Psalm 94:19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.

Comfort for Christians is an important issue. We all desire to be right, in right standing, to do good, and that is difficult to accomplish if we constantly have to deal with sin issues. More often than not we look to the word justified to comfort us on the choices we have made that haven’t worked out perfectly.

Justified, just as if it never happened. But it did happen. Justified, it is not accounted to your ledger. Isn’t that just bad book keeping? Your sins are nailed to the cross. Why would I take comfort in seeing my hands driving nails into my Savior’s hands?

I find no comfort in justification by taking a worldly view of it. Justification is a God view and to have a proper understanding, I have to look at it from His point of view. In doing so I was comforted with an understanding that satisfied all my concerns.

I see Jesus in heaven with an old fashion hand pump. He has primed the pump, given to us the Holy Spirit. Now He goes to work, faith in action. What comes out and fills the vessel is JUST what the pump was designed to retrieve.

Matthew 6:20-21 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The pump is drawing from the well of my heart. I take comfort it that is not being drawn from my stinky feet. I will find other words to deal with my sins, I will not justify them.

John 4:48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.

There are all kinds of signs. Some are serious, some are funny. Some help you find your direction, some warn of possible danger. Some signs you see so often you do not pay any attention to them and if they were changed, you might not notice. When did they raise the speed limit on I-35 to 75 MPH?

I’ve had signs on my mind all week. I’ve been looking for meaning and I was unsure if I was going to find anything meaningful in my seeking. Maybe that’s the wonder part. Then something happened yesterday that brought the subject into focus.

I was speaking at the Men’s Breakfast at church and must have used the word “nobody” without thinking that it was a negative absolute. A man called me on it. In a loud gruff tone he said, “Don’t say nobody. That’s not true.” My reaction was first to be hurt then defensive. Guess what, “There’s your sign!”

I was defensive because there have been so many times that I jump on a word and make a big deal out of it. It has nothing to do with being right or wrong, it has everything to do with being gracious in correction. No one likes to be confronted abrasively. I can accept correction, I am not so stiff necked as to deny I make mistakes. The manner in which correction is administered does matter. For the sake of fellowship, be gracious in correction.

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Pride is easier to swallow if seasoned properly.