A small lesson learned
There is a saying that goes something like this, "A man is only as good as his word."
There is a portion of scripture in Jeremiah that I have known about for several years and it always keeps me on the narrow road, hopefully.
Jeremiah 5:1-5 "Run up and down every street in Jerusalem, says the Lord. Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one person who is just and honest, I will not destroy the city. Even when they are under oath, saying, As surely as the Lord lives, they all tell lies!
Lord, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to turn from sin. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.
Then I said, But what can we expect from the poor and ignorant? They don't know the ways fo the Lord. They don't understand what God expects of them. I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they will know the Lord's ways and what God requires of them. But the leaders, too, had utterly rejected their God." NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
A very sad and humbling portion of scripture. Can this be said about the Christian church? I surely hope not, and I certainly don't want this to be said about me.
The first part of Jamurary I went and looked at a mobile home that had a tree lying on it. The owner was 84 years old and had no insurance. He was not a Christian. I told him before I left that day, "I will return and repair your roof for you." As the weeks passed I couldn't get anyone to go and repair the roof. The teams are placed by the assistant pastor of the church we are working with and there just weren't any spare people to do the job.
Not a day passed when I didn't think about the promise I have made. That promise kept nagging at me, and it seemed that I would have to go home not having fulfilled my commitment.
A couple of weeks ago the assistant pastor was away for a few days and I was left in charge of the teams. I was free to place them where I felt they could be used effectively. A team from Indiana had a couple of carpenters on it and the first job on Monday morning I sent them to do that repair job.
When they returned home having completed the job, with a very positive reaction from the owner, it felt like I had just been relieved of a huge debt.
In one of Robert Service's poems, "The Creamation of Sam McGee," there is a line that says, "A promise made is a debt unpaid."
Incidently if you go up on the net and get that poem, I think that you will enjoy it.
Praise the Lord, I have not made any other promises lately that are not in my power to keep, and I surely won't in the future. There is too much riding on "My word" to throw it around loosely.
There is a saying that goes something like this, "A man is only as good as his word."
There is a portion of scripture in Jeremiah that I have known about for several years and it always keeps me on the narrow road, hopefully.
Jeremiah 5:1-5 "Run up and down every street in Jerusalem, says the Lord. Look high and low; search throughout the city! If you can find even one person who is just and honest, I will not destroy the city. Even when they are under oath, saying, As surely as the Lord lives, they all tell lies!
Lord, you are searching for honesty. You struck your people, but they paid no attention. You crushed them, but they refused to turn from sin. They are determined, with faces set like stone; they have refused to repent.
Then I said, But what can we expect from the poor and ignorant? They don't know the ways fo the Lord. They don't understand what God expects of them. I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they will know the Lord's ways and what God requires of them. But the leaders, too, had utterly rejected their God." NEW LIVING TRANSLATION
A very sad and humbling portion of scripture. Can this be said about the Christian church? I surely hope not, and I certainly don't want this to be said about me.
The first part of Jamurary I went and looked at a mobile home that had a tree lying on it. The owner was 84 years old and had no insurance. He was not a Christian. I told him before I left that day, "I will return and repair your roof for you." As the weeks passed I couldn't get anyone to go and repair the roof. The teams are placed by the assistant pastor of the church we are working with and there just weren't any spare people to do the job.
Not a day passed when I didn't think about the promise I have made. That promise kept nagging at me, and it seemed that I would have to go home not having fulfilled my commitment.
A couple of weeks ago the assistant pastor was away for a few days and I was left in charge of the teams. I was free to place them where I felt they could be used effectively. A team from Indiana had a couple of carpenters on it and the first job on Monday morning I sent them to do that repair job.
When they returned home having completed the job, with a very positive reaction from the owner, it felt like I had just been relieved of a huge debt.
In one of Robert Service's poems, "The Creamation of Sam McGee," there is a line that says, "A promise made is a debt unpaid."
Incidently if you go up on the net and get that poem, I think that you will enjoy it.
Praise the Lord, I have not made any other promises lately that are not in my power to keep, and I surely won't in the future. There is too much riding on "My word" to throw it around loosely.
posted by Jim Burton at 8:08 AM
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