Garments of cursing

 But he clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, and it entered into his body like water and like oil into his bones. Let it be to him as a garment with which he covers himself, and for a belt with which he constantly girds himself. Let this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord, and of those who speak evil against my soul. Psalm 109:18-20

Blessing and cursing...we do one or the other with every word we speak. For some, sweetness pours off their lips, revealing their sweet spirit. And then there are the rest of us. Blessing does not come naturally to this soul. Those of us with the spiritual gift of prophesy...NO, I am not a fortune teller, but a prophet, one who warns...we speak warning words that can oppress when they come from us and not from God. It is easier for me to see what is wrong and want it fixed than it is to see what is right and acceptable and praise and cheer and reward. But I do try not to curse others. There are a precious few people in life that I see as truly evil and wish the lightning bolt of God's judgment would fall on them as an example to others that they are NOT the do-gooders that they deceive people into thinking they are, but God has taught me that cursing solves nothing and reveals a bitter spirit in me that is just as bad as the evil spirit in them.

Cursing...if you have ever been cursed by another person, it is the most devastating, demoralizing thing you can go through. I don't mean just having them spew vile words in your presence. I mean having them tell you off in a way that doesn't just reveal to you that you let them down in some way, which might very well be true. You did let them down. You did not be what they expected. You failed to come through on a promise or attempt at something on their behalf. Or you did nothing at all but believe something differently than them, and they not only tell you that you were wrong, but that you are the worst person on the planet, that your motives were evil, that there is nothing you can do to make it right, and that you are worthless. I can handle being told I am wrong. (Sometimes it takes a few minutes to see that I AM wrong, but then when I see it, I am ok with being corrected.) It's the attributing of evil motives that I cannot handle. The refusing to see that though the results were wrong, the attempt was good or at the least, harmless. This person attacking David refused to bless, refused to see any good in him. He was soooo wrapped up in cursing David that that is how David envisioned him, wrapped in garments of cursing. No good thing could come out of his mouth. He put on curses and accusations and verses before say that this ungodly man LOVED cursing people. He loved gossip and rumor and outright verbal abuse.

We all know the type. And at times I can be the type. Nothing is right, no one is good enough, and people see the garment of cursing on me and avoid me. I don't blame them. I start listening to what is coming out of my pie hole and panic, and then pray. I pray for sweet words. I pray for a new attitude of gratefulness and graciousness. There are times when it is ok to analyse and scrutinize, but it is never ok to curse. Learning to be a blessing even in correction is a hard lesson to learn. I want to shed the clothing of cursing. I want to bless, even in the midst of seeing the need for change. That takes PLEADING with God to change my insides to sweet water, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. How often the waters are bitter, revealing my bitter soul. It is time to change clothes and realize that people see the clothes we are wearing, be they of blessing or cursing. To have them hanging on you is one thing, but to tie the belt on, to intentionally gird yourself in cursing clothes shows that we have dug our heals in and feel justified in our bad attitudes toward people and the God who sends them into our lives. Shimei cursed David and David accepted that as from the Lord. He let God humble him through that experience. We hate being humbled. We hate letting the cursing person look like they have something on us. What Shimei said was not necessarily untrue. David hadn't always been a good leader and had plenty of faults, but the public humiliation was an attack on his character, not concern for his soul, or he would have made a private appeal instead of a public scene. That is the difference. Cursing is a public and personal form of humiliation rather than a private confrontation of perceived problems. Having been on the receiving end of a few rants against my character and conduct, I pray that I will delve into the reality of the situation and not always trust that the perceptions I have are right and true. I learn the older I get that things aren't always as they seem. I try to give the benefit of the doubt to someone that their intentions are good until they make it clear that they are just as bad as I had wondered. And then I try to beg God's mercy on them as I ponder the evilness of my own heart. I am as misguided, prideful, and self-absorbed as anyone. I just pray that cursing would not be the default mode. God is the only one who can truly curse someone, and the results of that are just downright scary. We really shouldn't wish that on our worst enemy. But we are not God, don't know what is really at the heart of a man's anger, and cannot be the final judge of their lives. To curse them is to take on that role that we are not given by God. Like David, we give these people to God, knowing that others can see how they have dressed themselves. They aren't fooling anyone when they are dressed the part of the curser.

