Little Chats With God

“A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”  Proverbs 11: 25Proverbs 11: 25
English: World English Bible - WEB
25 The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.

When I think about it, Lord, it seems that this is one of the few laws of life that is almost universally accepted. It seems that every society on earth has some form of it: the Golden Rule, karma, what-goes-round-comes-round. No matter what it’s called, the principle is the same: what you sow is what you will reap. Almost everyone accepts that.

So why is it, Lord, that just as it is almost universally accepted, it is also almost universally ignored? I mean, if everyone who says they believe this principle acted like they believe it, it would be almost heaven on earth. Everyone would be nice to other people, expecting others to be nice back to them. No-one would harm anyone else, recognizing that to do so would be to invite harm back on themselves. Everyone would be helpful, courteous, respectful, kind, efficient and generous, believing that others would then display the same virtues toward them.

But it’s not like that, Lord. People don’t act like they believe the principle of sowing and reaping. They act as if they can sow whatever they please, and still reap a harvest of sweet smelling roses. Instead of people “doing to others as they would have others do to them” we have people “doing others before the others have a chance to do them.” Most of the time, even when someone tries to sow kindness and helpfulness, those on the receiving end get suspicious and accuse them of only acting out of selfish motives.

Yet this law really is unbreakable. When you do something nice for someone - particularly if they weren’t expecting it - you don’t even have to wait for something nice to come back to you. Just the smile on their face is a reward, and even if they are grouchy and ungracious, there is a sort of internal self-hug that comes when you know you have done right.

Lord, help me to always be someone who encourages, builds up and helps others. Help me to be someone who doesn’t just say I believe the principle of sowing and reaping, but who lives accordingly.

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

“Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, ‘Why this waste of perfume? It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.’ And they rebuked her harshly.” Mark 14:4-5Mark 14:4-5
English: World English Bible - WEB
4 But there were some who were indignant among themselves, saying, “Why has this ointment been wasted? ⁵ For this might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, ³⁰⁰ denarii was about a years wages for an agricultural laborer. and given to the poor.” They grumbled against her.

I really don’t understand the attitude of these guys, Lord. It’s not as if they were falling over themselves to give to the poor normally. In fact, if Mary had given the bottle of perfume to them instead of pouring it on You, I’m betting they would have been hunting for an excuse to not spend it on the poor.

What got up their noses was that someone was lavish in her expression of love toward You - far more lavish than they were prepared to be.

Why is it that some people consider anything that is given unreservedly to You to be wasted? They think that a life spent in Your service is wasted; that time spent worshipping You is wasted; that money given for Your kingdom is wasted.

Yet, as she did when she sat at Your feet while Martha bustled around in the kitchen, Mary had very much chosen the better part. She wasn’t indifferent to the needs around her, but she had determined that You were her first priority. It seems that, in every situation, she just couldn’t get enough of You.

Make me like Mary of Bethany, Lord. Cause me to be so totally besotted with You that I will gladly pour out my time, my energy, my possessions, my life for You. Help me to be extravagant in my love for You, no matter how much others may gripe about the “waste.”

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

I now have a really cool free widget which will allow you to put automatically updating posts from Little Chats with God on your web site, blog, MySpace or other social network.

To get it, just go to http://lynnbfowler.com/prayerdevotional/free-widget and follow the simple directions. Enjoy!

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Psalm 144:4Psalm 144:4
English: World English Bible - WEB
4 Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.

Lord, I don’t know whether it’s just that I’m getting older, but time seems to slip away so quickly these days. Days, weeks, months, years - they disappear before I even have time to look at them, till I find myself thinking, “Hey! Who stole the last six months?” (or, for that matter, the last six years?)

I read somewhere that time seems to go faster as you get older, because each year becomes a smaller fraction of the entire life you have lived thus far. So, when you were five, a year was 20% of your life - quite a big chunk, so it seemed awfully long. When you get to 50, a year is only 2% of your life thus far - a much smaller chunk, so it disappears much more quickly.

Seems like a reasonable theory, but it leaves me wondering: if time goes this quickly for me in my fifties, what must it have been like for Your people of old, who measured their lifespans in hundreds of years? After all, at 500 a year would be only .2% of your life experience. Whoosh! There it goes! Don’t blink, you’ll miss it!

The Psalmist sure knew what he was talking about when he said that our days are like a fleeting shadow.

Yet that’s only part of the story - the bit of the iceberg that we can see sticking out of the water. Life in this world is so short, but it is not all there is. You have created each of us for a life that will go on forever.

The question, of course, is what kind of life it will be. You have given us the choice of living that forever life with You or without You. Sadly, many people forget that if they choose to live forever without You, they are also choosing to live without all that You cause. Love, joy, peace, beauty, friendship, mercy, goodness, justice - all those things that are the result of Your Spirit working in human lives, will be absent for those who choose eternity without You.

My guess is, they won’t be far into eternity before they begin wishing that it was “a fleeting shadow.”

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.