I love that I can look out onto my backyard as I sit and write. Right now I am looking at my wife's Morning Glories. They are various shades of purple and they look beautiful...I would have said they look "glorious" but that would have been stupid.
I find it interesting that they are only open in the morning. As the day begins, they spread their petals and absorb the moisture of the dew and the first rays of the rising sun. The spiritual symbolism I found is awesome and applies to us humans in a very thought provoking way.
The best time to spend with the Lord is in the morning. Your mind has lay dormant for several hours, except for maybe a dream or two and maybe a potty visit. You awaken to a new day, sometimes not very enthusiastically, but awake nonetheless. Your mind begins to function and can be very open to influence since it has not been bogged down yet with "stuff". If we come before our Father at this time, He can speak to us in ways that can get to be hard to hear later on in the day. Like the flowers, we spread our mind's "petals" and absorb the sweet dew of the Holy Spirit. He will nurture our hearts and minds to be ready to accept the rays of light that shine forth from the face of Jesus.
This "dew" is a daily foretaste of the Rain that will fall/is falling on believers to make them/us over into the image of Christ...to make them/us fit ambassadors to the world. The light that shines upon us, as our minds open to Him, is the light that should reflect out onto this same world. Jesus said, "Let your light so shine among men that they may see your Father in heaven." We are always reflecting something, let it be His grace and love and mercy, and your little part of the world will be a taste of heaven to all those around you.
Think about it.
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
8/25/10
7/26/10
DANCING ON THE FEET OF GOD
If you are the Daddy of a little girl or if you are the little girl of a Daddy, then you probably have experienced the joy dancing with each other in a unique way.
My girls are now 17 and 9 years old, so we don’t do this much anymore, and I must say I miss it, but when they were smaller we would have music playing and we would dance. Sometimes just a silly jig, sometimes mimicking square dancing, but the most fun was when they would place their little feet on top of mine while holding onto my hands. We would then waltz around the room like the finest of ballroom dancers. Not that I am an experienced dancer...by no stretch of the imagination could I be called even an amateur, but, we had fun none the less. The fun for them was to move about the room without exerting any force; Daddy moved them around, Daddy lifted their feet, Daddy made the moves, Daddy’s strength was what enabled them to dance.
When we said “Yes” to God, having accepted His Son, Jesus, as our Savior, we became His children. We start our prayers, just as Jesus taught His disciples, with “Our Father”.
If we have been honest with ourselves, we have understood that we are helpless in our sin condition. We can do nothing to make it better...of ourselves.
You see, God has a dance that He is quite fond of; it’s called righteousness. It is a way to live, a way to be, a way to exist. It is also a way beyond our grasp as sinful humans. Through no fault of their own, when my daughters were little, they didn’t know the dance steps. In order to dance the dance they had to rely on Daddy. And guess what? Daddy didn’t mind. Daddy didn’t get mad and say, “Because you don’t know how to dance our relationship is over!” No, Daddy took his little girl by the hands and said, “Stand on Daddy’s feet, sweetheart, and Daddy will make you dance!”
God is not mad at us, not even people who have no relationship with Him. But, He cannot deny Who He is and what His standard is, His Dance. This Dance must be danced by everyone who would see Him. Enter the Lord of the Dance, Jesus. Jesus showed how the Dance was done. He knew/knows the steps because He is the choreographer as well as the composer of the music that goes with the Dance. He is also the dance teacher, but better yet...He is our Daddy.
He says to us, “Stand on Daddy’s feet, sweetheart, and Daddy will make you dance!”
Think about it.
3/16/10
Make Your Life Count
He was working the high steel when he saw a co-worker lose his grip. He swung out on a cable and caught him, swung back onto the girder and then lost his balance and fell. Ironic...he saved someone and then was about lose his own life. There was a loud rush of air, a blue and red blur and then his descent slowed and then stopped...and he then found himself hovering in the arms of an angel from the planet Krypton.
Yes, this was an obvious fictitious story from Superman/Action comics from the early 90's. John Henry Irons, a former employee of Lex Luthor, became a high steel worker after being fired as a weapons designer for LuthorCorp. He realized what his weapons were actually being used for and threatened to "blow the whistle" on Lex, so he was fired and discredited as an engineer. After Lex got through with his reputation, he would have been lucky to get a job engineering a new way to make children's craft projects out of popsicle sticks.
After Superman saving him from death, John thanked him profusely, to which Superman replied, "Make sure you make it (your life) worth saving."
