We set days aside for all sorts of evens, celebrations, etc so let’s make February 30^th, roun-to-it Day. Seems like it would be appropriate to set one day aside for all those things that we never get roun-to-it. There is an endless list of excuses that we make for not getting things done in a timely manner. What has God asked you to do lately that you haven’t gotten done? I saw a cartoon the other day, the man in the picture was writing a list of things that he ought to do, calling it his ought-to-biography. When is the last time that putting off doing something cost you?

            The Bible has recorded in Genesis 6:8-22 an assignment given to a 500 year old man named Noah. God was going to use a great flood to destroy man and all other living things on the earth because of man’s wickedness. Noah, who had found grace in the sight of the Lord, was to build a big boat, take his wife, his sons, their wives, and a male and female of every living creature with him. It took Noah 100 years to build the boat and he was already 500 years old when he started building, okay you get it, Noah, didn’t have time to wait for a roun-to-it. Noah didn’t make excuses: what will the neighbors say, who’s paying for this boat, what’s a flood, and who’s going to clean up after the animals? He just listened to God and did what he was asked to do.

            Another assignment in Judges Chapters 6&7 were to a man named Gideon. The Israelites, because of their disobedience to God, were being bullied by the Midianites. These people were reducing the land of Israel to waste forcing the Israelites to hide in caves. God gave Gideon the task of tearing down the alter of Baal, cutting down the grove by it, building an alter to God, and sacrificing his father’s young bull. Well, Gideon took 10 men and got it done. He didn’t wait for a roun-to-it. God also sent Gideon to conquer the enemy with just 300 men, a task that would to a person not willing to trust God would have seemed impossible. Gideon didn’t look for roun-to-it’; he listened to God and defeated the enemy.

            Jesus will return for His church one day soon. Some have incomplete assignments and others have not called on Jesus as their personal savior. Don’t use February 30^th for a roun-to-it Day, it may never happen.

Six Strong Men

            Usually it requires six strong men to carry a casket; they line up three on each side to carry it and its contents toward a grave site. There is no way that you can make it to the burial site by ones self. The Lord God said, in Genesis 2:18 “It is not good for man to be alone.” We just try to do so many things solo.

            Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him who is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up. Again, if they lie together, they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a three fold cord is not quickly broken.” Often we tend to stray toward our selfish side and do things on our own; a quest for life without God. Not only in these verses do we see a need for God but also help from man. We can find in the New Testament that Paul traveled with one or two. Verse 12 talks about a threefold cord; this indicates that the spiritual power of two is more than doubled. Matthew 18:20, adds to this by stating: “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with thee.” This does not mean that God is not with you individually. There is strength in numbers; two can pick up 100 pounds easier than one can pick up the same 100 pounds.  

            Paul taught in Ephesians 4:11 that all were not called to the same position of leadership, yet they were called to work together. There are many church leaders that want it “my way”, ruling the churches in a selfish and disastrous fashion. Ministries grow faster and stronger when every member of the Body of Christ is included. Paul never traveled in his ministry alone and God does not expect us to either. Each one has a position in the Body of Christ, find out what God wants you to do and do it.

            “A three fold cord is not easily broken”, stand with someone or more importantly, let someone stand with you. Don’t wait until you need six strong men to carry you.

            At one time or another we have put off doing something, especially things we don’t like doing. Sometimes we might get a difficult assignment that we don’t understand or just simply overwhelms us. The Bible tells us in Jonah 1:1-3 that God gave Jonah one of these assignments. He was to go to Nineveh, warn them of their sin and the upcoming judgment from God. The Ninevites were a pretty cruel lot, so rather than face them, Jonah fled in the opposite direction. Running seldom works and in Jonah’s case it didn’t. Reading further, the Bible tells us that Jonah bought passage on a boat going in the opposite direction of Nineveh. The boat was overtaken by a storm and Jonah was tossed overboard, where a huge fish swallowed him. God let that fish save Jonah’s life, and punish him for his disobedience. Jonah spent three days in the belly of that fish before God caused that fish to deposit Jonah on dry land. Jonah got a second chance to do what he was supposed to do.

            We get a little like Jonah in the way we handle our daily assignments. My wife gives me projects that I put off. Sometimes I can’t see any sensible way of doing it, or I just don’t seem to get motivated. Okay, give it a couple days; maybe she will change her mind. Like Jonah, we can just plain get overwhelmed. When God calls us to do something, rebelling against heavenly calls is not only unwise but dangerously foolish. Jonah was placed in stormy waters and God can put you there also.

