Beauty fades even in youth and for the still poster perfect

"Like a gold ring in a pig's snout

is a beautiful woman without discretion."

I have heard so many stories of  man who marries a beautiful woman in appearance, only to soon regret his decision, because the woman had no discretion.  This woman who was once a beautiful woman to him, quickly becomes as beautiful as a ring in a pig's snout to him. Even though she has not aged, her beauty fades away.

The opposite is true for a man who marries a woman because of her godly character, no matter her physical appearance. "She is far more precious than jewels." She lets her "adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious." This man boasts in his wife and is filled with great joy when thinking of her. Instead of fading, her beauty, both physical and internal, grows and increases and is abundant. And he is satisfied by her physical appearance.

Let your fountain be blessed,
and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated always in her love.

 
Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

“Many women have done excellently,

but you surpass them all.”

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Give her of the fruit of her hands,

and let her works praise her in the gates.

Warning: HSV and HPV is highly prevalent in our society and easily spread

75%-80% of sexually active American's will have HPV at some point in their lives. It is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the US. 1 in 4 people have HSV-2 in the US. 80% have HSV-1. Both HPV and Herpes are highly communicable can spread by brief touch, not just sexual intercourse, so any act where skin is exposed can spread these highly communicable diseases. Therefore any act allowing for touch can spread Herpes and HPV, including oral. Condoms do not protect against these two diseases. Some people do not have symptoms of Herpes and HPV can be hidden, but they can still be spread the disease. So even if a partner says they do not have it, you are still at risk. Herpes cannot be cured.  HPV can be chronic and cause cancer.

Chores are just as important as School

We teach are kids to desire and honor education. I believe it is just as vital to teach our kids to desire and honor hard manual work.  I believe part of raising a kid and teaching them to walk in the way of the Lord is to give them chores, and not just a few, and also not to the point of exacerbating them, but a good healthy amount of chores is important. We should teach them to value and love good and hard labor and good stewardship of the resources God has given us. We should teach them to honor people who work with their hands just as much as those who work with their minds. It is the fear of the Lord that gives people honor, my child's character is just as important as what they know.

A Statement of Trust in God's Heart for Our Relationship

A Statement of Trust in God’s Heart for Our Relationship

1.    Intimacy with I am, Emanuel, that we might hear His Voice, cling to Him, and walk with Him in our relationship.  (Ps 41:10, Deut 30, Micah 6:8, Ps. 87:7. Deut. 6:5, John 17:3, Phil. 3:8-11, Matt. 6:33, Ps 63:8)

2.    To live fully and enjoy the abundance of God. To lay our relationship at Jesus’ feet and in complete trust, surrendering all to Him. (Psalm 23; Rom. 12:1,2;  Heb. 12:1,2; Phil 3:12; Acts 20:24)

3.    We will find our answer on our knees. (Our time with the Lord is a priority)

4.    Allow God as our Father to oversee our relationship, to council and advise us, to protect us, and determine the direction of our relationship. (Ps. 19:14, Ps.25:21, Ps 23:3)

5.    To let the Word be uncaged and to rule and reign in our relationship, being living and active and penetrating it and our lives and our hearts.  (Isaiah 66:2,  John 5:39, Ps. 37:31, Ps. 25:4,5, John 16:13, Titus 1.9, Col. 1:9, Jer. 33:2.3, I Thess. 5:21,22. 2 Tim. 1:7,  James l:25, Ps.26:2,3, Ps.119: 105,  John l5:10, John l4:23, Col.3:16, Joshua 1:7-9, 2 Tim 4:2, Rom 15:4)

6.    We will place our relationship under the care of the church, living in community, and yielding to and being accountable to those that God has placed over us.  (Pr. 15:22, Heb. 10:25, Heb13:17)

7.    We will honor our parents and older couples as is fitting in the Lord, not just passively, but actively engaging to honor them and make them a part of this relationship (Deut 5:16)

8.    May God, work in our relationship, in wisdom and grace, that we can be an example to others. Let us set an example of godly male and female roles and honor one another by living in these roles. (1 Pet 2:12, Titus 2:7)

9.    We will pursue to encourage each other in the Lord’s calling on each other’s life, honoring each other, and encouraging each other to pursue Christ above all else.

