Greatest

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, June 30, 2008 - The Greatest Thing in the World

I remember that as a young junior Sunday school student, I memorized 1 Corinthians 13. That's the famous love chapter, and I can still quote it almost perfectly. But, like many other familiar scripture passages, I've quoted it and heard it so often, that the full implications of its teaching have not always impacted my life as they should.

Some dear friends once asked me, "How can we pray for you?" and my ready reply was, "Just pray that I'll love Jesus more and more and have a heart to love others." If those things are in place in my life, everything else follows. If not, nothing I do has any importance or meaning. Paul said I could speak with the voice of an angel, but it wouldn't mean anything without a loving heart.

Paul also said that love is the fulfilling of the law. This was a radical statement in his day, because all of his fellow Jews were focused on fulfilling the ten commandments and the 110 other commandments which they had manufactured out of them. Can you imagine how difficult that must have been, just to remember all of them? And now Paul brings this revolutionary principle: "If you do one thing, you will do these 110 things without even thinking about them. If you love, you will unconsciously fulfill the whole law."

When I taught customer service seminars, I pointed out that there was one basic principle underlying all good customer service, and that is the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If every company treated customers the way they would want to be treated if they were in the customers' shoes, every company would have a very high level of customer service and satisfied customers.

The same is true for us as Christians. If we focus on ONE thing–being filled with love for Jesus and love for others–all other things we need to be will automatically follow. Yet so often we reverse the process. I think of a woman who is in many ways very godly. She prays all the time; she studies her Bible constantly; she is at every church service; she keeps herself separate from harmful activities of any type; her life is exemplary in many ways. Yet, when she is with people, almost every time she causes them to be uncomfortable and hurts feelings because of her words which sound unloving and self-righteous.

Oh, we need to pray and read our Bibles and keep our lives separate from worldly actions, but those things should follow love, not precede it. Without being focused on love, we may do a lot of things that look good, but they'll never impress God, because he says without love, it's all a bunch of garbage in his sight. This is a powerful lesson for us to grasp.

Follow

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

FOLLOWING OUR SHEPHERD

Romans 8:14
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God

I had the privilege of feeding and caring for the sheep on the farm where I was raised. I discovered that sheep aren't the smartest animals on the farm. Sheep need to be shepherded. Left to themselves in a lush pasture, they will keep eating until it kills them. They need a shepherd to make them "lie down in green pastures" (Psalm 23:2) so they don't eat themselves to death!

The Lord often pictured our relationship with Him in Scripture like that of a shepherd and his sheep. Those of us who live in the West don't have a correct picture of what it means to be led like sheep. Western shepherds drive their sheep from behind the flock, often using dogs to bark at their heels. Eastern shepherds, like those in Bible times, lead their sheep from in front. I watched a shepherd lead his flock on a hillside outside Bethlehem during a visit to the Holy Land. The shepherd sat on a rock while the sheep grazed. After a time he stood up, said a few words to the sheep, and walked away. The sheep looked up and followed him. It was fascinating! The words of Jesus in John 10:27 suddenly took on new meaning to me: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."

Sheep without a shepherd become disoriented and scatter. Rams arise from the flock and butt heads to determine who will lead. The ones with the hardest heads win. Without a shepherd, we too are left to the mercy of hard-headed, driven people or we wander around directionless, eating ourselves to death.

The Spirit-walk is one of being led, not driven. God won't make you walk in the Spirit, and the devil can't make you walk in the flesh, althought he will certainly try to draw you in that direction. You are free to choose to follow the leading of the Spirit or the desires of the flesh (Romans 8:14).

Prayer:

Gentle Shepherd, thank You for searching for me when I was lost and for comforting me when I am hurt. I long to follow You today.

Most Americans Believe "Many Ways"

Excerpt from Pew Research Findings on Religious Beliefs
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Religion in America: Non-Dogmatic, Diverse and Politically Relevant

Most Americans agree with the statement that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life. Among those who are affiliated with a religious tradition, seven-in-ten say many religions can lead to eternal life. This view is shared by a majority of adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including more than half of members of evangelical Protestant churches (57%). Only among Mormons (57%) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (80%) do majorities say that their own religion is the one true faith leading to eternal life.

