Respecting the Boundaries - Martin Wiles

He makes peace in your borders, And fills you with the finest wheat. Psalm 147:14 NKJV

 

During the day, they roamed freely, but at night . . .

 

As the early morning light graced the farmland surrounding her house, she inched across the backyard, scattering food for her chickens. As they gathered around her feet, vying for the corn and scratch feed she sprinkled on the ground, she snatched one by the neck—a nice plump hen. Before that chicken knew what was happening, she had wrung its neck, plucked its feathers, removed its innards, dissected its body, and placed the various parts into a cast iron frying pan boiling with hog lard.

 

I never actually saw my grandmother do this—but I did in my mind as my mother told the story. My grandmother loved chickens—or at least what they provided. She even knew how to cut and cook the pulley bone—a piece rarely cut now. When the person eating it finished, they often invited someone else to put their hand under the table and help them pull the bones apart. Whoever got the longest bone would have good luck.

 

But at night, my grandmother confined her chickens in a small coop nestled just behind her house and outside her bedroom, where she could hear if something got in the chicken coop. Nocturnal creatures wouldn’t bother the chickens during the day, but at night they slithered around. Coons, opossums, foxes. Her chickens were too valuable to lose. They provided meat for her family and eggs for baking and cooking.

 

Evidently, the chickens didn’t mind the boundaries. When my grandmother called them at dusk, they willingly walked the small plank into the coop.

 

My grandfather followed suit with his hogs and hunting dogs by placing fences around their areas. Years ago, folks allowed hogs to run free in the woods and only penned them before butchering, but not my grandfather. Had he not fenced them in, they would have wandered into the road or strolled miles away for someone else to catch and kill. The same thing would have happened with his hunting dogs. If the road had not killed them, someone else would have gladly taken them.

 

God, too, placed boundaries around His Old Testament people—limits that are still in place for believers. He calls them His commandments. God promised fruitful harvests and peace within their borders if they obeyed. If they disobeyed, the opposite would happen. Some boundaries we might not understand—and some might appear burdensome—but He places them there with purpose.

 

I’ve not always appreciated the boundaries others placed on me: parents, employers, doctors, government officials. But deep inside, I know they benefit me—especially God’s borders. His guiding commands and moral principles protect us from harmful things, nurture us so we can grow spiritually into the person He wants, and demonstrate His matchless love.

 

How can you learn to live willingly within God’s boundaries? Remember, He puts them there out of love.

 

Father, thank You for the boundaries You have placed around me. 

Tweetable: Are you respecting God's boundaries? 

Don't forget to add your comments. 

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.

Never Out of Date - Martin Wiles

God, your name is eternal, God, you’ll never be out-of-date. Psalm 135:13 MSG

Twice a year, I find myself rummaging through bottles, creams, and boxes, looking for a date.

My doctor says medicines and medical creams never go out of date. So why do pharmaceutical companies put dates on them? Perhaps as a money-making endeavor so we’ll buy more of that medicine whether we need it or not? I, for one, don’t like to use medicine—or eat food—that’s out of date. If it’s food, I look for mold or feel for freshness. With medicine, I wonder whether taking it is going to do what it originally was supposed to do. So, if it’s only out of date by a few months, I keep it and take it or use it if I need it. If the date range exceeds that, I toss it in the trash can.

The psalmist says God’s name never goes out of date. It is eternal. He has existed before anything, He brought everything into existence, and He will be around when time ceases and there’s nothing left but eternity. He never goes out of date.

Nor do the commands he left. While many of the commands and regulations of the Old Testament were dietary rules in a time when medicine had not advanced to its present form—and while many of the commanded practices concerned only the worship practices of the Jews at a time before Christ—the moral principles God gave never go out of date. Lying broke God’s command in the beginning, and it still does. So does hate, murder, lust, and all of the other commands. Especially the one that says we should worship no other gods except the one true God.

God’s commands may not be politically correct for some, but they are still applicable. Obeying them demonstrates our love for God and leads to the most fulfilling life we could ever want. Jesus says if we love Him, we’ll obey His commands.

Others may laugh at us for choosing to obey God’s commands, but God will honor us. Obey God’s commands—regardless. They never go out of date.

Prayer: Father, we thank You that Your moral commands and principles are always in date.

Tweetable: Do you think God's commands are out of date? 

Thanks to all our faithful followers who share our posts! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram. Help us spread God's encouragement through His Love Lines.

Do the Book - Martin Wiles

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. James 1:22 NLT

When a four-year-old teaches you something you don’t know, you listen.

At evening, just before bedtime, is when my daughter and my oldest grandson have some of their most meaningful conversations. Such as the recent one about book parts.

“Who wrote this book?” he asked

My daughter gave him the author’s name, but he said that wasn’t right. “Well who then,” she asked.

“The author.”

Opening the book to the first page, he asked what page this was. She said, “The front page.”

“No, the title page.”

“And what about this part,” pointing to the edge where the book title is printed.

“The edge?” my daughter questioned.

“No, the spine.”

Funny, I don’t remember knowing the parts of a book when I was four years old. In fact, I’m not sure I learned those things until I was in middle school. Of course, I didn’t know a lot of things children seem to be born knowing how to do now.

But knowing the parts of the book isn’t the most important part. If my grandson didn’t know what was inside the book, he was missing out. According to James, the same is true when it comes to the Bible. Knowing where the title page is, who the authors are, where the books are, where the concordance is, and where the spine is will do me little good if I’m not familiar with the information therein. I have to do the book, not just know the book.

Dad made sure I did. He read the Bible to me before I could read and taught me the importance of reading it myself after I learned to read. He also taught me the necessity of learning God’s command and principles and then obeying them. Though there have been periodic times when I did a little disobeying on purpose, for the most part, I’ve been a doer of the Word.

Knowing what God’s Word says does little good if I don’t put the teachings into action. Jesus says loving Him equals obeying Him. The Word shapes my life into the form God wants it to be. It leads me to the most exciting life I could possibly live as well as gives me strength for the trials and armor for the temptations.

Don’t just know the book; do the book.

Tweetable: Have you read the most important book?

Prayer: Father, give us the courage to be doers of Your Word, not just hearers. 

Looking for a wide selection of genres in inspirational books at discount prices? Click here to see selections.

Thanks to all our faithful followers who are "sharing" our posts--please keep it up! We also invite you to follow and like us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Help us spread God's Word.