"If we do not extend mercy, we demonstrate that we have not received mercy." - David Platt -
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
thought of the day
Monday, June 21, 2010
a new heart
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17
Thursday, June 17, 2010
the grace of God
"No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." 1 John 3:6-10
I am continually amazed at how clear Scripture is, yet I somehow couldn't see it's truth until so recently. How do we convince ourselves that we can continue living our life as we did before Christ was in us, when the Bible is so clear that we cannot? That if we do, our faith isn't real. I am slapped in the face with this absolute truth over and over again, every time I open the Bible. And every time I see it I am shocked all over again at my own blindness. I know how incapable I was of seeing this myself. Which proves as evidence that the meaning of God's words are hidden to us unless He reveals their meaning. And the truth that no man can come to God unless God chooses him, is ever so real to me. This is the true grace of God.
As Jesus said:
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..." John 6:44.
And:
"...No one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him" John 6:65.
thought of the day
"We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." 1 John 2:3-6
Monday, June 14, 2010
who is our master?
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Luke 16:13
I am considering how we spend our lives, use our resources and what that says about who we are, who our master is. Most of us have honorable goals for our lives, we work hard to get an education, that leads us to a good career, so we can provide a comfortable life and a good lifestyle for us and our family. If we work hard, we move up, and our lifestyle reflects this. Every decision you make for your life, you consider a goal. Is this going to get me closer to what I am after? SO WHAT ARE YOU AFTER? WHAT IS YOUR MASTER? If we use our lives and our resources to further our lifestyles in this world- to further the kind of lifestyle we want, to further our security, to further our ability to have a nicer home, have nicer cars, nicer things, etc etc.- we spend our time, our resources, our money, to further these goals. Those goals are our master. We make our decisions with those goals in mind. We decide what we do or don't spend our money on based on the result it will have on those goals... if I do this, will it allow me to keep living the lifestyle I want to live? Will it further my goals?
But as a Christian, God is our master.
As a Christian, we have to rethink what is the goal of our life. The life that has been born again. That is now dead to ourselves, our goals and our dreams. For we have died, and now Christ is the one who lives in us. His goals, His priorities, His purposes have taken over. And every decision we make, we make considering, is this helping attain His goal in this world, and in my life?
It's a crazy mind shift to stop looking at what makes sense for your life in light of your goals. To stop considering how something will affect your lifestyle. When the goal becomes to reach people for God, and to bring glory to God in the world, you realize you can't serve those other goals as well as God's goals. Because they go two opposite directions.
"And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." 2 Corinthians 5:15
Friday, June 11, 2010
What is faith?
Maybe having faith is about believing what Christ says about my life here on earth, and how I am to spend it, and use it and give it up, and actually choosing to believe Him. To decide that I so firmly believe what Christ said, that I am going to live as though it were true. As though giving up my life, my resources, my hopes, my dreams, my direction, my decisions, my finances.... as though giving all that up and spending my life on Christ, really will be worth it. Believing it when Jesus said it would be worth it, it would be better, he was better, he is all I need. That in fact, I so firmly believe it, that I am going to live my life as though it were true. Maybe that's what faith is.
thought of the day
"Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God."1 Peter 4:1-2
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
no servant is greater than his master
I've been thinking about how Jesus says if we are to be his disciples, we must follow him, do as he did. But follow him where? Where did he go? What did he do? What lengths did he go to to love us, to meet us, to find us, to draw us, to help us? To save a lost world.
The answer is stunning. A God who had everything, who enjoys endless riches, pleasures, wealth and power, who needed nothing, came into a world that is poor, wretched, full of pain, and decided to live here. He became one of us, like us, and related to us by being one of us. A King, decided to lower himself into our situation, to give up all he was entitled to, and become a lowly servant not just to humankind, but to the least of us: the sick, the poor, the sinners. He did this as an ultimate effort to love us. How more could he love us than to actually come and live with us in our wretched condition and touch us and experience life as we live it?
"When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." John 13:12-17
Consider the extent Jesus went to to reach a lost world, to serve us, and to love us, and then consider that he says we are to go to the same extent in our own lives to reach a lost world, to serve and to love. But are we willing to make the sacrifice for others that he made for us? Are we willing to sacrifice our status, our resources, our quality of life, our comfort, our very lives?
it doesn't matter
We judge people and determine who is worthy of our love. Who is worthy of our help. The reason someone is in the state they are in is not our concern. It just doesn't matter. Until we realize this, we can't love the way Jesus loves.
A man who discovered this truth said, "When Jesus met a blind man, he was not concerned with how the man became blind."
His story here:
the wisdom of the world; foolishness to God
And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'
"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:16-21)
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