"If you or I were struck dead the next time we spoke or did something hypocritical, I doubt we would survive the day. Think about Ananias and Sapphira on Sunday when you sing "All to Jesus, I surrender, all to Him, I freely give….." Boom! Down we'd go. The body of believers would be thinned out really fast. "
The last few sentences really hit me... Isn't it obvious and clear? God is calling us to holiness. Holiness is "to be set apart". To not follow the world's pattern. To be different...unique...
Where is holiness rooted, but in obedience to Christ.
Obedience.
Not in the flash and bang of LIGHTS and SOUNDS and SHOUTS and HAZE and EMOTIONS. It is in the day to day experience that a man/woman is carved into a glorious being. Simple choices...Here are a few...
Living at peace =
Not responding in anger.
Forgiving someone that hurt you.
No road rage.
Smiling at strangers. Smiling at anyone for crying out loud.
Offering someone your help.
Confronting a tense situation with tact and grace.
Showing mercy to someone (You do remember mercy is undeserved right...so have you shown mercy like mercy has been shown to you? Why not?).
Sharing the hope in which you clutch.
Talking, walking, riding, laughing, holding, wrestling, calling...touch.
Eye contact (Be careful though, the person you are talking with might actually think you're interested).
Is what you see on this screen more important than the people that are sitting right next to you (are you sure?)?
Did you just say that about so and so (Why? Did it make you feel better? Would you say it if they were there?)?
Don't show favoritism.. don't show favoritism... don't show favoritism.
Did I say smile and make eye contact? <---You'd be surprised what this does for someone...
Don't be fake. Be transparent (not an invitation to be a constant whiner/crybaby/complainer).
Living without a hint of sexual immorality =
Computer accountability (what sites are you on and why)?
Don't take a second look! Trust me!
Thoughts you wouldn't be ashamed to share with anyone at anytime.
Respecting boundaries with married people.
Flee!!! Run away.. don't look back!
Honoring single people as a younger sibling (pure).
Books, magazines, movies, music...Do they glorify God? <--Then why do you consume them?
Nobody is looking right now...are you the same person?
Intimacy with God =
Priority above all else!
Wake up thinking about Him.
Going to sleep thinking about Him.
Breath prayers? Consistent prayers? Scheduled prayers? Private prayers? Corporate prayers?
Praise!
Have you sung for Jesus today? Well why not?!
Do you know Jesus? Really? Then tell me...what is His favorite time of the day?
He has written you some love letters, have you read them yet (Don't forget about the ones around the middle, they are really really good!! :-p)?
Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word of God (Hungry? Why wait?).
God likes long walks...but sometimes He prefers just walking in silence. Did you know that?
Have you told God how beautiful He is? What about how mighty? Maybe how incredibly buff He is? Did you thank Him for those fingers you are fiddling?
Shhhhhhh.....can you hear Him now? Be still...Be quiet...He is with you right now. Say hi.
We lift papers, pens, weights, water, babies, boxes, pictures, junk, trash, etc etc etc... how about your hands and eyes to the sky in PRAISE?
Just some thoughts. Ha ha enjoy.
;-p
7.30.2009
Loving others now and forever more
It is the overlooked, subtle things that are the most significant things in a persons life.
That cause the greatest change. Change in the world. Change in beliefs. Change in me. Change in you.
Something right in front of our faces that are clear and understandable, yet ever evasive. And because of their significance, it should be the things we see most clearly and simultaneously the things we give ourselves completely to...but we don't do we? Because.. like I said, they are subtle and we overlook them...take them for granted...
Significance is defined as something meaningful...or momentous...derived from the word 'moment' which implies a single instance...
Significance is found moment by moment...
It is something meaningful that happens in single instances. Here and then gone.
THIS TRUTH IS BEGINNING TO BRING ME GREAT SORROW.. MOSTLY BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE SEEMS TO CARE... AND IF YOU REALLY CARED, IT SHOULD GRIEVE YOU TO THE POINT OF BEING BROKEN.
The truth that it is the OVERLOOKED and IGNORED things that are most important...the most meaningful.The ONLY things that really matter.
The single unit of time that is called 'the second' that just passed out of your life FOREVER and all of his kind that rush in and out of your life, even as you read these words...
1
2
3
4...
All those seconds lost... casualties of a mediocre life. A life that you have settled into.. seconds you will never get back...that can never be replaced..never.
