It was a stormy night in England in the mid of winter. A common lady was
sitting down to eat in her home that night when a knock came at the door. A
tall woman in a large overcoat and hat stood at the door, and said, “It
has begun to rain, and I was wondering if I could borrow an umbrella of
yours? I promise I’ll return it.” “Sure just a minute,” the lady replied. She
hurried to the back where she kept her umbrella. She had recently purchased a
new umbrella and had saved the old one, meaning to either throw it away or
give it away. She debated on which one to give the woman. She reasoned that
since she had been meaning to get rid of the older one anyway, she could
simply give it to the lady in the doorway. She grabbed the old, worn umbrella
that was missing a few pieces, and gave it to the lady. The woman thanked her
and was on her way. A few days later, the palace royal guard visited the
common lady’s home and returned to her the umbrella she had given the woman.
The woman had actually been the queen of England! Shocked and embarrassed,
the common lady lamented to the guards, “Oh, if I had only known it was the
queen, I would have given her my good umbrella.”

Just as this lady lamented “mistreating” the queen, how often do we mistreat
Christ? Consider Jesus’ words: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me”
(Matthew 25:40). Christ tells us that how we treat others is how we treat
Him.—

We should consider these facts the next time we mistreat someone or look down
upon them. Our verses today remind us that God is not a respecter of persons.
Popularity, wealth, ability, or talent does not catch God’s eye and cause Him
to value one person over the other.(Paul Chappell)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. –Galatians 5:22-23

Two golfers stepped to the first tee on a local golf course. The elder of the two men was kind, while the younger was prideful and impatient. On the first and second holes, the young man made bad shots and began shouting at the caddie: “Keep your eyes peeled. I’m not here to do your job!”

Every bad shot thereafter seemed to be the caddie’s fault. After the first nine holes, the young man angrily discharged the caddie and carried his own bag. He said to his older companion, “I don’t like him. Thank goodness he’s gone!”

The older man said, “Several years ago, a kid from Yonkers, William, came here and was taken on as a caddie. He was a sweet-natured boy and everybody liked him. He had a club foot, but that didn’t affect his job. A doctor and member of the club became interested in William and took him south on a long trip.

“When they returned, William went back to caddying. The doctor, however, gave up golf for health reasons and died a few months later. I later played with William one morning and he gathered flowers all along the way. I asked him, ‘Who’s the girl?’ And he replied, ‘I haven’t any girl, sir. They’re for my friend, the doctor. Twice a week I take flowers to his grave.’ You see, the doctor took William down south to operate on his foot. He helped the boy, and William never forgot his kindness.”

The younger man said, “Now that’s a caddie worth having. What happened to him?”

The older man said, “He carried your bag today for the first nine holes.” (copied)

As we face the challenges of this day, let us yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to produce the fruit of kindness in our lives.

Average life spans are shorter than most of us realize. For instance, a face-lift lasts only six to ten years; a dollar bill lasts for only eighteen months; a painted line on the road remains only three to four months; and a tornado seldom lasts more than ten minutes.

There are differences of opinion, but most agree that the human life span averages somewhere between seventy-five and eighty years. That may sound encouraging to the young and disturbing to those in their sixties, seventies, and eighties. The simple fact is, however, nobody knows for sure how long he or she may live.

When we read and believe the warnings in Scripture, there is little doubt that life is short. James pulls no punches when he writes, “—For what is your life? It is a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (4:14).

The average life span may be seventy-five to eighty years, but who can say you or I have that long? We may have less than two years or, for that matter, less than two weeks. Vanishing vapors aren’t known for longevity.

Since this is true, let’s do our best to make the time we have count. Rather than live with reluctance, let’s live with exuberance. Instead of fearing what’s ahead, let’s face it head-on with enthusiasm. And because life is so terribly short, let’s do everything we can to make it sweet. (By Charles Swindoll–Scripture reference changed to KJV).

Looking unto Jesus—consider him—. Hebrews 12:2-3   The need of the hour, regardless of the time, is to keep our focus on Christ. This quote from Turning Point illustrates:” In optics, focus is the point toward which light rays converge.  In geometry, it’s a special point used in describing conic sections.  When we concentrate our attention, we are focusing.  When we do it with others in an organized way, we’re in a focus group.  The Navy has a missile named Focus, and Ford has a car by the same name.  In sports, lack of focus is often the reason given for defeat; and players in a slump try to regain their focus.  When we take a blurred picture, it’s because we didn’t focus the camera on the right object.

In life, we find that Christ becomes blurred in our vision when we focus on our problems.  But when we put Him in the center of the picture, our trials are less of a focal point and more of a background blur.”   Whatever you face today, you will find great strength by keeping your focus on the perfections and power of Christ, rather than your problem.

“As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests…shall rest in the waters…the waters shall be cut off” (Joshua 3:13).

The people were not to wait in their camps until the way was opened, they were to walk by faith. They were to break camp, pack up their goods, form in line to march, and move down to the very banks before the river would be opened. If they had come down to the edge of the river and then had stopped for the stream to divide before they stepped into it, they would have waited in vain. They must take one step into the water before the river would be cut off. We must learn to take God at His Word, and go straight on in duty, although we see no way in which we can go forward. The reason we are so often balked by difficulties is that we expect to see them removed before we try to pass through them.

If we would move straight on in faith, the path would be opened for us. We stand still, waiting for the obstacle to be removed, when we ought to go forward as if there were no obstacles. –Evening Thoughts