Daily Thought: Intentional Character Development

"But these character strengths don't happen all in a rush.  You have to work at them.  Character is a slowly forming thing.  You can no more force character on someone than you can force a tree to produce fruit when it isn't ready to do so.  The person has to choose, again and again, to develop the moral muscles and skills which will shape and form the fully flourishing character.  And so, just as a long, steady program of physical training will enable you to do all kinds of things—run in a marathon, walk thirty miles in a day, lift heavy objects—which you would previously never have thought possible, so the long, steady program of working on the character strengths, the virtues, will enable you to live in a way you would never have thought possible, avoiding moral traps and pitfall and exhibiting a genuine, flourishing human life." ~ N. T. Wright, After You Believe, p. 35

Daily Thought: Relationships are a Priority

"There is nothing more important to God than your relationships.  You are never closer to the kingdom of God than when relationships are your priority.  First, of course, is your relationship to God.  Inseparable from this relationship with your Creator is your relationship to others." ~ Erwin McManus, Uprising, p. 147

Daily Thought: We Need the Mind of Jesus

"What is more unlike humans than to treat all kinds of people with equal truth and love?  The ideas and images that govern unredeemed humanity make it impossible, except in highly selective circumstances in in very recent societies strongly influenced by Jesus and his followers.  Paul knew we can only escape being conformed to a fallen humanity by receiving the mind of Christ himself (1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5).  Spiritual formation in Christ moves toward a total interchange of our ideas and images for his." ~ Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, p. 102

Daily Thought: You have a Glory

"You are not what you think you are.  There is a glory to your life that your Enemy fears, and he is hell-bent on destroying that glory before you act on it." ~ John Eldredge, Waking the Dead, p. 33

Linkage: Romantic Love Can Last

One of the blogs I love to read is The Art of Manliness.  In this age when guys struggle to know what it means to be a man, this site offers words of wisdom to help guide the way.  I enjoyed this post and I thought I would share it with you, because whether we are men or women there is a part of us that desires lasting romantic love.

Love. Whether in the form of poems, moony songs, philosophical treatises, romantic notes, or angry letters, no aspect of human life has had quite so much ink spilled over it. It has since time immemorial been a driving force of life, and for just as long remained utterly mysterious, an experience that could be mused over but not truly understood. 

But in the last decade, scientists have finally gotten to peer into the neurological nature of love by scanning the brains of those in the throes of it. These scans have confirmed what anyone who has fallen head over heels has experienced firsthand: love is a wild and woolly ride.

Continue reading: 

Daily Thought: The Opposite of What was Suffered

"This is in harmony with the whole scheme of redemption. Our Lord always wins for us the opposite of what He suffered. He was bound that we might go free. He was made sin that we might become the righteousness of God. He died that we might live. He bore God's curse that God's blessing might be ours. He endured the not answering of His prayer, that our prayers might find an answer." ~ Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer

Living the Life of Jesus

Take a moment and ponder what John wrote in 1 John 2:3-6:

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may be sure that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked (ESV).

For those who follow Jesus our goal is to live the way Jesus lived.  That is what we have been called to do.  We haven't been called to sit in a pew on Sunday morning and attend a small group during the week, but we have been called to exhibit the same sort of life that Jesus lived.  When we consider how Jesus lived that is really amazing to think about.  That we are to live the way Jesus lived!

I am beginning to believe that one reason so many of us feel unsatisfied as we follow Jesus is because we have let lesser things be our goal.  We want Jesus to bless our lives as we pursue the "American Dream."  We are not selfish or evil, we just want a comfortable and secure life.  So we go to church, read the Bible, and pray in the hopes that God will reward us for the type of life that we live.

In the process we miss hearing the call of Christ.  The call that insists that we lay down ANYTHING that gets in the way of following Jesus.  The call that says we must pick up a cross, the symbol of death and persecution, and follow Jesus wherever He leads.  The call that forces us to be humble and to serve those who are the least in this world.

Following Jesus isn't just about agreeing with certain theological statements about Him (though that does play a part), but it is about living the type of life that He lived.  This can only happen when we make the foundation of our lives the spiritual disciplines that Jesus used to stay in contact with the Father.  Things like prayer, study, fasting, worship, and meditation.  It continues as we serve and give with the purpose of bringing God's Kingdom into this world.  Remember we are Christ's representatives in this world.

