pleasing to you."

God bless,
Wayne

Our Daily Bread

Power That Disrupts

READ: Matthew 20:20-28

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. - Matthew 20:28

What does it take to disrupt the good work of a church? Just one power-hungry person.

One of my college friends, a pastor, wrote to me about a disruption in his church. People had come to faith in Christ, and membership had quadrupled. The members were active in serving the church and community.

But then one man in a leadership position began to envy the pastor's influence. He felt he deserved more power, so he began to tear down the pastor-thinking that would increase his own stature. It didn't matter to him what he was doing to God's work; he wanted power and recognition. He caused such an uproar that my friend finally had to resign.

When it comes to serving Christ, we have no right to seek power. We have no calling for prestige. We have no reason to look for self-aggrandizement and recognition. How much better to serve quietly in the background, keeping in mind that Jesus, our example, "did not come to be served, but to serve" (Matt. 20:28).

Are you a pastor? A teacher? A deacon? A missionary? A church member? If you look for power, you may get it, but it will become power that disrupts the good work of your church ministry. -Dave Branon

Find out what God would have you do,
And do that little well;
For what is great and what is small
The Lord alone can tell. -Anon.

We lose the approval of God when we seek the applause of men.

Our Daily Bread

The Good And The Bad

READ: Nahum 1:1-8

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. -Nahum 1:7

Nineveh was in trouble with God. Big trouble! Despite the good work of the reluctant prophet Jonah, Nineveh had returned to its evil ways. The Ninevites had oppressed other countries, worshiped idols, and performed acts of cruelty.

God saw this evil, and through the words of Nahum He spoke of Nineveh's coming destruction, using words such as wrath and vengeance. Nineveh was about to face judgment.

Why would God's prophet tell the people of Judah about this? How could Nahum's frightening words help those who lived in the Promised Land?

There is help for answering those questions in Nahum 1:7-8. His prophecy of the destruction of those who reject God stands in sharp contrast to God's promise to those "who trust in Him." The godly, rather than facing judgment, would be cared for. They would have a refuge in Him.

God is not one-sided. He provides refuge, help, and comfort for those who trust Him, and He also sends judgment against those who disobey His standards.

The message for us is the same as it was for Judah. Through trust and obedience, we can enjoy the comfort of God's refuge-even in times of trouble. -Dave Branon

How oft in the conflict, when pressed by the foe,
I have fled to my Refuge and breathed out my woe;
How often, when trials like sea billows roll,
Have I hidden in Thee, O Thou Rock of my soul. -Cushing

Everyone must face God as Savior or as Judge.

Our Daily Bread

Treasure In Heaven

READ: Matthew 6:19-21

On a teaching trip to Togo, West Africa, I noticed hundreds of abandoned buildings that were only partially built. I asked my missionary host why so many structures were incomplete. His response was striking.

Apparently, Togolese law allows an injured party to demand payment from the available cash of family members of the person who injured them. Even distant relatives are not exempt. To prevent their cash savings from being attached to a legal action, people will purchase land instead. Slowly, sometimes over decades, they will build a house on it with any extra cash. The hundreds of unfinished buildings were testimony to how easy it is to lose one's material possessions.

This was certainly part of the reason our Lord taught, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal" (Matt. 6:19). Treasure that is of this world is vulnerable to being lost, stolen, destroyed, or devalued. If that is our focus, we will only experience frustration.

If our hearts are drawn instead to the value of the eternal-godly character, relationships, souls-we won't be disappointed. We will become rich in the things of Christ. And treasure in heaven can never be taken away! - Bill Crowder

I do not ask for treasures here
To hoard, decay, and rust,
But for the better things of life-
Humility and trust. -Meadows

Treasures in heaven are laid up as treasures on earth are laid down.

Our Daily Bread

READ: Acts 8:1-8

Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word - Acts 8:4

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the US Gulf Coast and displaced an estimated 1.3 million households. With cities and towns evacuated, homes destroyed, and jobs gone, people relocated to communities in every state including Alaska and Hawaii. Because Christians are not immune to the storms of life, it's likely that thousands of people who love the Lord found themselves in places they never expected to live.

Yet many of those same people whose hopes and plans were shattered by Katrina would also bring God's love to others across the US. Like the early Christians who were forced out of Jerusalem by persecution, it could be said of them: "Those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word" (Acts 8:4).

While none of us would choose this kind of financial loss and disruption, would we see it as an opportunity to share the hope Jesus Christ has given us?

The apostle Peter's letter reminded Christians who had been scattered among the nations to "be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15).

If we are uprooted, we can scatter the seeds of the gospel wherever we go. - David C. McCasland

We're always sowing seeds in life
By everything we do and say,
So let's make sure we sow God's Word
Among the ones we meet each day. - Hess

There's no wrong place to share the gospel.