yes or no

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.

- Matthew 5:33-37 (NKJV)

 

In some Bibles, at the beginning of a set of verses is a title. 
The title that prefaces these verses in the online New King James Version is “Jesus forbids oaths”.
How many times have you sworn that you would or would not do something?

Remember when we were little (and even some more recent conversations) we said things like “I swear to God!” (this by the way makes you accountable!!) or “cross my heart” or “I swear on a stack of Bibles” or on someone’s grave . . .  and then when we did not follow through, we always said that we had our fingers crossed so it didn’t count?  (but that is another story.)
According to the Bible, it is NOT a good thing to say.

Always keep your promises, keeping your promises establishes trust, and establishing trust builds relationships.

The inability to keep our promises and be a people of our word contradicts our character.

God expects people to honor their word and keep their promises, and He blesses us when we keep our commitments – don’t live your life as a maybe!

Remember the Dr. Seuss book “Horton Hatches the Egg”?

Condensed version, Horton was doing a favor for a friend, he was sitting on her nest while she took a break.  Horton stayed on that nest through a whole lot of obstacles, never budging from the nest because: “I meant what I said and I said what I meant.  An elephant’s faithful 100%”

Words are words, we should be able to take a man at his word.

We should not make them swear an oath of any kind.

A simple yes or no to our inquiry is all we should need.

Be a person of your word.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1167248103736801

we are family

When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

- John 19:26-27 (NKJV)

 

What is family?  
Let me tell you a couple of stories. 
I belong to the Christian Motorcyclists Association. 
Recently, the wife of one of our members received her RN pin, the ceremony is a pretty big deal, and as many of our chapter members that were able to attend were there on this momentous occasion – that is family.

Also recently, two of our members were united in marriage, again many of our chapter was there to celebrate with them.

At the spur of the moment, we asked the pastor to ask the congregation “who gives this bride in marriage” and our chapter stood up and said “we do” – that is family.

It isn’t always celebrations that causes family to gather, and I can tell you firsthand that my CMA family has been there for me a LOT over the past few years.

Even Jesus recognized that family doesn’t have to be blood, many times the family we choose is there for us when the family we were born to isn’t. 
I am blessed beyond measure with the family that I chose when I married my husband.

I am blessed beyond measure with the family that I chose when I joined the Christian Motorcyclists Association.
“from that hour that disciple took her to his own home”
We are family, and we take care of each other always.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1167248103736801

senseless and foolish

Senseless people do not know, fools do not understand, that though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.

- Psalm 92:6-7 (NIV)

 

People are strange.

Recently I had an encounter with a woman who apparently felt that continued text messages and social media posts with thinly veiled threats would provide her the vindication she needed for her harassment and overall nastiness. 
This verse comes from a sermon that I heard while visiting Iowa recently, and when revisiting my notes from that sermon (yes, I take notes in church, don’t you?) I realized that every time I responded in kind, I was simply preventing my own peace from happening.

To paraphrase what the pastor at that church said in reference to this verse, the world seeks peace but has no clue where to find it, human nature never knows where to find peace and how to retain it because we are always looking for a resolution, and the resolution can only be found in Jesus. 
Wars continued to happen, despite the United Nations trying to keep peace by force. (that’s ironic, don’t you agree?)  

God is with His people; He gathers us together so we can hear that Jesus is the peace we seek.

God promised to hear our prayers, so we don’t have to go through life alone, our cry for help is heard by God! 
Jesus is our peace; we are never alone when we lean on Him. 

Peace is mentioned over and over, God wants us to have peace, peace that surpasses our understanding. 
I am so thankful that I am not a senseless fool. 

 

#dailybreadbykitty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1167248103736801

happiness

Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.

- Matthew 5:8 (NKJV)

 

I love all the different translations of this verse: 
International Children’s Bible: Those who are pure in their thinking are happy. They will be with God.

New Life Version: Those who have a pure heart are happy, because they will see God.
But my favorite for this one is The Message translation: You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

Are you happy, like truly happy?

I want to be, I want to be one of those people that sees the beauty in everything, the miracle in all things and the glory of God everywhere.

Sadly, the human side of me does not let me do that and I am not always happy.

When you get inside your world, put your heart and mind right, then you can see God. 
And when you see God, you can be happy. 

 

#dailybreadbykitty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1167248103736801

 

 

bright lights

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.

- Matthew 5:14 (NKJV)

 

Probably the thing that I love the most about camping is being away from the city so I can see the stars. 
I love nights when it feels like I can see every star in the sky. 

