Keep It Clean!

This is a quick and fun page to represent the book of Leviticus. It might seem that Leviticus is full of detailed, tedious rules and regulations that we can't imagine following today, but we need to remember where God's people were in the process of His purpose. God was creating a people set apart, a people who would be holy because they followed a holy God. As His people, they needed to be pure and sanctified so God established the way for that to occur. Their obedience to rules for clean living would contribute to having clean and pure hearts before the Lord. 

If you were to summarize the book of Leviticus and its application for us today, it would be "keep it clean." The page is intended to be perky and fun, but it actually serves as a sobering reminder to me to live a clean life. Our bodies are houses for God's Spirit. We need to try to keep them free of contamination...a challenge in our culture I know. We need to keep our minds free of contamination. Our thoughts, words and actions all need to reflect that a pure, high and holy God lives within us. The little things do matter and Leviticus certainly reveals this truth. The details of God's commands show us that He cares very deeply about the details of our lives and how we are living them. We cannot look at Leviticus and think it is entirely irrelevant to our culture. We know Christ brought a new covenant and with it God freed us from the law, from some of the former obligations to attain righteousness. Believers were given a new freedom from some of the dietary laws, for example, but they were not excused from keeping themselves clean, pure and uncontaminated. We would probably all do well to continue to follow the health regulations of scripture, not in a legalistic way, but to enjoy the gifts of grace God gives us. We are well served by examining our lives, what we take in mentally, physically and emotionally and making sure we are keeping it clean!

I used some delightful stamps from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps to design the page: How Tweet, Silhouettes: Tall Grasses, Shake It Off Lowercase Alph, Seek Him. I just hand drew the bird bath, stamped the rest, drew the clothesline and punched out the hanging hearts. I used Copic markers for coloring, and Stampin' Up! inks for all the stamping.

Do You Ever Want to Fly Away?

 "And I say, 'Oh, that I had wings like a dove! 

I would fly away and be at rest; 

yes, I would wander far away...

I would hurry to find a shelter 

from the raging wind and tempest'." 

(Psalm 55:6-8)

 

Who of us hasn't wanted to run away from it all...just leave the worries, responsibilities, troubles behind and find a place of rest and shelter. Of course, all of us have wanted that. Even King David wanted to fly away. There are times when life is just so hard that we wonder if the struggle, pain, heartache, or thought is worth it.

In our flesh, we would probably answer, "No, this isn't worth it." But most of the time it is...because of what God can do with our challenges. The problem always is, God's timing usually takes longer than our patience or endurance lasts. God knows that. I believe He often waits to intervene until we fully relinquish our struggle to Him, until we lay it all at His feet in full surrender. When we've spent ourselves in sleepless nights and anguished worry, we come to the Savior and hand our emptiness to Him. That's the only way He can fill us completely...to be emptied of ourselves, our resources, our thoughts, our ways, our plans.

The book of Psalms, chapters 55-57 shown here are full of encouragement for those who, like King David, would just love to fly away to escape our problems. I invite you to go to your Bible, spend some time in these chapters. I promise they will strengthen and encourage you. They are wonderful passages to guide your prayer time.

For my pages, I've used Sweet 'n Sassy stamps (Skinny Lowercase Alpha, Rebecca Script Alpha, and How Tweet), Copic markers to color and Washi Tape accents

Choose Optimism!

Worry. What good does it do? Matthew 6:25-27 clearly says worry will not accomplish a thing. In fact, it inhibits our faith. If you read the passage (pictured below), I hope you'll notice that Jesus is instructing us not to worry about anything...neither the big things (your life and sustenance) nor the little things (what you will wear). Worry of any kind is a disruption to our reliance on God and His provision for us. Jesus goes on to describe how the birds of the air and flowers of the field flourish under His care, and states we are by far more important than they are. Our times are in His hand (Ps. 31:15), so we can't add any time to our days or life by worrying. We might even impair our health and shorten our days by worry. 

I have to confess. By nature, I'm a worrier. My imagination goes wild some days when I contemplate all the ways life could go awry. Most of the time it doesn't, and when it does, it's usually temporary. The small percentage that does come about isn't half as bad as I thought it would be. How much more enjoyable is the life of the eternal optimist? We can certainly choose that. In fact, when we consider God, the certain hope we have in Him and all that He has already done for us, isn't optimism the only course?

Believers, let's choose joy and hope today...and choose not to worry about anything today!
The background of this Bible page is done with Pan Pastel chalks. The stamped images (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps) are colored in with Copic markers. (Yes, they bleed through and no, I don't worry about it!).

 Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps is still celebrating 9 years of operation all month long. Check out their FB page for details on Korin's great deals. https://www.facebook.com/sweetnsassystamps/

 

How Tweet

 

Furry Friends

GET FREE STAMPS with purchase. Hurry offer ends soon.

 

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