Ten Trash Bags

by Sharon Jaynes

Today’s Truth

^“Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:8 ESV)

Friend to Friend

I set out to tackle a task I had put off for many years. I didn't really want to do it at all. It was the job of cleaning out my ministry storage closet. A closet filled with boxes of memories collected over twenty years.

The programs played through my mind as I dumped one storage bin after another into plastic bags—pieces of my life into black drawstring Hefties. Corners of posters, magazines, cassettes, note-filled binders, and CDs poked through the plastic bags as if trying to escape.

Twenty years. Ten trash bags.

I put the bags out by the street and pondered my day’s work. You’d think I would have been happy to have cleaned out all that clutter, but something inside me ached.

“So that’s it then,” I whispered as I walked away from twenty years of accumulated memories.

The next day my heart felt just about as empty as the newly cleaned shelves…until I opened my email. A word of encouragement waited for me in my inbox. A woman told me about how something I had written had given her the courage to face another day. I won’t go into the details, but her email opened my eyes and my heart to something I already knew, but had forgotten for just a moment.

Those ten trash bags didn’t contain twenty years of ministry or memories. Why? Because memories can’t be put in a trash bag. Because people’s lives can’t be put in a trash bag.

It isn’t our accomplishments and accolades that matter in this life, but the people we impact and the lives we’ve loved.

Paul wrote:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful^; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 ESV

And you can’t put that in a trash bag.

Let’s Pray

Heavenly Father, more than anything, I want to glorify Your name while here on this earth. Help me to never cling to earthly treasures, but to live open handed. Thank You for the reminder that the most important things in this world is to love You with all my heart, and to love my neighbor—those who cross my path.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen

Now It’s Your Turn

What was the one thing that Paul said he did in Philippians 3:13-14?

We often think of forgetting the “bad” in our lives and leaving that behind, but how can clinging to the “good” hold us back as well?

Have you ever known anyone to cling to something good such as a high school accomplishment, one mountaintop experience, or one accolade? What do you think Paul would have to say about that? How could clinging to such keep someone from moving ahead to the next thing God has for him or her?

When you leave this earth, and your worldly possessions are put in trash bags, who are the lives that you have touched that will always remain?

TODAY'S DEVOTIONAL SPONSOR:

“And Such Were Some of You”

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God

AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU:

BUT ye are [were] WASHED,

but ye are [were] SANCTIFIED,

but ye are [were] JUSTIFIED

in the name of the Lord Jesus,

and BY THE SPIRIT OF OUR GOD.” I Corinthians 6:9-11

This devotion is primarily a reflection on the words, “AND SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU.”

We sometimes forget where we came from and act like we’re above ministering to that person listed above in verse 9 and 10. This would also include any other sins (prostitution, drug addiction, alcoholism, abusiveness, false religion, etc).

Jesus died for ALL conceivable sins! No one is beyond hope in Christ.

Only by the GRACE of God are any of us saved.

Aren’t you blessed that someone didn’t think they you were too “bad of a sinner” to be saved, or that you were a hopeless case!

God can change ANY heart, no one is hopeless when they come in contact with CHRIST.

The day I got saved (accepted Christ as my LORD and SAVIOR).

I had no intentions on coming to the LORD, but the LORD met me ANYWAY!

I was a hopeless, man-hating, God-hating, self-hating person, yet by the GRACE of God I became a child of God on June 21, 1975.

I’m sure there were many who thought I was a hopeless case.

They also thought of Paul in the same way.

He was leading the attacks against Christians, having them killed; but then God got a hold of him and Paul was saved.

Such a hopeless case in man’s eyes that many Christians were still cautious of Paul after his conversion (Acts 10:26).

Let’s all remember from where we came!!!

We were all LOST SINNERS!

Hopeless in the eyes of man, but God, in His LOVE and GRACE, saved us anyway.

So the next time you run across a lost person, remember you, too, were a LOST sinner and God saved you.

Don’t look at that person as hopeless or beyond Christ’s saving touch!

Be blessed in the LORD,

Jim (jim@biblefood.org)

If you have not giving control of your life to Jesus please read the following:

We would like to take a moment to share some spiritual matters with you.

Why? Because we care about you and want God’s best for you.

What you need to know about your spiritual state:

A. God made you and you are responsible to Him as your Maker. (Rom. 11:36; I Pet. 4:19; Rev. 4:11)

B. You have sinned against a Holy God and have a broken relationship with God. (Isa. 64:6; Rom. 3:23; Rom. 5:12)

C. Sin requires punishment. You do not have the ability to pay the penalty for your sin – You are GUILTY before God your Maker. (Isa. 53:6; Rom. 3:10; Rom. 6:23)

D. Jesus is God, and became a perfect man, and as such, He paid the penalty on the cross for your sins (1 Pet. 3:18)

By acknowledging the above statements you now:

1. Accept -You are a sinner in need of a Savior, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.

2. Repent – Turn from sin as a way of life with God’s help.

3. Trust – Put all your faith in Jesus Christ as your forgiver and restorer to a right relationship with God.

You are now ready to start your new life with Jesus.

Now let others know of your decision to follow Jesus Christ (Matt. 10:32, 33; Rom. 10:9,10).

Get together with other Bible-believing Christians to help you in your walk with Christ (Heb. 10:25).

Please do contact us and let us know of your decision so we can rejoice with you and be there for you.

Jim (jim@biblefood.org)

Chocolate Ooey Gooey Cake

from http://susanrecipe.com/2017/03/chocolate-ooey-gooey-cake.html

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted,
Plus 8 more tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted, Plus additional butter, for greasing pan
1 (18.25-ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 egg, plus 2 eggs
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 to 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees (325 convection) and prepare and 9-inch round cake pan.

Combine the cake mix, 1 egg, and 1 stick melted butter, and stir until well blended. Pat the mixture into prepared cake pan and set aside.

In a stand mixer on medium speed, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the remaining 2 eggs, and the cocoa powder.

Lower the speed of the mixer and add the powdered sugar. Mix until everything is well combined. Slowly add the remaining 1 stick of melted butter and vanilla and continue to beat the mixture until smooth.

Pour filling over cake mixture in pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the cake; the center should still be a little gooey when finished baking.

Let cake partially cool on a wire rack before cutting into pieces.

DAILY SMILE:

Rent A Church Singing Group

Religious Jokes

Submitted by Jenmo1

Man: "Do you know how much it is to rent a church singing group?

Priest: "My son, do you mean a choir?"

Man: "Fine Father, do you know how much it is to acquire a church singing group?"