Misunderstanding: A Little Fun

A rather old-fashioned lady, always quite delicate and elegant, especially in her language, and her husband were planning a week's vacation in Florida, so she wrote to a campground and asked for a reservation. She wanted to make sure the campground was fully equipped, but didn't quite know how to ask about the toilet facilities. She just couldn't bring herself to write the word "toilet" in her letter. After much deliberation, she finally came up with the old-fashioned term "bathroom commode." But when she wrote that down, she still felt that she was being too forward. So she started all over again, rewrote the entire letter, and referred to the bathroom commode merely as the "B.C." "Does the campground have its own B.C.?"

Well, the campground owner just couldn't figure out what the woman was talking about. " B.C." really stumped him. After worrying about it for a while, he showed the letter to several campers, but no one could imagine what the lady meant. So the campground owner, finally coming to the conclusion that the lady must be asking about the location of the Baptist Church, sat down and wrote the following reply:

"Dear Madam: I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take the pleasure of informing you that a B.C. is located nine miles north of the campground, and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to learn that a great number of our people take their lunches along and make a day of it. They usually arrive early and stay late. If you don't start early, you probably will not make it in time. The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now there is a supper planned to raise money to buy more seats. They're going to hold it in the basement of the B.C. I would like to say it pains me very much not being able to go more often, but it surely is no lack of desire on my part. As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather. If you decide to come down to our campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go, sit with you, and introduce you to all the other folks. Remember, this is a friendly community!!"

Mankind Released from the Penalty of Sin

Distress

What Motivates You?

I am currently enjoying a refresher course in hermeneutics (bible study method) by Howard Hendricks. As part of the course I studied the story of Jesus and the ten lepers. Now I know ... on the face of things the story doesn't look like there is very much to study but consider the following questions. First, What was the underlying motivation behind the request that the ten lepers made? They of course wished to be rid of the disease that was slowly eating away their lives. However they were also eager to re-enter society. You see, a leper, by Jewish law, was forced to live outside of normal society. When Jesus sent these men to the priest it was so that the priest could pronounce them clean and able to go back to their families and communities.

That isn't too earth shaking is it? But now, consider a second question. Why did Jesus express dismay that only one of the lepers returned to thank him? The thoughts of the nine were fixed on what they were going to get. The Samaritan however looked past what he was about to gain and saw the Savior. When he did he was overcome with gratitude and rushed back to Jesus to fall on his knees and give thanks.

If we are honest we are often very like the nine. We look for what we are going to get if we obey Him. Even in our obedience to the Word we are often only motivated if there is something in it for us. We become like the people of John 6:14-15 who only followed Jesus because they had been miraculously fed by Him. The passage says, “After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.” We see it again a few verse later when Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." (John 6:27-28)

True obedience is motivated by gratitude and thankfulness to God for who He is and what He has done for us. True obedience does not dwell on whether or not my wants or even my needs will be met if I obediently follow Jesus' direction for my life. True obedience does what is right and leaves the consequences to God. True obedience falls at His feet in thanks for the unconditional grace and love He poured out on us every day.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift. II Corinthians 9:15

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God provides absolutely everything I need. God provides me with pleasant places of rest and recuperation. God will always guide me towards the right way to live because He is trustworthy. Even the darkest days of my life are not occasions for panic because God is there making it safe.My enemies have to sit by and helplessly watch God honor me. They have to sit and watch God treat me like the most important person at His feast as He refills my cup over and over and over again. This is the kind of treatment I have to look forward to all the days of this life and all of the days of the life to come.             

The study has been really good. The first part of the training has been all about learning to be observant. We have been challenged to ask questions like, Who is the author? Whom is the author addressing? What is the most important term and/or concept of the passage? What are the main verbs? What are the tenses of those verbs? Are there terms you need to define so that you can better understand the passage? Are there people or places you need to identify? What do you already know about the people and places mentioned? Can you identify any cause-effect relationships in the author's writing? In what ways does the passage apply to your own personal life? What things from this passage might you want to study later in further detail?