Tag: Thought to Ponder

“The wind blows. Jesus said, the wind blows. And you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. You only know the wind blows.” (One Voice and Easter Production)

Where is the wind/breath/Spirit of God blowing you? Are you willing to follow that direction? Are you willing to trust the direction of the wind even though it looks like it leads in the opposite direction of the calling God has placed in your life?

We are constantly being led/sent through twisting turns on our path so that we can be changed into the likeness of Christ. Each person has unique gifts and talents, and, therefore, has unique tasks and obstacles to overcome. Don’t be discouraged; he never gives us anything we cannot handle through his strength. He doesn’t want us to fail. Are you willing to trust?

Just some lyrics to think about today:

“Colors of Forgiveness” by FourGiven

“You didn’t have to touch the sky with softness, Mold the mountains in your hand, Weave the tapestry of life with love of family and friends, Change the beauty of each season, Or send the waves upon the sand. We would have never know (any difference).”

Isn’t it wonderful that God made all of the little things that make our lives that much more special? Sometimes it’s good to focus on the small things because it makes what he did for us that much more important.

Many people are familiar with the song “As the Deer” which comes from Psalms 42:1-2. The song is very nice but misses the full meaning of the song that is written in Psalm 42-43.
One of the first things to recognize is that this song is a maskil, which means it is a teaching song. Another thing to recognize is that this song says so much more than the first two verses. Now I’m not saying that the first two verses don’t paint a powerful picture, I am saying that they don’t encompass the entirety of what we need to learn from this song.

The refrain of this particular teaching song sums up what the sons of Korah were wanting to impart:

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, For I will yet praise him, My savior and my God.”

When read with the rest of the verses of the song, this command becomes extremely potent. When it seems like our “tears have been (our) food day and night” and our “bones summer mortal agony as (our) foes taunt (us),” we can rejoice as we remember that He is our Savior and our God.

So, let not your heart and soul be downcast by the weight of the world and all the evil things in it, but “put your hope in God” who is the wellspring of life that we should pant for.

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.” –Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)

Isn’t it sad that this statement is just as true today as it was then? We are doing a study on what it means to be a Christian in my Sunday School class, and while I might complain a bit now and then that I feel like I’m being fed information below the level that I’m at, there are still some pearls of wisdom to be gained even if something is taken to a simplified level.

We forget that just because we’re Christians it doesn’t mean that life gets any easier. In fact, it probably gets harder because Satan is now focused on messing up out testimony and trying his hardest to make us feel so completely inadequate that we become paralyzed when it comes to doing God’s work.

We live in a society of convenience and want our relationship with Christ to be as easy to form as it is to microwave a meal. We’ve got to remember that it takes time to learn what God wants us to do. It requires time, patience and willingness to read and listen to what he’s saying. We can’t instantly understand what we’re told, in fact, sometimes we never “get it” and simply have to go on our faith that God is seeing the “big picture” for us. But it doesn’t stop there; John G. Miller said that “learning is not attending, listening or reading. Nor is it merely gaining knowledge. Learning is really about translating knowing what to do into doing what we know. It’s about changing.” How can we accomplish that change if we insist on having a fast-food relationship?

Salvation is not a denominational doctrine or a family inheritance. It is a personal experience. –Diana Hagee

I found out the other day that another of my friends/study partners/people I come in contact with rather frequently is homosexual. She asked me if I hated her because I had recently told her of my faith and that I was Southern Baptist. I told her that I didn’t hate her.

I couldn’t help being reminded later that we are called to “hate the sin and love the sinner.” I couldn’t think of a truer command. What is the point of having a belief based on love, when you can’t see the person behind the sin? And yet, I still hesitate in loving sometimes. It’s very hard to be slapped in the face by reality sometimes and find out that what you think isn’t necessarily what is real. My nature says, “hate and distrust” things and people who are not like me, but the Jesus in me says, love anyway like your father loves you. I never realized how difficult that could be until high school and now another layer has been added to what happened then. I know what I’m supposed to do, it’s just complicated sometimes.

Lord, help me to be your missionary of love by breaking my heart and showing me how to pour my love into the lives of others

Will you be a people pleaser or a Father pleaser?” (Hagee, 27)

What is it about us that craves the attention of others instead of the attention of a loving God? He can be so much more attentive than we can ever dream of and yet we still try to find solace with others. We become content with “our lot” and don’t even realize that it’s not “our lot” at all. He wants us to be and do so much more than we are capable of and I think that scares most of us to petrification. We don’t die to what he wants to do in us, but we can become so rigid in our “normal” routines of going to church, volunteering with children and youth events, singing in the choir, etc. that we deny the fact that he wants more of us. We lie to ourselves saying, “I’m doing enough or I’m doing too much and no one else is helping.” It’s not about how much we feel is enough but about how much God wants us to do. Now don’t take that to mean that you should be doing everything at once either. We are not a one man band; we are a body and each part needs to work together in order to glorify God.