So cloth yourself with blessing. It's a better look on you! Garments of cursing should be burned. Don't even try to pass them on to Goodwill. They are too ugly for anyone to wear, and the fabric is too rotted to salvage. Send them to hell where they belong.

Clothed in Gladness

Psalm 30: 11-12 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever.

It's cold and flu season. I got the cold. Therefore I was not at church yesterday, but got to stay home and listen to David Jeremiah, and he went here...and I heard a message of the ups and downs of life. I have been on that roller coaster this season of my life. So excited about some things, and so distressed and let down about others. And what is worse, the things you think will be good end up being the biggest downs around...like the world's greatest daughter-in-law who asks for the divorce...like the remodel making you sick, like the job you love giving you nightmares. In the case of David, it was bringing the ark back to Jerusalem, not following the directions, and having a death on his hands. He was devastated. He sent the ark away, only to bring it back a while later when the family who housed it was blessed, not cursed, by it. He had seen God all wrong. He hadn't followed the law that brings life and God's approval and got the result...death and God's disapproval, and wondered why. Isn't that like us? We do our own thing totally disregarding what the scriptures say concerning it, and then wonder why we are in a mess of our own making, and then we blame God. I see it in my life, and in the lives of those around me and would laugh if it weren't so tragic. And of course, it is easier to see in the lives of those around us than to fess up to our own self-made sewers.

But GOD.

HE shows Himself faithful. HE shows Himself GOOD. He does not delight in sacrifices and death and pain and suffering. He uses them when He has to. If the godly man can get away with breaking the law, what hope is there to redeem the truly sinful at heart? God has to show Himself HOLY, and that irks us to no end. We like Him to be more tolerant, more understanding, more accepting. And HE IS. He just can't tolerate sin. He paid for it with a horrible cost, but didn't let it fester forever.

And the Psalm says that HE changes us when He shows us Himself. When we see the error of our ways, He changes our mourning into praise, and changes our clothes from those of mourning into clothes of gladness. I would love to see these “glad rags.” For David they were linen, but for us, I wonder what color “glad” is...

Is glad red, the color of the saving blood?

Yellow, the color of the Sun who saved us?

Orange, the color of health and wealth?

Green, the color of life?

Blues, the color of sky and sapphires and royalty?

Purple, the color of kings?

When I am down, I feel like the feeling will never end. That is called depression...when there is no hope of things ever being better. What could possibly make me laugh again, to smile, to even want to get out of bed. And there are some issues that make us that sullen. We know that feelings come and go, that most depression will leave us after a time just because we cannot live there forever. Those who can't come out of that place over time become a shell of their former selves. But God is the one who can refocus our minds, give us hope that even when we feel like we are going through hell that heaven waits on the other side. And when we find ourselves looking back with just the twinge of sadness instead of the despair, we can come to God with dancing, with praises on our lips because He has brought us out. We find ourselves out, not by our own devices, because we would stay under the covers all day, but because He brings us out and shows us that it is not the end, but often the beginning. He works in our hearts to trust Him, and when we accept that He is God and we are not, He puts the praises in our mouths, often to our great surprise. We may seem mad, crazy, and totally out of our minds to others to praise God in or after the storm, but many find themselves there, patient at the feet of the Lord, praising Him for bringing us through. Others refuse that grace and suffer bitterness that brews and stews into a rancid pot of hatred. Those without grace and God will be there. But those who trust and praise on the other end of mourning will praise forever...that is a promise of being in His presence for all eternity, where there is no more mourning or tears...all the sorrow will be wiped away.

And there will be DANCING! That I really want to see and do! That's the only “getting down” we will have...no more DOWNS. Until then, praise Him for bringing you through them.

Moths and Rust

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

I have a moth problem. They have taken over the kitchen, and since then, the house. Everywhere I go I see them hanging in the air. They are fairly easy to kill as they move pretty slowly. But they get into everything! Every bag, box, and even basket seems to have webs and moths all over them. The panic set in when I saw them upstairs near my closets. They are even cedar-lined and have moth balls in them. The moth balls seemed to have kept the mice off the counters, but the moths are still in the cupboard even with a whole box of moth balls fumigating it! I have put all food out of plastic bags with twist ties and into air-tight containers so the food isn't ruined again.

So what's the problem?

Wool. Wool jackets and wool for crafting. They lay eggs in it and the larvae eat the wool. And that makes holes. And holey wool destroys the garment. And considering the cost of a new suit jacket, that is one expensive moth!

