Tag: Godly wisdom

Bible

Are You Hungry?

meghanewhite

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Photo by Valeriya Kobzar from Pexels

Each morning I grab my beat up old Bible from the nightstand. I’m very attached to my old Bible. The binding is taped. Pages are falling out. It’s a mess and I love it. My Bible holds a spiritual legacy. It was my mom’s first Bible when she placed her faith in Jesus. Mom gave me her Bible when I was in Junior High and she bought a new one. It’s the only Bible I’ve used ever since.

Mom’s notes are written in certain books of the Bible that she studied. Every so often as I’m flipping through the pages I’ll see Mom’s perfect handwriting reminding me of her passion for God’s Word. When she got saved it ignited a hunger in her to learn as much as possible about Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit. 

I see the craving and passion in Mom’s words scrawled on the pages of her old Bible. She was blessed as a new Christ follower with great Biblical teachers at our church. 

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I love these notes. It’s Mom reminding me of what really matters.

  1. Remember your Savior.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3, NIV 

  1. Love one another.

 Love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Peter 1:22b, NIV 

  1. Rid yourselves of sin. Malice, envy, deceit, etc. Crave pure spiritual milk.

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1 Peter 2:1-3, NIV

As a new Christian my mom was so excited to devour the Word of God. She couldn’t get enough. Mom was spiritually hungry and she was going to the right place to get fed. Mom was feeding on God’s Holy Word. It was filling her up and she kept coming back for more.

We are all hungry. We were born hungry for more. The only satisfaction is in Jesus Christ. Nutritious food for our soul is in the Word of God. We can feast on it day and night and never get full or bloated. We can’t get too much of God’s Word in us. 

If I feast on worldly things that temporarily fill me up I will get queasy, and never truly satisfied. It leaves me empty, so I have made the mistake of pursuing more of the worldly things in hopes of satisfaction that never comes. It’s a vain pursuit. 

When we fill up on God’s word it changes us. God’s words are alive. There’s no other book like it. The entire story of humankind is written in the pages. God wrote the end from the beginning. God’s word stands forever.

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For,

“All people are like grass,

    and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

    but the word of the Lord endures forever.” 

1 Peter 1:23-25, NIV 

There is a beautiful feast waiting for us in the pages of the Bible. One verse can transform a heart. The more I read the Bible, the more I am changed, convicted, filled with hope, joy, love, wisdom, knowledge, and excitement. God’s words to us are more powerful than any book we have ever read. 

I have to ask myself what am I feeding my soul with? Am I settling for the junk food of the world? Am I sitting at the table with the Lord filled with inexhaustible resources of grace and mercy? I want the same hunger for God that my mom had as a new Christian. 

Thanks Mom for the legacy you left me. Each time I hold my torn up Bible in my hands I am reminded that’s where it all began for you. It continues on for me and I pray the same for my sons. 

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Matthew 4:4, NIV 

Love you all,

Meghan 

Father God, 

Thank you for Your incredible book, the Bible. It has the power to transform hearts and minds for it is Your life giving words. Give us a hunger for Your word, a hunger for Your presence, a hunger for more of You in our lives and our world. Help us to make daily Bible reading a priority and a passion. We praise You almighty God!

Amen

Faith, Family, Uncategorized

Wisdom from Grandma

meghanewhite

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For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.

1 Timothy 6:7

 

Grandma kept everything. I found these in her kitchen cabinet when we packed up her house in California. At the time I thought they were neat because of the old advertising. Over the years I’ve realized something a little deeper, more significant about these old containers. It’s a lesson I learned from Grandma. She didn’t know she was teaching me, but she did. Elva was her name and she’s my husband’s sweet grandma from Arkansas.

Elva lived in the rural south during the Depression. Nothing was wasted or taken for granted. She used to tell us that as a little girl if it snowed in Arkansas they would make ice cream from the snow. My husband and I would laugh. It sounded silly to us. But now I get it. When you have very little, you use what you’ve got. Today if I bought some ice cream I didn’t like I would throw it out. That would have never happened during those Depression years. It would have been eaten up with joy.

I have had those spices in a large jar on my kitchen counter for years. I was cleaning it out the other day after an ant problem. Grandma came to my mind once again. She wouldn’t throw away something as precious as cooking spices. It got me thinking about contentment. Am I content with my stuff? Do I want more, and more? Do I need more?

This is the era of disposable electronics, and disposable everything. Get the newest phone, we need it. Get the newest car, we need it. Consume it, get bored with it, and get the latest version of said item. Buy, buy, buy, and buy some more stuff. The lines have been blurred of needs and wants. What does the Bible say about contentment?

“But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 Timothy 6:8, NIV)

Paul wrote these words that God gave him. Is food, shelter, and clothing enough for contentment? I think yes. At least I want to think yes. I wrestle with this concept. Is stuff bad? Well, no. We need to eat, and clothing for our bodies, and a roof over our heads. Beyond that, what do we really need? Not much. But what we want, that’s a whole different story. Wants aren’t bad. Stuff isn’t bad. Where does contentment lie in all that for the Christ Follower?

9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. (1 Timothy 6:9-10, NIV)

The verses about contentment and not holding on to our worldly possessions lead to a warning about loving money. We are given a very real warning about the desire to get rich. Some wandered from the faith, pursuing money instead of Christ. This is still happening today. More money, more stuff. Less contentment. The stuff becomes the pursuit. Jesus is taken out of the picture entirely. That’s a big problem for many reasons. One being, all that money and stuff doesn’t go to eternity with us. Eternity. Forever. Not a single thing we have here on earth leaves with us. (1 Timothy 6:7)

Wait a minute. Then why are we so caught up in buying the latest fill in the blank? We don’t take it with us. We use our stuff for the brief time we are here on this side of eternity. Should we be accumulating as much stuff as possible? The whole “you only live once” and “Hey, I’m not taking it with me anyway. I’m going to buy as much as I want, when I want, and enjoy it all now.” Buy the latest and greatest? No. That’s a dangerous path. We already have the warning about that.

What if we were content right now, today, with what we’ve got? Some of us have lots of nice, shiny, new things. Some of us have old, worn out things. We’ve got things we need and things we want. Many of us pray about these decisions. We can thank God for all He has given us and entrusted us with. We can also ask Him to meet our needs.

My pastor used to say, “There are two things we take to heaven. Our character and our relationships.” Words to live by.

We are not to live miserly and hoard our stuff. We are to be generous.

11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:11, NIV)

16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:16, NIV)

17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? (1 John 3:17, NIV)

What did I learn from Grandma? Be content with what you’ve got. It’s just stuff. We came into this world with nothing and we leave with nothing. Be generous. Be grateful. Don’t pursue money and wealth. Pursue Jesus. Only He brings true contentment.

Love you all,

Meghan