What motivates you? It’s not what motivates me, it’s Who motivates me! God’s loving Words motivates me!
What has any one of us done for God, or given to God that he should have sent his Son, Jesus, to save us? We have done nothing to deserve salvation. We have done nothing to deserve any of the blessings we have been given. It is only through the unconditional love of God that any of this has been done. True, we can look around and see that others may be better looking or smarter, or healthier or wealthier than others. There will be those who seem to have more and we might feel cheated. But just as they did nothing to deserve what they have, we have done nothing to deserve what we have. God’s gifts are not based on whether or not we deserve what we have but the gifts we have been given fit into his plan for our benefit and the benefit of others. Many years ago there was a movie called “It’s A Wonderful Life.” In the movie the main character feels like he is a failure and that it would have been better if he had never been born. In the course of the movie, he learns about how his life has touched others in both major and minor ways. But each person he touched also influenced the lives of others. We don’t always see the effect our lives have on others, but God does. If we never existed, someone’s life would have been less for our not being there. The most important thing we have received is the gift of eternal life and none of us have done anything to deserve that. And so we pray as Paul did:
Jesus of Nazareth, the Greatest Story Ever Told. All movies about Jesus and the Bible.
On this day in 1893, writer and humorist Dorothy Parker was born in Long Branch, New Jersey. She gained national recognition for her wit and cutting voice as a critic, poet and screenwriter.
We Are Simply a Staff
Yael Eckstein | August 22, 2023Engraving by Gustave Dore (1832 – 1883)
“When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.” — Exodus 7:9
Miracles are central to both the Jewish and Christian faiths, and both biblical narratives are replete with miracles. Enjoy this collection of devotional teachings on the nature of God’s awe-inspiring signs and wonders.
Today, human beings can accomplish things previously unimaginable through science, technology, and medicine. We can cure deadly diseases, send man to the moon, turn the sun into energy, and print 3D objects.
On a more basic level, we buy our food from supermarkets, turn on lights with a flick of a switch, and get from one side of the world to another in a matter of hours. If man can make such miracles, what do we need God for?
While our abilities have certainly increased throughout history, this dangerous thought pattern has existed for thousands of years.
We Are Simply a Staff
The story of the Exodus from Egypt is full of God’s miracles. In God’s first show of power, He commanded Moses to tell Aaron to turn a staff into a snake. However, when Aaron carried out this act, Pharaoh called upon his magicians to do the exact same thing. In fact, according to Jewish tradition, any child in Egypt could perform the old “stick to snake trick.” With His infinite abilities, why didn’t God start with something more impressive?
The Jewish sages explain that this miracle was meant to send a poignant message about the power of man and God. In ancient Egypt, snakes were the main symbol of royalty and deity. After Pharaoh’s magicians replicated this miracle, Aaron’s snake swallowed up Pharaoh’s snakes, showing that while Pharaoh’s tricks may seem impressive, only the acts of God will last forever.
At the end of the story, Aaron’s snake turns back into a staff, this time sending a message to the children of Israel. Man is not God; we are simply a staff—a tool in His hand. No matter how impressive today’s achievements may appear, we cannot be fooled by modern magic. We have only been able to create such incredible miracles because God endowed us with wisdom and enabled our success.
Your Turn:
The next time you enjoy a modern miracle or experience success, remember to thank God, the One True Miracle-Maker.
revolutions felled and founded new cultures and governments, while world wars raged, and even now into the present age, Christianity has stood strong, lovingly maintaining the doctrines laid out 2,000 years ago by a Carpenter from Nazareth, Who was also told, “Delete it,” in the parlance of the day, and lost far more than just His job.
Just as American patriots once agreed on what liberty is while sitting around their drinks in pubs, just as they once proclaimed what they knew to be true in the pages of their newspapers and gazettes, just as they once shouted their common beliefs in the streets, so too have today’s American patriots, speaking in today’s town square, agreed that conservatives must not condemn or denigrate Christianity but embrace it.
Hopefully, today’s patriots will continue following in the footsteps of their forefathers and will not be content with pub-table conversations, printed words, and marching in the streets, but will speak at the ballot box too and elect representatives who respect and even share their beliefs, the beliefs that this nation was built upon.
Human Trafficking Survivor; God and Country, Without God There is No Country/ Judeo-Christian / America Belongs to God 