And if it is that hard for me to control these critters, imagine living in a culture where wool was standard fare. Once you are infested, it is hard to get rid of them. And lots of stuff is ruined. Patches would declare that you have been gotten. The eggs get into everything. I have read that you should put your wool in freezing temperatures for quite a while to kill the eggs and stop the madness. I need to try that if I keep finding them by the garments instead of just down by the kitchen.

I look around me and see the effects of time on about everything I own. Things once new and prized are now faded, torn, water-damaged, worn out, raveling, splitting and drying out. Fabric, counters and cabinets, cars, pictures, wood finishes, carpets, and skin and hair all show the ravages of time, use, and abuse. Archivists spend thousands of dollars a year preserving everything from buildings to books, pictures to textiles. This life and everything in it runs on the destruction principle. The 2^nd law of thermodynamics interpreted by the layman is that everything tends toward chaos. Things fall apart on their own, they do not build on their own. A pile of wood doesn't build a house over time, but a house left unattended will eventually become nothing more than a pile of wood, and that will even dissolve into the dirt. And if anything survives this world, it will burn at the end of the world, so nothing of this life will last. The earth itself will be replaced with all its contents.

So the things we treasure here are goners, sad but true. But we have the promise that we can take something with us...we can store up treasures in heaven. It's not all useless and futile down here, because here is the temporary and there is eternal. We are given permission, even commanded, to store up stuff for ourselves, just not here. And how do we do that?

These are spiritual gifts, treasuring Jesus above all, treasuring the lives of others and taking them with us to the best place, and treasuring our time and talents to promote the kingdom and build into the lives of others, as well as our own souls. Treasuring the Word tells us what is really valuable, and if it is valuable in the eyes of God, it should be valuable to us, too. Reading Proverbs we learn wisdom, and with that wisdom spiritual insight and practical knowledge of how to live this life. We are told that what we give God here, He will repay many-fold there. People say you can't outgive God, and then expect Him to grant us favors on this side of eternity. I'll take mine there, thank you.

How many things have I bought thinking they were valuable to me at the time, and they end up pretty much worthless. You can buy most of what I own at a garage sale pretty cheaply. But God knows what will have eternal value, that will delight my heart forever and not just until the styles change. I will trust Him to decorate my eternal home and it will be a great deal happier with it than my current remodel. I also am in the midst of chaos here as they make lights work that haven't for years, a bathroom is getting gutted that also hasn't functioned for over a decade. I can sort of envision the results, but not really. I know what I like when I see it, but knowing what is going to look good ahead of time is not my forte. I will know if I like it once it is done and it's too late to change it. But God knows the exact placement of the pictures on the wall, the style of the furniture, and the color of the carpeting in my eternal home, and that it will reflect 2 things, what I sent ahead for Him to work with, and what will delight my heart.

And if you don't know what won't be in heaven besides sin, I can think of 2 things: moths and rust.

Covered with a cloudy curtain

He spread a cloud for a covering (curtain). Psalm 105:39

It has been a year since I started this study on fabric, garments, cloth, veils, and other coverings in scripture. I find it amazing that in all of these posts, we have only scratched the surface of these references.

It really is awe-inspiring that God gives us consistent messages in the Bible. As I have gone through the various books and passages, I could do studies on all kinds of topics. Food is one that I see all sorts of references to throughout. Feet was a short study. You could study love, peace, war, bread, enemies, babies, life, spirits, or all kinds of things. I would encourage you to take any topic that you love, or things that weigh on your hearts or minds, and dig in. Scan books for words that pertain to that topic. With all the reference materials online, you can search topics, words, or passages. I google various parts of verses that I can't remember the location of to find them online.

And, like this topic, there will be both sides of the coin, or curtain, in this reference in Psalms. Here we learn of the cloud that lead the Israelites and the fire that lead them by night. I always thought of a little cloud, bright and shiny, that went ahead of them. I guess I was wrong. This cloud covered over them. We tend to think about being under a cloud being a bad thing, but they were wandering in the desert, and this cloud will not only lead them, but protect them from the harsh sun, the glaring rays of heat. Like a curtain on a window keeps out the view of what is going on inside, the enemies could not get in and see what was going on. There was God's protection with them wherever they went. The curtain would later separate them from God, and to an extent it did. It was not a part of them, but hung over them. But He was the curtain, the cloud that was with them. They had not known Him for a few hundred years, to their shame, and He had to show them who He was both day and night in different forms, and that He was indeed on their side. But He was still there. He was their God, but He wasn't just any god that they had known in Egypt. He was their protection, even during their captivity. He preserved them as a people. And He could also destroy them when they chose to argue with Him. He is both merciful and holy, life and death, commanding and tender-hearted. The subject of coverings and fabrics has been encouraging and comforting, rebuking and scolding. There was talk of life and death, beauty and rot, cleansing and filth. It has been a ride that I did not expect, and will continue.