Don't you see it now? EVERY second was created to be FULL of significance... FULL of meaning..
EVERY second. Not SOME, but EVERY second that God allows to tick holds promise of endless significance.. endless meaning.. but it is here and gone in an instant.
Which brings me to my ultimate point. To the ultimate truth of what I see. The truth that crushes me, so that my composure is nearly impossible to sustain..
Listen closely.
Don't miss this because the application of this truth will result in eternal joy, but ignoring the truth will have eternal consequences..
Ready?
Here it is:
Every second is IMPOSSIBLY MEANINGFUL
because
Every second IS full of ENDLESS, BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS, PRICELESS, UN-REPLACEABLE, UNIQUE, ETERNAL, LOVELY, WONDERFUL and yet constantly OVERLOOKED and IGNORED things...
And what are those things? Yet you already know, don't you? They are not things at all...
They are linked. One is clearly greater, yet can not be removed from the second when it pertains to us...
God.
People.
Yet, though God is without a doubt, the greatest of all priorities, I will only speak on the secondary things.. that is, people.
The people around us. The person with hurt in their eyes. The person that quietly draws a smile on their face, while shadowing the tears til you are out of sight. But you wouldn't know that would you? because like I said... It is the overlooked and ignored things that are most important. So we run off to the things that will one day be destroyed by fire, leaving behind the things that hold us together like glue.. the things that we will know fully when we enter into our glory. The things that God Himself said through His actions, 'Even the life of my own Son is not worth more to me than spending forever with you'
If God saw these 'things' as worth far more than the life of His Son, how should we view them?
Who is hurting? Who needs you RIGHT NOW? Not later... but NOW. Is it weird for you? Is it awkward? Are you too busy right now? Do you have good reasons why you can't be there for them? Is it too much to listen to them? Is it too much to live, if only for a second, as if you truly believed they were more important than fading junk we hold so tightly to our chests?
What if, as you read this, something terrible was happening? What if they were already gone before you finished this sentence?
What if your next call delivered the news of someones unexpected death?
Do you think they know, without a shadow of a doubt that your love for them couldn't be contained in this universe because it stretches out forever?
I don't know about you, but I think it's time for a shifting in our values...Because SOMEONE that you know needs you right now..I can guarantee you. I can promise you. Are you there for them? Why not?
Just some more random thoughts...
That cause the greatest change. Change in the world. Change in beliefs. Change in me. Change in you.
Something right in front of our faces that are clear and understandable, yet ever evasive. And because of their significance, it should be the things we see most clearly and simultaneously the things we give ourselves completely to...but we don't do we? Because.. like I said, they are subtle and we overlook them...take them for granted...
Significance is defined as something meaningful...or momentous...derived from the word 'moment' which implies a single instance...
Significance is found moment by moment...
It is something meaningful that happens in single instances. Here and then gone.
THIS TRUTH IS BEGINNING TO BRING ME GREAT SORROW.. MOSTLY BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE SEEMS TO CARE... AND IF YOU REALLY CARED, IT SHOULD GRIEVE YOU TO THE POINT OF BEING BROKEN.
The truth that it is the OVERLOOKED and IGNORED things that are most important...the most meaningful.The ONLY things that really matter.
The single unit of time that is called 'the second' that just passed out of your life FOREVER and all of his kind that rush in and out of your life, even as you read these words...
1
2
3
4...
All those seconds lost... casualties of a mediocre life. A life that you have settled into.. seconds you will never get back...that can never be replaced..never.
Don't you see it now? EVERY second was created to be FULL of significance... FULL of meaning..
EVERY second. Not SOME, but EVERY second that God allows to tick holds promise of endless significance.. endless meaning.. but it is here and gone in an instant.
Which brings me to my ultimate point. To the ultimate truth of what I see. The truth that crushes me, so that my composure is nearly impossible to sustain..
Listen closely.
Don't miss this because the application of this truth will result in eternal joy, but ignoring the truth will have eternal consequences..
Ready?
Here it is:
Every second is IMPOSSIBLY MEANINGFUL
because
Every second IS full of ENDLESS, BEAUTIFUL, GLORIOUS, PRICELESS, UN-REPLACEABLE, UNIQUE, ETERNAL, LOVELY, WONDERFUL and yet constantly OVERLOOKED and IGNORED things...
