an interesting thought

[Grace]

Why would your husband call you a witch? 

Grace

[Grace]

To all. This was my experience yesterday!I do not know if I did the right thing. My husband and myself were approaching a store when a young woman stopped us and asked for a favor. She was decently dressed and very excited. She said she had $4.60 and I misunderstood that's what she needed to buy some fluid for her car, well that's NOT what she meant, after I gave her the initial $4.60, she then started figuring how much more she need. I said,"what, I thought that's all you needed" She took awhile and then said she needed $16.00 more. My husband whipped the money out and that's when I got angry. I figured most people have a phone to call someone but she said she lived about 25 miles away. No credit card???
I said sorry, i want all the money back, we live on quite a fixed income and retired. I don't know if my instincts kicked in but in all my life I have never been asked for that much money and i thought that she was brash. I would have walked to a gas station (very close) and got what i could. A little bit of anti freeze goes a long way.Come to think about it we had some in the car but forgot in all the goings on.
I was angry for quite awhile not only because of the money but some young people do not plan ahead and then expect to be delivered from their bad planning. Who knows.Maybe if she had asked us to go into the store with her? Also she said she would meet us somewhere the next day to pay it back. I asked for her address but she changed the subject.
So what do you guys think. My husband called me a witch!!!
judy

She sounds a little shady in my opinion, so no I don't think you're a witch.  

As I've already said before, I never give strangers or beggars cash (anymore). I don't believe in that "well, I did my good deed, it's between them and God" attitude. That's 'pulling the ignorance card' in my opinion. I don't want the risk of my money supporting someone's drug or alcohol problem. If a person is hungry, and I have the ability to feed them, I will. If someone needs something else, and I'm able to get it for them, I will.

But what if I give a guy some cash and he goes and buys a bottle of vodka, chugs it down, then steals a car, runs a red light and kills a young teenager!! I wouldn't want that blood on my hands. (yea, sure, some may say that's an extreme analogy, but that's the way I think...)

Daywalker  

Why does it sound shady?  What can we give that hasn't already been given to us?  Don't we give what we have to give if it helps someone?  No free will sounds as if we can't control what that person does with the gift.  Can we?

[Grace]

It is curious.

The Scriptures state that if a man doesn't work neither should he eat.

The Scriptures also state that when you do good, do it secretly so that only the Father knows.

Yet Christians feed bums and make sure others know the good that they do.  They exult in doing good deeds and think God owes them a reward for doing good.  They think doing good makes them righteous.

This is a conundrum to me.  I'm tired and ready to go home.  It is what it is. I can't save myself or anyone else. I am who I am.  He made me what I am.   What good is any work if one loses it in a moment?

[Marky Mark]

It is curious.

The Scriptures state that if a man doesn't work neither should he eat

.

Hey John,curious indeed.

2Th 3:10  For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
2Th 3:11  For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
2Th 3:12  Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
2Th 3:13  But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

In a outward way this is very true.

1Ti 5:8  But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

1Th 4:11 and that you be ambitious to be quiet, and to be engaged in your own affairs, and to be working with your hands, according as we charge you,


But when we are told that Gods words are Spirit we then need to see it from that viewpoint,that being, the primary message is in the Spiritual application.

Joh 6:63 ... the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

When God is doing His work in us and we do not pay attention to what He wants of us in a Spiritual way then we are denying the Lord and we can then no longer eat of His bread [true doctrine] of life. The busybodies of the world will work in their own quietness consuming[eating] their own idols of the heart having no ill effect on those whom God has called to be aware of the things of the Spirit.

When we rely on others for our own Spiritual sustenance[by not putting our own work/effort into our studies] we then are not working out our own salvation and are not deserving of the true bread[food] from above.God wants us in the thick of it working out our own salvation so we can come to see the Light,in fear and trembling.

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Php 2:14  Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
Php 2:15  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Christ is the food of life[the vine]that will nourish us so as to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

He does the work in us so that we can reap the rewards to feast upon.

Joh 15:16  You did not take me for yourselves, but I took you for myself; and I gave you the work of going about and producing fruit which will be for ever;


If we do not work in the Spirit, we will not eat of the fruit thereof.


Just some food for thought...


