Gleanings From Galatians

Or

Lessons From Laura

Two year old Laura has come to visit. She's a ball to have around. Oh, to see life through the eyes of a two year old!

But, maybe we do see life through the eyes of a two year old.

Laura wants things her way, she would like to have someone paying attention to her all the time, she wants to be picked up when someone picks up little brother instead, she wants to be first, she wants, she wants, she wants...she doesn't understand why she can't ride the horse NOW! When she does get to ride the horse she fusses when she has to get off...

...don't think that Laura is a bad little girl. She isn't. She is so sweet, loving--full of hugs and kisses (especially for her Grammy!) She's helpful and happy most of the time, eager to please...

But, she has a "flesh" desire. Her sin nature is quite evident.

Galatians 5:13 (NASB) says...
For you were called to freedom, brethren; only {do} not {turn} your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

...An opportunity for the flesh...serve one another...

Galatians 5:14-17
For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the {statement,} "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."

But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

How many times are we instructed in Scripture to love our neighbor as ourselves? Do a Bible wordsearch--twice in the Old Testement and seven times in the New Testement...

Lev 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD.
Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 19:19 Honour thy father and [thy] mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mar 12:31 And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if [there be] any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Jam 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Here is the 1 remaining inexact match:
Luk 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for 'love thy neighbour ' " . Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2002.
10 May 2006.

How faithful are we? Do we really love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves?

Really?

Only by walking in/with the Spirit can we honestly say we love our neighbors as we do our own selves. Only by the power of God/Jesus Christ/Spirit do we have the ability to put others before ourselves. We are by nature a selfish creature. Look at Laura or any two year old.

Wow, you say, I've outgrown that. I don't act like that.

Hmmm.

Betcha do at times--oh, maybe not as immature as that two year old but same thoughts, same wants, same desires....

Galatians 3:17 says what?

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, SO THAT YOU MAY NOT DO THE THINGS THAT YOU PLEASE.

Ah, to see life through the eyes of a two year old! Thank you Lord, that you have brought such a vivid picture of your word to me through "the eyes of a two year old."

Modesty--from the inside out

(God) tells you, man, what He requires of you, but to do justice, love kindness and walk modestly with your God. (Micha 6:8)

...And with the modest ones lies wisdom. (Proverbs 11:2)

Many believe modesty is something that only pertains to the outward person. In reality, modesty is something that comes from the inside and is reflected on our outside.

While it's true man looks on the outward appearance and God on the inward (1 Samuel 16:7; Romans 2:28; 2 Corinthians 4:16; 2 Corinthians 10:7; 1 Peter 3:3), what we are on the inside does show up in our clothing (or lack thereof) and our hair and other outward adornments. Are we striving to appear like the world or do we seek to please our Lord with how we look. If our hearts aren't right it will show in how we look and act.

There are many great internet sites and booklets devoted to womens dress and modesty. It is not my intent to go over that again here. Do a simple search on "modesty" or "women's modesty" and see what you come up with. It's an area that needs to be weighed by each individual and applied with prayer in your life.

(Another area that is surfacing more and more these days is the issue of headcovering touched on in 1 Corinthians 11. Bible believing Christians fall out on all sides of the issue--the woman's long hair is the covering, the husband/father is the covering, a separate piece of material (cloth) is the intended covering. I have been on both sides of the "hair-veiling" view. I wore a prayer veiling for many years and currently do not. Being under my husband's authority, it is his descision for me to cover with an additional veiling or not. He has not directed me to do this and I had determined that I was not being under his authority by doing it on my own.)

Regardless of where you stand on the specifics, it is important to study what the scriptures have to say about our outward apprearance (and they do speak on that most plainly). A wordsearch on "outward" "modesty" etc., will be very enlightening. Tackle it with a prayerful spirit and an open heart to God's leading and be ready for a wonderful journey through your womanhood!