I've always been able to find deeper spiritual truths in my hobby-reading, and this story is no less easy to parallel, so stick with me here.
Jesus came to bring us life, not just in the hereafter, but in the here and now. When we accept Him, eternal life begins right then and there - the New Testament is very clear on this fact. When He gave His life on Golgotha and rose from the dead 3 days later, He opened the door for life to truly begin for us, we just have to walk through the door.
With that being said, He also made the way for us to live a life that is pleasing to Him, one that reflects His love, grace and power. We have been told in Scripture that God, through Christ, now wishes to write His law upon our hearts, no longer on cold tables of stone. That means that His ways are alive and empowered by Him, rather than by human effort.
To be obedient to God is a way of life that requires submission to His leading and NOT just performing the duties as outlined on a checklist. Keeping a checklist is the way of man that can be found in every religion, including Western-thought tainted Christianity. The original Plan, as shown in the plain writings of Paul and the plain teachings of Jesus, make it clear that keeping rules and regulations merely for the sake of keeping them is not enough, no, on second thought, is not what is required.
What IS required is to "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and strength AND to love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus said that on these two principles hang all of what the Law and the writings of the Prophets depend. Paul explained further that to fulfill the Law of Love is to truly keep the Law. Does all this mean that we are free to live and do as we please? Yes and no.
YES - As St. Augustine said, "Love God and do as you please." and I couldn't agree more. If we have a real relationship with Him, then His will rules in our lives, so what pleases Him pleases us.
NO - This is not a license to sin, because if we are in Him, then we are dead to sin. When we live in disobedience to His way of Life, then we are disconnected...or as Jesus put it, we are not abiding in Him. (see John 15)
So, in conclusion, Jesus swooped down and saved us from the fall. We were careening out of control and destined to be physical and spiritual street pizza. When we recognize this, we are extremely grateful, but in turn He looks at us in compassion and says, "Make sure you make it worth saving." Then we, in turn, reach out to others and tell them about this Hero who saved us from death and that He wants to do the same for them.
Yes, this was an obvious fictitious story from Superman/Action comics from the early 90's. John Henry Irons, a former employee of Lex Luthor, became a high steel worker after being fired as a weapons designer for LuthorCorp. He realized what his weapons were actually being used for and threatened to "blow the whistle" on Lex, so he was fired and discredited as an engineer. After Lex got through with his reputation, he would have been lucky to get a job engineering a new way to make children's craft projects out of popsicle sticks.
After Superman saving him from death, John thanked him profusely, to which Superman replied, "Make sure you make it (your life) worth saving."
I've always been able to find deeper spiritual truths in my hobby-reading, and this story is no less easy to parallel, so stick with me here.
Jesus came to bring us life, not just in the hereafter, but in the here and now. When we accept Him, eternal life begins right then and there - the New Testament is very clear on this fact. When He gave His life on Golgotha and rose from the dead 3 days later, He opened the door for life to truly begin for us, we just have to walk through the door.
With that being said, He also made the way for us to live a life that is pleasing to Him, one that reflects His love, grace and power. We have been told in Scripture that God, through Christ, now wishes to write His law upon our hearts, no longer on cold tables of stone. That means that His ways are alive and empowered by Him, rather than by human effort.
To be obedient to God is a way of life that requires submission to His leading and NOT just performing the duties as outlined on a checklist. Keeping a checklist is the way of man that can be found in every religion, including Western-thought tainted Christianity. The original Plan, as shown in the plain writings of Paul and the plain teachings of Jesus, make it clear that keeping rules and regulations merely for the sake of keeping them is not enough, no, on second thought, is not what is required.
What IS required is to "love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind and strength AND to love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus said that on these two principles hang all of what the Law and the writings of the Prophets depend. Paul explained further that to fulfill the Law of Love is to truly keep the Law. Does all this mean that we are free to live and do as we please? Yes and no.
YES - As St. Augustine said, "Love God and do as you please." and I couldn't agree more. If we have a real relationship with Him, then His will rules in our lives, so what pleases Him pleases us.
NO - This is not a license to sin, because if we are in Him, then we are dead to sin. When we live in disobedience to His way of Life, then we are disconnected...or as Jesus put it, we are not abiding in Him. (see John 15)
So, in conclusion, Jesus swooped down and saved us from the fall. We were careening out of control and destined to be physical and spiritual street pizza. When we recognize this, we are extremely grateful, but in turn He looks at us in compassion and says, "Make sure you make it worth saving." Then we, in turn, reach out to others and tell them about this Hero who saved us from death and that He wants to do the same for them.
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