I know that it seems like an impossible task to live as Jesus lived in this world.  It is, but remember Jesus told us what is impossible for people is possible with God.  No wonder the apostle Paul prayed this prayer for the Colossians:

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:9-14; ESV).

May this be our prayer, not only for ourselves, but for those around us as well.  Let our goal be to live lives that are worthy of the our Lord Jesus Christ!

Daily Thought: How We Serve Exposes How We Would Lead

"It isn't very difficult to see that we are not all the same.  Some people seem to have gotten an overload when God was handing out talents; others seem less gifted.  But be assured there is divine talent in you.  It is both waiting to be unleashed and depending on your being a faithful steward with what you've been entrusted.  While we may be unable to perceive it, the great things of God come out of the small acts of faithfulness.  When He finds we can be trusted with small things, we then are given responsibility over bigger things.  How we serve exposes how we would lead." ~ Erwin McManus, Stand Against the Wind, pp. 46-47

Living By Faith in the Unknown

In The Touch of the Master’s Hand Max Lucado wrote; “Regardless of what you don’t know about your future, one thing is certain: You are intended to contribute to the good plan of God, to tell others about the God who loves them and longs to bring them home.”

The future is a scary thing. No matter how much we plan and prepare for it, the future is still outside of our control. We could get hurt in a car accident and lose the use of our legs. There is the possibility of cancer or another disease that will cut short our time one earth. We can suffer through the death of our parents, our siblings, or our friends. Our lives could be blown apart with us trying to gather the pieces, but unable to make things all right.

No matter how scary the future may be, God has a plan for our lives. God did not create us so that we could live a peaceful 70 years. That may sound nice, but God has something much better in store for us, but we need to be faithful to Him.

The bottom line is that God wants our lives spent in service to Him. The plan God has for each and every one of us is to tell and to show a lost, hurt, and dying world about His great love. We are to get involved in the lives of people. God wants us to give to the poor and reach out to the rich. His desire is for us to invite the healthy and visit the sick. The list could go on and on, but what God wants from us is to be His hands, His feet, and His mouth in this world. No matter what your future may hold you are to align your life to God’s will.

Yet another thing we need to keep in mind is that we are not in this alone. The apostle Paul wrote:

As God’s messenger, I give each of you this warning; Be honest in your estimate of yourselves, measuring your value by how much faith God has given you. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others (Romans 12:3-5; NLT).

When the future hits and our lives become difficult we do not have to face life alone. Yes, we are still to give our lives away in service to God, but with the help and the encouragement of other Christians. The reason the future seems to be overwhelming and the reason we struggle with obeying God is because we think it is all up to us, but it is not. You and I are part of a great body, a wonderful family, and in the Church we are to find the help and the support we need to make it through

We may not have a whole lot of control over our lives, but we do know how we are to live our lives. We are to use the talents and resources God has blessed us with to be a blessing to other people. When that is our motivation then it doesn’t matter what comes our way we can be certain that God will get us to the place that He wants us to be. In the end that place will be so much better than what all our planning and worrying could have created. We need to be faithful to God in the moment and He will take care of the rest.

Daily Thought: No Other Way

"God has no other way of dealing with sin, or the sinner, except through the blood.  For victory over sin and deliverance of the sinner, God has no other means or thought than 'the blood of Christ' (1 Corinthians 10:16).  Yes, it is indeed something that surpasses all understanding." ~ Andrew Murray, The Power of the Blood of Christ, p. 21

Daily Thought: What Does It Mean to be Human?