I hope you continue to go through this study with me, but even more so that you do your own on whatever topic God puts on your heart.

Then start your own blog and share it with me.

I did not start blogging these because I am some sort of super student of the Word. I am NOTHING special. I just saw the things God was showing me and couldn't keep them to myself. And the following is small, and that's fine. If nothing else, it proves that God is talking to me about these things, and not the rest of the world, and that's ok. I need this. I need a reason and direction to do more than just read the Word, but to reflect on it, to meditate, to find more scriptures on these topics. I can't seem to avoid finding more passages on cloth and covering. And may the journey continue until the references run out and I have to change topics.

Burning Garments

And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. Isaiah 9:5 (NASB)

And we end the year on a happy note! Now this is where context in scripture is very important. When I first saw this verse I did not see the context and thought, “Ugh, another yucky passage. Another sad thing to write about. Sigh.” Then I read around it, and the New Living Translation account of this verse.

“Never again will uniforms be bloodstained by war. All such equipment will be burned.” Ahhhh. Peace. The reason I got to this passage at all was the Dec. 31^st reading in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. It took me to verse 9:6 about Jesus being the Prince of Peace, and the reflection was on God pouring His peace into our needy lives. (I must admit that a lot of times the passages she takes me to end up taking me to the verses or chapters that have cloth in them. I automatically look for garment and cloth passages everywhere in scripture now!)

No more bloodstained garments. No more war. Death will be destroyed, as well as every sign of it. This is not a fire built to keep one warm. Nope. It is the fire of ultimate destruction of evil and of cleansing. Fire was used after wars because everything was so contaminated by blood, dead bodies, and all sorts of destruction. The wild animals would come and eat and threaten anything living. They didn't really dig graves...people were entombed in caves, etc. So mass death would result in a bonfire, of sorts. The contaminated and contaminating would be burned to keep the animals, birds, and germs at bay.

And the time will come when all traces of death and destruction will come.

I never saw that the very next verses were the “For unto us a child is born” passages. The establishment of His government and OF PEACE. There would be justice and righteousness. There would be good and the banishment of all evil. The Christ, the Everlasting Father, the Wonderful Counselor, would be forever the Master of the Universe. There will be great light for those who walked in darkness. There would be rejoicing and gladness like the farmer pulling in an abundant harvest. There will be the hope and joy of the baby born, the future established to bring all of this to pass.

It's GOOD NEWS for a change! And the sign of the burning garment shows that it is all wrapped up and done. No more fights and arguments, wars and death. No more corrupt leaders and money-grubbing politicians. No more wondering if the enemy was going to attack in the night, because there will be no more enemies! Satan will be defeated, the enemies of God consumed, and only peace, love, and right will be left.

It is the Christmas story in the birth of the child, the hope of Israel come to pass. And now, because of that, the hope we have is for the rest of this passage to come to pass. He came to serve on His first Advent, and He will come to reign at His second one! It says He will rule with a rod of iron. I always thought that was a bit harsh, but on second thought, it is rather comforting. He will not allow any evil, any damage, any harm to come to the body or psyche of His beloved. There is no tolerance for the intolerable! And that is a good thing. Kids are free to play when they know that an adult will come in and intervene when another child wants to cause problems. The rod of iron, the zero-tolerance of harming someone else is a GOOD thing, and every child is aware of it. Everyone is at ease, free to frolic and have a good time, to enjoy the toys and environment, when they know that no one their age or older will be allowed to take things away, hit or push them, or threaten them into giving up what they have. He will rule with that rod so everyone can enjoy the fruits of their God. There is no more gloom, it says. Having been bullied myself in my young years, I lived in fear. Now I do not so much. And I refuse to let kids be bullied because of it. I understand now that there is a God in heaven who fights for me against those who would come and take my peace. And in that there is great peace.

