spiritualsnippets.com

Seeing life's events in the light of God's Word.

Oct 19

A Lesson From Sunday School

by Brenda Poulos
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Psalm 31:14,15a- “But I trust in you, O Lord, I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in your hand.”

Who is on the throne of your life?

As a kid in Sunday School, I can remember coloring a picture of a large heart shape with a royal throne on it. The idea being that God should be the one we put on that throne—not ourselves… not money… not “things”… and so on.

Life would work out so much better if we let God have control of the decisions in our lives.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized I was putting God in the position of “consultant.” Oh, I wasn’t ignoring Him in my life, but I wasn’t giving Him control, either. It was as if I had two thrones in that “picture”. I had relegated Him to be “co-chair”! I made the decisions and I asked Him (more or less) to rubber stamp them.

If I had only followed that simple teaching decades ago, life would have been much simpler… turned out just as He’d planned it from the beginning.

The good news was that I could change. I could put Him back on the throne of my life.

So that’s what I did.

How about you?

Biblical lessons Encouraging words

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Nov 7

Warning Signs

by Brenda Poulos

I Corinthians 10:11 – “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.”

Ready to change lanes on the freeway last week, my car’s warning system notified me that there was a vehicle in my blind spot. 

This allowed me to avoid what would have been a horrific accident.

There are a lot of early warning devices nowadays and although some may be irritating (like the one on the thermostat of our home’s heating/cooling system) they are meant to help consumers avoid catastrophes.

There are many warnings in the Bible, too.

The Apostle Paul’s name always comes to mind when I think about those who were sent to warn others. I would like to tell you his words were always heeded, but that was not the case. 

Some of the saddest and most tragic stories in the scriptures are those about men and women who failed to heed God’s warnings—and the consequences they experienced.

Thank God for His Word and for those, like Paul, who were obedient to His commands. It is their stories that make us aware of the results of certain actions/decisions.

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Oct 22

What Will It Cost?

by Brenda Poulos

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Luke 14:28- ““Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?”

 

Nothing is ever simple when my husband and I begin a new home renovation, but things go a lot smoother when we can keep “surprises” to a minimum.

That begins with a construction budget. If we leave something out of the original “to-do” list, it can cause sleepless nights later on.

“Counting the cost” in most basic terms is simply good planning. But, I’ve found this concept is applicable to other aspects of our lives, too.

The cost of a lie could be a lost friendship or job. Maybe it leads to contempt of court and jail time.

See the point?

The “cost” of certain actions may be loss of trust or imposed financial penalties. The cost of eating that extra brownie will be measured in pounds and inches.

I’m contemplating actions right now that need to be considered carefully. The affects are sure to be far reaching. The scripture above cautions me to take it slow, count the cost in terms of family dynamics and financial responsibilities, and take it to the Lord in prayer.

Have you a weighty decision to make? Have you counted the cost?

 

Biblical lessons Encouraging words Uncategorized

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