Grains of Sand

Pizabay Remember...His reputation. What's in a name? I have four names. Lynda Lee Schultz Bloedow. The last, my mother's maiden name, never really made much difference until I lived in Colombia and Venezuela where it was vital on official documents. The trouble was that its pronunciation sounds like a popular swear word in Spanish! Not good! Schultz was basically impossible to pronounce at all. Lee was easy and Lynda or Linda is a Spanish word, but not one usually used as a name so I got some odd looks when I introduced myself. Some people thought I was vain since "linda" means "pretty" or "lovely." Names mean something. And no one is more jealous of His Name than God. His reputation hangs on what people think when they hear His Name. And what people think when they think "God" depends on what the people who claim to be His followers are like. They are His representatives, His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20). In Ezekiel 36, God...

Pixabay, Public Domain It’s all about the Shepherd. He guides us. The direction He takes us leads to transforming us into people who look like Him. He has a mission in mind that becomes a goal in this transformation. When Jesus was about to return to His Father after His resurrection, He commissioned His followers with these words: “ …go and make disciples of all nations... ” (Matthew 28:19). The scope of the task was somewhat new to the disciples, but the message and the mission were not. Followers of Jesus had been engaged in spreading the Gospel from the beginning of His ministry (i.e. Matthew 10). In fact, people of God having an impact for God on the unbelievers around them had been God’s mission as far back as Abraham. God formed a nation of witnesses, of believers, whose words and actions were designed to showcase Him before the nations. “ He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake ” (Psalm 23:3) The paths of righteousness that He leads us on are meant to bri...

Jacob’s history is the stuff of reality television. Just imagine: “Maternity Ward Wars” starring Leah and Rachel (Genesis 29:1-30:24). The object: Who can have the most babies by Jacob. Then we have the “Property Acquisition Challenge” of Genesis 30:25-31:55. The object: Get as much as you can, as quickly as you can, by any means that you can, and get out while you can. Most of the time we tread lightly and move quickly though this whole sordid mess of Jacob’s early years. It’s dysfunction at its finest. God gets a bad name because of Jacob’s actions and attitudes, often because Jacob himself names God as an accomplice to his crimes. For example, Jacob is quoted as saying: “… but the God of my father has been with me…God has not allowed him to harm me…So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me ” (31:5, 7, 9, NIV). The context tells us that Jacob cheated his uncle to get his fortune and to increase his flocks and herds. Is that what God told Jacob to ...

Reading: Malachi I wasn’t going to post anything on this book, not because there wasn’t anything to be said but because there is so much to be said. Blogs are supposed to be short, or so the experts say. However, I am compelled, pricked all day to say something about this wonderful book. The first thing that impresses me about Malachi is the emphasis on the reputation, the Name of God. This aspect of the book is fresh in my mind because this week’s study on The Lord’s Prayer, which I teach on Wednesday evenings at my church, was all about the phrase: “ hallowed be your name. ” Through the prophet the Lord charges His people, specifically the priests, with defaming His Name by presenting to Him unworthy sacrifices. Not only did the people bring their second best to God, they brought the worst! (Malachi 1:6-9). Their negligence was such a poor testimony to their pagan neighbours that God went so far as to pronounce this condemnation: “ Oh, that one of you would shut the temple d...

“ I will perpetuate your memory through all generations; therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever ” —Psalm 45:17, NIV Many years ago I heard a preacher share this story about his wife. This couple had had a fruitful ministry in several churches over decades but in the latter years the wife had slowly been lost to the foggy world of Alzheimers. The preacher, though he was retired from church ministry, was still much in demand as a conference speaker. He accepted some invitations, but preferred to stay close to the bedside of his wife. She didn’t know him—or anyone else. She couldn’t remember who she was and was totally dependent on others to meet her needs. She had even forgotten how to communicate. Her husband had been asked if he every prayed for God to release her and take her home. As he told the story, the man smiled, “No,” he replied. “I never ask God that. The only thing my dear wife remembers, and constantly says, is ‘Jesus loves me’ and as long as she is a...