Most Americans also have a non-dogmatic approach when it comes to interpreting the tenets of their own religion. For instance, more than two-thirds of adults affiliated with a religious tradition agree that there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their faith, a pattern that occurs in nearly all traditions. The exceptions are Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses, 54% and 77% of whom, respectively, say there is only one true way to interpret the teachings of their religion.

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More Intensely Focus

"It's easier to leave something if you believe you've found something better. As humans, we don't exist very well in vacuums; we're sucked one way or the other by our passions, so -- spiritually speaking -- instead of seeking a passionless existence, we need to more intensely focus our affections. John of the Cross points out that the lure of the world can be so strong that "if the spiritual part of the soul is not fired with other more urgent longings for spiritual things," the soul won't be able (or it will simply lack the courage) to deny its appetites for the wrong things."

Gary Thomas, The Glorious Pursuit

Tough Times

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - Do's and Don'ts: When Times Are Tough

Almost every day we hear about the financial hardships of our times: Mortgage failures, gas prices rising dramatically, food costs increasing, and most of us are feeling the squeeze.

It can be tempting in tough times to stick your head in the sand and live in denial—like an ostrich. To postpone the inevitable by refusing to face the music and make some needed changes. But just because you don’t see the danger coming doesn’t make it disappear. Acting like ostriches is not a smart thing to do. We need to keep our eyes and ears open and make sure we understand all we can about the hard times so we can make good decisions.

You remember Joseph, after he became second in command to the Pharoah, when God revealed to him that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, he made a strategic plan to save during the years of plenty so there would be enough to eat during the famine. If he had lived in denial and refused to plan for the future, it would have been a tragedy for the whole country, as well as his own family.

Even during tough times, there are opportunities and possibilities which you’ll miss if you’re sticking your head in the sand. Proverbs 20:13 says, Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread. If you’re facing some financial hard times now, have you been keeping your eyes open for new opportunities? You know, people still get hired, promotions are still awarded, raises are still given even in tough times. But if you’re not looking for those opportunities because they are few and far between, you could be missing out on some good things.

Also, it is during these tough times that we can truly grow in our knowledge of God and in learning to trust him at a deeper level. The Psalmist wrote: It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes (Psalm 119:71). Think in your own life: Is it not true that when you have gone through some tough times, you look back and see that it was actually good for you, because you learned to trust God. Oh, you wouldn’t want to do it again, but you can say with the Psalmist that it was good for you.

Passion?

Thoughts from GLP on What Fires Your Passion?

Today as a staff we worked through how our schedules should reflect our desire for self-leadership. In essence, what things do I need to do on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis in order for me to be the very best I can be as one who vocationally serves God through the local church? Most of us had similar thoughts - eating well, exercise, retreats, and the like filled up the conversation. But in thinking about what activities I would add into my life, bigger questions rose to the surface of mind, not the least of which was: What keeps me passionate in life?

In other words, what things do I do that fire me up to live the life I live? For me, I can't think of very many personal evils worse than living a dispassionate life. It's not how I'm wired at all. I love living with an intensity, an edge...and being fired up about it all is simply par for the course. Call it hyper or being too revved up, it doesn't matter to me. I'd much rather be faulted for being too amped up than coming in day after day with barely a pulse. For me, living passionately is a vital cog in the machine of my self-leadership.

So I began to write down things that throw fuel on the fire of my passion for life. I'll give you a couple that I wrote down...

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So, how would you answer this question?

Best?

Excerpts from Seth Godin's post Is It Worthy?

"Is this the best I can do?

I’ve paid for the rent and the furnishings and the menus and the staff and the insurance... is this plate of food worthy of what went before it?

I’ve flown across the country to visit this museum--a building that cost more than a billion dollars to create and fill and maintain. Is my attention focused enough?

We paid $300 in marketing costs just to get this phone to ring this one time. How shall we answer it?

I’ve had a great education, suffered and scraped and scrounged to get this point... is this diagnosis, this surgery, this prescription, this bedside manner the end that justifies that effort?

