POP QUIZ
Q: What happens when a branch that is 4" in diameter and 10" long breaks off its tree and free falls for 10' before hitting you on the shoulder?
Answer:
It hurts really bad.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
If God Says
Does God ever "call" His children to not obey one of His commands, like missions, bearing children, telling the truth, etc? Can we say with a straight face that, "I am not called to missions" or "God does not want me to have children" or "If I am protecting my family I can lie"?
Every day I disobey, many times willingly, commands I know God has clearly given to those who follow Christ. I decide to be grumpy. I decide to be impatient. I am proud, selfish and unforgiving. Then there are times when we, I, disobey God's commands because I am not fully mature yet, not knowing it is sin.
Yet, once I am confronted with my sin, then I am responsible to obey or not. None of use are perfect, meaning without sin, but we press on and on and on for the prize:
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained."
Philippians 3:12-16
There are things in Scripture that are so clear and still many of us ponder, "What is God's will?" He has laid most of it out clearly: believe in His Son, do not lie, do not commit adultery, go make disciples, look after orphans and widows, do not be conformed to this world, do not get drunk with wine, be fruitful, do not divorce, etc. etc.
So what is our problem with just obeying? Are we ignorant to what God has said? Are we purposefully disobeying? Are we immature in our faith?
I think, depending on the person, the answer can be yes to all of the above questions. Still, disobedience is disobedience. Praise God for mercy and grace. He knows our weaknesses, excuses, stubborness and humanity. If there is any good in us it is Him.
These verses convict and comfort me at the same time:
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
John 14:21
We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
I John 2:3
This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome...
I John 5:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
2 Peter 1:3
Every day I disobey, many times willingly, commands I know God has clearly given to those who follow Christ. I decide to be grumpy. I decide to be impatient. I am proud, selfish and unforgiving. Then there are times when we, I, disobey God's commands because I am not fully mature yet, not knowing it is sin.
Yet, once I am confronted with my sin, then I am responsible to obey or not. None of use are perfect, meaning without sin, but we press on and on and on for the prize:
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained."
Philippians 3:12-16
There are things in Scripture that are so clear and still many of us ponder, "What is God's will?" He has laid most of it out clearly: believe in His Son, do not lie, do not commit adultery, go make disciples, look after orphans and widows, do not be conformed to this world, do not get drunk with wine, be fruitful, do not divorce, etc. etc.
So what is our problem with just obeying? Are we ignorant to what God has said? Are we purposefully disobeying? Are we immature in our faith?
I think, depending on the person, the answer can be yes to all of the above questions. Still, disobedience is disobedience. Praise God for mercy and grace. He knows our weaknesses, excuses, stubborness and humanity. If there is any good in us it is Him.
These verses convict and comfort me at the same time:
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.
John 14:21
We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
I John 2:3
This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome...
I John 5:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
2 Peter 1:3
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Awesome Creator
About 1,500 galaxies are visible in this deep view of the universe, taken by allowing the Hubble Space Telescope to stare at the same tiny patch of sky for 10 consecutive days in 1995. The image covers an area of sky only about width of a dime viewed from 75 feet away. (See this and more here.)Did you just read what I read?
About 1,500 galaxies are visible in this deep view of the universe, taken by allowing the Hubble Space Telescope to stare at the same tiny patch of sky for 10 consecutive days in 1995. The image covers an area of sky only about width of a dime viewed from 75 feet away.
The image covers an area of sky only about width of a dime viewed from 75 feet away.
How great is our God!
And I let my minute, puny, tiny problems distract me from HIM? The Creator of the 1,500 galaxies I see here?!?!
How human can I be???
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