Now Think On This - Steve Martin: rewards

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Friday, June 2, 2017

Eat Your Food Zoe - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Eat Your Food Zoe

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach (Revelations 22:12-13, NASU)

Do you like to get a reward? Don’t you feel a bit more inspired to achieve something if there is a “carrot at the end of the stick”?

OK, for the young ones under 30 - you may not know what that old school saying means. So how about this one, “Do what I tell you to do and you will get an iPhone for your birthday.” Got it?

We have a dog. Her name is Zoe Girl Martin (full name on her pedigree papers). She is a Dachshund - a wiener do, a hot dog. And she is a bit overweight for being 10, or 70 years in human terms. (But don’t we all…)

Zoe likes to eat. Dog food. Human food. Any kind of food. I know, that isn’t the best for her, but when she looks at you with those beautiful brown eyes, and whimpers her sweet, sweet sounds, what can I say? A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

Zoe - her Facebook profile photo from 5 years back. (Just kidding.)

She didn't want me showing yesterday's photo. Must be a girl thing.

What Zoe likes best, as I imagine all dogs do, are the treats. Give them a treat as a reward for being obedient and they do what you want them to do. They may not completely understand that doing what is good to do is good to do anyway, but dangling a treat in front of her helps her achieve the proper goal.

When there are times Zoe doesn’t necessarily like her same old, same old food for supper, we remind her of the treat she gets once her plate is all cleaned up. For her, nothing is better than a “rawhide” bone, or a real steak bone rarely (or medium rare) brought home from Longhorn Restaurant. (My favorite!)

Amazing how it works. When you are given the promise of a reward after a job well done, or obeying a command even when you don’t understand why, but know that the reward is worth the blood, sweat and tears, then you find the strength and courage to do it. Whatever it takes. Right? Say yes.

Your faith in the Person doing the promising gives you the hope and the will to press on.

“You who bring good news to Tziyon, get yourself up on a high mountain; you who bring good news to Yerushalayim, cry out at the top of your voice! Don’t be afraid to shout out loud!

Say to the cities of Y’hudah, “Here is your God! Here comes Adonai Elohim with power, and his arm will rule for him. Look! His reward is with him, and his recompense is before him.” Isaiah 40:9-10, Complete Jewish Bible)

“The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely He is God who judges in the earth." (Psalms 58:10-11, NKJV)

Max Greiner, Jr. artwork design (Look here.)

Our Lord Jesus Christ promises us a reward. The one that counts in the end.

Even after He Himself lived, died, buried and rose again; even after He saved us, called us, and sends His Holy Spirit to be with us every day and everywhere, He STILL promises us a reward at the end of our time.

To put it another way, as does the well-known saying, “Such a deal.” It is the real deal.

What other encouragement do we need to hear, obey, do His will, and get the job done?

Be encouraged today. His reward here on earth and eternal life in heaven should be enough to spur you on until the end.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

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Now Think On This - In the Year of our Lord 05.31.17 - #287 – “Eat Your food Zoe” – Wednesday, 4:30 am

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This

Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

Persistently Consistent - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Persistently Consistent

Now Think On This

Steve Martin

“Four things on the earth are small; nevertheless, they are very wise — the ants, a species not strong, yet they store up their food in the summer…” (Proverbs 30:24-25, Complete Jewish Bible)

We all have heard stories of the ants, of how they work and work and work. I can certainly attest to that. Living here in the South (southeastern part of the USA) over these past 30 years have presented many encounters with the red fire ants. These are the ones that when they bite you, you know it because it hurts. Then a short time later, small, red blisters cover your ankles or elsewhere on those parts of the body that were exposed. Sometimes they even get you under your socks, and then it is later that you feel their bite. Just great.

I have found a method that works for me, to rid my beautiful, weed infested yard of their hills. For if you don’t deal with them, you will have nice mountains of red clay all over your scenery. So what I found that works is this.

Step on the mound with your foot (shoe on of course) to flatten the mound out. This causes them to eventually move on to the neighbor’s yard. Or if the mound has already grown to be bigger than your foot, take a plank of wood, lay it on top, step on it, and then roll it over to smash the next section. Repeat as needed. Works every time! No pesticides. No hot buckets of water to carry. No bleach killing the rest of your lawn.

It must be said of the ant colonies – they are persistently consistent.

They never give up. They never give in. They keep on working even better than the Energizer bunny did. (Is he still around, or did his battery finally die out?)

One thing that I have found that also “works” in my Christian life, in order to be faithful in the small and the large, is to be persistently consistent in what I do. Then I trust, as He promised, that I will finish the race and get His reward.

After all, who doesn’t like rewards? Even Zoe, our 10-year-old loving Dachshund, knows that if she consistently finishes her doggy supper she gets a rawhide bone! You can bet she likes rewards.

Zoe driving my Hyundai Elantra.

"If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people's things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?”

(Luke 16:10-12) New Living Translation

Want to know what are some things in the disciplined Christian life that pleases our Father in heaven? Seeing His children be faithful in prayer, spending time learning about His ways in His Written Word, and being the one who others can count on when a need is needing to be met.

If you learn to be persistently consistent in your doing, you shall obtain the reward, and help others achieve that objective also.

Good servants of the Most High can be counted on, for they have learned to press on and not give up.