The Shepherd's Apprentice

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May 9

As many as I love
I rebuke and chasten.
Revelation 3:19

We find several passages like this in scripture.

For example, in Psalm 23 we hear that "[God's] rod and staff, they comfort me." I don't know about you, but I don't find it comforting to be grabbed by the neck with a hook nor bonked on the head with a correcting stick.

In John 15 scripture tells us that Jesus prunes us whether we're good or bad! "2 He [prunes] every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit."

Correcting sticks, pruning shears, rebuking, chastening. How is that love?

I caught two minutes of an interview on the radio yesterday regarding a book entitled, I think it was, "The Other Wes Moore." The author -- the first Wes Moore -- grew up in a tough inner-city environment. He researches how he rose from that environment to be a Rhodes Scholar and State Department assistant to Condoleeza Rice and the other Wes Moore -- who grew up in the same years on the same streets -- to be on death row for killing a cop.

In the end, the final analysis -- at least in the two minutes that I listened -- is that one Wes Moore had parents who loved him enough to use correcting sticks, pruning shears, rebuking, and chastening ... and the other didn't.

In Christ's Love,
a guy who want to be hit with a stick
(no ... I know what you're thinking ...
that's God's staff I'll submit to ... not yours!)

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May 8

But what things were gain to me ...
Philippians 3:7

In your life, what do you consider gain? What do you consider valuable? What do you consider treasure?

Jesus says, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
And Paul finishes this verse like this: "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ."

What are you willing to give up for Christ?

In Christ's Love,
a guy who wants to run a deficit
so he can be truly rich

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