Shoe Throwing

"Judah is my lawgiver; Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe" - Psalm 60:7b-8a

Throwing a shoe in middle Eastern culture was a sign of intense disrespect, and it is really bad when God says he will (figuratively) throw his shoe over a whole people group!

Fact is, God judges by people groups, even now.

Notice the term,"nations" in this verse and who said it:

When the Son of man shall come in his glory ... before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them [the nations] one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats" - Jesus (Matt. 25:31-32)

There is one exception!

"[P]ut on the new man ... where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." - Colossians 3:9b-11

Those who put on Christ are his people group regardless of where they come from.

"thou ... hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" - Revelation 5:9b

Jesus' redemption crosses all boundaries, people groups, and genders.

Thank God for Christ!

- fritz

God is At Work

"The trees ...the birds ... the wild goats ... the conies .... all the beasts of the forest do creep forth ....The young lions roar ... and seek their meat from God ...

Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.

O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all" - Psalm 104:16-24

Most followers of Christ can see the miraculous hand of God in nature - it is God's handiwork! But the Bible says our daily work routine is just inspired by God.

God is at work at work!

Faithfully doing an honest day's work at an honest job is spiritual, don't let the routineness make you loose site of that!

"Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance - Colossians 3:24 (Message)

-fritz

The Great Equalizer

People in suits and others in blue jeans, black people, white people, some rich, some poor, some well groomed and others not - all moving forward in line, together, kneeling at the altar, taking communion, arising to sing, pray, praise, and receive the benediction.

The formal service over, it's out to the foyer to visit, have a hug, enjoy over a cup of coffee (maybe a donut), but eye-to-eye contact, interaction, caring.

Jesus is the great equalizer.

This must have been part of what the apostle, Paul, meant when he pinned the words,

"Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ ... " - Colossians 3:9-11 (MESSAGE)

Born that way!

Every parent wants their child to be born with all body parts; we look for fingers and toes, eyes and nose. There are other body parts we are born with that are not so immediately visible.

"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:" - Colossians 3:5

"Members", literally means "body parts". It's the same word Jesus used in his controversial illustration of cutting off hands, eyes, and feet.

"... it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." - Matthew 5:29b

I was born with some, you were born with others - "sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy"¹ - These are the body parts, "members", the Bible says to remove so we can serve God in and with our bodies throughout eternity.

- fritz

^{1 - Colossians 3:5b The Message Bible}

Affection - A State of Mind

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. - Colossians 3:2(KJV)

Yesterday I looked up the original word for "affection" in this verse and made an interesting discovery. The original language has it the same word translated in other passages as "mind", as in

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." (Romans 8:5)

That word is also translated "thought" as in

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." - 1st Corinthians 13:11 (KJV)

St. Paul is not telling us where to put our feelings, he is telling us where to place our attention.