Those lights look tiny to us but in reality, they are huge.

Darkness dominates our world and despite appearances, darkness controls so much of what is said and how it is viewed by the world.

When someone lives for Christ, they will be noticed.
Every day people see you. 

What do they see?

Do they see the person you are, the person that God wants you to be, or the person that your boss/spouse/society wants you to be?

I don’t like trying to keep those three separate personas, I want to be the person that God wants me to be.

I saw a quote once that said “When you are not the person God has called you to be, you keep others from being the person God has called them to be.”

I want to be the person that God wants me to be.

If that means letting my light shine, well then, I hope I am blinding!!

 

#dailybreadbykitty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1167248103736801

knowing who to trust

Don’t put your life in the hands of experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life. Mere humans don’t have what it takes; when they die, their projects die with them. Instead, get help from the God of Jacob, put your hope in God and know real blessing!

- Psalm 146:3-5 (MSG)

 

It isn’t often that I use The Message translation of the Bible, but I really like what it has to say for this verse.

The New King James Version for verse 3 reads Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.

So many times we do place our trust in doctors, lawyers or politicians and most of the time they let us down in one way or another, if not today or tomorrow then soon.

Mere humans don’t have what it takes. 
How true is that? 
How many times do we come across things that cannot be explained by science? 

But when we trust God, we get answers, our hope is real. 
Put your hope in God and know! 

 

#dailybreadbykitty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1167248103736801

 

content

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

- Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV)

 

Do you find yourself looking at things that other people have and wishing you had something similar? 
A really nice house, a new car, a “perfect” life? 
Social media often encourages us to compare ourselves to others, inspiring covetousness and insecurity. 
Covetousness is a pretty big word, it means eager or excessive desire, especially for wealth or possessions.

Sometimes what people post on social media could not be further removed from the truth of the matter. 
That huge, beautiful home – the owner may have sacrificed years of his life and time with his family at a job he didn’t like so he could have that house. 
The shiny new car – the owner may be working one full time job and two part time jobs just to make that payments so she’s have reliable transportation for her family. 
The perfect life in pictures is often hiding hurt and anger but they can’t let others know how unhappy they are.

We don’t have to want those things; we don’t need the strings that come with them either.

When we learn to be satisfied with what we have, we find our happiness and when we put our trust and faith in God instead of material things, we learn that He is always there. 
The house will decay over time, the car will disintegrate, and the pictures will fade with age, but God will never leave us.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1167248103736801

so thirsty

For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children.

- Isaiah 44:3 (NLT)

 

Have you ever been so thirsty that you feel gallons of water will not quench the thirst? 
Then that first sip of ice-cold water is so refreshing, you feel it through your whole body? 
Thinking about this reminds me of an iced tea commercial from the 1970’s (yes, I am that old - “take the Nestea Plunge”). 
The premise of the commercial was someone who was out in the hot sun, and they took a drink of Nestea iced tea and fell backwards into a refreshing pool of water. 
God promises to refresh our soul in this verse, not only our soul but the souls of our children and grandchildren through many generations. 
I need to be refreshed sometimes; I think we all do. 
We let the weight of our jobs, the responsibilities of caring for our families, the everyday things that we all have just bury us in the dust. 
When that happens, we need the promise of the Father to clear away the dust and refresh us, heart and soul. 
Spend time with the Lord, He will quench your thirsty soul.  

 

#dailybreadbykitty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1167248103736801

time to rest

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

- Mark 6:31 (NIV)

 

Rest is mentioned multiple times in the Bible.

God rested, Jesus rested, the kings rested, even armies rested. 
Rest is very important, humans simply are not made to go non-stop, we need rest. 
We need to withdraw — not once-in-a-while, but often!

What is incredible is that Jesus invites His disciples (today that's us!) to withdraw with Him to a quiet place and rest with Him.
This isn't just about getting a good night's sleep, or a nap during the day; it's about taking time in the middle of our wild and crazy days to join Him for a few moments of grace, rest, and refreshment.

Today is August 1^st, I am going to be taking rest for the next 20 days. 
There ae going t be a few days where I won’t have access to the internet to write and post, so rather than stressing over whether I get emails sent and posts updated, I am going to rest.

I’ll be back before you know it, but while I am out I want you to continue to read the Word and spend time with Him. 
Make daily stops in God's Word - take more time than quick e-mail viewing; let it be a time to withdraw with the Savior and take a few minutes of rest!

See you soon. ❤

 

#dailybreadbykitty

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1167248103736801