Holy Land Picture of the Day

Hiding her face Today's picture is of a female IDF soldier putting on camouflage face paint prior to a training exercise. It reminds us of Psalm 69:16-18; "Answer me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me, and do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress; answer me quickly. Oh draw near to my soul and redeem it; ransom me because of my enemies!"  “Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?”  Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matt. 18:21-22). Hey Gang:  One of the things I feared the most while serving as exulted ruler of Eagle Village was to see a brother or sister in Christ approach and inform me that they received a word from God that they were told to share with me.  The question also caused anxiety in my heart and placed the wonder of if I had done something to cause a rift between Abba Father and yours truly.  Can you think of a time when you had an ongoing issue with someone in your life?  And just when you thought you couldn’t take another minute with them, God asked you to stretch yourself one more time? You just feel like, God, I have held my tongue and kept a good attitude with this person so many times, and now You want me to play the peace maker again?  This is just too much to ask! I have bad news for you!  When God is trying to build our character, He will often use other people to be “sandpaper” that smoothes down the rough edges in our personality.  Even if the other person is a fellow Christian, He may not require them to do the same things He requires of you.  And we can’t get away with saying, “God , it is not my turn!”  because as soon as we do, He’ll remind  us of His word. In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asked Jesus how many times he had to forgive someone who sinned against  them.  I’m sure he thought he was a  being generous when he said, “Up to seven times?” But Jesus rebuked Peter saying, “Not seven times, but seventy times seven.” Jesus was making a point that no matter how much people mistreat us, we really shouldn’t use that as an excuse to rebuke by retaliation.  You, and I may not like the sound of that, but there’s something else we need to consider:  When there’s unity, the Lord commands a blessing (See Psalm 133).  In  other words, no matter what someone tries to take away from you or how unjust their actions may be, if you will do all you can to stay out of strife, God will bless you. Paul puts it this way, “Be of the same mind toward one another, do not be haughty min mind, but associate with the lowly,  Do not be wise in your own estimation.”    (Rom. 12:16) Sooooo, the gooood news, good buddies is-  God’s faithful and He’ll keep His promises, but you have to live in faith, doing what you can by His grace, to get along with people.  Get your marriage sorted out.  Get your family and friendships sorted out.  Get things sorted out at work.  I guarantee that you will get more out of it than you ever put into it yourself.  I promise! Blessings, Gramps