Frozen Shingles

Good morning and welcome in.  Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.

Almost 20 years ago my family decided to move out to a small little town in northern Minnesota. The town is only about four blocks long and it was a huge change for me because I worked and lived in towns with over a hundred thousand people.  I was motivated by biblical mandates and found some inexpensive land and decided to put up a real small starter home that we could add on to in case we needed more room.  Our goal was to live as inexpensively as possible and as much as we could, without any bills at all.  

Everybody was anxious and ready to move into the woods as soon as possible but the only problem was that it was the end of January. It was a very cold winter that year with temperatures from 30 to 40 below.  We were fairly poor and I really didn’t have a good pair of winter boots or gloves. I would come out to the property each day and work on our new home, but by the end of the day I could barely feel my feet and my hands. The cold Arctic air seemed to blow right through my jacket like I had a t-shirt on.  The only place I could warm up was in the car with the heater on.  When it finally came time to start on the roof I had to tie myself to a tree with a rope to ensure I wouldn’t fall off.

The most grueling and hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life was shingling that house in 40 below. I was all by myself carrying those heavy bundles up onto the roof. Some days there was so much ice that the shingles would slide right off and hit the ground.  I would later find some of them broken in the pack from the cold.

This reminds me of the Christian Life.

What is one of the most grievous and grueling things that you’ve ever experienced in your life?  Grievous is caused or characterized by severe pain, suffering, or sorrow such as a grievous wound. Although roofing my house in 40 below was grievous, there is nothing grievous about keeping the commandments of God.  

1 John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

What difficulty is it to simply love God and each other?  Is it really that hard?  One time at the gas station, somebody was asking me what to do about their neighbor who they were having great difficulty with.  I told them to treat them the way that they would want to be treated and to love them.  His response was “do I really have to?”  Isn’t that the way that each of us are in our fleshy human nature? We want to retaliate but the Lord Jesus wants us to learn how to love one another as he loved us.  The scriptures clearly teach us that God loves us dearly.  His love for this sinful world is absolutely amazing in the fact that He sent and allowed His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins.

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God loved us even before we repented and converted from our sinful condition.

Romans 5:8 – But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Each of us are sinners in the eyes of God who need to be redeemed through the blood of Christ. Nobody kept the law perfectly and we have all come short of pleasing God.  Even though we’ve made mistakes, God still extends His incredible love to this world in the fact that He sent His son Jesus as a payment for our transgressions.

1 John 4:10 – Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The Apostle Paul was truly a man who understood God’s love.

Galatians 2:20 – I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

When we become a Christian we get baptized by full submersion in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. When I baptized my youngest son, he approached me and said that he was ready to get “bath-tized“.   All of my children freely made that choice.  When we finally accept God’s love and forgiveness, it’s time for each of us to look into the heavens and return the great love that God has given to us.

1 John 4:19 – We love him, because he first loved us.

To truly love God in return, is to keep His commandments and they are not grievous.  How many of you have had a boss in the world who gave you a simple list of a few things to do during the workday, but you knew that you would have them done quickly and easily.  He made it easy for you.  How many of you have had a dad who gave you a list of a few things to do after school each day but they were simple things that wouldn’t take very much time. He made it easy for you.  The commandments of God are not grievous.

Matt 11:28-30  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

A commandment is an authoritative order  to be obeyed.

Matt 22:35-40 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Did you notice that in both of these commandments, the rule is to love others?  How grievous is that?  Even the Apostle wrote to the church and said that he had written to them in a few words.  There are commands in the New Testament by God but when it comes down to it, they are not grievous.  They are there to show us how to love Him and one another. How grievous is that?

Walking In love is far easier, than picking up…..

……Frozen Shingles

Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.

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