“Many Christians think stoicism is a good antidote to sensuality. It isn’t. It is hopelessly weak and ineffective. Willpower religion usually fails, and even when it succeeds, it gets glory for the will, not for God. It produces legalists, not lovers. ” (In Our Joy by John Piper, p 35)
Category: Spiritual life
You can’t help but be impressed by Daniel, as in Daniel and the Lion’s Den.
His enemies could not find a fault to accuse him. He did everything with integrity and followed the law exactly.
But what should impress us more is the God who enabled him. It’s God who granted him favor, who gave him intelligence, who gave him extraordinary abilities to interpret dreams, who gave him success to rise to the top.
Ray Ortlund on Sabbath. I like the last 3 sentences.
“If we did set apart one day each week for rejuvenation in God, we would immediately add to every year over seven weeks of vacation. And not for doing nothing but for worship, for friends, for mercy, for an afternoon nap, for reading and thinking, for lingering around the dinner table and sharing good jokes and tender words and personal prayers.
I am understanding a little more each day about ministry. Even though I’ve had many years of ministry experience as a volunteer, I am just getting to understand ministry as a paid staff.
I thought being a volunteer and staff would be similar. I would still be planning programs, teaching the Bible, helping people, etc.…
On Sunday I read to the children an incident in the life of Hudson Taylor.
As a way to build his spiritual muscles to depend on God before he went to China as a missionary, Taylor decided to ask God to remind his boss to pay him, rather than Taylor himself reminding his boss, who often was too busy to remember to pay him on time.
I notice that when we have aches and pains, we have an expectation that it can be treated and cured.
We go to the doctor to get a diagnosis and expect the problem to be solved with meds or surgery or therapy or something. When no diagnosis is found – “we don’t know what is causing your pain”, we feel hopeless. It feels scary that we can’t grasp it and solve it.
I’ve always wanted to adopt a child. My heart goes out to the children who would grow up without a real family. But for whatever reason, I never quite felt the calling to actually adopt. And I feel like I somehow missed out on something. I always tell people that if I were relive my life, I’d adopt, a cute little black boy with curly hair would be my choice.
For the past couple of years, I’ve observed something like Lent during the Lent season – 40 days before the passion week of Christ. The idea is to prepare your heart to truly celebrate what Jesus did for us at Easter. By committing yourself to abstain from something or to do something positive, something that requires some effort that you wouldn’t normally make, it reminds you of how Jesus suffered.
I was in the ladies bathroom at church today and politely asked the elderly woman there the perfunctory, “How are you?”
She replied, “I’m good, praise the Lord.”
I like that. Praise God indeed. Even if we are not well, we know God is sovereign. Praise the Lord.
We can function and live a decent life, even active in the church, “serving God”, and even do a good job in vocational ministry, yet have no real fellowship with God.
But I find that if I go weeks without focused prayer (merely surviving on quick prayers and public prayers that are usually impersonal), holes begin to show.