Shirlee Abbott

No Reason for Boasting

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Shirlee Abbott

1 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT)
What do you have that God hasn’t given you?
And if everything you have is from God,
why boast as though it were not a gift?

All that we have, all that we are . . . it all comes from God.
Don’t boast, give thanks.

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Boasting and Flattery

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Shirlee Abbott

Jude offers quite a description of evildoers.

Jude 16 (NIV)
These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.

Self-serving boasting and flattery . . . never good.

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Watch Out for Boasting

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Shirlee Abbott

2 Timothy 3:1-2, 5 (TLB)
In the last days . . . people will love only themselves and their money; they will be proud and boastful, sneering at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful to them, and thoroughly bad . . . Don’t be taken in by people like that.

Beware boasting! It can be a sign of trouble.

Posted in Constructive Thought | Tagged 2 Timothy 3:1-5, boasting | 2 Comments

Simply Rest

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Shirlee Abbott

Mark 2:27 (MEV)
Then He [Jesus] said to them,
“The Sabbath was made for man,
and not man for the Sabbath.”

“The sabbath was made for man – For his rest from toil, his rest from the cares and anxieties of the world, to give him an opportunity to call off his attention from earthly concerns and to direct it to the affairs of eternity.”
Albert Barnes, (1798-1870)
Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

It’s simple. Rest! It’s good for you.

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Room on Your To-Do List

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Shirlee Abbott

Do you schedule yourself to the edges of your time? Or do you leave space for interruptions?

Jesus welcomed interruptions. Even when he was already busy. Take Luke 8, for example.

Luke 8:41-44 (TLB)
And now a man named Jairus . . . begged him to come home with him, for his only child was dying . . . Jesus went with him . . . As they went a woman who wanted to be healed came up behind and touched him.

Two interruptions, two lives changed. Make room for interruptions.

(image from Pixabay)

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No Room

Posted on January 18, 2023 by Shirlee Abbott

We all know a few folks who want nothing to do with Jesus. They have no room in their hearts for anything Christian. Despite their best efforts, they may get an occasional whiff of God.

2 Corinthians 2:15 (TLB)
As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us, an aroma to both the saved and the unsaved all around us.

Lord God, let me be a sweet fragrance in this stinky world.

Posted in Constructive Thought, other | Tagged 2 Corinthians 2:15, fragrance of Christ, no room | 1 Comment

Room for You

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Shirlee Abbott

John 14:1-3 (NLT)
Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home . . . When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

Woo-hoo! There’s room in heaven for you and me.

Posted in Constructive Thought | Tagged John 14:1-3, room | 2 Comments

Room for Jesus

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Shirlee Abbott

We’re coming off the Christmas season, where there was “no room” for Jesus (Luke 2:7).

The last book of the Bible gives us a different view:

Revelation 3:20 (CEV)
Listen! I am standing and knocking at your door. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will eat together.

If I make room in my life for Jesus, he makes himself at home. We sit together, share a cup of coffee (or an extravagant meal), and talk. He speaks, I listen. I speak, he listens.

I make room to chat with God.

Posted in Constructive Thought | Tagged Luke 2:7, Revelation 3:20, room for Jesus | 2 Comments

Simple and Deep

Posted on January 14, 2023 by Shirlee Abbott

Note to self:

Keep your words short and simple.
Keep your relationships deep and wide.

Posted in other | Tagged deep and wide, relationships, short and simple, words | Comments Off