Month: February 2015

Categories
Quotes

The Rule of Busyness and Efficiency

Busyness and efficiency rule in our American lives – and these two items thwart our ability to reach the deeper life. If a deeper relationship with God were able to be obtained through my willing it, then we would have it down pat – living the American Dream is about control.

However, true spirituality is counter-cultural – we must decide NOT to act. By choosing silence and solitude we have an opportunity to hear from God. But that is so out of the norm for us….

We decide that to have the silence and solitude to wait on and listen to God, we must take a vacation to somewhere…. That is not the case – owning more or having to go somewhere is not the way to get closer to God. We can find times to carve out during our day to listen to and wait for Him.

Without making time for solitude with God, time continues to slip by until years have passed and we realize that we wouldn’t know how to hear from God if He audibly spoke to us.
–David Goetz

Don’t let the years pass by without hearing from God.
Carve out time with Him today!

Categories
Christian Living

Dutiful and Obedient Love

A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none;
a Christian man is the most dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.

Although these statements appear contradictory, yet, when they are found to agree together, they will be highly serviceable to my purpose. They are both the statements of Paul himself, who says: “Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all,” and: “Owe no man anything, but to love one another.”

Now love is by its own nature dutiful and obedient to the beloved object. Thus even Christ, though Lord of all things, was yet made of a woman; made under the law; at once both free and a servant; at once both in the form of God and in the form of a servant.

–Martin Luther

Though you are a person who is free, have you placed yourself into a love relationship with God and others, choosing voluntary service to them?

You have told your spouse that you love her. Would she say that you serve her well?
You hug your children and tell them that you love them. Would they say that you serve them well?
You tell God that you love Him. Would He say that you serve Him well?

God told you that He loved you. Then He died on the cross for you. Jesus served you well with dutiful and obedient love! It is now my calling and your calling to go do the same for Him and for others.

Categories
Quotes

Be Free for Other People

Are you free for other people?
Jesus was “the man for others,” in Bonhoeffer’s fine phrase. He kept himself free — free for the other person. He would accept almost anybody’s invitation to dinner, and as a result no public figure had a more diverse list of friends, ranging from rich people, Roman centurions, and Pharisees to tax collectors, prostitutes, and leprosy victims. People liked being with Jesus; where He was, joy was.
–Philip Yancey

Free for other people… and where He was, joy was!

Would people say the same about me? About you?

Categories
Quotes

The Deadly Practice of Comparing Yourself With Others

Living in America will quickly have you comparing yourself…
seems to promote a kind of vigilance on the possessions of others – it seems to be more than just coveting. It seems to be a permanent state of consciousness where we weigh our immortality symbols against others’. To combat this, we must “about-face” and spend time with those whose life we do not covet – learning to truly be with the poor, the elderly, the mentally handicapped, the depressed, the spiritually broken. Instead of spending time with those whose lives we covet, we spend time with those whom God seems to be most active in.
–David Goetz

We are taught to compare our lives to others.
In comparing our homes, our vehicles, our salaries, our families, and our stuff…we have bought into the lie and believed that our value is determined by how well we stack up during the comparison.
This leads to a spirit of covetousness within me.

Combating this deadly spirit within myself will be difficult, since spending time with those whose lives we do not covet can be a messy affair of hard work.
Am I ready to enter into this battle?
Are you?
God, please help us, because we won’t be able to win this battle on our own.

Categories
Quotes

Finding God In Every Moment

Every moment…
We must offer all our acts to God and believe that He accepts them. Then hold firmly to that position and keep insisting that every act of every hour of the day and night be included in the transaction. Keep reminding God in our times of private prayer that we mean every act for His glory; then supplement those times by a thousand thought-prayers as we go about the job of living. Let us practice the fine art of making every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.
–A. W. Tozer

Oh, how I want this to be my way of life…
to live every moment with Him…
and every moment for Him…
to take every thought captive in obedience to Him…
to converse with Him without ceasing.

Abba Father, please help me to take every moment of this day and give it to You.
Help me to spend every moment with You.
Help me to use every moment for You.
Help me to find You in ever simple action I do today.
Help me to think of You in every single thought I have today.