And what are those things? Yet you already know, don't you? They are not things at all...
They are linked. One is clearly greater, yet can not be removed from the second when it pertains to us...
God.
People.
Yet, though God is without a doubt, the greatest of all priorities, I will only speak on the secondary things.. that is, people.
The people around us. The person with hurt in their eyes. The person that quietly draws a smile on their face, while shadowing the tears til you are out of sight. But you wouldn't know that would you? because like I said... It is the overlooked and ignored things that are most important. So we run off to the things that will one day be destroyed by fire, leaving behind the things that hold us together like glue.. the things that we will know fully when we enter into our glory. The things that God Himself said through His actions, 'Even the life of my own Son is not worth more to me than spending forever with you'
If God saw these 'things' as worth far more than the life of His Son, how should we view them?
Who is hurting? Who needs you RIGHT NOW? Not later... but NOW. Is it weird for you? Is it awkward? Are you too busy right now? Do you have good reasons why you can't be there for them? Is it too much to listen to them? Is it too much to live, if only for a second, as if you truly believed they were more important than fading junk we hold so tightly to our chests?
What if, as you read this, something terrible was happening? What if they were already gone before you finished this sentence?
What if your next call delivered the news of someones unexpected death?
Do you think they know, without a shadow of a doubt that your love for them couldn't be contained in this universe because it stretches out forever?
I don't know about you, but I think it's time for a shifting in our values...Because SOMEONE that you know needs you right now..I can guarantee you. I can promise you. Are you there for them? Why not?
Just some more random thoughts...
The importance of presence
God has made it clear that the Church is the Body of His Son Jesus. That we are connected through His blood. That I am supernaturally linked to NOT ONLY disciples across the world, but also disciples that have passed away and that are yet to be born. What a profound truth!
But I also know that (from reading and studying Paul's Mission, desires and experiences) that the local congregation is EXTREMELY vital to the health of the overall Church...
I think that there is an obvious disconnect with typed word. The Greater aspects of communication are lost...things like: Eye contact, body language, tone of voice/volume, facial expressions, even different types of slang.. all are the ingredients to sincere and healthy human relationships. Written word is hardly better, but written word has a very unique and mysterious way of pulling the personality of the author to the paper. Writing something out and typing it is separated by a vast chasm. Worlds apart from each other.. yet both fail immeasurably when compared to face-to-face interaction.
The way technology is providing quicker, easier ways to link with other people is INSANE. Almost impossible, yet here we are. But I wouldn't call it real communication. I wouldn't call it human connection. I would call it a different word.. probably one I'd have to make up to properly describe. But I can think of possible synonyms... confusion, deceit, hypocrisy, cowardice, mechanical, robotic...
And now it seems that the Church has fully given itself over to this mainstream trend...
Online church? Texts? Emails? Twitter? Podcasts? Facebook? Myspace? Don't get me wrong, these aren't terrible things in themselves..it is our use of them that makes them terrible, just like sex and guns. Yet, all are lacking one thing. The same 'one' thing. The most important thing..because without this one thing, you have lost the most beautiful piece to the relationship puzzle.
Presence.
Do you see it now? Do you get it? Your presence alone speaks louder than ANYTHING else. Even in silence, you being found in the same place physically with someone else is the key ingredient to Godly relationship/connection/intimacy (i.e. The Church). It is our presence, along with the presence of other Christ followers in worship, prayer, baptism, small groups, teaching, evangelizing, etc etc etc THAT turns the world upside down.. (When two or more are gathered together in my Name, there am I with them... ring any bells?)
But how often do we 'gather' in His Name? We are lost in metal, plastic and wiring..
If you disagree, then seek this out through Scripture, because what I read is that when the Law was read to King Josiah, he was cut to his heart and mandated the whole nation of Israel to follow God's decrees.. and that was just the "written" Law.
But..
then Christ came. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning...
God...
became...
Present.
It was no longer words in a Book, even as powerful as it was and is, it still was only a shadow compared to the Presence in which it represented.
And now, because of His sacrifice, that Presence is in us.
When we stand with our friends, the Presence is there.
When we sit at a movie, the Presence is there.
When we get frustrated with people in traffic, the Presence is there.
When we hold grudges towards other people, the Presence is there.
When we gossip about our 'friends', the Presence is there.