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If I hadn’t had those breaks, if there weren’t all those people who had sacrificed or helped or just stayed out of my way... what then? Would I even have had a shot at this?

What if this were my last post? Would this post be worthy?

The object isn’t to be perfect. The goal isn’t to hold back until you’ve created something beyond reproach. I believe the opposite is true. Our birthright is to fail and to fail often, but to fail in search of something bigger than we can imagine. To do anything else is to waste it all."

Quiet

Excerpts from Dr. D. V. Adams The Act of Quiet (New Wineskins)

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We live in an energized culture that moves at the blink of think. Adrenaline rush is the drug of choice. The busier we become the happier we think we are. Even without conditioning our lives to live at a rested pace, we will eventually be stopped. It may happen in the form of a failed relationship, a death, legal action, or some other collision course. We are not created to live on adrenaline and feelings alone.

To come to a place of quiet in our hearts means to physically be at rest. Psalms 46:10 (NIV) gently reminds us that we are to, “Be still, and know…” that He is God. The Hebrew word for still is Raphah (raw-faw) which means: “to be quiet, to relax, withdraw, to let drop, abandon.” This verse has two separate statements that have one meaning: “Be still… and… know…” The Hebrew word for know is Yada (yaw-dah), which translates: “to know, to perceive, to find out and discern, to know by experience.” How can we know God, really experience Him, if we aren’t still or quiet? 1 Thessalonians 4:11(KJV) says, “And that ye study to be quiet…” meaning that we can only know God by experiencing Him and we can only experience Him when we are in a quiet, intimate place with Him.

But when do we have time to listen to God? We race from work to home to our TV or we are ‘Church-atized’ which is to say that we spend much of our time attending a multitude of church functions, thinking that we are learning more “about” God instead of getting to “know” God.

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Thus today’s Christians don’t practice the Act of Quiet, which involves a significant act of physical and mental discipline. The late Henri Nouwen, who wrote extensively on solitude comments, “We have become alienated from Silence…when we are invited to move from our noisy world into this sound filled silence we become frightened…our ears begin to ache because the familiar noise is missing.” The familiar noise we hear should be that of God speaking to us, not the chatter of voices calling to us from our TV.

A simple act of denying TV time in exchange for prayer is an act of discipline. It is simply fasting, which is denying ourselves of worldly pleasures for the benefit of spiritual gain. How do we expect to live forever with God and rest in the luxury of his amazing love and presence without getting to know him now?

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Sola Scriptura

Excerpt from C Michael Patton In Defense of Sola Scriptura - Part 2

Any attempt to defend a position is going to be met with three things: 1) reasoned rebuttal from those who are truly trying to understand yet disagree, 2) antagonistic reaction from those who see your argument as a threat to their favorite position and have an emotional reaction to it, and 3) misguided response from those who misunderstand and misdefine the position that you are attempting to defend.

As part of my continued belief that people (including Protestants) don’t really understand sola Scriptura, in my initial post in this series, I distinguished it from four other views. I had hoped that this would serve to prevent reaction #3, but such was not the case. Nevertheless, here is another chart to help define my position.

In my initial defining I distanced the doctrine from those who would claim that there is more than one infallible authority for the Christian (dual-source theory or sola ecclesia) and those who would claim that the Scripture is the sole authority for the Christian (solo Scriptura or nuda Scriptura). The doctrine of sola Scriptura is the belief that the Scripture is the final and only infallible authority for the Christian. In other words, it is the ultimate authority.

That sola Scriptura utilizes other authorities is evident even in the heat of the Reformation as Martin Luther was called to Worms to give an account of himself. When asked to recant his controversial writings, after sleeping on it, Luther uttered these famous words in response:

“Unless I am convinced by the testimony from scripture or by evident reason—for I confide neither in the Pope nor in a Council alone, since it is certain they have often erred and contradicted themselves—I am held fast by the scriptures adduced by me, and my conscience is held captive by God’s Word, and I neither can nor will revoke anything, seeing it is not safe or right to act against conscience. God help me. Amen.“

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Bloom

USING YOUR UNIQUE GIFTS AND ABILITIES

2 Timothy 4:5
Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry

For the Christian, true fulfillment in life can be summarized by the popular bumper sticker slogan, "Bloom where you're planted." Peter said it this way: "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another" (1 Peter 4:10). Your greatest fulfillment in life will come when you discover your unique gifts and abilities and use them to edify others and glorify the Lord.

