Word from Scotland: Ever wonder why few people preach, teach from the Sermon on the Mount?

We come to this teaching of Jesus Christ in Matthew Chapter 5 and at verse 42. Give to the one who asks. Do not run away from the one who wants to borrow. There may be some unknown reason, as to why someone wants to borrow.

Do not stand on your dignity. Jesus is asking for more than mere non-retaliation. Take positive steps. Be actively generous. It is all so very personal.

This is how we, as disciples of Jesus, can become the salt and the light. We cannot apply this to others.

Jesus is challenging the social trends. These can go against the grain.

We may even think that the Sermon on the Mount is a bit much. This teaching appears to be to our disadvantage.

Rock Flowers

"Thou hast shewed thy people hard things" (Ps. 60:3).

I have always been glad that the Psalmist said to God that some things were hard. There is no mistake about it; there are hard things in life. Some beautiful pink flowers were given me this summer, and as I took them I said, "What are they?" And the answer came, "They are rock flowers; they grow and bloom only on rocks where you can see no soil." Then I thought of God's flowers growing in hard places; and I feel, somehow, that He may have a peculiar tenderness for His "rock flowers" that He may not have for His lilies and roses. --Margaret Bottome

The tests of life are to make, not break us. Trouble may demolish a man's business but build up his character. The blow at the outward man may be the greatest blessing to the inner man. If God, then, puts or permits anything hard in our lives, be sure that the real peril, the real trouble, is what we shall lose if we flinch or rebel. --Maltbie D. Babcock

Broken Trust

2 Samuel 12:8-9

I gave you your master's house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the LORD and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife.

The life of King David was filled with numerous triumphs, conquests, and successes. He single-handedly took down Goliath with a sling and a stone. He wrote many of the psalms from which we find comfort in our times of difficulty. He presided over the nation of Israel and was considered by many to be its greatest leader.

David also learned a harsh lesson about the importance of trust. While sitting on his rooftop one day (when he should have been at war), he saw Bathsheba bathing and sent for her. This act led to adultery, the murder of Uriah the Hittite, and a cover-up of the whole situation. Only when the prophet Nathan confronted David about his actions did the king ask God for forgiveness. However, the Lord did not let David off easy. The child he fathered with Bathsheba died, there was a constant threat of murder in his family, and his son Absalom caused David problems until he was killed in battle.

Through the Fire

"So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning" (Job 42:12).

Through his griefs Job came to his heritage. He was tried that his godliness might be confirmed. Are not my troubles intended to deepen my character and to robe me in graces I had little of before? I come to my glory through eclipses, tears, death. My ripest fruit grows against the roughest wall. Job's afflictions left him with higher conceptions of God and lowlier thoughts of himself. "Now," he cried, "mine eye seeth thee.

And if, through pain and loss, I feel God so near in His majesty that I bend low before Him and pray, "Thy will be done," I gain very much. God gave Job glimpses of the future glory. In those wearisome days and nights, he penetrated within the veil, and could say, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." Surely the latter end of Job was more blessed than the beginning.
--In the Hour of Silence

Establish Habits for Spiritual Growth

Rick Warren.
“So we continue to preach Christ to each person, using all wisdom to warn and to teach everyone, in order to bring each one into God's presence as a mature person in Christ.” (Colossians 1:28 NCV)

The most practical and powerful way to get believers headed in the direction of spiritual maturity is to help them establish habits that promote spiritual growth.

You cannot talk about character without talking about habits. Character is the way you habitually act. For example, if you are honest only part of the time, or if you are honest only when you consciously choose to be honest, you cannot claim to have the character quality of integrity.

Is Astrology a True Science?

By G Zalben

Learning your horoscope can have a tendency to freeze or weaken your willpower and paralyze you with its inaccurate messages. Karma rules the brainless stars and your fate. We are not made in the image of astrology; we are made in the image of God.

Is astrology a true science? Yes it is, but there are few scientists who understand it. You have to be a pretty highly advanced being to be able to tell the karma of a person and his future. And you can make tremendous karma when you influence a person to believe things that you believe to be true, for if you are an astrologer, for every mistake you have made in your astrological chart you are going to take that karma of the individual.

How Astrological Signs Affect Personality

By Jed Eane

In astrology, the position of the sun at the time of your birth determines your sun sign or, as it's more commonly known, your star sign. The sun is deemed very important in astrology; it rules willpower and ego and is fundamental to who a person is and what they're about.

The position of the other planets at the time you were born also has an effect on how you behave, but it's the sun's position, over all the other planets' positions, that is taken into account when determining a person's character.

Elements

What We See in Each Other

1 Samuel 16:1–13
“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7
Samuel was sent to the house of Jesse to find a new king. When he got there, Samuel saw Eliab, one of Jesse’s sons. “Surely, he is the one God has chosen to be the next king,” Samuel thought. Evidently, like the previous king, Saul, Eliab was tall and striking. But Eliab was not the one God had in mind.

God warned Samuel not to assess people by their physical appearance. God reminded the old prophet that he doesn’t look at the outside; he looks at the inside. So each of Jesse’s sons passed before Samuel, but God did not indicate that any of them was the man God had sent him to find. Finally, David, the youngest son, came in from the fields. Then the Lord spoke to Samuel, telling him this was the right one.

15 Things God Won't Ask

Read this and then reflect on it. It's not the material things that matter...

God won't ask what kind of car you drove, but will ask how many people you drove who didn't have transportation.


God won't ask the square footage of your house, but will ask how many people you welcomed into your home.


God won't ask about the fancy clothes you had in your closet, but will ask how many of those clothes helped the needy.


God won't ask about your social status, but will ask what kind of class you displayed.


God won't ask how many material possessions you had, but will ask if they dictated your life.