"Without an understanding of our nature and purpose, we cannot have a proper understanding of redemption.  You may wonder, what does all this really have to do with our salvation.  Do we really need to know so much about our own nature before we can understand how that nature can change through salvation.  Yes, we do.  What 'salvation' is depends upon what is being saved.  Before something can be saved it must face the risk of being lost. And, essentially, it is the nature of what is being saved that determines how it can be at risk and at loss.  For example, 'saving' and investment is a different kind of project from saving a life, a reputation, or an injured pet, because investments, lives, reputations, and pets are different kinds of things.  So, if we want to know what it is to save a human being, to redeem the human soul or personality, we cannot find a better way to begin than by asking: what did God make when he made us, and how could creatures such as we be at risk and at loss?" ~ Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, p. 45

Daily Thought: A Life of Doing Good

"One of the most-asked questions among sincere followers of Jesus Christ is, 'What is God's will for my life?'  We want a detailed map or plan.  We want God to spell it out so we can follow the instructions.  Too often we want it clear and uncomplicated, but God simply does not work like that.  For a lot of us the most spiritual thing we can do is to do something—to turn right when we want to turn left.  So we must move beyond simply choosing between right and wrong.  We must resolve not only to leave the path of doing evil, but also passionately pursue a life of doing good." Erwin McManus, Seizing Your Divine Moment, p. 43

Daily Thought: The Product of Choices

"Your life is the product of choices you have made, and your church is the product of choices it has made.  Your prayer meeting is a reflection of the choices you have made as a church.  Our nation is a reflection of the choices that have been made by the people of God concerning their relationship with God." ~ Henry Blackaby, Holiness, p. 22

Daily Thought: A Measure of Spiritual Growth

"The truth is, the more spiritually mature you grow, the more you will find your heart being drawn to people.  You want to reach out to people, especially those neglected by society or far from God." ~ John Ortberg, Everybody's Normal Till You Get to Know Them, p. 59

An Image of Hope

What does hope look like?  The image that comes to my mind is the picture of light.  It is the sun rising in the east to chase away the night.  It looks like Gandalf coming to the rescue to overwhelm the forces of darkness with the power of light.

Depression and hopelessness can rightly be described as darkness, and many times that darkness can be very overwhelming and oppressive.  In the midst of it you feel isolated and alone and you wonder if it is ever going to end.  This darkness can almost seem as if it is alive as it tries to drag us down into the pit of hell.  All our energy is spent and our hope is dried up and so we give into the temptation to give up and to quit the fight for our hearts and our lives.

Thank God we don't have to fight alone!  The apostle Paul tells us that we have been rescued from the kingdom of Darkness and we have been brought into the Kingdom of Light:

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13, 14; ESV).

Jesus, who is the light of the world, chases away the oppressive darkness, which is the result of sin and death, through the power of His resurrection.  When we surrender to His will and put on His armor (Ephesians 6:10-20) we have the ability to overcome the darkness and to grow into the people God desires us to be.

The Good News of Christ Jesus is founded on the reality that the same power that raised Him from the dead and established Him as King can, and does, reside in us.  So in Ephesians the apostle Paul urges us to pray and ask God to flood us with His light so we can live with confident hope.

 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:15-23; ESV).

The darkness does not have to win. With the power of Jesus Christ we can be victorious over the sin, shame, and depression that robs us of true life.

Lord Jesus fill me with Your light and life so I can be a person who shines in the darkness, bringing hope into this dark and dying world.

Daily Thought: The Bible and the Spirit

"The Bible is not a magic book.  It doesn't reveal its treasures simply because you read a passage.  It doesn't make you holy simply because you hold it in high esteem.  Many cults use the Bible.  Even Satan quotes Scripture (see Luke 4:9-12).  We need the Bible and all it has to say to us. Desperately.  We also need the Spirit of God to guide us in our reading and study.  'All this I have spoken while still with you,' Jesus said, as he was preparing his followers for life after his departure. 'But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you' (John 14:25-26).

"We need God to help us understand his Word.  We can't separate a walk with God from our reading of Scripture.  The two go hand in hand." ~ John Eldredge, Walking with God, p. 42

Daily Thought: It Begins with Us

"The beginning point is always ourselves.  We must submit our lives to Jesus Christ, let him change our hearts and character, become servants, and model a life of humility and sacrifice.  Then our spiritual density will make us magnetic.  The more Christ reigns in our lives, the more people will be drawn to the Jesus in us." ~ Erwin McManus, An Unstoppable Force, p. 78

Daily Thought: The Spirit of Daily Life

"Let nothing less than these--the desire, the decision to live only for the glory of the Father, even as Christ did; the acceptance of Him with His life and strength working it in us; the joyful assurance that we can live to the glory of God, because Christ lives in us;--let this be the spirit of our daily life." ~ Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer

Playing Catch Up

I was gone all last week to camp and did not have the opportunity to respond to all the comments I had.  There are a couple of brand new ponderings I have written for this week to go along with the daily thoughts, so I hope you will continue to stop by my little corner of the internet.

