What do you hope for? A typical person these days might say they hope for the economy to start back up again or they hope for war to end. An American dreamer might say they hope for just that - the American dream. A husband or wife, 2.5 kids, a house in the suburbs with a big yard and white picket fence.
What about this question: in whom do you place your hope? Is it yourself - you know you'll never let you down. Is it your elected officials or your pastor - they would never betray the hope and trust you place in them! I read this morning several verses that may set it straight:
"The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue." Psalm 33:16-17
Man! You mean the people around me are going to fail me? My hope is misplaced? You mean even sometimes I'll let myself down?!
Really, in all seriousness, you probably already knew that. We can hope in stuff and people all day long, but at the end of the day, you know as well as I do that people are fallible, people mess up. We get let down and hurt and roughed up a lot by this world and it's no wonder we're not all crazy for all the pain we end up in throughout our lives. It's why you see so much depression and suicide - this world is a hard place to live in! Check this out, though - the rest of the story:
"Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in Him, because we trust in His holy name. Let Your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in You." Psalm 33:20-22
Amazing! I can't even begin to describe the peace that settles on my heart when I read that. The Bible doesn't just say we should hope in the Lord - it's so much more than that! He loves us - more than we can imagine. He's trustworthy - and he'll never break that trust. He brings our hearts joy - and it's the deepest joy we'll ever know.
Here's my favorite part of that verse: "Our soul waits for the Lord..." Our souls are all waiting for just the right piece to make them whole and that piece is the Lord. Our souls will only ever be satisfied by the Lord. Our souls are perfectly made to be perfectly completed by the Lord!
If you don't have hope in the Lord, I pray that you will because it's the best thing you'll ever know. If you do have hope in the Lord, don't forget - your hope is never misplaced in the Lord.
2.27.2010
2.20.2010
Lofty Task
Do realizations ever just dawn on you out of the blue? I mean, I was just sitting in the chair in our daughter's room watching her toddle back and forth between rooms in her high water pj's and this thought occurred to me - "She's my responsibility!"
I don't mean I realized that it's my job to make sure that she's eats healthy food or wears cute clothes or has a place to sleep - of course, that's my responsibility.
I'm not even referring to the fact that it's my job to make sure that she does well in school or gets a great job or marries the right guy - yes, all of those things I will do. Yes, all of those things I take very seriously!
But, to be honest, there's one thing that I was strongly reminded of this morning that Beth and I MUST do as parents.
"Train up a child in the way (s)he should go; even when (s)he is old, (s)he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6
She could be malnourished, naked, sleeping on the street, uneducated, unemployed, and married to some dirtbag - but whether or not we accomplish this one thing will determine our success in raising her. Whether or not we do this one thing will paint a clearer picture of our priorities in life than anything else we could ever do or say.
It was like an explosion went off in my head! I always knew that I had this responsibility, but the reminder was incredibly poignant today.
It's our job to raise her up in the Lord, to teach her through the example of our lives and the words of our mouths what God's love means and how it affects our lives - how we will never be the same now that we know it, and how we couldn't be who we are without it!
It's our job to show her what the Gospel is and to lead her to the cross!
It's our job to disciple her once she's found Jesus and help her grow in that most intimate of relationships!
The bad news is - we can't do it in our own strength. We can never do or say the right thing to accomplish this task. The good news is - we have faith in our Father, our Lord, our Savior that He will grant us the strength and grace and love and patience to do it all! Will we make mistakes? Undoubtedly so. But the picture of our daughter at the end of our lives will reflect who we are and how we invested our time.
A picture really does paint a thousand words...
I don't mean I realized that it's my job to make sure that she's eats healthy food or wears cute clothes or has a place to sleep - of course, that's my responsibility.
I'm not even referring to the fact that it's my job to make sure that she does well in school or gets a great job or marries the right guy - yes, all of those things I will do. Yes, all of those things I take very seriously!
But, to be honest, there's one thing that I was strongly reminded of this morning that Beth and I MUST do as parents.
"Train up a child in the way (s)he should go; even when (s)he is old, (s)he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6
She could be malnourished, naked, sleeping on the street, uneducated, unemployed, and married to some dirtbag - but whether or not we accomplish this one thing will determine our success in raising her. Whether or not we do this one thing will paint a clearer picture of our priorities in life than anything else we could ever do or say.
It was like an explosion went off in my head! I always knew that I had this responsibility, but the reminder was incredibly poignant today.
It's our job to raise her up in the Lord, to teach her through the example of our lives and the words of our mouths what God's love means and how it affects our lives - how we will never be the same now that we know it, and how we couldn't be who we are without it!
It's our job to show her what the Gospel is and to lead her to the cross!