I’ve been reading Diana Hagee’s The King’s Daughter: Becoming the Woman God Created You to Be and am inspired. I thought I share a bit today for you ladies reading (sorry guys…I’ll try to put something else up for you later):

Hear Him speaking directly to you in this letter:

When I created the heavens and the earth, I spoke them into being. When I created man, I formed him and breathed life into his nostrils. But you, woman, I fashioned after I breathed the breath of life into man because your nostrils were too delicate. I allowed a deep sleep to come over him so I could patiently and perfectly fashion you.

Man was put to sleep so that he could not interfere with the creativity. From one bone I fashioned you. I chose the bone that protects man’s life. I chose the rib, which protects his heart and lungs and supports him, as you are meant to do.

Around this one bone I shaped you. I modeled you. I created you perfectly and beautifully. Your characteristics are as the rib – strong, yet delicate and fragile. You provide protection for the most delicate organ in man: his heart. His heart is the center of his being; his lungs hold the breath of life.

The rib cage will allow itself to be broken before it will allow damage to the heart. Support man as the rib cage supports the body. You were not taken from his feet, to be under him, nor were you taken from his head, to be above him. You were taken from his side, to stand beside him and be held close to his side.

You are My perfect angel. You are My beautiful little girl. You have grown to be a splendid woman of excellence, and My eyes fill when I seen the virtue in your heart. Your eyes — don’t change them. Your lips – how lovely when they part in prayer. Your nose, so perfect in form. Your hands, so gentle to touch. I’ve caressed your face in your deepest sleep; I’ve held your heart close to mine.

Of all that lives and breathes, you are the most like Me. Adam walked with Me in the cool of the day, and yet he was lonely. He could not see Me or touch Me. He could only feel Me. So everything I wanted Adam to share and experience with Me, I fashioned in you: My holiness, My strength, My purity, My love, My protection and support. You are special because you are an extension of Me. Man represents My image. Woman, My emotions. Together you represent the totality of God.

So Man, treat Woman well. Love her, respect her, for she is fragile. In hurting her, you hurt Me. What you do to her, you do to Me. In crushing her, you damage your own heart, the heart of your Father and the heart of her Father.

Woman, support Man. In humility, show him the power of emotion I have given you. In gentle quietness, show your strength. In love, show him that you are the rib that protects his inner self.

I Haven’t Tasted Your Apple

At the University of Chicago Divinity School each year, they have what is called Baptist Day. On this day each one is to bring a lunch to be eaten outdoors in a grassy picnic area. Every Baptist Day the school would invite one of the greatest minds to lecture in the theological education center.

The story is that one year they invited Dr. Paul Tillich. Dr. Tillich spoke for two and one-half hours proving that the resurrection of Jesus was false. He quoted scholar after scholar and book after book.

He concluded that since there was no such thing as the historical resurrection the religious tradition of the church was groundless, emotional mumbo-jumbo, because it was based on a relationship with a risen Jesus, who, in fact, never rose from the dead in any literal sense. He then asked if there were any questions.

After about 30 seconds, an old, dark skinned preacher with a head of short-cropped, woolly white hair stood up in the back of the auditorium. ”Doct’a Tillich, I got one question,” he said as all eyes turned toward him. He reached into his sack lunch and pulled out an apple and began eating it. ”Doct’a Tillich… CRUNCH, MUNCH… My question is a simple question, CRUNCH, MUNCH; Now, I ain’t never read them books you read…CRUNCH, MUNCH…and I can’t recite the Scriptures in the original Greek…CRUNCH, MUNCH.. I don’t know nothin’ about Niebuhr and Heidegger…” CRUNCH, MUNCH…He finished the apple. “All I wanna know is was that apple I ate bitter or sweet?”

Dr. Tillich paused for a moment and answered in exemplary scholarly fashion: “I cannot possibly answer that question, for I haven’t tasted your apple.”

The white-haired preacher dropped the core of his apple into his crumpled paper bag, looked up at Dr. Tillich and said calmly, “Neither have you tasted my Jesus.”

The 1,000 plus in attendance could not contain themselves. The auditorium erupted with applause and cheers. Dr. Tillich thanked his audience and promptly left the platform.

Psalm 34:8 – Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him!

We profess with our mouth’s that Christ is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords and Prince of Peace. What we don’t or refuse to recognize is how truly important those names are. He is sovereign over all things, people, relationships, and situations. God knows everything, but how often do we reject his true council and sovereignty in our lives?

I went to my parents’ church here in Knoxville today and Pastor Riley was speaking of a childhood game he used to play: King of the Hill. I think that he was right that we all still unconsciously play king of the hill in our families, jobs and relationships. The question is, who is the king of your hill? Are you vying for a better position at work, trying to dominate in you home, or simply trying to keep ahead of the Joneses?

We get so caught up in the “American Dream,” which insists on our upward mobility, that we forget the true source of success in our lives: Christ. When will we recognize Christ’s awe inspiring Lordship in our lives and give him complete control of our hill? I don’t see a better candidate than an omniscient and merciful God to guide us in the right path and be our King of the hill.