Looking Beautiful to God

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And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. Mark 12:42-43 ESV

When we want to know the worth of a precious stone, we take it to a jeweler who takes his magnifying glass and looks at its clarity and counts the facets. If we need to sell our home, we call an appraiser. When they get to our house, they check it inside and out to ascertain its market value. Standard practice is to value things according to their appearance. But God sees everything differently. In this story of the widow, the disciples were shocked that Jesus had said that she had given more than all the others. They had seen with their own two eyes, only two tiny copper coins fall from her hand into the offering box. They missed what Jesus had seen of her love, her sacrifice and faith.

Photo by Jeff Weese on Pexels.com

If we want to look beautiful to God, we must start by remembering that nothing we see on the outside is as it appears to Him. God looks at our actions and puts them under HIs heavenly jeweler’s magnifying glass. The appraiser of the universe examines our motives according to their eternal market value. Neither the amount of money we give or how often we volunteer at the soup kitchen impresses Him. What counts with Jesus is the clarity of our love and the weight of our faith. God gives all of us the same opportunity, that He gave the widow. It doesn’t matter what other people think of our offering, what counts is if we put it into the hand of God today!

Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

Just Like Dad – Guest Post

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Re-introducing Rob Keller: Rob is a friend of mine who is not only the graphic artist behind the layout of our weekly publication Sunshine Newsletter; but he is also a writer of some of the articles. Seeing as Father’s Day is just a bit over a week away, here is one more look at being a dad.

Growing Up to be Just Like Dad by Rob Keller

Every July, my dad would bring our family to his company’s annual picnic. Because it was mostly adults and I was still a kid, I would get bored because there just wasn’t much for me to do. So, to make things interesting, I decided to entertain myself by seeing how many hot dogs, hamburgers, and steak sandwiches I could consume. On our way home, I would announce my stats and wait for the amazement to come rolling in. Aside from being a little queasy, I felt like a true champion. I had won the boy versus food challenge. As I look back at all of those picnics, there was one thing that left a lasting impression on me. All-day long, my father exchanged warm greetings and good-natured banter with a seemingly endless array of coworkers. Clearly, everyone liked my dad, and I was proud of him for that and wanted to grow up to be like him. By example, he taught me how to get along with the people around me and make them my friends.

Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Romans 12:18 NLT

I thank God for my dad, but maybe you had a distant or even abusive relationship with yours. But no matter what our earthly fathers are like, we all have a Heavenly Father who is perfect. As we spend time with Him in prayer and trust in His word, He begins working in us by His Holy Spirit. As we face complicated circumstances and difficult people in our everyday life, He helps us to grow up to be more like Him. The more time we spend with him, the greater His influence will be in our lives. Jesus’ life showed the world exactly what His Father is like. He said,

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. ” John 14:9 NIV

Even though we aren’t perfect like Jesus, as we follow Him, we can become examples of our Father in Heaven’s character to our children, friends and neighbors. Those things we have learned from God through the years are the best inheritance we can leave behind for our children. Which of God’s attributes do you want them to see?  

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I love you and I love everything about you! Please help me to grow to be more like you. I pray that the people around me would see you in me.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

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While everyone needs respect, long term care is especially painful for men because they sense more acutely its loss. Men who have been providers, planners and protectors for others, now need the help of nurses and aides, sometimes younger than their grandchildren to get to the toilet. In the book of Proverbs, King Solomon gives […]

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I’ll be reposting here the posts from Walking With Lambs for a few weeks, then if you have an interest in nursing home outreach I suggest that you subscribe there. Praise2worship will continue as a devotion and occasional poetry site and we’ll see how this goes. Have a blessed day all!