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Showing posts with label Appreciation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Appreciation. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Joy and Peace in the Great-in-Between - Purity 889


Joy and Peace in the Great-in-Between -  Purity 889  

Purity 889 11/15/2022 Purity 889 Podcast

Purity 889 on YouTube: 



Good morning,

Today’s photo of a pair of trees under a blazing late afternoon sun on the shores of the Niagara River comes to us from yours truly as I made a point of stopping at Fort Schlosser, or the “Upper Niagara Intake Observation Area” while departing Niagara Falls NY back on Thursday.  

Well, there are two trees in this photo, so I guess that makes it a natural selection to represent the second day of our work week, Two for Tuesday? Anyway, I have been to Niagara Falls on a few other occasions in the past but have never stopped at “Fort Schlosser” and so I made a point to do so as the last stop, well almost, it should have been the last stop, before going to my hostel accommodations in Buffalo.  

I can understand why I never stopped at For Schlosser before. After the grandeur of Niagara Falls, the Upper Niagara Intake Observation Area can be a little underwhelming but in truth it is a beautiful site, with wide open spaces to picnic and a long trail that runs parallel to the Niagara Scenic Parkway along the Niagara River that if followed to the West would lead you to the Falls, about 3 miles away, and if followed to the east would lead you beneath the North Grand Island Bridge to Lasalle Riverfront Park, two miles away. So Fort Schlosser may not seem like much to look at when you’re driving past it after visiting the Falls, but it could be the starting point for a great day of walking along the Niagara River.  

And I guess depending on where you are in your walk with the Lord, Fort Schlosser could represent where we find ourselves today, in the “Great-in-Between”, between our pasts and the things waiting for us in the future that could be many miles or even years away.  

One destination in all of our future is Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Years beyond.   While we may be  looking ahead at those times with joyful expectation or anxiety and dread, the important thing to remember about our walk through life and specifically on the path of Christian discipleship is to enjoy the present.  Sure Fort Schlosser may not be Niagara Falls, but its pretty nice there all the same and we shouldn’t not appreciate it because we either have left the Falls behind or are looking forward to the Falls in our future.  

The enemy seeks to steal our peace by telling us two equal and opposite lies. 

1.    Things were better in the past.  

2.    Things are better in the future.  

Like any good lie, there is always a grain of truth in them if the enemy is going to be successful in deceiving us. 

Sure there were good things in our pasts, but there we shouldn’t fall in the trap of living there because our nostalgic vision that only highlights the positive or dwells on the pain, paints a picture that is distorted, one way or the other.  While we could and should appreciate our pasts, for the bad and the good, we should never let it disrupt the peace and joy that we can have today.  

Likewise, we might be in some real present struggles currently or we may have some really good things that are beyond the horizon in our futures.  But if we are focused on the future so much that we are hating the gift of our present, the enemy has won again.  

So as we enter into the second day of the week, submit to God and give Him thanks for the day He has made, today,  and resist the devil who would like to convince you that peace and joy exist only in our pasts or are far away in the distant future.  

Also, the enemy also likes to point out the things we supposedly “lack”.  He can do this with a one-two punch.   

He can stir pleasant thoughts and desire for things that are good, tempting us with circumstantial happiness, with even positive desires for family gatherings or doing acts of service to the Lord or kindness to others.   

But then after the enemy tempts you with “things that would be nice”, he slams you with the facts of your current situation that may make those things difficult to obtain.   Thus we are drawn into depression about the thing “we can’t do” and discontentment with the way things are. 

But the truth is, generally, that right now isn’t so bad, in fact things may actually be better than how they were, but in pointing out nice desires that we may not be able to do right now, our present becomes something we don’t appreciate.  

The kicker is usually these desires the enemy presents also distract us from the problems we should be focused on resolving.  So we end up fantasizing about “what if” rather than addressing the problems left on the back burner of our lives.  Instead of focusing on the “nice things” we wish we had, we would be better served to develop a plan to address the things that have been ignored that if resolved would increase our freedom and peace.   

