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The Amish Voice 7
grudge when he does not have what
belongs to another person, including
honor, recognition, or position.
Murder:
taking the life of another .
Debate:
str ife, discor d, contention,
fighting, struggling and constant
quarreling with others.
Deceit:
misleading, twisting the tr uth
or giving a false impression in order to
get his own way.
Malignity:
looking for the wor st in
other people, always running them into
the dirt.
Whisperers:
talking behind another
person's back, tearing down their
reputation.
Backbiters:
loud gossiper s who don't
mind at all when they hurt other people.
Haters of God:
wanting to be the god
of his own life, doing his own thing as
he wishes.
Despiteful:
attacking other s in a
verbal and sometimes physical way to
show he is in control.
Proud:
continually
compar ing
himself with others, holding his head
high and showing off.
Boasters:
always trying to impr ess
others by boasting in what he has and
can do.
Inventers of Evil:
tir ed of his old
sinful ways he is constantly seeking out
new ways to feel good about himself.
Disobedient to Parents:
This does not
mean that a child is chained to his
parents for the rest of his life and has to
do everything exactly as they do. This
is talking about a much greater
problem. It means that the child does
not have any love, respect, or honor for
his parents. He becomes nasty and
uncaring toward them.
Without Understanding:
ignor ing
experience, refusing to learn, and acting
foolishly.
Covenant
Breakers:
Br eaking
promises, being untrustworthy and
undependable, and lying easily.
Without Natural Affection:
lacking
affection and love for others; treating
others as tools for his own use and
benefit, pleasure, and purposes.
Implacable:
r efusing to make peace
and constantly disagreeing with others.
Unmerciful:
constantly cr aving to
satisfy his own pleasure, even if it
means the hurt or death of
others. Sadly, the Bible says in verse
32: Who knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are
worthy of death, not only do the same,
but have pleasure in them that do them.
When does all this chaotic, messy, and
unruly stuff start happening in a person’s
life?
When he stops being thankful!
The next time you pray to God, consider
beginning with thanks for all He has done in
your life. Far too often we take our health,
warm house, food, friends, family, and jobs,
for granted. We forget that God gave us
everything we have.
Those who are thankful to God and others
are also more positive, less depressed, and
easier to hang around with.
—Joe Keim
Thankful, continued
In October 2013, we decided to fly to
Minneapolis-St Paul and then drive to
Wisconsin to visit. As we sat in the boarding
area waiting for our plane, the pilot and crew
walked by. I wondered what the crew would
have thought if we had strapped parachutes
to our backs as we boarded the plane.
Wouldn’t their first reaction be: these people
don’t trust our flying? Yet that is exactly
what I see some who call themselves
believers do! We know salvation is by grace,
but to be safe, we add a lot of works that are
designed (in our own minds) to please God.
Now good works are not a bad thing, but we
cannot base our trust in God on two different
systems. Either Jesus is sufficient or He is
not. The function of safety lines and life
preservers is to help when other means fail.
Things that fail need the extra backup device.
You have heard it said that Jesus never fails.
If indeed He is the Son of God, then He will
be able to do all
that He promised.
Do
you really
believe that? This
is hard for mortals
like you and me to
grasp. Jesus told us
that He is the way
and no one comes
to the Father except
through Him (John
14:6). When we
went to Minnesota,
all we had to do was to get on the right plane
and relax, wait until the pilot was cleared to
take off, and then watch the things on the
ground fall away. One hour and thirty six
minutes later, we were in Minneapolis. That
was not my doing at all. The
pilot did what he was trained
to do, and we arrived safely.
Trusting Jesus is like that.
We can only get to Heaven
by dying with Jesus and
being born anew in Him. He
is like the plane and the
pilot. If you are in Christ,
then you are certain to arrive
where He is. You will begin
to love what He loves and
despise what He despises.
This comes through the Spirit He puts in us.
Parachutes and Safety Lines
—By Eli Stutzman
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