Cornerstone

 Christmas gifts, birthday gifts and gifts of appreciation warm our hearts. When we receive gifts we know that it really IS the thought that counts. Yes, some do give out of obligation, but it is because of the gifts of love and remembrance that our hearts enlarge with the desire to say, “Thanks.”

How do you adequately express gratitude? I am not sure. I continually feel that I fall short when I try to tell people how much their prayers, their moral support, their encouragement, and their help means to me. Often the gifts that are wrapped only with love carry much more meaning than those that are hidden behind ribbons, wrapping paper and bows.

I never will forget the telephone conversation with my four-year-old grandson. He excitedly told me about preschool. He counted, sang the ABC song, quoted Psalm 23, and then began to sing song after song. It was sweet music to my ears. One song that I especially liked, however, has been rebounding against the walls of my memory. He sang in his childlike voice, “God is good, God is good, God is “berry,” “berry,” berry,” “berry” good. God is Good” etc. Those few moments on the phone where a gift I will treasure forever.

I can’t say it any better. Because God is “berry,” “berry” good I can say thanks. He is the great gift giver. He set the pattern. To Him I owe the ultimate word of thanks. Because of Him I enjoy family, friends and the bounty of life. He is “berry,” “berry”, “berry”, “berry” good. Since every good and perfect gift comes from Him, every time I say thanks in life I am actually lifting words of gratitude to my Lord.

by Dr. Gayle Woods

Matthew 9:16-17

Resolutions? Change? What is there about a new year that makes us think that something is changing? What makes us think that we will change? We make promises to ourselves that we are going to alter our behavior believing that something magically is different this time. We long for change of significance. Will the change actually take place?

Actually when we go from December 31 into January 1 of the next year we are just going from one minute to the next, one hour to the next, one day to the next. What is changing? Yes, we hang a new calendar on the wall but what has changed? We write a different year on our checks and appointment books but what really has changed?

For real change to take place in your heart and life you need to forget about the new year, the clock and the calendar. Instead realize that change of significance can take place in your life only when you determine to submit completely to God. He will guide you through the process of change that is important to your present and future. Change of significance can take place only as you determine to obey God as He reveals His will and His way through His Word.

So, if you want change of significance to take place in your life stop determining what you want to happen. Stop looking for a formula or a magical time when your desired change will effortlessly come to pass. Rather, look to Jesus and prostrate your will before Him in humble submission seeking His desire for your life.

Dr. Gayle Woods

Jn 15:1-7 (4)

Wong Yoke Lin had moved with her family to Singapore just a weeks earlier in order to earn better wages. She was getting accustomed to the large, noisy machinery in the plywood factory where she was now employed. That morning in April 1975 all seemed to be going well as the plywood planks rolled down the chute to the conveyor belt. Then a plank got caught and Yoke Lin tried to free it from the machinery. In horror and pain she screamed as her arm was quickly torn off at the elbow.

She was rushed to the hospital. Her severed arm was removed from the machine and was sent with her in the lorry. Four surgeons battled for five exhausting hours to save the seventeen year old girl and to reconnect her arm to her body. The surgery was successful. Later she returned to the factory where she worked for four more years.

The stark reality is that if the vessels, tendons, nerves and muscles on both sides of the arm had not been wedded together the girl would have lost the arm. In much the same way each born again believer is part of the body of Christ. If we are severed from Him by sin then we loose our ability to function and maintain life. Without Christ we are nothing… and without Christ we have no spiritual life.

Dr. Gayle Woods

Psalm 113:1-3 (2)

I sat in the Los Angeles Ram’s stadium. I was awed by the excitement of worship that permeated the atmosphere. Sixty-five thousand men had sung praises to God in beautiful harmony. Sixty-five thousand men had lifted their voices to God in prayer. Sixty-five thousand men had pored over their open Bibles in serious study of God’s Word. Sixty-five thousand men had listened intently to one invigorating and challenging message after another throughout the day.

Now we were in a time of intermission between services. Approximately thirty-three thousand men on one half of the stadium shouted out “We love Jesus. Yes, we do.” Hardly had the sound of the multitude crossed the stadium until thirty-three thousand men on the other side of the stadium responded in like manner.

This thrilling act of worship and love made me think of those in heaven prostrate before the throne crying out continuously “Holy, Holy, Holy.” The Hebrew word for praise in itself expresses this same idea. It means to boast, to be clamorously foolish in our raving, to celebrate, to rage, to give glory.

We know that our best descriptions of God are pitifully lacking. Just seeing our Lord will surely bring continuous ravings of glorious celebration to our lips as we join the millions of the blood washed throng in praise to our King.

Dr. Gayle Woods

Evidently Rick Warren and Max Lucado read from the same script. The first words in Rick Warren’s book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” state “It’s not about you.” Max Lucado echoes this thought in his book, It’s Not About Me, by devoting the whole volume to the subject. “Not” is a big exclusive word. Is this statement by Rick Warren and Max Lucado totally correct? I appreciate the concept. I am humbled by the realization that too often our lives, thoughts and ambitions are self-centered. My being readily responds in praise to God when I am reminded that He is the center of my universe. My desire is that His will be done. I bow in adoration before the One who really matters in a world obsessed with selfish considerations. But I must honestly ask myself once again, “Is it only about Him?”

I ask this question which I fear will appear to be irreverent and self-serving. I take that risk because I believe the scriptures go beyond the concept of the worthlessness of humanity. I do not believe that God has these deprecating thoughts about those that He has created.

Is it ultimately about Him? Absolutely. On the other hand, it is largely about you and me. Didn’t John record the fact that God considered every human being was of great value? John 3:16 says For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Didn’t Paul remind us of this great love when he said, Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God didn’t wait to impart righteousness to us before He commended His love.

It was about me after all. It was so much about me that He decided to suffer the extreme humiliation of putting aside His divinity long enough to suffer the ravages of humanity. It was about me after all. It was so much about me that “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin , condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom 8:3) so that I could experience deliverance, holiness and divine love.
I think that God would say that it is about me.

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Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, (Grand Rapids: 2002), p. 17. It’s Not About Me by Max Lucado (Integrity: 2004).

by Dr. Gayle Woods