Ugly Toads - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Ugly Toads

by Steve Martin

“With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; with a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; with the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd.” (Psalm 18:25-26, NKJV)

Why would anyone write a message about ugly toads? Maybe just to get your attention? Often you know it works. Headlines glare at us from everywhere, so a shrewd man will use one which just might cause a head to turn, even if out of curiosity. Or to make you click on that phone app, which has become the social life we live.

So now that I have gotten your eyes reading this, let me share something that I have come to realize over a few decades. It will give you something to think about further. Trust me.

Let’s start with the word perspective. It is how one looks at things. It is a viewpoint. Often it determines how we speak. How we act. It often dictates whether we give thanks in a situation or just grumble as we have before.

One of the things I disliked about our 7 years of life we endured while living in south Florida, from 1987-1994, was the attitude of the old people. As a young man in my mid 30’s, I so wanted to look up to them, find good examples, and model my life after them, being they had lived and survived many years. Surely, they wanted to share that life experience with the next generation.

But I had great disappointment. Many had relocated from the north, to finally “rest” in their retirement years, and to basically finish off the life they hated elsewhere. Often it really seemed that they just moved there to come and die. They had been beaten down, worn out, sick of life and those around them, and they showed it.

At least that is what I saw, and I wanted none of it. You just didn’t want to be around them. And they certainly didn’t want you and your kids messing with their “quiet” years or with their accumulated wealth, which didn’t seem to give them much enjoyment.

When I encountered many of these old people, in quite a few cases they had become bitter, discontent, tired of relations, and wouldn’t think of having others intermingle with them. They basically just wanted to die. Believe me, that was how I viewed them. The ones I encountered did little to counter my observed vision. Little wonder my good wife and I called living there those “7 years in hell”.

How we see things is most often tainted and marred by the attitude that has settled in the heart. We get hurt. We bear a grudge. We are wounded. We let it fester for decades. Forgiveness is certainly not the first, or last, position to take. At least it is if you live that gospel.

The Bible says that from out of the heart flows that which comes out the mouth, exposing and revealing what really is behind the plastered smile.

As Jesus Himself spoke, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." (Mark 7:21-23, NASU)

He got that most certainly right. That which has been festering, causing embitterment, pushing out sin and shame – all come from within our heart. We can have the best living situation in the world; live on the most beautiful island in the Pacific; have the greatest and the grandest – and yet if we don’t have the inner peace and joy of knowing and following the Lord, our hearts will ultimately cause the death of our spirit and our soul. You can see it all around you.

Simply observe how people react to the weather, especially if it is adversely affecting their day. They may not say it out loud, but inwardly they are cursing the Creator (though they won’t acknowledge Him and instead call it “Mother Nature”, which is, by the way, a false god.) Rather than giving thanks for having rain, snow, wind, and sun for the good of the earth, or if the temperature is too hot or too cold (the porridge just has to be right, all the time!), you often hear the complaints coming forth. It is what is in their hearts, flowing out of their mouths and revealing their true attitudes.

“Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. And let all the people say, "Amen."  Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 106:47-48, NASU)

No, this message may not be about ugly toads, but by the way we conduct ourselves, if we aren’t more grateful and appreciative of all that we have, and acknowledge the goodness of the Lord as He directs our steps, then we will most certainly become as one.

And who really likes being around ugly toads? Or becomg one?

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

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Now Think On This #382 - in the year of our Lord 01.19.19 – “Ugly Toads” – Sat. 4:30 pm

This Commonplace Sin Can Destroy Your Relationship With God - JOYCE MEYER CHARISMA NEWS

(Photo by Joseph Greve on Unsplash)

This Commonplace Sin Can Destroy Your Relationship With God

8/31/2018 JOYCE MEYER  CHARISMA NEWS

Complaining is dangerous business. It can damage or even destroy your relationship with God, your relationships with other people and even your relationship with yourself.

It's easy to complain. We likely don't realize how much we do it, and I believe it's one of the most challenging things to overcome.

Philippians 2:14 (NKJV) says, "Do all things without murmuring and disputing." That's a pretty clear command. And not something anyone can do in their own strength.

Think about what you're talking about.

It's important to understand that every word you speak has some kind of effect. Proverbs 18:21 says that our words have the power of life or death in them. In other words, the way we speak really does matter. So it makes sense that we should avoid complaining at all cost.

I think of complaining as the enemy's language. When we do it, we open the door for him to come into a situation and cause trouble. On the other hand, praise and thanksgiving is God's language.

Like I said before, it's easy to complain. There are many things that happen every day that we could murmur about if we let ourselves go there. But they really aren't worth the effort it takes to get upset and gripe about it.

For example, we travel a lot and stay in a lot of hotels. I like to take a hot bath to relax before speaking at our conferences. Once when I went to fix my bath, I discovered there was no hot water. So I called the front desk to see about getting hot water, but they weren't able to fix the problem when I needed them to. And later, I learned that my room was the only room in the hotel that didn't have hot water!

