Endure to the End - Martin Wiles

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. Matthew 24:13 NLT

Sold at 1.7 million dollars, the 114-year-old artifact now rested peacefully in a glass case. It had endured to the end. 

While on vacation in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, my wife and I visited the Titanic Museum. No pictures or videos were allowed except in one room: the Memorial Room. In this room rested the violin that the band leader had played as the ship sank beneath the icy Atlantic Ocean. In fact, the entire band played as passengers boarded lifeboats and others scrambled for their lives.

Although none of the band members survived the sinking of the “unsinkable” ship, the violin survived and was later sold. We were fortunate to see what museum administrators would only display until Labor Day before they returned it to a hidden vault. I was amazed that a piece of wood could survive water and time and endure to the end.

When Jesus tells us to endure to the end to be saved, he isn’t saying we must live with fear that he’ll take his forgiveness and salvation from us. Instead, despite the persecutions we’ll face as his children, we will be saved in the end. People can kill our bodies, but they can’t touch our souls.

I have no idea what that violin has faced over the last one hundred years; nor can I know what I will face from now until I draw my final breath. What I do know is that only God can help us endure to the end. The power of the one living in us is greater than any other power we might face. When we accept Christ as our Savior, he seals us with his Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit in us will carry us through any persecution, trial, temptation, or disappointment. 

But an element of responsibility is involved in enduring to the end. Our choices are ours. When we choose things that aren’t beneficial spiritually, we complicate the journey, making it more challenging to endure. 

A willingness to make sacrifices is also on the journey of endurance. Anything worth having is worth paying a price for. We must give up everything hindering our spiritual growth. However, the good news is that when we endure to the end, we’ll leave behind a legacy for our family, friends, and acquaintances. 

Let God energize you so you can endure to the end.

Father, give me strength to serve you faithfully to the end, regardless of what might come my way. 

I invite you to try my book Mastering English Grammar Basics. No one escapes life's hurts, but we can move beyond them to hope and healing. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

As Pure as Water - Martin Wiles

But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Habakkuk 1:13 NLT

With most of the world’s rivers, streams, lakes, and oceans too polluted to safely drink from without purification, we looked at one that was 98% pure. I could not imagine being as pure as water.

While on vacation, my wife and I visited Forbidden Caverns near Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. As we descended more than three hundred feet to the lowest point of our tour, we saw flowing water. A river that came from somewhere high above and snaked through cracks and openings in the cavern to flow into the bowels of the earth.

Looking at the water, I could tell it was different. Moonshiners and Native Americans once used it to ply their trade and survive in the wild. And without harm. Our guide told us why. The water was 98% pure. One could drink it without risk of harm—no need for filtration.

God’s purity, however, is greater than the cavern water. Throughout all sixty-six books of the Bible, God is proclaimed as pure—100 percent. Pagan gods were untrustworthy and not always after the best interests of their followers, but the God of Israel was different. Not an iota of evil is attached to his character. He expects His followers to adhere to the same code of conduct. Trouble is, I’m not pure. Nor can I be by my own power.

Polluted water can be made drinkable by filtration. While hiking and backpacking, I’ve drunk from many questionable water sources, but I protected myself by filtering the water. When it comes to my nature, I can’t do anything to make it pure. I can try turning over new leaves—and I may do well temporarily--but I can’t make myself good permanently. Bad attitudes, foul language, greedy thoughts, and lustful looking will creep in.

God must have known He was requiring something we weren’t capable of since he sent his pure Son to do for humanity what we couldn’t do for ourselves. When we accept what Christ did on Calvary’s cross, we’re given his righteousness, his purity. God considers our sin debt paid, not because we paid it, but because his Son paid it for us. God has filtered us by the blood of Christ and made us 100 percent pure. 

Don’t try to be good so God will accept you. Instead, accept God and let him change your nature.

Father, I thank you for doing for me what I could never do for myself. 

I invite you to try my book Mastering English Grammar Basics. No one escapes life's hurts, but we can move beyond them to hope and healing. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Cheeseburger Pie

 

 

Ingredients

1 POUND GROUND BEEF (COOKED, DRAINED)

½ TEASPOON SALT

1 ONION (CHOPPED)

1 CUP SHREDDED CHEESE

1 CUP MILK

½ CUP BISQUICK

2 EGGS

Directions

MIX ALL TOGETHER.

BAKE AT 400 FOR 25 MINUTES.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing. No one escapes life's hurts, but we can move beyond them to hope and healing. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Spirit Clouds - Martin Wiles

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. John 3:8 NRSVUE

A much-needed vacation took me to the mountains of Tennessee. I found myself nestled in a cabin high in the Great Smoky Mountains. Each morning, I sat on the porch, admiring the handiwork of my Creator, listening to the birds and turkeys, feeling the gentle breezes, and watching the sun rise above the distant peaks.

One morning was different. The sounds were the same, but the sun didn’t immediately appear. Instead, dark storm clouds marched through the valleys and hopped over the mountaintops. After dropping their cargo in the form of light rain showers, they gave way to wisps of white, dainty clouds that flittered west to east and south to north. As I watched these spirit clouds, I thought of God’s Spirit.

In Greek, the same word is used for spirit and wind. Although I can see the effects of the wind, I cannot see the wind itself. Nor can I view God’s Spirit—only His workings in the lives of people, myself, and the world.

Like the clouds, God’s Spirit is often silent. We hear no audible voice—just a small but effective nudge within our spirit, guiding us in the right direction or to the correct decision. At other times, God’s Spirit is loud. We don’t have to wonder if it is him speaking to our spirit. His voice comes through loud and clear, as clouds that bring vociferous claps of thunder and downpours of rain.

