Friday, November 15, 2013

Reverently Submit

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. 1 Peter 2:13-14 
 
Submit? Put yourself under the control of “every human institution” as in government authority? Yes, that is what God is telling us to do through this letter from Peter to the dispersed church. Be respectful. Have reverence. Reverence is especially true regardless of a person’s position and authority, but as brothers and sisters in the Lord, knowing that He loves them too. He loves those in authority—and those who are under authority. We should love others as ourselves—just as Jesus taught in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10) and as Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians, …For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Galatians 5:14-15 Love others as we love ourselves. This begins with respect for ourselves and others—not picking them apart and irreverently putting others down for their position in life, their attitudes or actions. 

Training Tip – Next time you have an opportunity to put a spider and a wasp together in the same jar, use this as a teaching opportunity for illustrating that people should not pick at each other—and destroy each other like the spider and the wasp will as they sting and bite each other. People will bite and sting each other with words. That is not good. The Bible, in the above verse in Galatians, warns us about destroying each other. So what should people do? God tells us to love others as ourselves. Would you pick on, fight with yourself, or say mean things about yourself to others? We should treat others the way we want to be treated. It may be difficult to love others, but God can help us. Ask Him and He can put the love of Jesus in your heart so that you can be kind to others instead of picking on them. We’re not spiders and wasps. We are God’s special creation meant to respectfully love one another.

Lord God, help me, my children and my grandchildren to love one another, the way that You want us to. 

Friday’s Feast at the Lord’s Table
Summer is over…and we are well into fall. We harvested the last of our garden, including some beets, so I cooked those up and it made enough for a vegetable side dish for our evening meal. My mom often made Harvard Beets—but I just made pickled beets for us tonight. Enjoy—we did! 

Pickled Beets
2 cups beets, cooked in about 1 cup water
½ cup sugar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cinnamon sticks (3”) 

Mix sugar into vinegar and the beet juice from cooking the beets. Add cinnamon sticks and bring to a boil either on the stove or in the microwave, for about 3 minutes. Stir to be sure that sugar has dissolved. Pour over beets. Chill for 6-8 hours. Add a few hard boiled eggs to the pickled beet juice to create a colorful snack.

All scripture quoted from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) unless otherwise noted.
© 2013 by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.

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