Now, I could have gotten all upset about this at the time. But God helped me to relax and resist the temptation to get upset. And the truth is, complaining wouldn't have changed anything—it would have just made the situation harder.

Check the attitude of your heart.

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Complaining comes from an ungrateful, prideful attitude of the heart. It causes us to feel that we shouldn't be inconvenienced or have bad things happen to us.

It's easy for us to think, Why are you making such a big deal out of it? when someone else is inconvenienced or struggling. But when we have to deal with the pain ourselves, it's a different story. That's when we say, "Why is this happening to me?"

Many people in the Western world are spoiled by the conveniences of our culture. We're used to instant gratification, getting what we want when we want it. We don't like discomfort or sacrifice. We don't want anything to be hard. This causes us to have an immature, selfish perspective of difficult situations and say things we shouldn't say.

I've learned that there's a better approach: Look for the treasure in every trial.

The truth is, I've done most of my spiritual growing during the hardest and most painful times of my life. The trials of life have caused me to press in to God. And as I've done that, He's changed me. He's helped me to develop an attitude of gratitude and humility, which has brought real freedom into my life.

What's real freedom? Real freedom is being able to not have my way and still be just as happy as if I did.

Trust God throughout the process.

It's a difficult process getting to the point of having real freedom. But whatever it takes to get there, it's worth it! We just need to accept that gaining spiritual maturity is going to hurt. Growing up in God is not comfortable, and there are times that sacrifice is required. There will be times when God will ask you to do things and you'll feel that you just don't have the strength to do them—but whatever God tells us to do, He always gives us the grace to do it!

Something else that helps me is meditating on Scriptures about watching the words of my mouth. I like to pray Psalm 19:14a (NKJV): "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord." There are many more, and I encourage you to find them and pray them over yourself often. Daily is a good idea!

Make it your goal to have a constant attitude of gratitude. Resist the temptation to complain and instead praise and thank God for who He is and all He's done for you. By God's grace and through His strength, you can overcome complaining and live each day with a thankful heart!

Don't Grow Weary In Doing Good - Now Think On This (Steve Martin)

Don’t Grow Weary In Doing Good

"So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will in due time reap the harvest.” (Gal. 6:9 Complete Jewish Bible)

“So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.” (Gal. 6:9-10 The Message)

  

Everyone gets tired. We get weary of doing good things. Often then we end up just complaining about our situations.

I was doing that on the way home from work. The day had been a bit draining, preparing the usual accounting reports month after month. My heart just wasn’t in it. I had been expecting to be at another position in my life, rather than to be doing what I had done 30 years ago. I know the Lord has His plan and purpose for me being there, in the marketplace setting, but sometimes I just don’t get the reasoning behind it. From my perspective, I could be more effective for His kingdom doing other things, in another place. That which I really had hoped to be doing by now. I have to remind myself that He is wise, and know what He is doing. I must rest in that.

But while driving the usual 45 minute commute home from the uptown office, in the normal heavy traffic, I started complaining in my head of the good deeds I had done, involving several people, and yet hadn’t seen much harvest from those seeds sown. Having had some farming life experience while growing up in Minnesota and Iowa, I understood the comparison in the natural - of preparing the ground, sowing the seed, and waiting months before the harvest is ready. I get that. But I was just getting a bit tired in waiting for my harvest to come, in the spiritual, after years of sowing and not seeing the expected abundance of fruit.

After sending off another complaint heavenward, the Lord responded back to me, “Look what I did for you.” I knew exactly what He meant. His life laid down, His death on the cross, and the example He had set for me to follow. I stopped my complaining immediately.

We all get worn out at times. It is the time when we are most vulnerable to the lies of the enemy; our own flesh kicking up, or allowing the stress of the day weigh our souls down, in our mind, will and emotions. One reason why the Lord established a weekly day of rest and giving to us in our sleep, as the Word says.

To battle back the weariness, so we can maintain our giving, we need to allow the Lord to give us rest. In America, there is no longer a set day when there is no shopping or work. We can see the results in sickness and stress. This has not been the expected decrease in either, due to our new time management. And as we have gone against the wisdom of the Lord, we have reaped the long term results.

Many times the distractions that deter us will rob us of the more important tasks we are called to do. Constantly saying yes to everything that comes our way begins to take its toll, leaving us with little or nothing to give for the more important relationships and events in our lives.

In our desire to bless, we must also keep in mind that proper care of our spirit, soul and body will then permit us to do more. The complaining doesn’t work. The Lord actually turns His ear away from us. Remember Moses and the Hebrews in the wilderness?

Being in His presence in prayer and reading of His Word on a regular basis will energize our spirit. We need to keep ready in all seasons and not grow weary. We have a lot of life to give, as His Holy Spirit works through us.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Love For His People

Founder