Posted April 19th, 2009 by misterlib
Matthew 7:24-27
“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.”
it doesn’t have to be like the second one. work these words into me. these words that Jesus speaks, let them define what i am doing, who i am becoming, how i am living. let me base what i believe on HIS words, and not apply HIS words to what i believe. where there is no foundation, today, let me have the courage to tear down the house and make room for a foundation. i bring nothing to the table. nothing that YOU haven’t already given me. let me remember that all day.
Posted April 18th, 2009 by misterlib
Jude 1:16-18
These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.”
it is difficult to know where our desires perfectly align with HIS desires. i know that i (depending on the day/mood/amount of sleep/other excuses) can grumble. i know that i can find fault in others. i know i can follow a desire of my own without even questioning whether or not it is evil or ungodly.
i am reminded of something my friend joanna told us last summer about advantage. she told us that you can’t be taken advantage of if you give the advantage away. if i am a boaster, if i choose to flatter others out of a vain attempt to gain advantage, i have done the opposite of what she has said. not only am i keeping the advantage, i am addidng to it. Jesus gave the advantage away. for sure.
so what am i doing with these desires? am i following them blindly?
today, i will at least test the desires in me. i will ask YOU for alignment, not YOUR blessing.
