In America we have an epidemic of everyone blaming everyone else for their problems. Fast food restaurants are serving too much and too fatty food, causing obesity… Government is responsible for all our problems, and quite honestly should solve my social problems, my health problems, my financial problems, etc… or we blame are mom, dad, kids, spouse-their fault for why I am what I am. You get where I am going.
I think we do that in our spiritual life….I am not growing because there are too many hypocrites in church…the church is too materialistic…the church is so shallow. Why aren’t we reaching people for Christ, obviously the pastor’s sermons are too boring. The ministers aren’t reaching out to the lost. Why don’t they reach out to the poor? Start a ministry to youth, children, etc?
At some point we (you, me) as individuals have to take responsibility. Nothing is going to change or get done if everyone is blaming everyone else for their problems or for what is not getting done. That is why I admire guys like Daniel who when he prayed in Daniel ch. 9 (read it please) he took responsibility for the sin in the land, he took responsibility for repenting when the reality was it wasn’t him committing all those transgressions. He owned it though.
Over this last month we have been doing a series called “God’s mission…MY mission.” It is time to own what is important to God…worship (loving God), evangelism (loving people), discipleship (being one and making one), and this week MISSIONS. The mission is far too important to pass off to someone else and the rewards and fruit are too amazing to not care about it. Everyone has a world they can impact for Christ….do it.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
A great word for those in a constant mess
Remember the commercial with the “easy” button. It was pushed in the midst of a mess and they could be taken away to something great. That is how many of us believers in Christ view life…it’s a mess but hey someday heaven, some day glory.
I was reading 2 Corinthians 3 and studying Rick Renner’s take on the Greek and was really encouraged and challenged.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty(freedom). 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
Notice the phrase we are being transformed into the same image (Christlikeness) from glory to glory….in other words from a current glorious place to another high glorious place. God is working to take your present life and present situations we are in and make them glorious.
If this is true need to ask some questions
-Am I living in a glorious stage even though it is challenging or am I living just stuck in an ugly mess with wrong attitudes and disobedient actions
-am I totally inattentive to God? Apathetic? Lazy?
Look at the first part of the verse- “but we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." The Greek word for open means to unveil, uncover, to disclose. It is also continuous in action, in others words once opened remains open.
Rick Renner writes “We must be willing to permanently remove the veil from our eyes and to take an honest look in the mirror in order to truthfully acknowledge the condition of our present stage. Only after we have truthfully seen and acknowledged the condition of our present stage…only when we see what we are can we make a sincere decision to change, by removing the veil… it is the way the Lord can show us (ourselves) so we can receive correction, change us, transform us, and prepare us to move upward into the next glorious phase of our life.”
Notice Paul talks about the change that happens AFTER the veil is removed. We are transformed from the inside out, beginning in our thoughts and affecting our actions and even countenance. We can move not from mess to another mess but from glory to glory…
How does the process begin? It begins with us quit trying to pretend everything is glorious in our life as we stick our head in the sand. That denial just keeps us stuck. The Lord wants to lift the veil and get us to the place of openness. He says “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom,” freedom to deal with sin, deal with the mess. It may be hard to look at the mess of our finances, the mess of our relationships, the mess of our health..the mess of whatever it is that isn’t so glorious. As we allow the Spirit to lift that veil, God transforms our stuff into glory.
Be encouraged and open to Him.
I was reading 2 Corinthians 3 and studying Rick Renner’s take on the Greek and was really encouraged and challenged.
"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty(freedom). 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
Notice the phrase we are being transformed into the same image (Christlikeness) from glory to glory….in other words from a current glorious place to another high glorious place. God is working to take your present life and present situations we are in and make them glorious.
If this is true need to ask some questions
-Am I living in a glorious stage even though it is challenging or am I living just stuck in an ugly mess with wrong attitudes and disobedient actions
-am I totally inattentive to God? Apathetic? Lazy?
Look at the first part of the verse- “but we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." The Greek word for open means to unveil, uncover, to disclose. It is also continuous in action, in others words once opened remains open.
Rick Renner writes “We must be willing to permanently remove the veil from our eyes and to take an honest look in the mirror in order to truthfully acknowledge the condition of our present stage. Only after we have truthfully seen and acknowledged the condition of our present stage…only when we see what we are can we make a sincere decision to change, by removing the veil… it is the way the Lord can show us (ourselves) so we can receive correction, change us, transform us, and prepare us to move upward into the next glorious phase of our life.”
Notice Paul talks about the change that happens AFTER the veil is removed. We are transformed from the inside out, beginning in our thoughts and affecting our actions and even countenance. We can move not from mess to another mess but from glory to glory…
How does the process begin? It begins with us quit trying to pretend everything is glorious in our life as we stick our head in the sand. That denial just keeps us stuck. The Lord wants to lift the veil and get us to the place of openness. He says “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom,” freedom to deal with sin, deal with the mess. It may be hard to look at the mess of our finances, the mess of our relationships, the mess of our health..the mess of whatever it is that isn’t so glorious. As we allow the Spirit to lift that veil, God transforms our stuff into glory.
Be encouraged and open to Him.
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