The work of God’s Spirit can be obvious, such as when he brings a change in our lives that is evident to others. Or his work may not be so obvious, as when he slowly changes us from the inside out. Changes that take months, or even years, to ripen to maturity.

As I witnessed the spirit clouds comfort me on that early morning, so my spirit is calmed by knowing that God is always present with me in the form of his Spirit, giving me wisdom and guidance for every decision in life. The clouds went where God sent them, and he never sends them in the wrong direction.

Learn to listen for God’s still small Spirit voice. Then act on what he guides you to do.

Father, thank you for guiding my steps through the still small voice of your Spirit.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing. No one escapes life's hurts, but we can move beyond them to hope and healing. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

God of Second Chances - Abigail Skelton

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20 NRSVUE

When I was in high school, I loved God and wanted everyone to know Him. Yet after a few weeks at a secular university, I became intimidated by the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20). I still loved God, but how could I “make disciples of all nations” when I found it hard just to share my faith with my peers? Over the next few years, I prayed for coworkers and attempted to bring some spiritual depth to my conversations—when I felt like it—but ultimately, I graduated feeling like I hadn’t made the most of every opportunity. Fortunately, God is a God of second chances. 

A few years later, I found myself back in the same college town, alongside a group of young adults who visited the campus and held fun events for the students. This group of young adults invited the students to dinners or coffees and listened to the students’ spiritual journeys, which were often nonexistent. Yet, much to my surprise, I learned that most students liked discussing their beliefs. From these chats, over ten chose to turn their lives over to Jesus. I was floored.

In retrospect, I wish I’d put more effort into sharing my faith when I was a student. I could’ve easily asked other students questions about their moral upbringings. And even if I’d been mocked for my beliefs, this life is short-term in the grand scheme of eternity. Being teased by someone is nothing compared to the real persecution that Christians suffer around the world.

Students across the country are surprisingly open-minded, ready to discover themselves and live their own lives. And frankly, a lot of students are severely lonely. Knowing Jesus is the absolute best antidote. 

Perhaps you have any college kids in your life. Or you may live in a university town and are looking for ways to encourage students during this busy back-to-school season. You might be surprised to find that college ministries love older staff on the teams as well. And ultimately, no matter where you go or what you do, God goes before you and is with you always. 

Never forget God is a God of second chances.

Father, thank you for giving me more than second chances. 

Abigail Skelton is from beautiful Southern Oregon, where she grew up with an avid love for Jesus, chocolate, and writing. She has lived in three countries while involved in missionary work and frequently travels and studies foreign languages. You can connect with Abigail on her website: https://abigailskelton.com.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing in eBook or paperback. If you seek hope and healing because of the hurts you have faced, this book is for you. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

All Things to All People - Martin Wiles

I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22 NRSVUE

Trying to be all things to all people can be exhausting. Our good friends had moved from Colorado. The wife was a native of Colorado, the husband a native of South Carolina. When Jan’s mother-in-law sent her to the store to get a loaf of bread, she assumed it would be an easy mission. After all, who doesn’t know what bread is?

A few minutes later, Jan called. “I don’t see any loaf bread.”

“You mean, the store is completely out of bread?” her mother-in-law replied.

“No, I see plenty of bread. There is just no loaf brand.”

I’m with Jan. In the neck of the woods where I grew up—the lower regions of South Carolina--bread was just called bread. At the most, I might say I was going to get a loaf of bread, but never did I refer to it as loaf bread. Since bread is cooked in loaves, calling it loaf bread seemed redundant. Then again, I didn’t grow up in Upstate South Carolina, where that’s a familiar term, just like hose pipe. I always knew it as a hose or a garden hose. After all, they are hoses, not pipes. Of course, I have sayings my wife, an Upstate girl, isn’t familiar with either.

As an early missionary, Paul probably also faced unfamiliar customs and terms. His goal was to find common ground with people, at least as much as was possible, without compromising the gospel message he preached.

Having grown up in church, I’m familiar with a host of “churchy” words others who haven’t grown up in church might find foreign—words like justification, sanctification, glorification, millennialism, vestibule, pulpit, and sanctuary. And the list goes on.

Like Paul, our mission is to share God’s love and offer of forgiveness with all people—regardless of nationality, race, language, culture, or social standing. Doing so means learning their language so we can modify, but not compromise, our Christianese. Then they can understand what God has done for them in Jesus Christ and accept his forgiveness. Otherwise, they will go on their merry way, not realizing how much God loves them or how much they need him.

Learn to find common ground with those who don’t know Christ so you can point them to his marvelous, gracious love.

Father, let me love others even as You have loved me. 

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing. No one escapes life's hurts, but we can move beyond them to hope and healing. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.

Chicken Salad

 

INGREDIENTS

3 CHICKEN BREASTS (COOKED)

2 BOILED EGGS (CHOPPED)

                    1 CUP DICED CELERY                   

½ CUP MAYONNAISE

¼ CUP PICKLE RELISH (DRAINED)

1 TEASPOON DIJON MUSTARD

SALT/PEPPER

 

DIRECTIONS
FINELY CHOP CHICKEN

MIX ALL INGREDIENTS TOGETHER, BLENDING WELL.

I invite you to try my book Hurt, Hope, and Healing. No one escapes life's hurts, but we can move beyond them to hope and healing. Click on the title above to order your copy. And thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.