Fiber-Cement Siding

Genuine boards on the new bedstead

Pass me the….the….board?  It was a 1/4 inch thick by 10 inch by 12 foot piece of fiber-cement siding.  It beats vinyl siding all over the place for looks and durability.  But in stumbling over what to call it I was reminded that name and form and similarity of a thing to the actual item does not mean it has its substance.  Such are many in the church and the world:  “And he said to them, “An enemy has done this!” The slaves said to him, “Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?” But he said, “No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”” (Matthew 13:27-30)  “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where your are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.'” (Luke 13:26-27)  How should we react to such a word?  “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you- unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) for “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”  “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40) What is the substance of your heart, a believer saved by the grace of God exhibited on the cross by the death of Jesus to take away your sins, or a believer in name and assuming the form of a believer though not actually ever having had an experience with the living God? “Examine yourselves!” Are you the actual item, wood all the way through (as opposed to cement, or cork  (any baseball fans?), perhaps), or do you only bear the shape and name of the same?

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Washed, Rinsed, Eternally Clean

I made a new aquaintence in church today. We exchanged interests and learned that one was classical music and another was potentially poetry.  He wrote down a poem from memory and gave it to me at the end of church.  At home I sat down to read the poem.  I was really enjoying it, but then I got to the last three lines and felt disappointed.  Perhaps the author did not know the good news that I know, or perhaps his focus was elsewhere. At any rate I include the poem here and two verses that I quickly added (in a different color) to, as they say in music, resolve the dissident chords, caused in me at any rate. In defense of both Dr. Stidger’s thoughts and mine, I remind you of what it says in John 13:10: “Jesus said to him, ‘He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.'”  I believe Jesus means both that Judas was unclean and that His disciples can pick up dirt from this world, that though they are clean, “needs only to wash”.  Oh, how glorious, I’m clean!

  

 

I saw God wash the world

     by Dr. W. L. Stidger                                   

Junco

 

I saw God wash the world last night

With His sweet showers on high

And then when Morning came

I saw Him hang it out to dry

 

He washed each tiny blade of grass

And every trembling tree

He flung His showers against the hill

And swept the billowing sea

 

The white rose is a cleaner white

The red is more red

Since God washed every fragrant face

And put them all to bed

 

There is not a bird, there is not a bee

That wings along the way

That was a cleaner bird or bee

Than it was yesterday

 

I saw God wash the world last night

Ah, would He had washed me

As clean of all my dust and dirt

As that old white birch tree!

 

But oh, He has and cleaner yet

But not with rain and wind

He washed me in the blood of Christ

And I’m completely cleansed

 

Yet I will have dirt settle on me

As indeed will flower and tree

But my soul is cleansed of all its sin

And could not cleaner be

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The Word Before Your Face

I was encouraging my healthcare provider and Christian brother  who turned and encouraged me even more by several comments he made.  The one that struck me most was him holding his palm before his face and saying, “If we keep the Word before our face it keeps changing us.”  We listen rather than work because our sanctification is by grace through faith as surely as our initial salvation experience.

 

 

Keeping the Word before your face

Concept and meaning ever trace

Continual changes in you

Please God and better run the race

 

Setting your mind on things above

The things of God you learn to love

Cleansing your heart so it is true

Undivided heart like a dove

 

Eternity within the heart

Begun in Christ and not depart

When I’ve sinned and turned away too

By His Spirit I may restart

 

Learn to live life by faith alone

No schemes and planning on your own

By His Word guided by each clue

To heed the Spirit’s call be prone

 

When in danger for Him you call

Secure in Him never can fall

Peace with God is ever in view

Assurance of heaven’s bright hall

 

The Word before your face again

Best deterrent to prevent sin

Knowing that all to God is due

Forgiveness, glory, life you’re in

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