So obviously, as we walk through this life we have to be aware our current situations and appreciate where we are and rather than fantasize and be disappointed about the things we “can’t have” now we should instead find the joy and the peace that is available to us right here, and right now, and we should not ignore the things that surround us that we could resolve.  

When we walk in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and the truth is there are good things in your life right now that you can appreciate and have peace and joy about.  There is also work to do to resolve past problems that are still a part of your present and to prepare us for the future that is always one day closer.  

However, if we keep walking and talking with God, we will know that we are never alone as we walk from here to there and we have Him to help us and guide us in the way we should go.   

 

 

 

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Romans 10:9 (NLT2)
9  If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Today’s verse reminds us of all it is  that we must do in order to be saved. 

We must confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead.   That’s it.  

But as simple as that may sound, to just believe that!, the whole counsel of God would cause us to understand that confessing Jesus as our Lord and Savior means a lot.  

The implication of anyone being your lord is that you answer to them, and you obey them.  You follow their instructions and call on your life.  

And so the great news is that we are saved by faith alone, however I would never seek to mislead anyone into putting their faith in Christ is just a matter of “easy-believe-ism”.

Christ warned His disciples that the world would hate them and that they would be persecuted because of their faith in Him.  

While salvation is a free gift of grace from God, there is a cost of discipleship – our very lives. God gives us eternal life through Christ and thus we are said to die with Christ and are raised to new life with Him in His resurrection. Our old self is dead, and our purpose is to discover and live our new life in Christ.  

We are saved from God’s wrath and saved to become a part of His kingdom and to represent Him by the way we live.  

So rejoice over your salvation, but never take it lightly or lead people to believe that being a Christian is as simple as the faith it takes to become one.  

___________________________________________

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.

Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

The Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 7

The Community of Disciples Is Set Apart

The Disciple and the Unbelievers

Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

¶ “Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.

¶ “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:1–12).

There is an essential connection that leads from chapters 5 and 6 to these verses and then to the great conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. The fifth chapter spoke of the extraordinariness of discipleship (περισσόν), while the sixth chapter spoke of the disciples’ hidden, simple righteousness (ὰπλο͂υζ). In both aspects the disciples were separated from the community to which they had previously belonged and bound solely to Jesus. The boundary became clearly visible. This raises the question of the relationship between disciples and the people around them. Did their being set apart give them special rights of their own? Did they receive special powers, measuring standards, or talents, which enabled them to assume a special authority toward others? This would have been most likely if Jesus’ disciples had now separated themselves from their environment by sharp, divisive judgments. People could even have come to think that it was Jesus’ will that such divisive and condemnatory judgments were to be made in the disciples’ daily dealings with others. Thus Jesus must make clear that such misunderstandings seriously endanger discipleship. Disciples are not to judge. If they do judge, then they themselves fall under God’s judgment. They themselves will perish by the sword with which they judge others. The gap which divides them from others, as the just from the unjust, even divides them from Jesus.

Why is that so? Disciples live completely out of the bond connecting them with Jesus Christ. Their righteousness depends only on that bond and never apart from it. Therefore, it can never become a standard which the disciples would own and might use in any way they please. What makes them disciples is not a new standard for their lives, but Jesus Christ alone, the mediator and Son of God himself. The disciples’ own righteousness is thus hidden from them in their communion with Jesus. They can no longer see, observe, and judge themselves; they only see Jesus and are seen, judged, and justified by grace by Jesus alone. No measuring standard for a righteous life stands between the disciples and other people; but once again, only Jesus Christ himself stands in their midst. The disciples view other people only as those to whom Jesus comes. They encounter other people only because they approach them together with Jesus. Jesus goes ahead of them to other people, and the disciples follow him. Thus an encounter between a disciple and another person is never just a freely chosen encounter between two people, confronting each other’s views, standards, and judgments immediately. Disciples can encounter other people only as those to whom Jesus himself comes. Jesus’ struggle for the other person, his call, his love, his grace, his judgment are all that matters. Thus the disciples do not stand in a position from which the other person is attacked. Instead, in the truthfulness of Jesus’ love they approach the other person with an unconditional offer of community.[1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 169–170.

