Love is not just something we feel, it is something we do. It's intentional. And because it's a choice we have the ability to love others on purpose and with purpose. Don't keep the best of who you are to yourself. Decide today to love every person who crosses your path on purpose. Be intentional and notice the people you typically ignore. In this you will be blessed and you will be a blessing to others.
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 1 John 4:11 NIV
Q: How much grace is needed for where you find yourself right now? A: Enough. God's grace (his power, strength, ability & favor) is available and accessible to you right now. You don't have to work for it, clamor for it, or beg for it... it's just there. Q: Shouldn't I have to work for it, earn it or deserve it? A: No, Jesus declared on the cross on your behalf, "Tetelesti!" Simply translated, "Paid in full; it is finished." Stop striving. Rest in and enjoy Christ. His grace is enough. Have an "enough" kind of day.
"But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor 12:9 ESV
Anytime you see the word "hope" in the scriptures, replace it with the words "confident expectation." In today's vernacular we tend to define hope as wishing or wishful thinking, however, in the scriptures it literally means "confident expectation." The difference of confident expectation over wishful thinking is transformational. So today, I am confidently expecting that you will have an amazing day in Christ Jesus. Stop wishing and start expecting!
"To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope (confident expectation) of glory." - Col 1:27
At some point today, many of us will "put on" a coat or jacket as we prepare to go about our business. Just as you "put on" a physical jacket to cover, protect and, in some cases, identify, you also have the opportunity to "put on" a spiritual coat. This coat also covers, protects and identifies you. So, as you put on your physical coat today, be mindful of the spiritual jacket you're putting on. Have an amazing day on purpose.
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. - Col 3:12-14
28 years ago as a young follower of Christ, I was introduced to "the dead guys." My life has been and continues to be greatly impacted and influenced by those who have gone before us, ran the race and finished the course. Beware of the tendency to think that the only relevant truth is the latest greatest book, speaker, christian celebrity or wildly popular band.
Authentic biblical truth is always relevant and speaks to all people, for all time, everywhere. Some of what we embrace as the latest greatest "hot-off-the-press" teaching, doctrine or music is just a "studio remix" of what has gone before and will become yet another book put aside, podcast forgotten or neglected track on your iPod. Pursue those things that carry the gravity, weight and ring of eternal, proven and biblical truth. #eternal #builttolast #stoptheXianmadness #fadscome&go #IJS
I am gripped by the opening line of Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life, "It's not about you." This is on my heart today, "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand." - Edward Mote (1834) Those words are as relevant today as they were 179 years ago. It's not about us, it's all about Jesus. Col 1:15-20 #TrueNorth #JesusFirst
There is a difference between Magnetic North (what your compass tells you is North) and Truth North (the actual Northern axis on which the earth turns). When you think you are going North according to your instruments, you are actually only going in the general direction.
For the follower of Christ it is vital that our spiritual compass be aligned with THE True North i.e. Jesus Christ, as opposed to moving in His general direction. Seek to orient your life to THE True North and refuse to settle for less than His best (Magnetic North).
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father excpept through me." - John 14:6
Balance or Tension? There will always be tension, as opposed to balance, between what we do and who we are. We are called upon to embrace the tensions that are produced because we are citizens of another kingdom i.e. the first will be last, less is more, die to live, contentment is great gain, bless those who curse... It is not balance that keeps a suspension bridge in place, but tension.
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me (Christ) cannot be my disciple. - Luke 14:27
I do not post many quotes because of my conviction that God speaks to and through all of us no matter how much or how little the culture (Christian or otherwise) values it. However, when I heard Tim Keller say this while listening to a lecture in a graduate class he was teaching, I had to share it. I have been beating this drum for some time and I feel like a broken record. Here is what I have been saying Tim Keller style.
"The gospel reverses the values of the world. The way up is down. The way to power is to serve. The way to life is a willingness to die. The way to spiritual wealth is to admit you are spiritually poor. The last shall be first. The way to be utterly royal is to cast your crown before him. Jesus puts the outsider first."
I am continually seeking a higher degree of clarity concerning Grace. It's a hot topic these days. The definition ranges from simply "unmerited favor" to a full-on license to act or do anything I want. Jesus himself was full of grace & truth. If grace is just unmerited favor then it would not be necessary for the Messiah. He was sinless. If you are without sin there is no need for "undeserved, unearned or unmerited" favor.
As I look at it's application in the scriptures my conclusion is this: Grace is not a license to sin, it is a license to fulfill the purposes of God both in and through your life. Grace is God's power, strength, ability & favor, to do what you cannot in and of yourself do. An empowerment, gifting or special enablement given by the Holy Spirit that goes beyond natural talents and/or abilities. You & I desperately need more grace to do what God has purposed & called us to do.
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace (special power, strength, ability, favor) was upon them all. - Acts 4:33
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