Monday, May 24, 2010
It's a beautiful world!
“Consider your ways.” Haggia 1:5,7
God was challenging people to look at themselves.
Everything that they were doing went wrong.
They worked hard, but the earned money went into a bag filled with holes.
I believe that God is inviting us to consider our alternatives.
If we choose not to live a Spirit-filled life, what is our option?
Can you imagine something that this world could offer;
something that could replace the satisfaction that comes from our
fellowship with God. Is it eating, travelling, studying?
Is it working, fame, sex?
Once you have tasted the sweetness of a Spirit-filled life
it will be difficult to find anything that compares with it.
An important part of a spiritual identity is our attitude towards the material
world. It was created for man. Man was not created for it.
When a group of Pharisees questioned Jesus and his disciples
about their violation of the Sabbath day, Jesus said,
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27
In other words ,” Sabbath will not exist without man, but man will exist
without Sabbath. Let’s put things into right perspective.”
Sabbath was a servant , not a master.
The whole material world is that way.
It is God’s gift to man. Matter is not evil. It’s good.
Sometimes believers act as if they were more spiritual than God.
Ascetic, anemic life-style is not a sign of a Spirit-filled life.
Freedom is. Confidence in God’s love and plan is.
The three words that P.Schaller chose to describe spiritual beauty,
Integrity, Harmony and Clarity, reveal the essence of a Spirit-filled life.
These can be boldly expressed when we use that what was created to
exalt the Creator.
The world is beautiful, because it’s filled with opportunities
to glorify God.
God was challenging people to look at themselves.
Everything that they were doing went wrong.
They worked hard, but the earned money went into a bag filled with holes.
I believe that God is inviting us to consider our alternatives.
If we choose not to live a Spirit-filled life, what is our option?
Can you imagine something that this world could offer;
something that could replace the satisfaction that comes from our
fellowship with God. Is it eating, travelling, studying?
Is it working, fame, sex?
Once you have tasted the sweetness of a Spirit-filled life
it will be difficult to find anything that compares with it.
An important part of a spiritual identity is our attitude towards the material
world. It was created for man. Man was not created for it.
When a group of Pharisees questioned Jesus and his disciples
about their violation of the Sabbath day, Jesus said,
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27
In other words ,” Sabbath will not exist without man, but man will exist
without Sabbath. Let’s put things into right perspective.”
Sabbath was a servant , not a master.
The whole material world is that way.
It is God’s gift to man. Matter is not evil. It’s good.
Sometimes believers act as if they were more spiritual than God.
Ascetic, anemic life-style is not a sign of a Spirit-filled life.
Freedom is. Confidence in God’s love and plan is.
The three words that P.Schaller chose to describe spiritual beauty,
Integrity, Harmony and Clarity, reveal the essence of a Spirit-filled life.
These can be boldly expressed when we use that what was created to
exalt the Creator.
The world is beautiful, because it’s filled with opportunities
to glorify God.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
It's one of those mornings
If you plan to live an average life “doing your best” is enough.
If you are not afraid to step into God’s waters where your foot cannot
touch the bottom, you will end up giving more than your best.
“Doing our best” sometimes has a lazy , fatalistic flavor with it.
It’s far from understanding our identity as “more than conquerors”.
Romans 8:37
Continents would never have been explored and the moon would remain
only a mystical cheese ball in the sky. Man would never even dream
of stepping on it.
The writer of the book of Hebrews deals with this saying,
“You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin…” Hebrews 12:4
With other words, ”Somebody doesn’t like you? That’s not the end of the world.
Didn’t you know that others are being tortured and killed daily in places
where no names are asked.”
When “doing more” is not motivated by guilt, but by a genuine love relationship
with God, ordinary things get glorified and common lives are remembered.
The Holy Spirit wants to lead us out from our own small lives into God’s presence.
Someone exclaimed in a famous writer’s home museum,
“There have been people living here, whose names are attached to famous dates!”
With God this day could become one of those famous dates.
Your eyes have been given the grace to see this morning.
If you are not afraid to step into God’s waters where your foot cannot
touch the bottom, you will end up giving more than your best.
“Doing our best” sometimes has a lazy , fatalistic flavor with it.
It’s far from understanding our identity as “more than conquerors”.
Romans 8:37
Continents would never have been explored and the moon would remain
only a mystical cheese ball in the sky. Man would never even dream
of stepping on it.
The writer of the book of Hebrews deals with this saying,
“You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin…” Hebrews 12:4
With other words, ”Somebody doesn’t like you? That’s not the end of the world.
Didn’t you know that others are being tortured and killed daily in places
where no names are asked.”
When “doing more” is not motivated by guilt, but by a genuine love relationship
with God, ordinary things get glorified and common lives are remembered.
The Holy Spirit wants to lead us out from our own small lives into God’s presence.
Someone exclaimed in a famous writer’s home museum,
“There have been people living here, whose names are attached to famous dates!”
With God this day could become one of those famous dates.
Your eyes have been given the grace to see this morning.
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