Fully Paid

John MacArthur at Grace To You:

There was a little girl who secretly and quietly had saved up enough money to buy her father a present for Father's Day. But when she had all her money collected, she was very concerned and so she went to her mother and said, I can't be going down town every month to make payments. Mother, is there a store where they let you pay for the whole thing at once?

That's the kind of question a child would ask. And it is also true that there are religions in the world, in fact all false religions believe that you buy your salvation on some kind of an installment plan. You pay a little bit as you go. Good works offered to God each month, each week, each day, but nothing could be further from the truth. Salvation doesn't come on the installment plan. The price was fully paid at once by Christ and the gift of salvation is given at once by Christ to the penitent and believing sinner.

Let It Be Said Of Us....

Let It Be Said of Us
Words and Music by Steve Fry

Let it be said of us that the Lord was our passion,
That with gladness we bore every cross we were given;
That we fought the good fight, that we finished the course,
Knowing within us the power of the risen Lord

Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song.
By mercy made holy, by the Spirit made strong.
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song
'Til the likeness of Jesus be through us made known.
Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song.

Let it be said of us: we were marked by forgiveness,
We were known by our love and delighted in meekness.
We were ruled by His peace, heeding unity's call,
Joined as one body that Christ would be seen by all.

Taming Our Tongues...

Picture with me the following scenario:

A large family was sitting around the table for breakfast one morning. As was customary, the father returned thanks, blessing God for the food. Immediately afterward, however, as was his bad habit, he begins to grumble about hard times, the poor quality of the food, the way it was cooked, and much more. His little daughter interrupted him and said, "Father, do you suppose God heard what you said a little while ago?"

"Certainly," replied the father with the confident air of an instructor.

"And did He hear what you said about the bacon and the coffee?"

"Of course," the father replied but not as confidently as before. And then his little girl asked him again, "Then, Father, which did God believe?"

Perhaps the above scenario describes what goes on in some Christian homes. We speak well of God in prayer and bless His name, only to lift our heads and complain about what we don't have. Or we begin to criticize and maybe even curse others.

By Susan Heck--*With the Master in the School of Tested Faith*. pg.213

Proverbs 31:26 She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.


Before we speak, let us ask ourselves the following:

*Is it kind?
*Is it necessary?
*Is it true?
*Is it gossip? (sharing private information with those who are not part of the solution)
*Am I defending my own opinion rather than listening to the individual?

~Pat Ennis and Lisa Tatlock in *Becoming a Woman Who Pleases God*