God allowed me to understand this vital principle before entering the ministry while I was still employed as an aerospace engineer. I knew God wanted me to be an ambassador for Him where I worked, so I started a breakfast Bible study in the bowling alley next door. My announcement about the Bible study had only been posted in our office about an hour before a Jewish fellow pulled it off the wall and brought it to me. "You can't bring Jesus in here," he objected.

"I can't do otherwise," I said. "Every day I walk in here Jesus comes in with me." He was not impressed with my response!

One of the men who found Christ in the Bible study took over when I left Honeywell to enter seminary. A few months later I went back to visit my friends in the Bible study. "Do you remember the Jewish fellow?" the leader asked.

"Sure, I remember him," I said, recalling his brash opposition to our Bible study.

"Well, he got sick and almost died. I went to the hospital and visited him every night. Finally I led him to Christ."

I was ecstatic at the realization that I had become a spiritual grandparent. The sense of fulfillment was exhilarating. And it all happened because I started a simple little Bible study where I worked in order to do what Paul said: "Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5).

Prayer:

Father, I want to bloom where I am planted and resist the defeating temptation to compare myself to others.

Greatest Love

Excerpt from Why It Matters That God Does Everything for His Own Glory by John Piper

Why should we emphasize that God loves, forgives, and saves for his own glory?

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2. Because it makes clear that God loves us with the greatest love.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory. (John 17:24)

God loves us not in a way that makes us supreme, but makes himself supreme. Heaven will not be a hall of mirrors but an increasing vision of infinite greatness. Getting to heaven and finding that we are supreme would be the ultimate let down.

The greatest love makes sure that God does everything in such a way as to uphold and magnify his own supremacy so that when we get there we have something to increase our joy forever—God’s glory.

The greatest love is God’s giving himself to us for our eternal enjoyment for ever, at the cost of his Son’s life (Romans 8:32).

Label

Excerpts from C. Michael Patton writing about Minimizing Christianity to the Glory of God?

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As a consequence of being misunderstood, you get mislabeled. One label that has been recently tapped on my back with red crayon is “minimalist.” What does that mean to be a minimalist?

Minimalist

One who sees Christianity as a system of belief that only recognizes the least common denominator. In other words, let’s just find out what all those who call themselves Christian believe and say that this is true Christianity and then let’s not talk about anything else. Talking about what divides, well . . . divides. And division is bad, bad, and double bad. Therefore, let’s just all get along.

Many of those in Pop Evangelicalism, the Emerging Church, and the Emergent church take this perspective.

From the standpoint of those who call me a minimalist, I represent a branch of Evangelicalism that compromises truth for conciliation in the name of ecclesiastical unity.

Stepping back and looking at this criticism, I can see where it comes from. I understand how people would get this impression. I do tend to encourage people to focus on the things that unite. I do tend to plead with people about the danger of talking past each other. I am even sometimes critical of militant apologetic methods that seem to deepen chasms, hardening others in an apologetic position that only focuses on what they are against, thereby losing perspective. However, I would not classify myself as a minimalist.

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A centralist is focused on the most important elements of the faith so that the other issues can be seen in light of the perspective it provides.

Most in the Historic Evangelical church, some emergers, and some Eastern Orthodox hold this perspective.

It is in this camp that I can be found roasting marshmallows.

What is the “center” of the faith?

The doctrine of the Scripture? The doctrine of truth? Helping those in need? Social action? No. None of these in my opinion are the center of the faith. The center of our faith is Christ. If you want to say “the doctrine of Christ,” that is good as well. It is the person and work of Christ that is the center of Christianity. “Who do men say that I am?” is the most important theological question there is. If you get this wrong, all else will not only come undone, but it will be meaningless. If you get this right, there is a foundational unifying factor that we must recognize and in light of which all other issue must find their place.