It's our job to disciple her once she's found Jesus and help her grow in that most intimate of relationships!
The bad news is - we can't do it in our own strength. We can never do or say the right thing to accomplish this task. The good news is - we have faith in our Father, our Lord, our Savior that He will grant us the strength and grace and love and patience to do it all! Will we make mistakes? Undoubtedly so. But the picture of our daughter at the end of our lives will reflect who we are and how we invested our time.
A picture really does paint a thousand words...
2.13.2010
Relationships
How much time do you spend with your best friend? My guess is a lot. I mean, how else do they become your best friend? You spend hours talking to and spending time with them. You call each other to go to a movie or get coffee. You tell each other about what's going on in your life and how something has made you happy or someone has made you mad. Why? Because with a friendship like that, or any relationship for that matter, you have to spend time cultivating it.
What if your best friend never called you? What if you never spent time with your closest friends? Isn't it obvious that just like a gowing relationship requires time and energy and effort to make it grow, a relationship without those things is stagnant? Wouldn't it be true that a relationship without those things is not a relationship at all? You wouldn't be best friends with that person, you would be more like acquaintances...or strangers...
You know the same thing applies to our relationship with God? I can say all day long that I love God and I want to glorify Him with my life and I have this really close relationship with Him and I'm trying to figure out what His will for my life is and...and...and...
But how can that be true if I don't spend time with Him? How can that be true if I don't talk to Him and let Him talk to me? The truth is, though, that's something I've heard before. It's not a new concept to me that I need to put time and energy and effort into growing in my relationship with God. It's not my purpose for writing this today.
I need to take this a step further and share what's been really on my heart lately. In our small group, we have been reading through "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan. (WOW! We're not even halfway through and already it's given me much to think about and apply in my life.) One of the things that Chan mentions is that the Holy Spirit is a Person, distinct from the Person of God or the Person of Jesus. That started me thinking about something I hadn't thought about before.
The Holy Spirit is a Person. John 14:17 talks about how I am to be in relationship with the Holy Spirit. So, just like with God, I have to foster it, I have to put effort into being in and growing in relationship with the Holy Spirit. This is such a new concept for me because I guess I just always assumed that the Holy Spirit would just be there, that He would just guide me and teach me and that would be that.
But it's so much bigger than that! The Bible promises all of these gifts that the Holy Spirit brings with Him. The Bible says that I will bear the fruit of the Spirit. So, how do I make sure that I am receiving those gifts? How do I make sure that I am bearing that fruit? How do I learn God's will for my life, what I've been praying for since I can remember?
I have to pursue relationship with the Holy Spirit - actively, consistently. I have to pray for a closer and more intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, just like I pray for a closer and more intimate relationship with God.
So I guess the thought I'll end with is - what or who are you seeking relationship with?
What if your best friend never called you? What if you never spent time with your closest friends? Isn't it obvious that just like a gowing relationship requires time and energy and effort to make it grow, a relationship without those things is stagnant? Wouldn't it be true that a relationship without those things is not a relationship at all? You wouldn't be best friends with that person, you would be more like acquaintances...or strangers...
You know the same thing applies to our relationship with God? I can say all day long that I love God and I want to glorify Him with my life and I have this really close relationship with Him and I'm trying to figure out what His will for my life is and...and...and...
But how can that be true if I don't spend time with Him? How can that be true if I don't talk to Him and let Him talk to me? The truth is, though, that's something I've heard before. It's not a new concept to me that I need to put time and energy and effort into growing in my relationship with God. It's not my purpose for writing this today.
I need to take this a step further and share what's been really on my heart lately. In our small group, we have been reading through "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan. (WOW! We're not even halfway through and already it's given me much to think about and apply in my life.) One of the things that Chan mentions is that the Holy Spirit is a Person, distinct from the Person of God or the Person of Jesus. That started me thinking about something I hadn't thought about before.
The Holy Spirit is a Person. John 14:17 talks about how I am to be in relationship with the Holy Spirit. So, just like with God, I have to foster it, I have to put effort into being in and growing in relationship with the Holy Spirit. This is such a new concept for me because I guess I just always assumed that the Holy Spirit would just be there, that He would just guide me and teach me and that would be that.
But it's so much bigger than that! The Bible promises all of these gifts that the Holy Spirit brings with Him. The Bible says that I will bear the fruit of the Spirit. So, how do I make sure that I am receiving those gifts? How do I make sure that I am bearing that fruit? How do I learn God's will for my life, what I've been praying for since I can remember?
I have to pursue relationship with the Holy Spirit - actively, consistently. I have to pray for a closer and more intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, just like I pray for a closer and more intimate relationship with God.
So I guess the thought I'll end with is - what or who are you seeking relationship with?
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