Month: September 2020

How we need to live

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Today I cleaned out a file cabinet and found some things I wrote a while ago. This one stood out to me and I kept it out so I could think about it. It was written after re-reading the beatitudes in Matthew 5.

  • Turn loose of your pride and know that you are not the most important thing in the world. Forget “I can do anything better than you” and substitute ” together we can do anything.”
  • Remember when everything is gone…God is still there.
  • Be content with what you have. Remember the most important thing is to have a relationship with God.
  • Look for God and he will find you. When you are filled with God nothing else is needed.
  • Remember Christ’s commandment. Love the Lord you God with all your heart and all your soul and all you mind and your neighbor as yourself.
  • Clean out the closet in yourself. Git rid of the grudges and pain you still carry for no reason. Let God fill those places.
  • Be the peacemaker. Don’t take sides. Be part of the solution instead of adding to the problem.
  • Be different. Be unusual enough that someone asks “why do you act that way?” And you can answer “because I follow Christ.”
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Lately I have been thinking about the word grace. It is one we don’t often talk about but it is an important word.

Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast.

So what is this grace? It is an example of God’s love for us. By grace he accepts us as the flawed human beings that we are. He understands how we can go astray and be unkind toward one another. He understands the hatred and the violence. He understands the discrimination toward others not like us.

God gets it all. But there is that word “grace.” The word that holds his love and understanding of all that we do. With faith we have been saved from ourselves.

Yes, grace matters.

Where are we secure?

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The True Security: Proverbs 3:21-26

21 My child, do not let these escape from your sight:
    keep sound wisdom and prudence,
22 and they will be life for your soul
    and adornment for your neck.
23 Then you will walk on your way securely
    and your foot will not stumble.
24 If you sit down,[a] you will not be afraid;
    when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden panic,
    or of the storm that strikes the wicked;
26 for the Lord will be your confidence
    and will keep your foot from being caught.

Too often we look to the wrong place for help. We hunt for our security in things of this world. We try to find it in ourselves. When we do this we fall short and end up in crisis. Our only true security is in God. This excerpt from Proverbs tells us that if we sit down (with God) we will not be afraid and we will be able to lie down in sweet sleep. It is so easy to forget this. Turn to the Lord. In him is our safety.

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Religion is a way of walking, not a way of talking. Dean William R. Inge

Too often we spend a lot of time talking about our faith. We tend to forget that talking is only the very smallest part of what we are to do as Christians. It’s what we do when we walk out of the door of the church that matters. People know us by our actions.

Let Your Light Shine - Beyond the Pacific

Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.