Living Squinty-Eyed

By Cheri Cowell –

Sunglasses in Florida are just a part of life, but that part of life gets more complicated when you wear prescription glasses. This past Saturday, I knew we were going to be out in the sun all day and decided to wear my contacts, keeping my sunglasses on a string around my neck. This was a much easier method swapping between my regular glasses prescription sunglasses. The only real downside to this decision is I can’t really see with my contacts. Oh, I can see to walk, but don’t ask me to read anything. I end up squinting, a lot, when I need to read.

Jesus actually talked about living a squinty-eyed life versus a life lived with wide-eyed wonder.

This passage in Matthew approaches the idea of light and eyes from two different angles. One being the eye as the window through which light enters, and the other as the lens through which man visions the world. Jesus uses both interpretations to teach the lesson that seeing the way God sees is the only way to see truthfully. If you and I want to live a life full of light, we must do so without squinty-eyed greed and distrust.

PRAYER: God, I Praise You for helping me see things with more of a God’s eye view. Help me to live more wide-eyed and less squinty-eyed so I might be filled to overflowing with wide-eyed wonder.

“Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!” (Matthew 6:22-23 MSG).

Clothed

By Cheri Cowell –

My mother is a terrific seamstress and made most of my clothes as I was growing up. What she didn’t make, we received as hand-me-downs from my cousins. I learned early that the clothes I wore made a statement about me, and that it also had an influence on my attitude. If I dressed sloppy, my attitude was sloppy, and if I was proud of what I was wearing I carried myself with pride. I also learned to prepare what I was going to wear the next day on the night before. This way I could make sure my clothes were ready and appropriate for the event. I still do this even today.

Jesus told a parable about clothing yourself properly and having a right attitude. He has something to say to all of us about choosing our “clothes.”

It was customary in Jesus’ day to receive two invitations to a wedding. The first invitation informed guests that the feast was being planned–a sort of “save the date” notice. The second invitation was an announcement telling everyone it was time to come. Along with the second invitation, wedding clothes were also sent for the guest to wear to the banquet. It was considered an insult to the host not to wear the garments given.

In the Parable of the Wedding Banguet, not only did those first invited refuse to come, but one of the men who came with the second invitation refused to put on the royal robe. As gentiles, you and I are receiving the second invitation. However, simply accepting the invitation is not enough; we must be appropriately dressed in robes of righteousness. These clothes have been provided for us. Have you put on the robe?

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for Your invitation. I recognize he filthy rags I still cling to and ask You to help me to finally take them off. Clothe me in Your garments which are clean, pure, and holy.

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless” (Matthew 22:11-12 NIV. See verses 1-14 for the full parable).

The Biggest Piece of Pie

By Cheri Cowell –

I am so grateful to my mother for teaching me the lesson of the biggest piece of pie. Whenever mom made a pie, cake, or any form of dessert, my sister and I were taught the biggest piece always went to daddy. At the time, I hated this practice in our home. She explained to my sister and me that we wouldn’t have dessert if it weren’t for daddy’s hard work.

This was so much a part of our homelife that when I went to a friend’s house and the children received the biggest pieces of pie, I actually felt strange. Later, when I married, this lesson of serving others the biggest piece of pie was one I really appreciated. God wants us to take that lesson a little further.

In the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, Jesus makes the point that service is more important than status in His kingdom. If we are always expecting the best seat in the house, the last soda in the refrigerator, or the biggest piece of pie, then we’re not seeking God’s way, we’re seeking ours. The way we view others and ourselves is often not seen in the big things we do, it is demonstrated in the little ways we serve others.

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for all the little ways You show how much You care. Reveal to me today ways I may need to give someone else a bigger piece of the pie.

“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited” (Luke 14:8 NIV. See 7-14 for full parable).

Beyond Understanding

By Cheri Cowell –

“Can you tell me that my son has gone to heaven?” the mother asked the hospital chaplain.

Not knowing the family, and only knowing that the boy had committed suicide, the chaplain looked deeply into the soul of the seeking mother’s eyes. He wondered, What do I tell her? What is the right thing to say, Lord? Then he tenderly said, “Tell me about your son.” As the mother poured out her heart about the life of her only child, she heard within her own words the answer to her question, and the chaplain was once again reminded that true wisdom isn’t always the textbook answer. God’s answers sometimes carry wisdom that is beyond our understanding.

When God offered Solomon whatever he wished, he asked for wisdom or discernment and not wealth. God was pleased with his request and gave him an abundance of wisdom, and in the first account of the use of Solomon’s gift, he found himself in a dilemma between two mothers. This scenario would have been difficult for anyone, yet Solomon knew he possessed something outside of himself that would make all the difference. Often the solution to our own dilemmas is not logical, easily seen, or reasoned. But when the solution comes from God we will know, for His solutions are perfect and wise.
“Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother.” When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice” (1 Kings 3: 27-28 NIV).
PRAYER: I praise You God for Your perfect wisdom. Help me seek Your wisdom when it would be easier to rely upon my own logic, reason, or understanding. Thank You for always providing Your wisdom that is beyond my understanding but not beyond Yours.

The Welcome Mat

By Cheri Cowell –

Hospitality is big business today. Businesses even hire outside firms to help them offer better hospitality. These experts look at everything from the colors of the walls to the scents in the air. They train people on the best practices and explain that it is often the little things that say, “You are important here.”

God felt the same way about His temple.

It was to be God’s welcome mat to the whole world. Through it and the people He chose to oversee it, all the nations of the earth were to be welcomed into God’s presence. Isaiah had recorded God’s hospitality training manual for the temple leaders in chapter 56, verses 4-8, but over the years that system had been corrupted. Instead of welcoming people, the temple system had become a way to exclude people. In Mark chapter 11, we see that during Passover week, a time when all the nations would gather in the city, Jesus was angry about how His Father’s house was being used. The temple should have rolled out welcome mat, but instead, it put up barriers, and Jesus could no longer take it.

Jesus quotes Isaiah and Jeremiah, passages that the temple leaders would have known well. They knew what they were doing was wrong, but when confronted they chose to blame the messenger rather than look at their own sin. When reading this passage it is easy for us to point fingers at the temple leaders, but the question still rings true for us. How welcoming are our houses of prayer? Are peoples of all nations, social and economic status, educational levels, physical ability, and religious affiliations welcomed by us? Do we make it easy for those who are different to join in and feel a part of our family?

PRAYER: Dear, God, please forgive us for turning Your house into a den of thieves, robbing Your intended purpose for us to be the welcome mat for all to come to You. Help me be aware of those who may need the hand of hospitality extended to them in the name of Jesus, the Messiah.

“On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers” (Mark 11:15-16 NIV).

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