03.28.2023

24°F clear WNW@12mph

Morning Offering given

Village peaceful

Coffee good

One copy job to do today. The labels came in yesterday’s mail. Quick service from Online Labels.com. I will use their maestro label designer later today to see how easy it is.

Nice visit with my sister-in-law and two nieces yesterday morning. They saved me from having to use a portable. This time of year portables are umm, less than pleasant. For those who have no clue regarding my subject; image 1 is a portable, and image 2 is an outhouse. The portable tank is generally frozen, graphic, and disgusting during the winter and generally very hard to keep clean/or emptied. Most of the Amish businesses have them and keep them fairly decent for use throughout the entire year. The portable company charges approximately 50/week or 200/month for these little items, the suggested change out is weekly. That doesn’t happen in the winter, for that matter in the summer either. The outhouse on the other hand is permanent. Here in Wisconsin, you are required to place it on a concrete holding tank (new ones) that has been certified by your county inspector. However, there are structures that have been in use for years/centuries with simply a pit under them that is emptied as needed. The one I grew up with was emptied/ limed as needed. We called it “The White House”. In polite conversation, you can ask where the “necessary” is.

Although the above discussion isn’t “over breakfast” talk, it is important for us to think about it. Not in the physical world but in our spiritual world.

We “ALL” carry with us daily things (sins) that would be better deposited elsewhere. We have it directly from Christ in John 8:23, 24 ”  23 And he said to them: You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.  24 Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin.” what happens if we continue to live with our sins instead of ridding ourselves of them.

Now some of you go on and on about how judgemental this is of me and how I should not be judging others. Here is what scripture tells me about judging persons. It tells me I cannot know a person’s heart. It tells me I will be judged by God with the same measure I judge others. It tells me that if a person believes, he is not judged, and if he doesn’t believe he has already been judged.

1 Samuel 16:7,   7 And the Lord said to Samuel: Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature: because I have rejected him, nor do I judge according to the look of man: for man seeth those things that appear, but the Lord beholdeth the heart. 

Matthew 7:1-2, 1 Judge not, that you may not be judged,  2 For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.

John 3:18 tell us  18 He that believeth in him is not judged. But he that doth not believe, is already judged: because he believeth not in the name of the only begotten Son of God.“

It is true that I do not know your heart I can, however, see your actions, which then lead to my deciding if it is detrimental to my salvation to continue associating with you.

My salvation isn’t a once-and-done thing. It is a living, breathing, daily decision-making way of life. Frankly, as much as I love and care about you, I cannot and will not sacrifice my salvation so that you can feel better about continuing to live in your sin. My door is always open. I am always willing to listen.

Know you are prayed for.