So if you have to get rid of stained clothes any time soon, rejoice that someday, sooner than we think, maybe, all signs of death and destruction, spoil and rot, will be done away with. No more suffering. No more pain. Peace. And yet we can have Peace in the here-and-now as well. By living with the Prince of Peace, having Him fill our hearts with the fruit...it is #3, Love, Joy, Peace... Gal 5. Love for God, Joy in Our Salvation, and Peace in our hearts since we are His.

Peace to you this coming year!

Preparing Beforehand

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Eph. 2:10

I could make this the longest blog in the world...this passage is SOOOO rich. The fact that God has prepared our works beforehand is what keeps me sane. My daughter is moving several states away, and the communication of what to do with her stuff failed. We each thought the other wanted something to happen and the resulting frustration on all of our parts was mind-boggling. But BECAUSE of it, the church is getting a bed, her friend is getting a table and chairs, and the other things will end up in homes of certain people. The result would not have been this way if communication had succeeded. Nerves may not have been frazzled, but the result is needs are being met for certain folks. So we accept this and move on.

The fact that God prepares things beforehand means He has a result in mind. We prepare our fabrics beforehand. We choose fabric, pattern, thread, batting, scissors or cutters, with a goal of making a particular thing. Ninety nine percent of the time, we get the result we set out to get. If we cut out a dress, we get a dress. If a quilt, we get a quilt. There are times they don't look exactly like we thought they would, or we might not enjoy the process, but the end product is there. There are times when the pieces go from being a dress to being cut into quilt pieces because we can tell that the original idea is not going to work out, but if we cut out a quilt, we are not going to end up with a dress. We have to know where we are going with this stuff in order to get the result. So if we spend life studying social sciences, we will not get a nursing degree. We haven't prepared for the goal and cannot achieve it in this case. But God knows what He wants us to do ultimately, which good works He wants us to achieve for His glory, and there is much comfort in that.

And we are created IN CHRIST JESUS. Being IN CHRIST is a privileged position. It's kind of like being accepted into a prestigious college. You can't be an alumnus of a college you don't attend and graduate from. You can't study there or claim their name. You can wear their tee-shirt, you can identify with their curriculum goals, like their campus, and root for their football team, but you are not ONE OF THEM no matter how much you want to be. Only God can put us in Christ, and we are accepted there by His plan and for His purposes. And it is a gift. We don't put in an application and hope we are good enough. My scores will never get me into Harvard. They will not accept me. But God reaches down in love and mercy, knowing that we are not good enough. He calls the weak things of this world because they are the ones who know their limits and are willing to let His work through us instead of us telling Him how it's going to be!

I don't know that my fabric thinks that being a part of my stash is a privilege. It would be a privilege to be in Jinny Beyer's stash or some other famous quilter...but being a part of the stash does not equate to being used. When it is incorporated into one of their quilts, hung and admired, that is when the fabric has fulfilled its purpose. And the glory doesn't go to the fabric. Jinny gets the credit. Her design, her USE of the fabric, her workmanship, get the praise. A few people will recognize the fabric itself, getting close enough to see the detail and know the source, but the point is not the individual fabric, but the overall end product – a thing of warmth and beauty with artistic attributes that show the mind of the maker. If you study quilts or dresses or fabric lines, often you can tell just by looking who the maker is. Jinny has a style, William Morris has a style, and Kaffe Fassett has a style. You can't mistake one for the other. And that is how it is with God. His fingerprints are all over us...we are made in His style and bear similarities to one another because we have the same designer. And it is good.

There have been a few times in life where I was directed in my spirit to do something that really made no particular sense. Cook 4 meats today, I was told in my heart. OK. Hmmmm. And a large family of friends showed up on our doorstep that afternoon. I was able to offer to feed them a dinner and save them going out again that day while on their journey home. I have made quilts that I had no goals for. I have purchased fabric I had no plans for. Each time it seems that there was a goal I did not know about at the time that God wanted to fulfill with it. Some things were started by me and finished by someone else, but even the preparation of it led someone else to be able to bless others with it later. God knows what we need, what we want, and what He wants to accomplish through every step of the process, even when we do not know where any of this is leading.

