Today's Walk With the Lord: Luke 5:38

Good Morning,

 

Luke 5:38 states:

 

New wine must be put into new leather bags.

 

New wine is not like aged wine. It does not taste good and it must be aged to be of value.

 

Old leather bags hold old wine, the bags have held their wine as it aged and matured. New wine placed in old bags will not shorten the aging process. The process must follow its course. Aged leather bags eventually fall apart, and this will cause the wine to spill out.

 

New wine must age to be good and thus it needs to go into new leather bags to come of age.

 

People are similar to wine. You cannot put on the clothes of an experienced person and expect to get their wisdom and experiences through osmosis. You can learn from them, and hear their tales, watch their actions, but this does not mean that you gain what they know. You must experience it yourself to ultimately know.

 

No, you must put on your own clothes and learn and grow on your own (no matter how fast you learn). You must gain your own experience and you must do your own learning.

 

It is at that time that a young person will age like fine wine and be of value.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

sanford@berenberg.net

www.berenberg.net

 

 

 

 

Bible quotes from www.biblegateway.com

 

Today's Walk With the Lord: Proverbs 12:26

Good Morning,

 

Proverbs 12:26 states:

 

Good people take advice from their friends, but an evil person is easily led to do wrong

 

Friends are there, in part, to help us. They have a vested interest in our success and we in theirs. They want what is best for us and they are willing to stand up to us and for us when they know we are making a mistake or taking the wrong path. Friends love us and care about us. And we should love and care for our friends as well. We should be there to help our friend up or be stern with a friend when they need it.

 

While no one is truly perfect we can do far worse than listening to the advice of our friends. For one thing we can gain the benefit of their collective wisdom and experience. When we are faced with taking on a task, but are not totally sure how to proceed, we often think of which friend may have that knowledge to share with us. It is natural.

 

What happens when we do not look for advice? We often learn the hard way. Learning the hard way is fine, so long as the consequences are not life endangering. It is at those times that we need the help of others and should get past our pride and ego and try not to go it alone.

 

To go it alone, to shun the advice of others, to feel and act as if we were an island and totally self-sufficient is foolhardy at best and can set us on a path of destruction at worst.

 

Why risk avoiding all the wisdom for the sake of our pride.

 

In the end of the day, you cannot have dinner or a cookout with your pride and ego. Why feed into them?

 

They will lead you down the wrong path if left unchecked.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

sanford@berenberg.net

www.berenberg.net

 

 

 

 

Bible quotes from www.biblegateway.com

 

Today's Walk With the Lord: Luke 4:24

Good Morning,

 

Luke 4:24 states:

 

Then Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, a prophet is not accepted in his hometown.”

 

People remember the experiences they have with those they grow up with and spend a lot of time with. They get to know who they are, what they do, how they think and act, etc.

 

When people hear a calling or successfully change their lives, they change who they are, what they do, how they think and act, etc.

 

Those people then, who knew them before the change or before they follow the calling often miss the changes and see what they know in the person prior to these changes. They only see these people for what they were in the past, what they did, how they thought and acted.

 

These people from the changed person’s hometown often miss out on the gifts and wisdom these folks who have changed now have because they choose to only see the changed person in the past tense, prior to the change.

 

Some will never let go of the small boy who used broke my window while playing baseball, or the girl who charged me too much for girl scout cookies and miss out on what these boys and girls turn out to be later in life.

 

This is why I believe why people who change themselves or follow a calling will not be accepted in their hometowns after the change.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

sanford@berenberg.net

www.berenberg.net

 

 

 

 

Bible quotes from www.biblegateway.com

 

Today's Walk With the Lord: Proverbs 12:17

Good Morning,

 

Proverbs 12:17 Says:

 

An honest witness tells the truth, but a dishonest witness tells lies

 

Honesty is still the best policy, even if it is brutally honest. Also, as we are commanded not to bear false witness (lie about others) we should strive to be honest in our lives.

 

This also means to be fair and honest in our words about others. To speak the truth.

 

Even if the truth is painful, it is the truth.