            Things happen around us every day that we just don’t pay attention to; we turn a deaf ear and hope it goes away. You might not get swallowed by a huge fish; however you might end up a cooked frog. Put a frog in a pan of water, gradually turn up the heat and that frog is cooked before he knows it is happening. There are a lot of cooked frogs among us: prayer is lost in schools, greed is epidemic, families are falling apart, our government is a mess, and the list goes on. Jonah got a second chance. The past can’t be changed; we can work on a better tomorrow. God’s voice stands out above the rest, is He speaking to you? Mary, mother of Jesus said to the men of Galilee: “Whatsoever he said unto you, do it.” Stop running, and listen to God before you become a cooked frog.

            We give out medals and awards for just about anything one can imagine; I just can’t recall there being one for mothers. I did discover that on July 8^th 1944 Russia commissioned a medal, the Motherhood Medal 1^st class, for all mothers bearing and raising 6 children. They also had a Motherhood Medal 2^nd class, for 5 children. Most any mother ought to get a Medal of Honor just for being a mother.

 Seems like we just take them for granted, picking at all their flaws and forgetting all they have done for us. She us carried around for nine months before we really became a pain. She kept us fed, kept our clothes washed, kissed our boo boos, and occasionally ran interference between us and dad. Oh, we were not perfect but she never kept score. Some of the luckier of us had several Moms; we called the mothers of our friends, mom also.  My mother was one of those.  Mothers have a great love for their children. Get between a mother and her child and you got trouble. Sure they can give you little nick names, little kisses, show childhood pictures, and a countless list of cuties that contribute to your most embarrassing moment. They go without things they need to see that their children are cared for. A mother up the road from our house, whose children were sick and couldn’t go out to play in the first snow, she carried snow into the bathtub so the children could play. I don’t think they every forget anything either.

There are three mothers from the Bible I want to mention. The first is mentioned in the book of Genesis; her name was Eve. The Bible tells us that not only were she created to be a helper (not a slave) for Adam; she and Adam were to replenish the earth. We don’t know how many children that she bore, however Genesis 5:4 leads one to believe that she conceived for 800 years. She gets the medal for most children.

Jochebed, mother of Moses, is the second mother I want to mention. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, feeling threatened by the Israelites, commanded that all male babies be thrown into the river. Moses mother made a basket and hid him by the river saving his life. Jochebed had to break the law to be a good mother. She gets the medal for out smarting Pharaoh

Jochebed broke Pharaohs command by saving her son, Moses, and unknowingly made way for the lineage of David and the next mother, Mary, mother of Jesus. Mary was only a young teenager when she became pregnant with Jesus. What a responsibility to carry the Savior of the world and to be his mother. Mary had no mid-wife, nor fancy delivery room, yet with God watching over her, delivered the most important baby this world will ever know. Mary would get the most important mother award.

Mothers aren’t perfect, neither are we the children, we didn’t chose our mothers and they didn’t chose us, God did that long before we were ever born. I believe that we like Jeremiah, were formed inside our mother for His purpose. (Jeremiah 1:5) Award your mother a medal. Mother has brought you to your predestination with God. She got you this far, the rest is up to you.

            Some people just seem to attract trouble, or at least, seem to be in the middle of it. The very first man and women were right in the middle of trouble. God created a place called the Garden of Eden, where he caused trees to grow that were not only pleasing to look at but were good for food. In Genesis 2:9 the Bible says,” …In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God could have planted that tree anywhere in the garden but he chose to plant it in the center. This tree, of the knowledge of good and evil, in the center of the garden, bore fruit that God forbid man to eat. Genesis 3:1-7 tells us that temptation over took the woman and the man and they did eat from the tree in the center of the garden. They had to pass by everything that was good to get to what they couldn’t have.

            Human nature negates good for evil. The tendency to walk past something good for something bad is considerably so much more tempting. Man fell because he wanted something he couldn’t have. My grandfather had some hay the cows wouldn’t eat, several times he ran the cows away from the hay, and then left them alone. Those cows licked the ground clean of that hay. Just like the hay and those cows, man wants what he can’t have.

            In our world today, people are never satisfied with what they have, always passing over good in search of more. “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a Godly life.”(2 Peter 1:3) Satan camouflages the provisions that God has provided, and lures to the center, the fruit of temptation.

            God put us each one in a garden. We can maintain the garden like Adam could have done, or we can go to the center of it all, passing by the provisions that God has provided and lose our garden like Adam and Eve. God promised to take care of us. He will provide.