Read The Labels Carefully.

I toasted some scones for myself recently. My American readers might know these as “biscuits”. In the U.K. we call them scones, and that in turn will start a whole other debate about how to pronounce the word.

But that’s just an aside – I toasted some scones for myself recently. When they were all nicely browned and the butter on them I went to the fridge to get some jam (jelly). I lifted the jar out and spread some on my food but once I had taken the first bite I knew right away something was not right. I called to my wife, “honey, which shelf do we keep the jam on?” She replied, “It’s on the bottom shelf in the cupboard”.

I looked at the fridge. “Noooooo”, I said. “The jam in the fridge”.

 “That’s not jam”, she replied. “That’s chutney”.

Long story short – The chutney was scraped into the bin and some jam retrieved from the cupboard. I didn’t really enjoy the scones as I knew my lovely wife was glaring at me from the other room.

Ofcourse, this is all entirely my fault. It is. You see, it is a well-known fact that engineers don’t read labels, instruction books or manuals. And if I leave the instruction books and manuals until the last then why would I look at a label on a jar?  It was a jam jar. It was a jam-like consistency, and it was red. Anyone could make that mistake. Right?

For my part it’s a lesson learned. But for my wife, it’s another little arrow of humorous ridicule to fit into her quiver of arrows. And at some point during a gathering that little story will resurface and leave me with a very red face.

Seriously though. Anyone can make a mistake. We are all human. As A.W. Pink said, “The best of men are still just men at best”.

Consider the prophet Samuel in the Old Testament….

1st Samuel 16v6 When they [Jesse and his sons] came, he looked on Eliab [David’s older brother] and thought, “Surely the LORD's anointed is before him.” v7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

But Samuel’s heart and mind was confused. Something wasn’t right…

1st Samuel 16v10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.” v11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?”

Jesse told Samuel that there was one other son…

V11 …“There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

Then Samuel’s discernment came into play…

1st Samuel 16v12 And [Jesse] sent and brought [David] in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said [to Samuel], “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” v13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed [David] in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.

Even the chiefest of the Prophets of the day could still make a mistake. But God caused Samuel to discern that David was to be the anointed one.

We all do it. We see things that we think are correct, only to later find out that we were mistaken. It is only by God’s grace and the maturity of our brothers and sisters that we can go and explain the mistake. God knows us all. Each and every one of us. He has designed our purpose in His will and eternal plan. And still, we all adopt an air of superiority and make judgements on people, only to later find that the real story isn’t what we thought it was. But God knows our story. He knows more than any of us. If only we could find the humility and prayerful attitude to bow our heads, admit that we don’t really know what’s going on and leave it all up to Him.

Paul says in his first letter to the christians at Corinth…

1st Corinthians 4v5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

And he says again in his letter to the christians at Rome…

Romans 14v13 Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

As the old adage says – “Better to close your mouth and be thought of as a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”….

Proverbs 17v27 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. v28 Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.

I still like to toast my scones. And now I know which cupboard the jam is in. I also know which shelf in the fridge that the chutney is on.

But better still, I now that despite my faults and my flaws my wife still loves me. And I take this as a lesson for my christian life. No matter my mistakes and poor judgements, Jesus still loves me. He proved this by dying on a cross on Calvary…

Romans 5v8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

But, as I’ve shared the lines from a christian song before in a previous blog – “I’ve come too far to look back again”. And my God will carry me through.

In His time, in His time.
He makes all things beautiful in His time.
Lord, please show me every day,
As You're teaching me Your way,
That You do just what You say in Your time.
 
Email - TheseLivelyOracles@hotmail.com
Internet - www.theselivelyoracles.co.uk
Facebook - These Lively Oracles
Twitter(X) - @LivelyOracles58

Comments

Post a Comment

Like

Popular posts from this blog

Ding Ding. And come Out Singing....

Sometimes I sit in church and look around at the people. I just watch who comes in and sits down and who comes in, leaves their coats down and goes out again. I see young parents preoccupied with their children and choir singers and musicians fussing over their music and instruments. What they all have in common though is that they are all looking around for some friends, family and acquaintances so as to acknowledge them and wave to them. I do not know the people well enough in this church to see who does not like who. I’m sure there are some like that. But I’m not looking for those scenarios. I remember at another church I attended a very good friend of mine, Frank was his name, came in with his family and sat in the row directly in front of us. We all smiled and greeted each other and then Frank, with a twinkle in his eye, asked his wife to swop seats with him. His wife looked up at him curiously and asked, “Why?” Frank replied, “Because when the Pastor asks us all t...
Read more

The Littlest Town.

Our thoughts this week are all centered round the Nativity. And although the festival of Christmas has been commercialised and embellished beyond all recognition there are still certain bits of the story that remain constant. One such reference is to the town of Bethlehem. It would have been a small sleepy town where the Bible tells us that the shepherds kept watch over their flocks of sheep. But I decided to do a bit more reading on the place. And there is another side to Bethlehem’s story. A pre-history, if you will. Bethlehem. Wow, what a place. So steeped in biblical history. In one book that I enjoy reading (Sketches of Jewish Social Life by Alfred Edersheim) the writer mentions an area called  Migdal Eder. It translates into The Tower Of The Flock and it suggests that the shepherds who watched over their flocks by night were sitting in watchtowers. Luke ch2 v8 tells us that the shepherds were abiding the in the fields. But a quick look onto the internet maps and we can see th...
Read more

The Voyage To The Unknown

In fourteen hundred and ninety two. Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He had three ships and left from Spain; He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain. And so the poem by Jean Marzollo goes. It’s a glamourous and fantastical poem about what was a dangerous and hastily threw together journey. I was listening to a sermon by my favourite online preacher when he spoke of Christopher Columbus. He said…..               When he set out, he didn’t know where he was going.                When he got there, he didn’t know where he was.               When he got home, he didn’t know where he’d been. Our “faith journey” as a Christian is very much like that. Everything starts out at some point in our lives. And we do the things that we do to join in with other Christians and churches. But most of the time our journey leads us on twists, turns and detours that we coul...
Read more