Those who say that Christ is the eternal God-man who died for our sins and rose from the grave have more common ground with each other than they often care to admit.

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Relationships

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Thursday, June 19, 2008 - Dealing With Broken Relationships

Have you ever gone to someone for the purpose of being reconciled, hat in hand, asking forgiveness, and trying to restore the relationship, only to be rebuffed? Jesus commanded us to seek to be reconciled to anyone who has something against us, even if it is not our fault.

But the facts are, you and I cannot control the other person. All we can do is obey the Lord, do what we’re supposed to do, and let God take care of the outcome. In Romans 12:18 we read:

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
We must not ignore the imperative of this verse which says: . . . as far as it depends on you. . If you have a broken relationship, make certain that you have done and are doing everything you can to mend it. Don’t let yourself off the hook easily. Go the extra mile, humble yourself, initiate the reconciliation, be willing to swallow your pride. . . whatever it takes for true reconciliation.

However, please keep in mind that being reconciled does not include being someone’s “doormat,” enduring abusive treatment of any kind, compromising your Christian principles of integrity or lowering your standards of behavior. So, we’re not talking about peace at any price. But we should never be the person who is holding up the reconciliation.

Many of us harbor hurt feelings far too long and delay a reconciliation because we don’t want to humble ourselves. If you’re holding up a reconciliation with someone for anything but a good biblical reason, then you’re at fault, regardless of the circumstances.

Of course, there are times where a relationship has been damaged so much that full restoration is not possible. But to the extent that it can be restored, it should be restored.

For those who’ve done all you can to be reconciled and the other person refuses, don’t live in false guilt about that relationship. Remember, the principle is, as much as it depends on you, live at peace with all people. Many things are out of your control, and that is what you have to accept and trust to God’s care.

Fellowship

"We sit in our own cars, cook in our own kitchens, and hunker down in the bunkers of our own homes. Yet our isolation destroys us from the inside. We are made in the image of God as relational beings, and we cannot heal our lack of connectedness through increased profits, Prozac or psychotherapy. “It is not good for the man to be alone”, God himself said.

In accepting the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, Archbishop Desmond Tutu declared, “God created us for fellowship. God created us so that we should form the human family, existing together because we were made for each other. We are not made for an exclusive self-sufficiency but for interdependence, and we break that law of being at our peril.”

It is possible to become strong, vibrant men and women who live with a vigorous awareness of communal obligations. Living such a life will strengthen, not weaken, our businesses, neighborhoods, families, churches, and the environment. Our commitment will ring out into the world and resound throughout its four corners like the loud peal of a village bell.

Ultimately, an individual finds integrity, honor and usefulness only in relation to his or her community. A finger remains honored and useful only so long as it stays attached to the hand. When we separate ourselves from the body, from our community, we lose both our honor and our usefulness.

If technology shuts down, it might be the best thing that ever happened to us. It might even help us to avoid the disaster quite possibly looming in our future."

-The Gospel Reloaded Exploring Spirituality And Faith In The Matrix; Chris Seay and Greg Garrett; Piñon Press, Colorado Springs, CO; 2003

Cross

"God gives us the cross, and then the cross gives us God."
Jeanne Guyon

Fleshly Desires

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

The Fleshly Person

1 Corinthians 3: 2,3
I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly.

The spirit of the fleshly person is identical to that of the spiritual person. The fleshly person is a Christian, spiritually alive in Christ and declared righteous by God. But that's where the similarity ends. Instead of being directed by the Spirit, this believer chooses to follow the impulses of his flesh. As a result, his mind is occupied by carnal thoughts and his emotions are plagued by negative feelings. And though he is free to choose to walk after the Spirit and produce the fruit of the Spirit, he continues to involve himself in sinful activity by willfully walking after the flesh.

His physical body is a temple of God, but he is using it as an instrument of unrighteousness. He has the same troubling physical symptoms experienced by the natural person because he is not operating in the manner God created him to operate. He is not presenting his body to God as a living sacrifice. Since he yields to the flesh instead of crucifying it, the fleshly man is also subject to feelings of inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy, guilt, worry, and doubt.