 

We can be dishonest when we try to lighten the burden of the message we are to give. We sometimes call it ‘sugar coating’ the bad news when we fear that it is so bad that others can not take it. We forget that the Lord will not give us anything that we cannot handle. Again, when we feel that we need to sugar coat something, we are limiting the size and power of our Lord by limiting what we feel He can do. God follows his rules, and we must continually learn not to limit Him with our point of view.

 

Looked at another way, when we mean to do well, but ‘sugar coat’ the news, we deprive others from being able see what is happening and make their own judgment. When we hear something that is watered down or an outright lie, we act off of falsehoods and often make mistakes. 

 

Even though we only tried to help, we hurt. Maybe there is where ‘help becomes betrayal’ because we mean to help, but by giving white lies to sugar coat the truth, we are in fact betraying our friends and loved ones….

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

sanford@berenberg.net

www.berenberg.net

 

 

 

 

Bible quotes from www.biblegateway.com

 

Today's Walk With the Lord - Psalm 37:16

Good Morning,

 

Psalm 37:16 States:

 

It is better to have little and be right, than to have much and be wrong

 

Being right is not an arrogant statement, rather it is about knowing the truth. Since the truth will set us free, being truthful, and living in the truth are the correct way to live. Otherwise we are living a lie, even if it is only a white lie, or shades of gray.

 

Knowing and living the truth is the key to a successful and prosperous life.

 

Imagine you are driving to a destination where you have never been to before. You are using a GPS on your dashboard to help you find the location. If the GPS is giving you truthful directions, unless the maps have not been updated in the GPS, then you will get to your destination. If, on the other hand, the GPS is giving you UN-truthful information, what will happen? You will get lost, or try driving down roads that the GPS says are in front of you, but in reality are not there.

 

Also, it is not about riches and plenty, it is about the truth. Even if you have little, when you live in the truth, you have the ability to do wondrous things. I bet you know many people who live ‘modest lives’ and have the ability to achieve amazing accomplishments. They live in the truth, and they do with what they have, and still get the job done.

 

When you are wrong, you are living outside of the truth and this almost always to troubles. I remember back in my college days at the University of Buffalo Engineering Program. I was told that after I finish my 4 year degree (which I did not, I dropped out back in 1988), I could get a job at an Engineering Firm who would promptly send me BACK to school to learn what I really needed to learn.

 

What was that about? If I was not learning what I needed to learn to do a job, then why was I learning it in the first place?

 

Even with riches, being wrong will not help you keep them. We hear “A fool and his money are often parted” and to avoid “throwing good money after bad”. Each of these indicates that no matter how wealthy you are if you are not living in the truth, eventually there will be problems.

 

Keep your eyes open and accept what is real and live in the present and life will be more enjoyable.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

sanford@berenberg.net

www.berenberg.net

 

 

 

 

Bible quotes from www.biblegateway.com

 

 

 

Today's Walk With the Lord - James 1:2-5

Good Morning,

 

James 1:2-5 states:

 

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

 

It is amazing what we can accomplish in life when we allow the Lord into our lives. But, it is deeper than that. We have to allow the Lord to be the Lord and not limit His ability with our standards. If our belief in the Lord is the size of our fist, then how much can he do? If we allow God to be the vast being that He is, what he can do is so much more. We must remember to not put our limits on Him.

 

For example, if we have faith in the Lord that He can help us out through a tough time, like when we are sick, or injured, than He will be able to do His work in our lives. If our situation is made more difficult, like having financial or marital issues on top of the injury and we lose hope, we have just limited God. To say that He can help us when our problems are small, but not when our problems are big is to put our limitations on the most unlimited being in the universe.

 

When tough times come, God is testing us. When the going gets tough, the tough continue to have faith.

 

Another aspect of this is patience. There is very seldomly an overnight success. Most successes come after long periods of study, practice and hard work. This takes patience and perseverance. When God works through us, He works through His time, not ours.

 

To put a time limit on how long we must wait for God to work in our lives is again putting human limitations on the Lord. How long did Abraham have to wait for God to deliver on His promise of Abraham and Sarah having a child? It was over 20 years wasn’t it?

 

We must have faith that whatever situations we find ourselves in God will help us if we remain faithful and patient for Him to work in our lives on His timetable.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

sanford@berenberg.net

www.berenberg.net

 

 

 

 

Bible quotes from www.biblegateway.com