Peace...Mark

[markn902]

I guess everyones situation is different and like most things in life there is no "one size fits all" answer  God puts us in different circumstances and what is right for one person (in daily life) may not be the best choice in someone elses. I guess it's that whole learning thing 

[Duane]

I feel better when I run upon a need and then fill it:  My wife and I were going into a K-Mart and saw a man who had a bicycle upside down fixing a new tire on it.  He was all packed and obviously had traveled a great distance.  In talking to him we found he was riding across the country and despirately neeeded a new tire so he bought one.  He said that he really couldn't afford it so my wife asked him how much the tire cost and he was speechless when we reimbursed him!  He felt great, we felt great amd no one ASKED for anything!
We love to give spontaneously as the Lord leads--doing "random acts of kindness". 

[judith collier]

Thanks to all, I can't say what was in the girl's mind but i do know the whole thing was going too fast for me. Had she been sitting crying I don't think I would have hesitated. It could be either way. Me, thinking people should behave in a certain manner when troubled or my instincts are good. Yet, they have been known to be wrong.
You know what it reminded me of. My kids when they were teenagers and spewing out facts i couldn't keep up with and when questioning them, they couldn't be consistant and then getting mad because I didn't understand when they couldn't keep their story straight. I don't know. Heck, maybe it was just the amount!
I do know $16.00 isn't much to many people but I hesitate to spend that much on myself at times. I really can't keep up as well anymore with young people's conversations and confess to being a control freak. God forgive me and I pray it worked out for the girl, she did look despondent when she walked away.
Grace, my husband thought i was a witch because he is like that, doesn't care what i am thinking but assumes I am wrong, he is an alchoholic who is a people pleaser and that makes me wrong whenever I hesitate to please.
judy

[Fester]

Hi everyone 

My wife had an interesting  take on Acts 3 when we were reading it. It is where Peter heals a crippled beggar

Acts 3:8-10
8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.   

She said what struck her was that if this were to happen today, that is a crippled beggar getting up to walk, people would see it as that man was lying about his condition to get money. I think she is right thats what people would say if they saw a man crippled asking for money then later saw him walking. Even if he said it was a miracle we would say "yeah right"

I don't know I just thought it was an interesting  observation and thought I would share

Mark                                                   

Naturally we would think that way as it is human nature.  I bet you 3 talents that people in those days would think the same.  However, these people were amazed because they knew he was lame and his healing was not a scam.  Read it again but starting at least at verse 2.

[tau]

Jesus said the poor will always be with us and we must no grow weary in doing good. So, if we do well by 'these little ones', we have done well by the master. So, are we therefore to judge whose need is more urgent more desparate than the other? what was the whole purpose of the samarithan traveller? I am of the view that we are to follow the spirit as imparted to us - if the spirit is indwelling surely it will guide us, grace separates us from those who are needy, and if someone who is less needy turns this 'misery' of the needy into an 'opportunity' to cash in, I am of the view that its not our place to judge, after all didn't Jesus say leave them to grow together and they will be seen to during the time of harvest?

[daywalker]

Jesus also said to be as wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove.  Stupidity is not one of the fruits of God's Spirit.

[Dennis Vogel]

Jesus also said to be as wise as a serpent and as gentle as a dove.  Stupidity is not one of the fruits of God's Spirit.

As long as we do not confuse ignorance with being stupid.

And I'm not sure I agree with this statement. Does a low I.Q. mean you are not qualified to be in the former resurrection?

However, God does blind most, but that does not make them stupid, just blind.

[Duane]

YEAH!  Just because I'm insane, doesn't mean I'm stupid! 

[Deborah-Leigh]

You can be the smartest cookie in the box, if you haven't sweated the butter in the cooking process, and your sugar hasn't melted then you're just a piece of unrefined lard and sticky floury goo.  If you don't have maturity, it means squat! ~ ...or you're simply "...a clanging cymbal!" 1 Cor 13: 1 ~ 

Emotional intelligence consists of 5 main areas:

• Intrapersonal skills – the conversation we have
with ourselves on a daily basis
• Interpersonal skills – our interactions with
others
• Stress Management – our resilience
• Adaptability – how flexible we are
• General mood – our happiness and optimism http://web.up.ac.za/sitefiles/File/hpc/Emotional%20Intelligence,%20Life%20and%20Sport.pdf

Written over two thousand years ago, what for me defines best, Emotional intelligence ~.... that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us....1Cor 13 :1 Amplified version. ~

Arc