Stuff That Matters in Life

Katy’s Weblog

Day 5 Luke 2:6-7

This is my favorite advent devotional so far. Jesus did not take any detours to Calvary. “For your sake he became poor.” (2 Cor 8:9)

“Now if you would think that if God so rules the world…, he surely could have seen to it that a room was available in the inn…The Calvary road begins with a ‘No Vacancy’ sign in Bethlehem and ends with the spitting and scoffing of the cross in Jerusalem.”

Read more of “Advent 2015 Day 5-8”

Day 4 Luke 2:1-5

God moves world affairs in order to fulfill his plan in the lives of two unknown ordinary people. He can both macro manage the world and micro manage my life.

“For it is implicit in Scripture that all the mammoth political forces and all the giant industrial complexes, without them even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake but for the sake of God’s little people – the little Mary and the little Joseph who have to be got from Nazareth to Bethlehem. God wields an empire to bless his children.”

Days 1-3 

I started on December 1 to meditate on a daily advent devotional, following John Piper’s plan.

Here are some of my thoughts.

Day 1 Luke 1:16-17

Focusing on Jesus is not as easy as it seems. I am too familiar with the Christmas account that it has lost some of the grandeur and awe for me. Let’s prepare our hearts to receive Jesus afresh.

“Gather ’round that fire this Advent season. It is warm. It is sparkling with colors of grace. It is healing for a thousand hurts. It is light for dark nights.”

Day 2 Luke 1:46-55

God manifests himself to the ordinary. Look for him among the least of these. Be one of the lowly.

“The only people whose soul can truly magnify the Lord are people like Elizabeth and Mary – people who acknowledge their lowly estate and are overwhelmed by the condescension of the magnificent God.”

Day 3 Luke 1:68-71

Jesus came to save his people, but not in the way the Jews expected. Am I also so short-sighted to expect him to only save me from my circumstances?

“These are the days of great expectation. Now the long awaited visitation of God was about to happen – indeed, he was about to come in a way no one expected.”

Day 4 

My son recommended the book, and then took me to see the movie (3D, with reclining sofa seats!)

As always the book is much better than the movie. A movie made it look easy to survive alone on Mars for over a year. The book was pretty exciting, capturing all the hurdles he went over using science, and the amusing personality of Mark Watney.

I read a review that said something like: don’t ever get stranded on Mars, and if you do, you better be really smart.

The book, though not based on true events or anything, made me appreciate how smart astronauts have to be.

You would think Jesus only got angry at evil guys, so I was pretty scared when I read this in Mark 3:5 –

“And [Jesus] looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart…”

He was angry at the Pharisees for caring more about the Sabbath laws than about a man’s life. They weren’t murderers or rapists. They were upright citizens who followed the law.

Read more of “When Jesus got angry”

A reminder to myself – another way of saying “It’s not how long you life, but how well you live.”

“You never know when your time is going to expire, so remember: as you add years to your life, it is more important to add life to your years.”  Barbara Johnson

 

I heard this on the radio today that I want to remember:

“Salvation is not just a decision for Christ; it’s continual dependency on Christ.”

Everything about our Christian life is about Jesus.

In the America culture where we value independence, we often live the Christian life by doing things for Jesus. I need to remember to focus on Jesus, not on what I do for him.

 

 

Came across this article from Aaron’s blog.

“Slow traffic, a sick child, or a costly home repair may not seem like important tools in our sanctification, but they are. We often overlook these interruptions and inconveniences and instead expect God to work in our lives through huge life-changing circumstances. But the reality is, we won’t often have major events in our life that cause us to trust God and obey him in some deeply profound way. We won’t be called to build an ark or take an only child up Mt. Moriah. Rather, it’s in these small frustrations and interruptions, the little things in our life, where we are given opportunities to rely on God, to obey him, and bring him glory.” 

The rest of the article is worth reading.

Picked up this book from the library from the Juvenile section for a quick read about Amy Tan, the author of The Joy Luck Club.

I thought Amy Tan was a great story teller, making up the complicated lives for her characters in The Joy Luck Club. Now I find out those are based of true events in her family, particularly her mother’s life. I have a greater appreciation for her after knowing her difficult crazy family background.

Her second book The Kitchen God’s Wife is based on her mother’s life. I didn’t want to read it before, but now maybe I will.

 

Heard these today that struck me –

You start off walking with Jesus and end up working for Jesus.

Ephesians 3:1 Paul is a prisoner of Christ, not prisoner of Nero. Christ put him in prison for His purposes.

How do you appropriate Christ into your life? How do you lean on Him?