10.    May God develop our hearts and allow us to minister together as friends, purposely praying for and ministering to others together.

11.    To seek righteousness and purity in the way we think, speak and act towards one another. (Matt. 5:6,8, Eph 5:3) We will protect and save our hearts for our spouses, not giving them to one another, unless the Lord has called us to be married.  (2 Corinthians 11:2, Proverbs 20:6, Song of Solomon 2:7, 8:4, Proverbs 4:23, Proverbs 31:3) We will not defraud each other physically or emotionally, but will honor one another as the Father’s.  (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, 1 Corinthians 7:1-5, Matthew 5:27-30, 1 Timothy 5:2, Proverbs 5:2, Hebrews 13:4, Matthew 19:4-6, 1Corinthians 16:14)

12.    May He teach us to enjoy getting to know one other and enable us to be honest with one another about who we are. May God teach us to develop a deep friendship, as brother and sister, which honors, encourages, and protects the other. May God teach us to walk in patience with one another as God reveals places in our hearts where he wants to bring His truth, conviction, repentance and healing. And may God teach us to have fun in this journey.  (Col 1:28,29, Ps. 139:23-24)

13.    Our pursuit is the Lord and His will. Success is following after God and His heart, honoring Him.  We will seek God for if He would have us marry, and follow Him either into engagement or back into friendship.  May God watch over us allowing us to end our courtship, be it in engagement or as friends, having honored one another and Him in such a way that we have no regrets. (Is. 30:21, Rom. 12:10)

Proverbs 31 describes the single woman not a married woman

"The words of King Lemuel. An oracle that his mother taught him: What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb? What are you doing, son of my vows? Do not give your strength to women, your ways to those who destroy kings. . . . An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels."

I had a random revelation, this morning, I was thinking about verses on being a godly single man and woman, and realized that Proverbs 31 is not describing a married woman, but a single woman.

You see, Proverbs 31 is the advice of a loving mother to her son. She advices him to not seek pleasure in ways that destroy kings, women and alcohol, and instead to pursue justice as a godly man and to find a godly wife. And then we go into a description of this godly woman.

We often read this description of this woman as a description of a married woman, however it is not. It is a description of a single woman. King Lemuel's mother is not telling her son to look for a married woman, but is describing the character of a single woman and telling her son, marry this kind of woman.

God does not have a separate plan for preparing to be a godly single woman than He does for preparing to be a godly married woman. He only has a plan for being a godly woman. Proverbs 31 applies equally to the single woman and to the married woman. God is concerned about the character of a woman and it is the character of a godly woman which will enable her to handle any situation in life, whether married or single.

So single women, read Proverbs 31 again, it was written about you and applies to your life, today. And know that whether single or married, God has called you into an unfading beauty, for you are more precious than jewels.

The list of holiness

Once you make holiness a list of rules, you lose holiness. Because holiness is not a list. Holiness is an adventure and a passion for joy. It is a matter of delighting in God.

Jesus made this evident. The Pharisees had made righteousness a set of rules to live by, "Thou shall not murder". Jesus came and made it tougher, "I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment". Elsewhere He says, "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.". God is not concerned about a list of rules, but the heart and its pursuit of holiness. We are to ever more and more pursue holiness. We are to increase in our love for God and our love for others. We are to grow in purity and uprightness. We are to do well at our jobs. We are to explore the wonders and challenges of manhood and womanhood. We are to enjoy the fellowship of one another, growing deeper in our relationships.

Some of what He says is hard, but it is hard because He knows what joy and freedom there is in what He says, and He is a good Shepherd. He is a Father who delights in His children's joy. God's way is much more demanding, it causes us to tremble, it puts us on edge, it causes us to feel inadequate and hopeless, we don't know if we like it, it rubs you the wrong way, . . . it causes us to fear God, but it is also much more exhilarating and free.

And He is a God who picks us up and comforts us in our failures as we run into His arms. His heart is not a demanding list, but for us to walk with and to be with Him.

