TRUTH = FREEDOM

PATIENCE = FREEDOM    “WORTH CONSIDERING”     3/4/21      From Ken Smith <><
 
Our great country was founded upon the fact that all want FREEDOM.  So how to have true freedom without that freedom causing some one else bondage or pain.  Even those who came, many were indentured servants or slaves for their passage.  They would sign up owing someone else so many years of service for the passage to America.  So the concept of Freedom for all without pain to others was even in the beginning flawed by necessity.  And eventually even allowed for slavery.   Which in the Civil War cost a great deal of pain to stop.

Now we have a different kind of slavery.  A slavery to perhaps what others think.   A slavery to Credit Card debt.  We now have a national debt borrowed in our name that is beyond being paid and will cause a great deal of pain to many who have been very responsible and saved all of their lives for a gentle retirement.

But in the words of Christ Jesus we find a vision of True Freedom.  In the great and precious promises of God, some are drawn to believe in the promises as a place of true freedom in righteousness that does no harm to others.  But in our quest for Freedom we have negative publicity to the Max.   We are saturated from birth to get things which are supposed to give us more freedom in life.  In Oregon in the 60’s I was doing well and bought a really great looking boat with a big motor to help with a youth ministry.   So I would take some of the high school kids out to a nice big lake to enjoy speeding around on the lake only to spend the whole day trying to either get the boat to balance out right or to get the motor to run at all.  Kids all watching me from the shore line.  Never did get that beautiful boat to work right and finally sold it for a lot less than I bought it for.   Each of us, if we take inventory can come up with the same kind of crazy stuff story.  And eventually we find out that it is not about the stuff at all it is about who we are inside that really counts and God’s love that we share with others.

And Jesus said to them, Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness (the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more); for a man’s life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing [a] overflowing abundance or that which is [b] over and above his needs.  16 Then He told them a parable, saying, The land of a rich man was fertile and yielded plentifully.  17 And he considered and debated within himself, What shall I do? I have no place [in which] to gather together my harvest.  18 And he said, I will do this: I will pull down my storehouses and build larger ones, and there I will store all [c] my grain or produce and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up, [enough] for many years. Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily.  20 But God said to him, You fool! This very night [d] they [the messengers of God] will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared, whose will they be?  21 So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich [in his relation] to God [this is how he fares]. 22 And [Jesus] said to His disciples, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious and troubled [with cares] about your life, as to what you will [have to] eat; or about your body, as to what you will [have to] wear.23 For life is more than food, and the body [more] than clothes.24 Observe and consider the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn; and [yet] God feeds them. Of how much more worth are you than the birds!”
  So we need to pray for HIS balance about stuff and never allow ourselves to be angry over the stuff.  And that takes:

PATIENCE:
Well worth considering due to our deeply divided country of whom most do not even know who John Adams was:   “Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people, it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” — John Adams

A great teaching today from: George Baltimore,
2 Peter 1:5-7 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  Patience is one of those attributes that you cannot learn by reading about it. It’s a quality that can only be acquired by persistent, enduring, practice– and for me, it’s a drill that I go over, and over, and over again!  The original Webster’s dictionary offers this definition of patience: “the suffering of afflictions, pain, toil, calamity, provocation or other evil, with a calm, unruffled temper; endurance without murmuring or fretfulness, from a kind of heroic pride, or from a Christian submission to the divine will.”   Reading this definition two things really struck me – first, “endurance without murmuring”. I, for instance, get so frustrated sitting in a traffic jam… counting the wasted minutes when I could have been doing something useful! Yet, what an opportunity for me to choose to quench the inner fumes – and use the delay to work on my patience!   The second thing that really hit me was, “a Christian submission to the divine will.” How many times are we placed in a difficult position, or forced to deal with an “impossible” situation? Or perhaps, an “impossible” person? These circumstances are always opportunities to grow in patience – or to learn to submit to God’s providential will, and often, to minister in some special or unique way.

IS your patience being tested today? Great! Remember, love is (first of all) patient. [1 Cor. 13:4] The Lord is training you toward godliness –- and godliness is moving toward perfect love. With so much work to be done, He is really wanting to work this quality into your character now -– to perfect your love, and with it to transform the world around you for His glory!   
George Baltimore,    Worthy Brief:  <worthybrief@worthynetwork.com&gt;     3/4/21

The Supreme Court on Tuesday delved into the Democratic Party’s lawsuit to ease Arizona’s restrictions on ballot harvesting and other election conduct, putting the high court at the center of a growing battle over how Americans vote.    Amid rapidly intensifying persecution against Christians in China, police in Chongqing city raided the 20-year-old Living Fountain house church Sunday, confiscating computers and arresting two brothers, International Christian Concern reports.    Mississippi Judge Orders New Election After Finding nearly 80 Percent of Absentee Ballots Fraudulent      FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said on Tuesday that every FBI employee referenced in a scathing Justice Department Inspector General report on the origins of the infamous Trump-Russia probe has been referred for discipline.