Daily Thought: Love and Serve

"Serve Him, not because you have to, not because you're afraid to, not just because it pays off handsomely, but because you love Him." ~ William Pile, What the Bible Says about Grace, p. 171

Daily Thought: Our Calling

"Our primary calling as followers of Christ is by him, to him, and for him. First and foremost we are called to Someone (God), not to something (such as motherhood, politics, or teaching) or to somewhere (such as the inner city or Outer Mongolia).

"Our secondary calling, considering who God is as sovereign, is that everyone, everywhere, and everything should think, speak, live, and act entirely for him.  We can therefore properly say as a matter of secondary calling that we are called to homemaking or to the practice of law or to art history.  But these and other things are always the secondary, never the primary calling.  They are 'callings' rather than the 'calling.' They are our personal answer to God's address, our response to God's summons.  Secondary callings matter, but only because the primary calling matters most." ~ Os Guinness, The Call, p. 31

Daily Thought: We Have a Call

"Most of us often have the idea that God must have a special calling on our lives, a particular end for us to accomplish, and we must find out what it is for us.  If we have no such calling from God, then we have not been selected by him for special service, and we can only live out our lives as drones in the kingdom, one monotonous and unimportant day at a time.  But we need to understand that that is our idea, not God's." ~ Brother Andrew, The Calling, p. 35

Daily Thought: The Healing of Desire

"Christianity recognizes that we have desire gone mad within us. But it does not seek to rectify the problem by killing desire; rather, it seeks the healing of desire, just as it seeks the healing of every other part of our human being." ~ John Eldredge, The Journey of Desire, p. 46

Daily Thought: Guiding Me to be Different

"It really is an astounding truth that the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.  He lives in me.  I do not know what the Spirit will do or where He'll lead me each time I invite Him to guide me.  But I am tired of living in a way that looks exactly like people who do not have the Holy Spirit of God living in them.  I want to consistently live with an awareness of His strength.  I want to be different today from what I was yesterday as the fruit of the Spirit becomes more manifest in me." ~ Francis Chan, Forgotten God, p. 37

Daily Thought: A Person of Integrity

"Jesus had only one face. When we lack integrity, we find ourselves with several faces, being several people, depending on the circumstances.  We become personality salesmen rather than people of substance.  But Jesus was always the same person (Mark 12:14), and this is exactly what God both desires and requires of us.  This same type of integrity is to be formed in us to shape our lives.  As with Jesus, integrity is best showcased in the context o opposition or even persecution.  When we face a moment of truth, our integrity is tested and proven genuine or not.  In Jesus'  three years of ministry, His environment grew in hostility, and every decision of integrity increased its volatility.  That Jesus walked in integrity at all times, even when it cost Him His life, was the ultimate proof of who He was." ~ Erwin McManus, Stand Against the Wind, p. 61

Daily Thought: God's Representative

"As God's representative man was to have ruled; all was to have been done under his will and rule; on his advice and at his request heaven was to have bestowed its blessing on earth. His prayer was to have been the wonderful, though simple and most natural channel, in which the intercourse between the King in heaven and His faithful servant man, as lord of this world, was to have been maintained. The destinies of the world were given into the power of the wishes, the will, the prayer of man." ~ Andrew Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer, Kindle Edition

Daily Thought: The Framework for Life

"Everything that a Christian does, from belief to baptism to holiness to hope, is held within this framework of God's powerful love and grace." ~ N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians, p. 151

Daily Thought: Making Ourselves Unlovely

"Our need to be loved and valued is placed within us by God and ultimately can be fulfilled only by Him.  Our insecurities and our sinfulness have led us to take this assignment on ourselves.  When our lives are defined by self-love, we not only make ourselves unlovely, but at the same time we diminish our capacity to experience and give live." ~ Erwin McManus, Stand Against the Wind, p. 23