Introduction

Just in case anyone is interested, I've started another blog based on all 36 of the "one another's" in the New Testament (check into My Complete Profile for the new blogspot). Some of these were done as a Ladies' Bible Study during the summer at our church, so I thought this same information might be beneficial here. Sequentially, these One Anothers begin in the gospel of John with "love one another" and end in 1 Peter with "clothe yourself in humility towards one another." Actually, these seem almost like the perfect "bookends" for all the ones in between. And "love" is really an umbrella term under which all the others fall. This godly love is to be exhibited by believers by ministering to each other as they minister to Christ. And that's what I pray this study is, a ministry to anyone who reads it.

RIGHT GUARD

This is a pretty bad pun here, but I've developed a "pet" peeve -- due to the fact that in our neighborhood, there seems to be an unusually high number of people's PET dogs running around loose, no collar, ID, nothing. And they're really BIG dogs, and not particularly nice. This means that I can never just let my own sweet, little dogs out in our own yard (unfortunately unfenced), or even on the deck, without first scoping out the surrounding neighbors' yards, and our own, for rogue animals. I can go for days, even weeks, without incident, but this weekend, it happened twice. So even as we all spend the days la-dee-da-ing outside, relaxing and playing, I'm always keeping watch. And the little doglets know to listen to me and obey when I tell them to stay put. They willingly keep themselves under my protection. Sometimes they actually see an intruder first and run to me to let me know. But you know what's actually good about this? It helps me to identify with our Lord. There's a word in the New Testament that is translated in a variety of ways: "to guard, watch, keep, protect." In John 17:12, Jesus "guarded the disciples God gave Him and none perished." In 2 Thess 3:3, we're told that "the Lord ... will protect you from the evil one." So it's obvious to me that as much as I love my little dogs, and do all I can to watch out for danger, to guard and protect them from intruders -- is not our Lord, with His great love for us, that much more able to protect us who cling to Him from Satan and his schemes? It's a daily reminder that He's always watching out for me personally, especially if I willingly submit myself to His care, to shelter myself under His wings.

GETTING OUT OF MY OWN WAY

Had a really pleasant day today. My husband has a coupla days of vacation, and we wound our way downtown to return his rental car, to shop, and always most important, to eat! Had lunch at a nice little Italian eatery called Anthony's; kind of a non-descript brown building, with an itty-bitty parking lot. But since we got there long before noon, we had most of the parking lot spaces to choose from. Our lunch was leisurely, we chatted alot to the background music of Tony Bennett, no schedule to keep. Finally, we left, and as we walked to the parking lot, behold! it was stuffed full to the brim with cars! And ours was completely hemmed in. Brick wall in front of us, numerous vehicles beside and behind us. Splat went my peacefulness. "How are we to get out?" I wailed to my spouse. My mind was running furiously, thinking I would go back into the restaurant and call for those other inconsiderate people to come out and move their cars, or lay on our horn, or go out on the street to bring in questionable people to shove these cars around. Needless to say, in the heat (and I do mean "heat", 'cause it was 94 degrees) of the moment, my food-addled brain wasn't functioning at all well. Finally, we realized there was an almost unnoticeable "valet" running around in the midst of the cars, moving them around, one by one. Slowly, but surely, he rearranged every single offending vehicle out of our way, and then pointed the direction of our escape from parking lot torture. Once we arrived home, where it was cool and comfortable, with no vehicles in my personal space, I thought this was the right time to confess to the Lord that I had not thought nor behaved properly. I then began lazily reading through some of the soothing Psalms and brain-tweaking Proverbs. And guess what jumped right out and thimble-thumped me on the head: Proverbs 16:9, "The mind of a man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps." Well, how obvious could THIS be! With all of my calculations, I'm still shortsighted. But the Lord sees it all. He just provided me with a living "parable" right in front of my face.

OLYMPIC FEVER

I have never been an athletic sorta gal. And it is evident by the way that I'm unable to walk around my own house without damaging myself in some way, slamming into walls, etc., that I have no business trying to do things that most definitely hurt the professionals. Mostly, I find televised sports boring enough to put me into a drooling semi-coma. So I'm always surprised that I actually enjoy watching Olympics.
I was watching, of all things, the "shot put" competition. I watched the athletes run in tight little circles, nearly exploding with concentration, and then hurling that heavy-heavy ball away with all their might. And in watching this, something hit home with me.
Now picture this, what if the athlete never let go of that ball? What if he just kept running in circles, holding his breath, straining his muscles? At the very least, he'd get dizzy and fall over. Or pass out and fall over. Or lose control of his muscles and fall over. And then the shot-put would fall on his foot and break bones. So holding onto that ball is, in no sense of the word, healthy.
There's a verse in the Bible, in 1 Peter 5:6-7, "Humble yourselves ... under the mighty hand of God ... casting all your anxiety on Him." This word, casting, is a command. In the original language, it refers to throwing, hurling something with great intensity, with a jerking motion. This is how we're supposed to handle all our daily struggles. Not hold onto them, but to hurl them with all our might upon God. It won't hurt Him. Jesus tells us in Matt 6:25, 27, not to be anxious about our lives, that not a single cubit can be added to our lifespan. If anything, that anxiety can potentially shorten the lifespan, or at the least, make the life not as pleasant as it could be. Kinda like shot-putting in circles for all eternity.

SIN !

Here's a first for me, blogging. And what better way to ingratiate myself with friends and/or total strangers than by commenting on the word nobody wants to hear -- SIN. I can't help myself, I just read something recently that has really stayed with me. There's a word in both the Old and New Testaments, in Hebrew and Greek, that is usually translated as "cling" or "cleave." Both Hebrew and Greek words, in their most basic form, mean "to glue" or "cement." It's frequently used in "clinging" to God, or to good, sometimes with dirt clinging to a shoe. But there was one place in 2 Kings 3:3, where it referenced King Jehoram who "clung to the sins of Jeroboam ... he did not depart from them." Now, pardon the pun, but this really STUCK in my mind! This is similar to choosing whom we'll serve, God or idols; God or mammon; good or evil. You can't do both at once. So if we deliberately choose to sin, think of it, we're GLUING ourselves to that sin! Then my mind really started running; that's what happens late at night. I think of clinging to God, sort of like a child sitting in daddy's lap and they wrap their arms around each other in love. That's how it should be. But if I deliberately choose to jump down out of "daddy's" lap and go wrap my arms around something I think will be better . . . think of it, who's the deceiver, the tempter? That's right, Satan. So, am I now willfully sitting in Satan's lap? As I continue to indulge in my favorite sin, are Satan's arms wrapped around me? Okay, I guess that'll probably creep everybody out, since it did me, but hey, it really makes me stop and think about any possible routine sins I might favor, ala Gal 5:19-21. Anytime I'm prone to saying or thinking something that I know is sinful, but I just want to do it anyway, I'm now visualizing sitting in the lap of Satan instead of in the lap of God, and it really makes me pull back towards the Lord.