My Guest Writer for today is Judy Phillips

I love gardening, or at least my raised bed vegetable gardens. Just being in the garden is a place of relaxation and joy. Every morning I walk and check everything to see if anything got "attacked" overnight by bugs, deer, or other varmints. After an inspection I make a plan for what to do that day. Again at night Gary and I walk by and check and comment on what's going on. Everyday there is something to do. One day it might be weeding or thinning or transplanting. Another might be pruning or staking.

Some days are fertilizing and spraying. Every single day the plants must have water and of course, sunshine. Vegetable plants will not grow without plenty of sun.

There are a lot of daily things to do in a garden. Skipping a day can cause problems, but definitely skipping a number of days will mean less vegetables to enjoy. It's very much the same way with our spiritual lives. Just as We must plant in good soil to develop strong plants and root systems, so must we have willing hearts and minds to receive God's love and let it grow. Prayer and the word, fellowship with other Christians, and giving of our time, talents and money is the fertilizer, water, and sunshine to have our relationship with God flourish. And, the vegetables we harvest are the love and experiences with the Lord that we share with others. Nothing that I buy at the store is as good as what I go pick directly from my garden. There is no substitute. That is exactly the same as the relationship we have with the Lord. There is no substitute for His love and salvation.

As we enjoy our Garden Get Away I hope we will let the Lord grow his Garden of His fruits in our lives. 

Our Secular Society and Music Lyrics

Most of us are painfully aware of the disturbing song lyrics that are popular in our secular society. Many have placed certain CDs off limits to our children because of the graphic language and violence in the songs. You know even the more tame type of music has troublesome lyrics. Take Taylor Swift for example, you must know that I adore her music. When I first heard Shake it Off, I just got up and danced. It made me feel so happy. I quickly bought the song on ITunes, and then I heard it. The line is, “She's like oh my god.” It kind of broke my heart. I don’t take the use of the Lord’s name in vain lightly, which is precisely what was done in this song. The rest of the lyrics are harmless, but that one phrase has found it’s way into popular culture especially in texting and Facebook. It even has its own special abbreviation OMG.

This makes me very sad. Many of the young people who use this phrase see nothing wrong with it, and they mean no harm. But it IS harmful. It’s breaking one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord God in vain. That it is taken so lightly just hurts my heart. So here’s the big question, am I going to stop listening to this song? I honestly don’t know. I certainly won’t sing along with it. If you have a young daughter should you prevent her from buying it? At the very least, I would have a talk with her about the casual use of taking the Lord’s name in vain.

But wait, now that we’re thinking of song lyrics, what about another of my favorites. All About That Bass, by Meghan Trainor. I like the fact that she is proudly proclaiming that she’s not a size two and is fine with that. But then there is this line, “Yeah, my momma she told me don't worry about your size She says, boys they like a little more booty to hold at night.” What good Christian mom would tell her daughter that boys want to hang on to them at night?

Again, I am not out to boycott either of these songs. I love listening to them, and so do millions of other people because they are wildly popular. My point is, that our secular society has ungodly influences everywhere we turn. It’s practically impossible to avoid it all. We just have to talk to our kids and each other. We need to keep as much of the harmful influences in our society out of our lives as possible. This is just a small illustration that the evil one is very busy insidiously assaulting our culture at every turn.

I really really like Taylor Swift and Meghan Trainor. I have several of  their songs on my IPod.

Big sigh…

Are We Living Our Lives For Christ?

How are we living our lives today? What will we be doing when Christ returns? We all live our lives doing normal daily things like eating, drinking and planning life events. The difference for believers is that they know there will be more, something much better, a permanent fulfillment when Christ returns. Believers will be longing for this ultimate fulfillment and not be satisfied by just the mere physical fulfillment than an earthly life offers. Believers know that there is much more to come.

“As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Matthew 24:37. Matthew chapter 24 tells of His return and how important it is that we remain watchful. The prophet Zachariah told of the Messiah sitting on the Mount of Olives when he came to establish His kingdom. When His disciples asked what would be the sign of his coming, Jesus replied, “watch out that no one deceives you.”  He warned them and us that there would be many false prophets with counterfeit signs of spiritual power and authority. We mustn’t look for special signs or other people. We must keep our focus on Christ and His Word.

The Old Testament mentions false prophets several times who claimed they received messages from God. But they offered 'health and wealth on earth' messages instead of the eternal, deeper, spiritual wealth that God promises us.

Popular leaders today tell us what we want to hear, that God wants us to be rich, do whatever makes us happy, that there is no sin or hell.  With the wickedness and loose morals of false teachings comes the devastating loss of true love for God and others. Sin cools our love for God and others by causing us to focus on ourselves. We can’t truly love if we think only of ourselves.

Jesus told us that false teachers would come and warns us not to listen to their dangerous messages. Many nice sounding messages and teachings don’t hold up when examined closely. By reading and knowing God’s Word, we can spot these errors or problems in false teachings.

Christ’s coming will be sudden, unexpected and unmistakable. It will be clear to everyone all at once. If we have to be told he is here, or over there, then it is not truly Jesus. The Messiah’s return will be obvious to everyone. Jesus told us of his return so we would be prepared at all times. He did not tell about his return to stimulate predictions of when he will return. He warned us to be ready, to obey him each day.

While we wait, Jesus told us to spend our time taking care of one another and doing his work inside the Church and outside it to build His kingdom. We are not to live irresponsibly, looking for self-serving pleasure or developing a false security based on precise times and events.

God Wants Us Up Close and Personal

God wants our relationship with him to be close and personal. He wants us to be in close, daily contact with him. In Jeremiah, chapter 13, God used the illustration of a loincloth, or belt, to show his desire for intimacy with us. In the New Living Translation, God said he wanted his people to ‘cling’ to him. The Hebrew word for “cling” is dabaq, which means to cling, stick, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to. Knowing this really helps us understand this passage of scripture at a deeper level. When we make choices in our lives that lead to a closer relationship with God, we are blessed beyond measure. His love envelopes us and he  advises and encourages us. This is his gift of the Holy Spirit, which is available to us if we accept Christ as our Savior. The deeper our relationship with God becomes, the more connected we are to the Holy Spirit and his counsel.

In Jeremiah we learn that the sin of pride rots our heart and we lose our usefulness to God. The people in Jeremiah’s day were not able to enjoy real intimacy with God because of the sin of pride. They focused on tangible things they could touch and smell instead of God. Those tangible things became idols to them. They allowed the sin of pride to rob them of an up close and personal relationship with the Lord. People in today’s world are suffering from this same fate. That’s why the Bible is such a great resource to us, IF we use it. The more we read and learn, the more we grow. The easier it becomes to determine right actions and behaviors. The more fully we develop in our walk with The Lord, the more fulfilling our relationship with him becomes.

Jeremiah 11:9-13

New Living Translation

"The LORD says: This illustrates how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship idols. Therefore, they will become like this linen belt -- good for nothing! As a belt clings to a person's waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me," says the LORD. "They were to be my people, my pride, my glory -- an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me."

New International Version

This is what the LORD says: 'In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt--completely useless! For as a belt is bound around a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to me,' declares the LORD, 'to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.'

Deuteronmy 10:16 says, “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” If our hearts are right with God, then our relationships with other people can be made right too. When your heart has been cleansed and you have been restored in your relationship with God, you will begin to see a difference in the way you treat others.