God has more in mind than a list, He calls us to explore and to be a part of a kingdom, a kingdom that is beautiful and fills us with awe, and delights us with its extravagance. And it is fun to explore its immenseness and to grow in the likeness of Christ. God calls us to Himself, the most all satisfying thing for our hearts.

So far all those who are weary and heavy laden, for those who are afraid, stop living by a list, for Christ and the Church cries out, "Come and enjoy the richest of fair."

The Creation, The Flood . . . is that possible pt 2

We know that the Genesis description of Creation is accurate, because it is a description coming from the Creator, himself. And His word is a trustworthy account of what happened.

So then the question is, are the proposed "scientific" explanations consistent with the Genesis account? Because if they are true they must be consistent with Genesis. And if they are not, then they are faulty, and we must keep looking.

I talked about the Flood earlier, because I think this is a good example of where science has definitely failed. We know the Flood happened, the scripture is clear on this, and yet the scientist in general refuse to acknowledge it in their study, research, or theories, not even allowing it in the field. They insist the Flood never happened. Is the scripture faulty or is their refusal to accept the scripture and repress the truth faulty. Their refusal to accept the Flood shows that their science is faulty (well at least on the level where the Flood is concerned). The scientists make observations and theories with blinders on. And just as there is a fault with their view pertaining to the Flood so there is a fault with their view toward Creation.

So if our (the ones created) "scientific" explanations differ or are in conflict with the description given by the One who created the world, the One who has all the observations, time, and facts before him, should we believe Him, or should we insist on relying on our own observations, which come from a very limited and minute point of view. . . . God's ways are far above our own. Humbly we should trust Him at His word. . . . The scripture says,

"All these things my hand has made,

and so all these things came to be,

declares the Lord.

But this is the one to whom I will look:

he who is humble and contrite in spirit

and trembles at my word."

And so as we come to understand this world that God has made, we must do so with a contrite and humble spirit that trembles at God's Word.

And maybe sometimes, what we observe from our vantage point throws us off and confuses us, and that's ok, and we can be honest about what we see and observe, because we don't have the full vantage point, and perspectives can change when you are so small. We are learning and trying to understand things from where we are.

So this does not do away with what we observe, and it is ok to continue to be scientists and to give the best explanation we know and to be honest with what we find, but it is a humble approach realizing we still have much to learn, and just as throughout history, we have found that our observations have been limited or faulty, so today, we need to realize that are present theories are as well.

When we don't, we are like those who insisted that the world was flat, or that the sun revolved around the earth, because that is what they knew from their limited point of view and observations. Or we can become like the church, who insisted on holding to an Aristotle view of science, even though it was secular, and conformed the scriptures to fit that secular explanation.

We may have leaped in bounds in science compared to those days, but we are still limited and do not see the whole pictures and definitely not as much as God sees. And we are still sinful in how we interpret the findings. Romans 1 shows are sinful bent in looking at nature and suppressing the things of God. Because of are sinful tendency, we must be humble in what we learn. There is a danger of trembling at science, over and above, trembling at God's Word, allowing science to conform are mind, more than God's Word.


“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding."


Other things may fade away, like scientific theories, but God's word does not.

Unlike us, God, however, does see the whole picture, and has no need to be ashamed of His account of creation. He created the world as He saw fit. He didn't have to allegorize it, because He could do anything, and did do it. He created the world how He wanted to, to represent what He wanted it to represent, to bring about a story He wanted, not one of fairy tales, but one that is real. So when God, describes the way He created the world it is not a fantasy but a real account of the story, history.

The question then comes what does Genesis and the rest of the scriptures say about Creation. What does the Lord say about what happened. Where the scripture is sure, we can trust it and we don't have to waver. And we shouldn't let our fears color our interpretation, trying to fit it in with what we know. Let it speak for itself. Scripture works better that way. It is not meant to be caged in, but instead it is living, penetrating our hearts and conforming our minds to its truth. It is to shape us in God's image, we are not to shape it into ours.

I for one choose to believe God and to tremble at His word, instead of insisting on my own perspective. We continue to be scientists, honest and objective. And science will follow along, if it is willing to be objective, honest, and humble, for true Science always obeys God's voice.

 The Creation, The Flood pt1