A
daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and
exhortation.
Send a message to Stephen & Brooksyne
Thursday,
October
29,
2020
Lebanon County
farm near Blue Mountain as seen from our Tuesday morning
back-road wanderings.
Click on photo to enlarge
Click on photo to enlarge
"A
Message To All Who Wander"
Message summary: Today let us make a firm resolve to listen to the truth and not wander off into myths.
Listen
to this message on your audio player."For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:3-5).
On Tuesday, after we hiked a small portion of the Appalachian Trail, we drove over for a second chaplaincy visit that doesn't require our arrival at a specific time, so I purposefully wandered. Rather than getting back on I-78, the most direct route, I took a country road along Blue Mountain. I knew that as long as I stayed alongside the mountain ridge heading southwestward I would get to where I was going. You see, I like to wander. But I was not lost! Wander in this sense means to go idly about.
"Not all those who wander are
lost" is a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien in "The Lord Of
The Rings". This quote has the sense that just
because you have no fixed abode and have a nomadic
lifestyle, it does not necessarily mean that you are
living without purpose. Just because a person
continually travels does not mean they are lost.
Well I don't have a nomadic lifestyle and I do have a fixed abode but I still like to wander when I travel (and after 44 years of marriage Brooksyne has gotten used to my peculiar ways). People have commented on our photos in Daily Encouragement to the effect "You must travel a lot". We do travel but most of our photos are local and taken in the course of wandering a bit off the main path as we go from workplace to workplace with the exception of our vacation travels.
But there are certainly several ways we don't want to wander. This is in the sense of the word meaning "to go astray morally". We hear about people wandering in their marriage and even wandering eyes.
Robert Robinson wrote in 1758 "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love" (From the hymn, "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing"). It doesn't matter where you live, it doesn't matter how long you've walked with God, and it doesn't matter the kind of family you were brought up in. We all know our heart's propensity to wander and behave in a sinful manner, and when sin goes unchecked for a period of time, it turns our hearts away from God.
Today's text speaks of those who "will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths". "Wander" here means literally to turn off the course. There are many myths and they vary by the age we live in. There are surely myths believers in previous generations were tempted to wander into that would no longer be tempting today, but there are some they couldn't imagine from their generation that are a great source of departure today.
Consider this note from the Precept Austin online commentary: "In Romans Paul taught that when individuals "exchanged the truth of God for a (the) lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator", the consequence of "turning away their ears from the truth" was that "God gave them over to degrading passions… " and when "they did not see fit to acknowledge God (Who is the essence of Truth) any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper."
Today let us make a firm resolve to listen to the truth and not wander off into myths.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Well I don't have a nomadic lifestyle and I do have a fixed abode but I still like to wander when I travel (and after 44 years of marriage Brooksyne has gotten used to my peculiar ways). People have commented on our photos in Daily Encouragement to the effect "You must travel a lot". We do travel but most of our photos are local and taken in the course of wandering a bit off the main path as we go from workplace to workplace with the exception of our vacation travels.
But there are certainly several ways we don't want to wander. This is in the sense of the word meaning "to go astray morally". We hear about people wandering in their marriage and even wandering eyes.
Robert Robinson wrote in 1758 "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love" (From the hymn, "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing"). It doesn't matter where you live, it doesn't matter how long you've walked with God, and it doesn't matter the kind of family you were brought up in. We all know our heart's propensity to wander and behave in a sinful manner, and when sin goes unchecked for a period of time, it turns our hearts away from God.
Today's text speaks of those who "will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths". "Wander" here means literally to turn off the course. There are many myths and they vary by the age we live in. There are surely myths believers in previous generations were tempted to wander into that would no longer be tempting today, but there are some they couldn't imagine from their generation that are a great source of departure today.
Consider this note from the Precept Austin online commentary: "In Romans Paul taught that when individuals "exchanged the truth of God for a (the) lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator", the consequence of "turning away their ears from the truth" was that "God gave them over to degrading passions… " and when "they did not see fit to acknowledge God (Who is the essence of Truth) any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper."
