This weekend my daughter is going to help her friend prepare for and run a jigsaw puzzle competition. At the beginning of this event, someone will bring a devotional thought. Hearing about that, my mind was a buzz with different puzzle topics that one might use for such an occasion.
As I read through the following Decency Minute (DM) scripts again, one of those devotional thoughts kept coming to the forefront of my mind: Can you imagine a puzzle without borders? What if I were to go to that competition this weekend, break into all the boxes, and take out all of the straight edges – the border pieces? How difficult for the competitors, never knowing where the puzzle should stop or continue. Why do we generally start with the straight pieces – the border? Isn’t it because it gives us a boundary, a framework to work within? It’s a blessing as it helps and guides; it makes the puzzle easier to put together.
David found delight and comfort in God’s law; it was a source of leading, protection, deliverance, it gave him counsel, and so much more. “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” (Ps. 40:8) “The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” (Ps. 119:69-71)
We could learn a lot from David as we see his delight in God and in God’s law. Come what may, God’s law is meant to be our boundary, the framework in which we are to live our lives. As we “put our lives together,” we would be wise to delight in the law of God, as David did. Its boundaries are a blessing; its limits are loving; its wholeness will lead us home.
What of our Decency Minutes; how does this relate to them?
DM #1: We are watching the evolution and disintegration of our culture and nation as we have neither delighted in the law of God nor in our own national law – the Constitution. Whether addressing the LGBT+ alphabet soup which has moved our nation to lukewarm standards within many churches (beware Rev. 3:16) or the invitation and inclusion of Islamic immigrants – watching our government, legal system, and cultural standards assimilate to them instead of them to us – we, as a nation, are witnessing the birth pangs of massive change. It is vital that we repent and begin to delight in the law of God and in His ways. When we do not work within the framework of the boundaries set before us, it’s confusing, we don’t know where to stop, and we lose perspective.
DM #2: Perhaps the most obvious of this week’s Decency Minute scripts, only the most willfully blind will refuse to see how neglecting to delight in God’s law brings pain, suffering, and loss. When we delight in the Lord and in His law, it encourages others to do likewise. Who hasn’t thought on David’s exemplary, though not perfect, life and feel an urging to pray, witness, and encourage others as he had? Upon reading the Lord’s commendation of David being a man after God’s own heart, who hasn’t wished to follow his example. In the same manner, when a person does NOT delight in God’s law, others are emboldened to follow their example – perhaps not in the exact same manner of sin, but they may feel a “freedom” to fly in the face of God in “lesser” ways. Tim Tebow, in speaking of child pornography, stated: “The worst moments of these children’s lives are being videotaped and they’re being shared with other offenders all over the world. Every time an image is downloaded, it creates a demand for these images and these videos. And the only way to meet that demand is with new victims.”
May we truly delight in the law of the Lord and in His ways; might we boldly make it known that we do so, standing for righteousness and holiness. Not bragging as though it is done in our own power, but humbly admitting our need for God’s help to stand, having done all to stand in this evil day.
DM #3: Our third and final DM encourages us to “Learn in the days of ease and comfort…” What is it we are to learn? To delight in the law of God and in His ways, no doubt. While we might find ourselves in days of trouble and wish for “ease and comfort,” let us remember David’s giving of thanks for affliction. It was in that day he learned God’s statutes. It’s being dedicated to and delighting in God’s law throughout times of hardship, walking obediently, that we know what it is to be a child of God and to know/learn the truth of His Word. It’s in like manner that we read of Jesus, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb. 5:8).
The boundaries which God’s law offers are not fences that keep us away from blessing; they are a blessed guardrail which keeps us from careening off from a cliff, plunging into death and outer darkness. Might we all learn to delight in those boundaries more and more each day, following Christ’s example by the power of the Spirit to the glory of God.
Let’s Know Who We’re Letting In
Austin, Texas; Old Dominion University; and the Michigan synagogue – three recent terrorist attacks on U.S. soil have two things in common – the perpetrators were motivated by Islamic ideology and all were “naturalized” U.S. citizens.
They also prove that our legal immigration system is a failure. Vast numbers of Muslims who immigrate to the U.S. do not assimilate; continue to align with their home country; and seek to subvert Christianity and western civilization.
Many Republicans hold the same view as Ted Cruz who stated: “My approach to immigration: Legal? Good. Illegal? Bad.”
However, that philosophy is what has led to chants of “Death to America!” ringing out in cities such as Dearborn.
We need an immigration system that actually vets those to whom we grant the privilege of American citizenship rather than allowing enemies of America to enter our country and seek its destruction.
Urge Congress to Act for Exploited Children
Tim Tebow, known for his Christianity and NFL career, recently gave testimony before the Senate Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, urging Congress to pass the “Renewed Hope Act.”
In his testimony he shared that in the last six months alone, more than 338,000 unique IP addresses in the U.S. have viewed rape images of children under age 12.
The committee leader, Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, stated that global law enforcement databases are “full of images of children who are bound, gagged, crying, exploited, and yet in thousands upon thousands of cases we don’t know who these children are, we don’t know where they are, and we don’t know where their abusers are.”
Please call the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121; urge Congress to save children by passing the Renewed Hope Act.
Job 5:7 tells us it’s natural for sparks to fly upward, so trouble is also a natural part of human existence.
Whether it’s a child’s skinned knee, emotional issues as a teen, financial troubles, health issues, or the foreign and domestic threats which seem to press in on us as a nation and a people – we must not fear. As we watch the rise of Islam around the world and in America, and notice an ideological shift toward embracing socialism, our trust must be in God.
Hero of the faith, Eric Liddell, wisely urged, “Victory over the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts…Learn in the days of ease and comfort, so that when the days of hardship come, you will be fully prepared.”
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