Worthy of Praise

What can you give in appreciation to the one who has given you everything that you have?

The Meaning of Life

How can you truly know somebody is trustworthy you have never had the opportunity to entrust anything to them?? Life is an opportunity to acquire a steadfast faith that is tried and true.

The Living Gospel

The Bible is a book.

The Gospel is a powerful living hope!

The Secret of The Narrow Gate

Finding the Gate is one thing. Fitting through the gate is something else:-

Matthew 7:13-14

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it

.

The GIFT

As a general rule we tend to like our gifts wrapped .... sometimes a little too much!

The Truth of Tolerance

Tolerance is not forcing everybody to agree - that's intolerance.

Tolerance is allowing people to agree - to disagree. But to disagree with that which is true is not tolerance, it is foolishness.

Where Peace Lies

Apparently I can publish my new YouTube Videos here at the same time. Expect some more. 

Hope you find them rewarding and enjoyable.

The Gift

As I stand and gaze beneath the tree

All the presents in common have something I see.

Beautifully and neatly wrapped they be.

But what of the gift of Christ the King?

For it is a gift for us to give to Him.

But how should it be wrapped – that is the thing?

Some wrap His gift in the traditions of men.

Some wrap it tightly in rituals so solemn,

Like too much tape applied too often.

Some lock it up in precious chests of gold,

Encrusted with Jewels and intricately engraved and scrolled,

Where it lays dying in the dark midst the dust and the mould.

And some dress it up in embroidered robes,

And build it palaces and ornate abodes,

As the gift gets lost amid the bricks and the folds.

But as I stand and survey the world I see

The gift of Christ is everlasting life, abundant and free.

But in what is it wrapped? It is wrapped in ... ME!

Copyright D.J. Ludlow 2009.

(From my SGM eBook anthology "Life, Death, and Something Else" that is freely downloadable from

My Small GIFTS Ministries download folders

#smallgiftsministries #ttpagoTLa

Life Boats

LIFE BOATS

(By D.J. Ludlow)

I was sitting down by the jetty the other day. It was one of those beautiful sunny days when the ocean looks like so many diamonds on blue velvet. The long pacific swell gently rocking the water in the little harbour. There was something very restful and calming about the gentle slap, slop, bump that only small boats at rest can make. My eyes drifted and meandered in and out of the scenery but kept coming back to the little boats all around me. Some at anchor, some tied up to the jetty, some tethered to buoys. I found myself mesmerised by their gentle rocking and bobbing. I think it was quite some time before another piece of the puzzle that was my life clicked into place.

The boat is a strange creature, designed for neither land nor sea but rather somewhere in-between. It is a creation that only has meaning when it is upon water, but that meaning can only be interpreted in relation to the land. The whole purpose of a boat is to keep that which is within it dry and afloat - above the water as it were. And yet it can only be navigated by reference to the land and the sky above - places where it has no purpose. Each voyage is defined by the shores it touches and yet the ocean is its only home - and also its greatest enemy. But for all that it is so not unlike the life of a Christian in this world.

If I were a fish swimming in the ocean of life these strange creations, in my world but not of it, would all look pretty much the same to me. Different in size and may be in colour but all roughly of a similar shape. New arrivals would be smooth skinned and unblemished while those of great age would tend to a certain shagginess, a barnacled roughness of skin and the accumulated blotchiness of much time spent in my world. And yet their greatest diversity, greatest meaning, and intrinsic value would remain hidden from me in the air above my world. Much I guess as we can see only the outward appearance of the people we meet every day.

Their comings and goings would remain incomprehensible to me, as if they were driven by something within themselves. Something I could not see but which guided their paths in ways that make no sense to me here below in my underwater world. It would seem that my world holds nothing for them as they journey from places unseen to places unknown. Sometimes steadily and surely, sometimes as if blown about by forces not of my world. Sometimes they fall and become part of my world. Lifeless hulks no more inhabited by the spark that guided them - it has gone to another place not of my world. Sometimes they flounder and wallow until they can right themselves or until others of their kind come to help. And some get stuck - afloat, but going nowhere. Sometimes I feel like I am one of those. Shipwrecked on the uncharted reef of Multiple Chemical Intolerances. Afloat still but going nowhere.

What do you do when you are stuck in the middle of life's ocean? No longer free to roam the seas of the world. I can neither sail on nor am I yet on that further shore. I must spend some time on this island, this island in the Son. How long? I do not know. But while I am here maybe I can build a small safe harbour over there. A place where others, such as yourself, can briefly anchor and join me in some light refreshments. Where news can be exchanged, and maybe maps obtained. A place where others stranded on this island can meet and seek shelter. And out there on the headland above the reef we call MCS perhaps we can build a lighthouse, and perhaps save others from this fate.

D.J. Ludlow Copyright 2001.

