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Thursday, February 23, 2012

The Devotional – A Look at the Book #655


by Jesse Abel


Meditate on this!
Some people fill positions and have no thought of doing a good job. Their actions speak volumes but their production book is full of blank pages. The world does little to encourage productivity, even to the point of hating those who do. However, God uses this worldly condition to perfect His Love and Joy in His disciples. John 15:9-17

The other day the washing machine water valve shut and for the first time in years I heard a familiar sound of old; a water hammer. Well that is what it is called on submarines. The vocabulary of the military person is much different than that of the civilian, but as a side note. With our military becoming more and more liberal and full of men and women who are citizens of other countries, much of the old command and response language of the military has fallen by the wayside. A water hammer on a submarine is not a good thing since it will tell the enemy where you are, so when I heard this sound in my home I immediately began to reminisce of another sound. The rapid release of the air relief valve when the air compressor is pumping more air into the system then required. Often the sound is like that of a machine gun. Once we had a few marines on board our sub and we were taking them somewhere (who knows where?). One of the Machinist Mates ran the air compressors to the point of releasing the relief valves, scaring all of the marines. We all thought of how funny that was, except when we found the Officer in Charge of those marines, knocked out and bloody. He had been asleep and the noise caused him to bolt out of bed, he banged his head on some piping and his injuries were significant. The rub! Ephesians 5:1-7 sets the pace for walking in love as followers of God and we sometimes forget that we are in the LORD’s army.

James
James 3:3-4 – It is awesome what can be done with a little effort and a lot of pain. Placing a bit in the mouth of most any animal will control them, but I would not try it on a lion or tiger; you might get bit. And as you know, the technique works well on horses, ponies and other like animals. We are able to get these animals to do what we want with a small item weighing about a pound, controlling an animal that weighs nearly half a ton. Then we have those large ships at sea, so large and weighty often weighing in at over a thousand metric tons being steered by a rudder weighing less than 2 tons.

James 3:5 – I heard on the news recently of people who claim to be somewhat of a military hero, with ribbons, badges and decorations to back up their false stories. One such individual is said to pastor a church! All of this nonsense does not just happen. The clothes, ribbons and decorations did not just one day land on the body of that individual and oops; he or she made up a story to tell. No! That is not how it happened. A lie comes from the heart, it is thought through carefully. Then before it is told; it must be told to one’s inner being. A person must lie to themselves first, then when believed it can be told to others who will believe it too.

You may say and so people have said that these types of lies are gross errors committed by pathological liars and that the little so called white lies we commit daily have no bearing on this. Also white lies would never start a forest fire, but do these lies encourage health or destroy health. Proverbs 12:17-22. One demonstrates his or her wisdom and foolishness by the use of the tongue. Proverbs 15:1-2. David says in Psalm 12:3-4 that the liar allows his or her tongue to be the lord of their life. In Psalm 73:8-9 says that the liar scoffs at the heavens while his or her tongue walks through the earth. I reckon you could call that person a dirty mouth, or one who starts a forest fire. You choose!

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