Several years ago I did some research to discover how many Christians are still the victims of their flesh. I asked the same question to 50 consecutive Christians who came to me to talk about problems in their lives: "How many of the following characteristics describe your life: inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy, guilt, worry, and doubt:" Every one of the 50 answered, "All six." Here were 50 born-again, righteous children of God who were so bogged down by the flesh that they struggled with the same problems of self-doubt which inundate unbelivers who only live in the flesh.

If I asked you the same question, how would you answer? I imagine that many of you would admit that some or all of these six traits describe you. It is evident to me that a staggering number of believers are still confused about their spiritual identity in Christ and its implications for their daily lives. We are struggling with the behavior aspect of our growth because we are still struggling with the belief aspect of our growth: who we are in Christ.

Prayer:

Father, help me live above my fleshly desires today by exercising my spiritual inheritance at every temptation.

A Mutual Ministry of Encouraging One Another

A further excerpt from Consider Each Other How to Stir Up Love by John Piper

Hebrews 10:23-25

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.

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Verse 24 gives the focus and aim: "Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds." Then verse 25 gives us instructions how. It says, " . . . not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another." Two things. First, don't neglect to get together.

Second, encourage one another. When I was growing up I heard this text referred to most often as an argument for regular attendance at worship services. "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together - come to church regularly." And that is not a wrong application of the text since one of the most important kinds of encouragements and exhortations that we get is from the preaching of God's word in the power of God's Spirit. (Hebrews 13:22 calls the book of Hebrews a "word of encouragement.")

But in the context, the kind of coming together in view seems to be one where the members "encourage one another." Verse 25 is explicit: come together and encourage one another. The "one another" implies that there is something mutual going on. One is encouraging another and another is encouraging one. Each is doing or saying something that encourages. If you ask what that corresponds to in our church, I would say the closest thing is the small groups - which is why I regard this ministry as so utterly crucial. I am a great believer in preaching. There is something about the Word of God that begs to be heralded and trumpeted and exulted over - as well as discussed and taught. But I have no illusions that preaching is enough in the life of a believer. The New Testament - and especially this book of Hebrews calls us again and again to a kind of mutual ministry that involves all the believers in encouraging others.

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Relationships

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - Dealing With Broken Relationships

If there is a broken or wounded relationship in your life, have you yet followed Jesus’ instructions for mending that relationship? You’ll find that instruction in Matthew 5:23-24:

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

Since Jesus says that if you “remember that your brother has something against you,” it must mean that it is possible to forget that you have a broken relationship. Here are some of the methods we use to “forget” about those unpleasant, hurting relationships:

• We stay very busy, even if we have to create unnecessary activity.
• We convince ourselves that there’s nothing that can be done about it.
• We convince ourselves that since we didn’t cause the problem, we shouldn’t be the one to initiate the reconciliation.
• We find other relationships to fill the gap in our lives.

Jesus said we are to go to anyone who has something against us, and that would include those whose feelings are hurt, those with whom we’ve had a misunderstanding that has not been clarified, those people to whom we spoke hastily chosen words that were not appropriate, those who feel we’ve treated them unfairly or neglected them, to mention a few.

Are there any people in your life that fit that description? Have you been “forgetting” that they have something against you, sticking your head in the sand, so to speak, so as not to have to face that unpleasant reality?

Notice that Jesus didn’t limit it to those who have something legitimate against us or those who have a right to have something against us. No, he says if you know that someone has something against you, whether it’s your fault or not, then you take action.

Jesus made it clear that being reconciled was very important when he said “leave your gift there in front of the altar” and go. I think he wanted to make it abundantly clear that reconciliation should have a very high priority in our lives. Basically, drop what you’re doing and go be reconciled.

Is there someone you need to be reconciled to? How about taking step one today.

The Greatest

Memory Verse for the Week:

3And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18: 3-4 (NIV)

2-5For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, "I'm telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you're not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God's kingdom. What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me.

The Message

Served Honored Noticed

"The lust to be served, honored and noticed is nothing less than the lust to be treated like God." Gary Thomas, The Glorious Pursuit