When we see someone all alone, the Presence is there.
When we are texting someone when people are physically around us, the Presence is there.
The Presence is Light, Love, Truth, Hope, Joy, Peace, Forgiveness, Healing, Restoration, Grace...
The Presence is God.
Now..here comes our dilemma..The Presence is separated from the people that need Him the most because of our choices.
How tragic...
Because, according to Gods plan, it is our choice whether to reveal the Presence, which can only be done if WE ARE PRESENT.
Being present means looking someone in the eye, speaking with them, not interrupting, really listening, responding, facing them, ignoring texts/phone calls, etc...
So the Presence is shown when we choose to be present...
And the kicker?
That the Presence is made more clear to us when we choose to make it more clear to others!
Crazy, huh?
So think about where you are now. Whether at school, in your room, in your office, at the library, or wherever...The Presence is there because you are there..
But the real question is...
Are you present?
But I also know that (from reading and studying Paul's Mission, desires and experiences) that the local congregation is EXTREMELY vital to the health of the overall Church...
I think that there is an obvious disconnect with typed word. The Greater aspects of communication are lost...things like: Eye contact, body language, tone of voice/volume, facial expressions, even different types of slang.. all are the ingredients to sincere and healthy human relationships. Written word is hardly better, but written word has a very unique and mysterious way of pulling the personality of the author to the paper. Writing something out and typing it is separated by a vast chasm. Worlds apart from each other.. yet both fail immeasurably when compared to face-to-face interaction.
The way technology is providing quicker, easier ways to link with other people is INSANE. Almost impossible, yet here we are. But I wouldn't call it real communication. I wouldn't call it human connection. I would call it a different word.. probably one I'd have to make up to properly describe. But I can think of possible synonyms... confusion, deceit, hypocrisy, cowardice, mechanical, robotic...
And now it seems that the Church has fully given itself over to this mainstream trend...
Online church? Texts? Emails? Twitter? Podcasts? Facebook? Myspace? Don't get me wrong, these aren't terrible things in themselves..it is our use of them that makes them terrible, just like sex and guns. Yet, all are lacking one thing. The same 'one' thing. The most important thing..because without this one thing, you have lost the most beautiful piece to the relationship puzzle.
Presence.
Do you see it now? Do you get it? Your presence alone speaks louder than ANYTHING else. Even in silence, you being found in the same place physically with someone else is the key ingredient to Godly relationship/connection/intimacy (i.e. The Church). It is our presence, along with the presence of other Christ followers in worship, prayer, baptism, small groups, teaching, evangelizing, etc etc etc THAT turns the world upside down.. (When two or more are gathered together in my Name, there am I with them... ring any bells?)
But how often do we 'gather' in His Name? We are lost in metal, plastic and wiring..
If you disagree, then seek this out through Scripture, because what I read is that when the Law was read to King Josiah, he was cut to his heart and mandated the whole nation of Israel to follow God's decrees.. and that was just the "written" Law.
But..
then Christ came. The Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning...
God...
became...
Present.
It was no longer words in a Book, even as powerful as it was and is, it still was only a shadow compared to the Presence in which it represented.
And now, because of His sacrifice, that Presence is in us.
When we stand with our friends, the Presence is there.
When we sit at a movie, the Presence is there.
When we get frustrated with people in traffic, the Presence is there.
When we hold grudges towards other people, the Presence is there.
When we gossip about our 'friends', the Presence is there.
When we see someone all alone, the Presence is there.
When we are texting someone when people are physically around us, the Presence is there.
The Presence is Light, Love, Truth, Hope, Joy, Peace, Forgiveness, Healing, Restoration, Grace...
The Presence is God.
Now..here comes our dilemma..The Presence is separated from the people that need Him the most because of our choices.
How tragic...
Because, according to Gods plan, it is our choice whether to reveal the Presence, which can only be done if WE ARE PRESENT.
Being present means looking someone in the eye, speaking with them, not interrupting, really listening, responding, facing them, ignoring texts/phone calls, etc...
So the Presence is shown when we choose to be present...
And the kicker?
That the Presence is made more clear to us when we choose to make it more clear to others!
Crazy, huh?
So think about where you are now. Whether at school, in your room, in your office, at the library, or wherever...The Presence is there because you are there..
But the real question is...
Are you present?
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