Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was
leading Israel at that time. — Judges 4:4

Deborah show's us powerful leadership. That is
feminine leadership — nurturing and encouraging,
inspiring growth through love.

There is a story about a circus clown and an
elephant who sits on the clown’s hat. The clown
gestures wildly and yells at the elephant to move,
but the animal ignores him. Frustrated, the clown
kicks the elephant, but all he gets is a sore foot.
Finally, the clown ridiculously and unsuccessfully
tries to lift the elephant. After that, he plops down
defeated and eats a peanut. Upon smelling the
peanut, the elephant immediately gets up and
walks over to the clown, freeing the hat from
underneath him.

When we want to get someone to do something —
be it our children, our spouse, co-workers, or
friends — there are two ways we can go about it.
We can use force, or we can use love. As Deborah
teaches, and as the clown unwittingly demonstrates,
the softer touch is often a more powerful force for
change.

Whom might you motivate this week? More
importantly, how?

With prayers for shalom, peace,

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein

Scripture:

 Psalms 22:30-31 NLT
30 Our children will also serve him. Future
generations will hear about the wonders of
the Lord. 31 His righteous acts will be told
to those not yet born.

Reflection:

If we want our children to serve the Lord,
they must hear about him from us. It is not
enough to rely on the church or those with
more knowledge to provide all their Christian
education. We must reinforce the lessons
of the Bible in our homes.

Scripture:

Evil people don't understand justice, but those
who follow the Lord understand completely.
Proverbs 28:5 NLT

Awareness of justice

Justice means righteousness, lawfulness, and
moral rightness, the quality of being true or correct,
the moral principle determining just conduct. So
justice has a moral quality. It contains a concept
of what is right and, therefore, must also have a
concept of what is wrong. Only people who
understand these concepts of right and wrong can
understand and administer justice. By extension,
only those who follow the Lord can understand
justice. Why? Because they subscribe to the
foundational laws of the one who created them.

Thus, as this proverb points out, evil people don't
understand justice. Because they refuse to
subscribe to justice's moral underpinnings given
by God in his Word, they are left to discover their
own truths. As a result, many conclude that there
is no truth. Others conclude that everyone can
have different truths. Both perspectives are
hopelessly doomed. And as a building without a
foundation will crumble, so justice can never be
served without the foundation of right and wrong
as given by God in his Word.

WISE WAYS  What are you using for your
foundation? Where do you get your concept of
truth, of right and wrong?

Prayer:

Today, Lord, teach me the foundational truths about
life that are given in your Word.

(Adapted from The One Year® Book of Proverbs, by
Neil S. Wilson, Tyndale House Publishers (2002),
entry for February 28
Children are innocent and love justice, while most
adults are wicked and prefer mercy.
G K CHESTERTON Delay of justice is injustice.
WALTER S LANDOR)