Saturday, December 27, 2014
Comic Art
Friday, December 26, 2014
Good Servants Often Guide Their Masters
Dave Mathis reports on a message John Piper gave Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:
And yet, as I thought about those examples, I note that it really is feeling in the lead and my thought is not mastering it, but shaping it, refining my feelings so that my instincts begin to fall in line with God's designs. And that made me think of the title of this post. Good servants really do often control the household, but they do so in a fashion that leaves the masters with the impression they are in charge.
Perhaps we are not in the business of suppressing emotion, but of guiding it.
I think that puts Christian counseling on a very different course than secular counseling. What do you think?
Christ feelings thoughts
Doctrine is for the sake of delight. Christian theology does not exist for its own sake, but for our desiring and enjoying Christ.That is an interesting statement. I have always thought much of life was an effort to control feeling, to bring it to heal. Feeling seems so often the source of so much wrong in the world - it just seems dumb to allow such a thing to take lead. Feeling tells us that WE NEED - thinking tells us about the good of all. Feeling tells us that WE HURT, thinking tells us our hurt is little compared to our friend.
Simply put, the mind is meant to serve the heart. Thinking serves feeling. God gave us the ability to learn and reason, so that we might admire and treasure him above anything else. Right thinking is for deep feeling.
And yet, as I thought about those examples, I note that it really is feeling in the lead and my thought is not mastering it, but shaping it, refining my feelings so that my instincts begin to fall in line with God's designs. And that made me think of the title of this post. Good servants really do often control the household, but they do so in a fashion that leaves the masters with the impression they are in charge.
Perhaps we are not in the business of suppressing emotion, but of guiding it.
I think that puts Christian counseling on a very different course than secular counseling. What do you think?
Christ feelings thoughts
Friday Humor - Seasonal Edition
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Illuminated Scripture - Christmas Edition
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Christmas Eve with the Superheroes
For the ninth year running...
Merry Christmas From A Few Of My Friends
Technorati Tags:comics, comic books, comic art, superheroes, christmas comics, superhero christmas
Generated By Technorati Tag Ge
Merry Christmas From A Few Of My Friends
Technorati Tags:comics, comic books, comic art, superheroes, christmas comics, superhero christmas
Generated By Technorati Tag Ge
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
It Starts With Brokenness
Steve Wickham @ Godspace writes:
The answer is, of course, both, but if we view brokenness primarily about our feelings, there is so much sin we fail to recognize. It is quite possible to feel better and yet behave horribly. In fact, it could be argued that focusing on our feeling is in part motivation for sinful behavior. Yes, it is true that has he heals us from sin, He will heal many of the negative feeling we have, but is that really what Christ came to fix?
I find the church an increasingly difficult place to be. It is more like going to a public venue for entertainment than going to a holy place. People come seeking for themselves, whether it be entertainment of just to be healed from bad feelings. It seems like when I was a child I was supposed to be different in church, not so self-searching.
Maybe we have shifted our message a bit too much?
church message motivation sin
Only one fix remains,Indeed the path to Jesus begins with our brokenness, but what an interesting view of our brokenness. Are we broken because we feel bad, or are we broken because of how we behave?
In all of what brokenness contains,
Only one thing will do,
It’s what we hold to be true.
Love is that thing that’s truthfully real,
It’s what we know will always heal,
So brokenness need not be despair,
Because the Son of God does care.
Love is personified in the historical tradition and in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ – God the Father’s Son.
If we wish to be healed – to have our brokenness reconciled – we ought to fall in love with a Saviour who fell in love with us to the point of dying on a cross. And grace does more! Although we cannot live a life of redeemed perfection, yet, we are forgiven and understood as we live our broken lives. God knows it’s not our fault. We are what we are and we are who we are.
As we journey with the Lord Christ into our brokenness, we decide to accept ourselves for whom and what we are. We give up trying to be better. We decide that God must know. We know that God knew what he was doing in being crucified. Acceptance for the facts we have accepted by faith is a grand blessing. It sees to it that there is an abiding peace we enjoy from within. God planned us to be redeemed, broken and doubting and unlovable, but redeemed in the same breath – accepted and dearly loved.
The answer is, of course, both, but if we view brokenness primarily about our feelings, there is so much sin we fail to recognize. It is quite possible to feel better and yet behave horribly. In fact, it could be argued that focusing on our feeling is in part motivation for sinful behavior. Yes, it is true that has he heals us from sin, He will heal many of the negative feeling we have, but is that really what Christ came to fix?
I find the church an increasingly difficult place to be. It is more like going to a public venue for entertainment than going to a holy place. People come seeking for themselves, whether it be entertainment of just to be healed from bad feelings. It seems like when I was a child I was supposed to be different in church, not so self-searching.
Maybe we have shifted our message a bit too much?
church message motivation sin
Monday, December 22, 2014
The Need For Rest
Shelly Miller:
It is possible in an effort to avoid the sin of sloth that we go too far in the opposite direction. This is very practical. Have you ever barked at your spouse or kids because you were tired? Been rude to a clerk because you just did not have the energy to be nice? Has a pet coming up just to be "loved on" a little ever annoyed you becasue you needed a nap? It can get a lot worse car accidents, etc.
Tired makes us more prone to sin. It is no more complex than that. God wants all we have to give, but He does not want more than we have to give.
giving rest
It is the same for us. In spiritual seasons of winter and weekly weariness, resiliency is fueled from previous rest periods, of quiet and stillness abiding in his presence. By neglecting Sabbath for work, the result is often a lesson in futility. Jesus is our role model.More specifically do we trust Him to redeem our rest?
His work was never finished. There were sick to heal, hungry to feed, demons to cast out; yet he awakens before sunrise for solitude and rest to commune with the Father. All the while people scan GPS from their cell phones trying to locate him.
When we allow our outside environment to dictate our inner worth, identity becomes lopsided. It’s why the Sabbath is a commandment, not a suggestion. Abiding in Christ through routine rest is the secret to flourishing in our full potential because God is in the business of redemption.
If you trust him with your work, do you trust him to redeem time?
It is possible in an effort to avoid the sin of sloth that we go too far in the opposite direction. This is very practical. Have you ever barked at your spouse or kids because you were tired? Been rude to a clerk because you just did not have the energy to be nice? Has a pet coming up just to be "loved on" a little ever annoyed you becasue you needed a nap? It can get a lot worse car accidents, etc.
Tired makes us more prone to sin. It is no more complex than that. God wants all we have to give, but He does not want more than we have to give.
giving rest
