THROUGH THE BIBLE IN THREE YEARS
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THE FOLLOWING NOTE CAME FROM A LADY.
I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentistwhen I noticed his diploma hanging on the wall. It bore his full name and I suddenly remembered a tall, andsome dark-haired boy with the same name. He had been in my high school class some 40-odd years before and I wondered if he could be the same guy I had a secret crush on way back then??
When I got into the treatment room I quickly discarded any such thought.
This balding gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was much too old to have been my secret crush... or was he???
After he examined my teeth I asked if he had attended Morgan Park High School.
"Yes, I did. I'm a Mustang!" He said, gleaming with pride.
"When did you graduate?" I asked.
"1959. Why do you ask?" He answered.
"Well, you were in my class!" I exclaimed.
Then that ugly, old wrinkled, baldheaded man asked........"What did you teach?"
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Ruth 2:15-17
15 And when she was risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not:
16 And let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that she may glean them, and rebuke her not.
17 So she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned: and it was about an ephah of barley.
KJV
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Ruth was given permission to "glean" - that means she was given permission to WORK! If we would receive all our Master has in store for us, we must resolve, first, to WORK!
We, as Christians, have the greatest of all Masters. He invites us to be forgiven. He invites us to receive Heaven. And He also invites us to be part of His ministry in this earth. He invites us to WORK!
Ruth was not to be reproved or rebuked for her endeavor. If we would be all our Master intends, we should not reprove nor rebuke those who are diligent in their similar calling of the Lord.
There were young harvesting men, employed by their master, to leave "handfuls of purpose" for Ruth. Our Master and Lord Jesus, also leaves special deposits of blessing to those who strive to follow His will.
If you "glean" in the fields of prayer, worship, Bible study, the fellowship of believers and witnessing to the lost, you will find God leaves some "handfuls of purpose" as blessings along the way!
She gathered ear by ear. She gathered all day until the "evening." And at the evening, there was PLENTY!
We must also seek to find truth by truth. Isaiah says they come "line upon line,....here a little, and there a little." (Is 28:13) If we learn God's truths one at a time, we will find plenty in the "evening" of our lives.
And let us not forget to "beat out that" which was "gleaned!" It is good to obtain, but it is also good to retain. Meditation upon the truths allow us to retain that which is useful.
Alas, too often, I find that a new Scripture committed to memory crowds an old one from my brain. Also a new thought upon meditation may replace an old one. How shall I remedy the ineptness of my brain? By relying upon He Who teaches and recalls to memory that which He taught!! (John 14:26)
If I remain faithful in "gleaning," He will cause me to recall that which is needed at the appropriate moment!
Love ya,
Bruce