Today let us make a firm resolve to listen to the truth and not wander off into myths.
Be encouraged today,
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
Daily
prayer: Father, You speak to
the hearts of those who have no relationship with
You; either because they have not heard, they
heard but rejected the message of salvation, or
they once walked with You but have wandered away
from the faith. Surely Your arm is not too short
to save, nor Your ear too dull to hear those who
respond to Your calling. In Christ Jesus we who
formerly were far off have been brought near by
the blood of Christ and we will be forever
grateful. Help us to listen to the truth and not
wander off into false doctrine or endless myths.
Amen.Definition of "wander":
1a: to move about without a fixed course, aim, or goal
1b: to go idly about: RAMBLE wandering around the house
2: to follow a winding course: MEANDER
3a: to go astray (as from a course): STRAY wandered away from the group
3b: to go astray morally.
Here
are some more photos from our rural
Pennsylvania wanderings on Tuesday morning:
Wandering in the first sense of
this message (wandering as we travel) can
be a blessing and is an expression of
curiosity and inquisitiveness. Yesterday I
was at a company only about ten miles from
an Appalachian Trail trail-head. I spoke
to a young man who lives nearby but he had
never been on the Appalachian Trail. I
just can't imagine not being more curious
than that which reminds me of a story of a
visitor to Niagara Falls, New York who had
stopped to ask a local about directions to
the falls. The local told him he had heard
of them but had never been to see them!
For westerners that's like someone being
ten miles from the Grand Canyon and never
going to see it!
Berks
County barn
Berks
County farm
Click on photo to enlarge
Click on photo to enlarge
Lebanon
Valley mountain scene
Click on photo to enlarge
Click on photo to enlarge
We
even meandered underneath the I-81 bridges
over Swatara Creek.
Send a message to
Stephen & Brooksyne
To receive the
"Daily Encouragement" each Monday-Friday
through email see this
page to subscribe to our email list. You can also
subscribe to the Wordpress rss feed or
through a Wordpress email subscription.
(See the email subscription on the right side
after opening this page)
We want to thank all who
financially support our ministry. We
realize there are many fine ministries and
causes requesting support but if the Lord
would lead you we surely need and appreciate
the financial support from our readers and
listeners. Our ministry
labor is comprised of approximately half our
time to Daily Encouragement and the other half
to our chaplaincy ministry to companies for
which we receive compensation. Each of these
ministries essentially is the same as a
part-time job (20+ hours weekly) for each of
us. Our goal for many years is that each would
provide half of our ministry expenses and
income.
If you would consider making a donation to our ministry see here for more information.
To donate directly online here. This will open to a page that designates the offering to: WEBER,STEPHEN CHAP, Specialized Chaplaincy Ministry ID: 700001-237376
If you would consider making a donation to our ministry see here for more information.
To donate directly online here. This will open to a page that designates the offering to: WEBER,STEPHEN CHAP, Specialized Chaplaincy Ministry ID: 700001-237376
Please Note:
We also provide this easy option due to
the convenience, for international
supporters, and for those who may not be
concerned regarding receiving an official
tax deductible receipt.
Click
here to send an offering using
PayPal. This will open to a page that
states "Brooksyne Weber".Permissions:
Please feel free to pass on, reproduce and
distribute any material on Daily Encouragement
Net, in part or in whole, in any format,
provided that you do not alter the wording in
any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of
reproduction. It is our desire to spread this
material, not protect or restrict it. We do
request that you keep the contact, copyright and subscription
information intact.
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
Scripture references are from The Holy Bible: New International Version. © 1984 by International Bible Society; NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. and the King James Version.
Personal Mission Statement: "I am created by God to bring Him glory. Through God's Son Jesus Christ I have been redeemed and make it my life's goal to please the Lord. My mission in life is to honor God through my faith and obedience and prepare myself and all whom I may influence for eternity."
© Copyright 2020 Stephen C. & Brooksyne
Weber - All Rights Reserved
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA
Daily Encouragement Net - 495 Kraybill Church Road - Mount Joy, PA 17552 USA