With the new year coming, just one day away at this writing, we do not have any idea what the days ahead will bring, but God knows. He is preparing our lives for it whether we see it, understand it, or like it. He has us IN CHRIST, so it has to be good for eternity, whether it seems good in the here and now. And if you are not IN CHRIST? He is calling you right now to understand that you AREN'T good enough, but that you are exactly what He wants! Tell Him you want to accept that gift, join that college and start learning His ways. You can't flunk out, even if you fail. Then pick up His Word and start reading...John is a good place to start...and you will begin to be shaped into the product He wants you do become and has YOU specifically designed for. I can't wait to see just how beautiful you will be when He is done transforming you from fabric to finished product!

Be warmed and filled

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them,”Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? James 2:15-16

It is the season of giving...we give to the poor and needy, give to those who have plenty, and give to the Goodwill or Salvation Army money or things that were just replaced by the newer things we just received. I struggled this year to come up with gifts to give, especially to family. Two of my children are married and live in small spaces, and the other 2 are moving into apartments with multiple other people. There are few needs that are tangible. Money seems to be the real need, for things like gas and bills, rent and moving expenses. There were a few small items we did buy, and the stockings were stuffed, but the gifts I would have loved to buy them would have been a burden and not a blessing. We need desperately to clean our place out of the multiple things we have here...especially since work will commence on the house...a bathroom that hasn't functioned for about 15 years will be gutted and made to work, and the lights that have been shorted for about 8 years will finally be replaced and lamps will not have to grace the living room. And all the stuff will need to go SOMEWHERE while this all happens. Thus the dilemma of stuff.

A devotion I read this morning said it all about gifts...”rebirth into eternal life. This everlasting gift was the sole purpose of My entering your sin-stained world.” Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, Dec. 24

Pondering this thought, I grieve at how people reject help, salvation, and gifts, especially this one. Why would this be?

I love to quilt...it is just in my blood. If I stay away from it for a while, I think, “Why do I do this? It seems irrational to slowly make blankets for people. Why don't I just get a job, buy cheap blankets and donate them to the causes, and be done with it? More people would be warmed. More people could get help. My house wouldn't be filled with fabric, machines, yarns and needles, if I would just buy the stuff. And it would be cheaper...”

Then I sit at the machine or with a quilt basted on my lap. I look through the books of patterns and colors, and I smile. Some of this is for me as well as for them. I couldn't buy enough blankets to cover a fraction of the needy in the world...sure a few more than I can make, but there is not the love in a standard-issue blanket that is in a hand-made quilt, and everybody knows it, including the recipient. A kid handed a blanket may cover themselves in a hospital bed, but they already have a blanket issued by the hospital. But the home-made one warms the soul...it is the one they snuggle up with, not the one that came on the bed. The knit chemo hat, warm, soft and fuzzy, will cover a bald head with love.

What does this have to do with the everlasting gift above? Jesus came into the world to save us sinners. We are like Him when we take blankets, food, and love to third-world countries, do missions work, and give of ourselves. He could have sent the gift without sending Himself, but He put Himself into the gift...He WAS the gift. And like those who go to help, there are those who would fight against them, not trusting that their gifts were good or their intentions honorable. How many have been martyred for the cause of love and giving? Jesus was. He came to give, and to give His best – life with Him in heaven for all of eternity...a way out of eternal damnation, for heaven's sake. What greater gift can you give your enemy but to bring him to your side and treat him as a son with all the rights and privileges thereof? And instead of taking the gift with gratitude and humility, knowing in their heart of hearts they need it, they insist on thinking that it is a trap, a guise, an evil. When we see those shooting down planes of food and clothing because they do not love or trust, we are grieved. We sorrow over what they could have had and how they would choose to destroy the gift and the giver. But it is a reflection of Christ. He was despised and rejected by most, but gave life to many. He would have given to all if all would have received. He didn't save everyone, and I can't either. But He gave in love to all who would receive, and I will try to, too. He was suspected of having ulterior motives by those who didn't like the fact He was winning over the hearts and minds of the poor and oppressed, and I will be suspected, too. It is ok. If I can be like Him, even in these ways, I will take it.

But the real question is whether YOU have received the Gift, or shunned the Giver. You know you need to be saved from yourself, and He is the answer to the sin-problem in your life just as He is in mine. We are human, so we need Him. End of story. Take the Gift...confess your need for The Savior...He only has your best at heart. It's the gift that doesn't take up more room in your home...but it will fill that empty space in your heart.