March 28th People Reflection

Tuesday 3/28/2006

Matthew 23.1-12-Don’t set people up as experts over you life, letting them tell you what to do. Save the authority for God; let him tell you what to do.

Numbers 22.41-23.26-Well, if you can’t curse them, at least don’t bless them.

Song of Solomon 3.6-5.1-A garden fountain, sparkling and splashing, fed by spring waters from the Lebanon mountains.

2 Esdras 7.1-25-Therefore unless the living pass through the difficult and futile experiences, they can never receive those things that have been reserved for them.

Genesis 49.29-50.14-When Jacob had finished giving these instructions to his sons, he lay down on his bed and died.

1 Timothy 2.1-8-There is only one God, and Christ Jesus is the only one who can bring us to God.

Psalm 125-the LORD protects his people

"The camera is just a deterrent."—Security cameras—More show than use—they pan and don’t ever seem to be pointing in the right place at the right time. Just a deterrent. But they are everywhere you look. Seems you could be caught on camera any time of day and any place. The camera may or may not have the final show. But God does. And it’s to God that I must leave and place my priorities. Save the authority for God and let him tell me what to do. The wish was to place a curse on Israel- but God didn’t want a curse placed on Israel- so the prophet said he couldn’t do it. But the king at least didn’t want Israel to be blessed. Save the authority for God- it’s his—can’t even be over-ruled by a king. God is wonderful and loving and comes to me through the garden fountain of life- sparkling and splashing with the Word of life in that water-But in that water is a passage. In that water is a drowning of self to sin and death to rise in life through the narrow passage and the difficult experiences that bring the realization that I can’t save myself. I must pass the narrow passage of death to myself and sin and see that salvation belongs to God. That there is only on God, and Christ Jesus is the only one who can bring me to God. God will lead, guide and protect me through that passage to life. From life to death to life. And then refreshed in the salvation of Jesus I can lay down and give my life to God and die. "The camera is just a deterrent." – But God is the real thing.

Prayer-Lord-as I pass through this life to death- lead me to life in you. -- Amen