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(I first published this probably sometime between 2001 and 2004 on my original "Views From an Island Place" blog on Bigpond's old "Big Blog" site which is sadly no more. A copy however is still on my "AuthorsDen" page. I had no idea what to call this new style of writing I suddenly found myself doing. It seemed to combine the flow and imagery of poetry with the sentence and paragraph structure of prose. So for want of a better name I called it "Prosetry".

I was quite surprised recently to find I may have inadvertently invented both the name and category. A chance Google search I did recently found "Prosetry"  alive and well and popping up all over the internet since 2001-2004  as a new literary form. 

I'll leave some literary / history buffs to work that one out but seeing as my Prosetry style is a "thing" now I thought it timely to republish some on my new "Views from an Island Place" blog. I hope you enjoy them and find them rewarding in some small way at least.)

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Do We Rob God?

Malachi 3:8-12 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be FOOD in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. s “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

----oOo----

If you go to church it is almost a certainty that you will have, at sometime, listened to somebody talking about giving and offerings - probably more than once. Recently my attention has been drawn once again to this important question of giving and offering and how much is the right amount to give or offer. However this time the Lord seemed to want me to dig deeper into His word on the subject rather than the many thoughts of others. It was like digging up buried, long forgotten, treasures. And while digging around in His word this one thought kept surfacing - are churches today struggling because it is we who are robbing God even as we are giving generously to our church? How is that even possible?

The deeper I dug into the word of God on the matter the more fascinating were the things I uncovered. Things we seem to have forgotten about. But things I believe the Lord wants us to remember so that He can again pour out His blessing on His people. For the very things we rob Him of are the very things He wants to bless us with.

The death of Jesus on the cross put an end to the need for sin offerings. But sin offerings were not the only thing that the Lord's people brought into the Temple of God. There were many other types of offerings that were not for sins. But not all that was brought into the temple - was for the temple. God used some of the things that came into the Temple for other purposes - very important purposes.

One of the treasures I unearthed as I not only dug deep into the word but also deep into my own preconceived notions, was the understanding that while these days there is a tendency to call it the "collection", offerings were never about collecting. They were not about "pooling our resources". Rather they have always been about sharing and distribution of our resources. God does not eat meat, fruit, vegetables, or grains. Nor does He drink the fruit of the vine. Of what use is gold and precious stones to the one who already owns everything? The offerings were received by God, but not for Himself. He shared them and distributed them among His "dependants"

The tribe of Levi were not apportioned any land among the tribes of Israel by which they could support themselves. They were set apart by God as His servants and the offerings from their fellow Israelites were to feed and clothe and care for those who had foregone personal material gain and possessions in order to devote their time and energy, indeed their entire lives, to serving the God of Israel and His people.

Numbers 18:23-25 (NIV) It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites. 24 Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the Lord. That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’”

But the Levites were not the only ones in Israel that did not have the means to feed and clothe themselves. There were the, the widows, the fatherless, and the destitute from other lands who sought refuge among them. The offerings were to feed and clothe and care for them also.

There was one more surprising discovery I made. We speak often of the "tithe" as a standard of offering to attain or exceed. But the truth is the tithe is not an offering at all. It is not a mark of our generosity, it is an expectation of our duty. In reality the tithe is that part of our increase (income) that belongs to the Lord. We do not offer the tithe - we surrender it to the Lord who already owns it. Our generosity begins with anything we give beyond tithing.

"A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord." (Leviticus 27:30)

But it does not end there because the tithe did not belong to the Temple or its keepers, it belonged to God Himself. It was to be placed in HIS "storehouse" and used for a specific purpose. The tithe was to feed, clothe, and care for not only the Levites themselves whose only inheritence was the Lord, but also the fatherless, the widow, and the foreigners in need among them. These people had no families to look to for help, no lands to support them, they had only the Lord Himself as their provider. And the Lord looked to His people to ensure that a tenth of all He had blessed THEM with would be in His storehouse to provide for those among His people who had no provider but the Lord Himself.

Deuteronomy 26:12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.

The tithe was to ensure that ALL God's people and those who dwelt among them in His Promised Land were EQUALLY blessed. It is not by accident that the tribe of Levi plus the foreigners in need, the fatherless and the widows represented about one tenth of the population of Israel meaning the tithe produced one share that was about equal to all the other shares. (For those who are into maths 100%-10% = one 90% share and 9x10% = one 90% share).

The Lord has not put any time limit on the promise of Malachi 3 to HIS people. I believe the Lord still issues this challenge to us today also. If we, His people, bring His full tithe into His warehouse and distribute it for that which HE intended it to be used, He will pour out such blessing on His people that all the world will see it and call us blessed of God.

Provided it is done freely and without charge

"Do We Rob God?" may be copied, used and distributed

(in its entirety only, including this notice)

by brothers and sisters in Christ

to the profit and glory of The Lord alone (ttpagoTLa)

By special permission of 

D.J. Ludlow copyright 2019

#smallgiftsministries #ttpagoTLa