Keep in mind that just because one dresses modestly doesn't mean that their heart is right!

Matthew 23:27-28 which says, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead [men's] bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. "

A New Creation In Christ

The following two quotes are by Elisabeth Elliot

The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman. For I have accepted God's idea of me, and my whole life is an offering back to Him of all that I am and all that He wants me to be.


"The clothes we wear are what people see. Only God can look on the heart. The outward signs are important. They reveal something of what is inside. If charity is there, it will become visible outwardly, but if you have no charitable feelings, you can still obey the command. Put it on as simply and consciously as you put on a coat. You choose it; you pick it up; you put it on. This is what you want to wear. "

Elisabeth Elliot

Favorite Links

Here are some favorite links.

Important Note: Please keep in mind I do not endorse all of the content in any of these sites nor do I necessarily share beliefs with the people who created and maintain these sites. I have found some of the content to be useful in my spiritual growth.

That being said here goes! These are NOT in order of preference or favorites--this is just how it happened to fall out.

www.anabaptistbooks.com
www.willowridge.com
www.tznius.com
www.achristianhome.com
www.quakerjane.com
www.momof9splace.com
www.stanosheck.com/Modesty.htm

This is by no means my complete listing! I will continue to post more as time goes by.

Wild Goats--Tame Geese

The wind picked up mid-day today. Not such a big deal most days but today we woke up to the oil heater being out of fuel. Spring is here we were hoping to get another week or two out of it hoping fuel prices would go down before we refilled all the tanks...It's not too cold so still, no big deal. Then just before lunch someone had the idea to build a fire in the woodstove. Um, kinda breezey--might not be such a good idea. Too late to intervene by the time I come in for lunch, it's done. Sure feels nice. But as usual, before lunch is over the wind has picked up from the east--blowing good and hard. Let's hope the stove doesn't smoke too bad today.

Mid afternoon the normally un-flusterable hired man comes dashing breathless into the office. He has a hard time talking coherently--WOW--not like him at all. Maybe something is on fire!

He's been working on the baler--could be spontaneous combustion of an old bale inside the baler. Maybe the horses broke the fence and are on the highway. It's gotta be bad. Really bad!

Now that I look out the window the sleddogs are carrying on something fierce! Now we can kinda understand him but wait...at the same time the boss is trying to transfer a publishing question phone call to my desk. I can usually multi-task pretty well (years of practice!) but this one is a bit tricky... now it comes out, the normally calm hired man needs help--RIGHT NOW!--the goats are out.

The goats are out. This is NOT bad. Not at all. Just put them back in. Easy. Simple. Not even a crisis! They'll follow you anywhere if you have a pail with something in it--it doesn't even have to be food.

But the hired man has never been around goats before. (He's only been here a few weeks and the goats have NEVER been loose.)

Epilog: The goats went right in in a matter of seconds when the boss went out to help. The hired man was trying to herd them and, hmmm...goats don't herd well. He panicked.

We've had a flock or two of wild Snow Geese show up over the past two weeks. Ducks are pretty common in the spring here but geese are rare--Snow Geese are even rarer! They came when we still had water running in the ditches but it's dry now, just two weeks later. It seems like every time they land they are more tame. The third time they landed we were just getting ready to fly the Yellow Citabria off the airfield. Grand-daughter Laura was headed home with her Uncle Cody. The geese landed right beside the airplane. We let 2 year old Laura wander after them. She followed them down the airstrip until she evidently got just a little too close and UP THEY FLEW! They didn't fly far and Uncle Jared had to chase them farther away so they wouldn't be a hazardto Cody's take-off.

Laura & the Geese

They've been back several times since then (almost a week ago) and they always land out on the runway now. The sleddogs are just on the back side of the runway and the geese will land just out of their chain reach. They never bark, jump, wiggle their ears...nothing. Goats get out? They bark, jump, howl and carry on for hours after they get put away!

Sleddogs. Go figure.