Friday, November 11, 2022

Enjoying the Journey – Don’t Fear the Falls and Don’t be “Hostel” to New Things - Purity 886

 

Enjoying the Journey – Don’t Fear the Falls and Don’t be “Hostel” to New Things -  Purity 886

Purity 886 11/11/2022 Purity 886 Podcast

Purity 886 on YouTube: 



Good morning,

Today’s photo a bright midafternoon sun shining over one of the “natural” wonders of the world comes to us from yours truly as I decided to make the best of the somewhat long drive to Buffalo by going to Oswego last night Wednesday and by skipping along the coast of Lake Ontario along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail for a time yesterday before making a bee line for Niagara Falls.   The welcome center for the American Falls may be under construction, and it may have been “offseason” but there were no lines, the crowds were small, and the observation deck was open and didn’t require a ticket!   Add to that the bright afternoon sunshine and I really couldn’t have asked for more as my trip to the Falls was the climax of my decision to enjoy my journey to Buffalo.  

Well, It’s Friday and although I am not sure what I will do with the hours between now and when I check in as a volunteer for the Evening with David Jerimiah Event at the Key Bank Center at 3:30pm, I wanted to take the time to encourage all who read or hear this message to occasionally force yourselves to enjoy the journey by being intentional in trying new things, doing things differently occasionally, and appreciating the way to your next destination.   

When I travel I am normally pretty destination driven. IF I’m going to X, let’s get to X and let’s get to X as soon as possible!  But on occasion, not too often mind you, I will make the intentional decision to go a different way, not concern myself with the travel time, and to stop and see and appreciate things along the way.   

When I first heard about tonight’s event in Buffalo, I got the sense that this would be a wonderful opportunity to “be spontaneous” and to do a small act of service to the man and ministry  that delivered “THE MESSAGE” that saved my soul and began my new life in Christ.

Even though  I could have just used today’s holiday – Happy Veterans’ Day – Thank You For Your Service – to drive out to Buffalo in time to make the event, I decided to leave Wednesday evening and use a personal day yesterday so I could take some time to visit my alma mater’s city,  and to just see where the Lord lead me as I slowly moved west to Buffalo.  

Okay maybe I wasn’t completely spontaneous because  I was responsible in scheduling the time off from work and did book my stay at the Knight’s Inn in Oswego and the Hostel Buffalo Niagara well in advance. But other than making sure I had a place to lay my head before going, I decided to take my time and to take a more scenic route and to stop at Niagara Falls before going to my 2 day hostel home in Buffalo. 

So yesterday, after dropping off an old fraternity shirt I have no use for in the mailbox of the new Psi Phi Gamma fraternity house on West 4th Street, I went to the Oswego Marina and drove along the Lake Ontario shore up to the SUNY Oswego Campus.  I took a few pictures of the lake behind Riggs and Johnson Hall and then set the GPS for Niagara Falls.  

But I quickly realized that the GPS was going against my desire to drive along the coast, so I decided to put in Sodus Point as a destination and try to keep the lake close.  I had a great morning driving around soudus bay, to the point and then stayed on lake road, making stops at B.Foreman Park, The Lakeview Shelter at Webster Pier, and the Irendequoit Bay Outlet Pier and Beach.   But when I reached the Seabreeze Amusement Park, my leisurely pace, the unfamiliarity where I was, my desire to visit Niagara Falls and to get to the Hostel Buffalo Niagara before 5pm, all caused me to take the GPS’s quickest route to the Falls.  As I headed south and realized I had only gone as far west as Rochester I was a little disappointed because I wanted to take the long way around to Niagara Falls initially but my stopping to smell the roses had taken time and I had a date with the Niagara Falls. So I hit the thruway with enthusiasm, driving very fast, and made it to the Falls around 2 pm. 

The Falls were as magnificent as ever and I took some time to intentionally sit on a park bench to enjoy the view and to thank the Lord for the wonderful weather and all the wonderful sights I had seen thus far, and of course to thank Him for where He has brought me in life.

And of course, when you think about how good life is because you are experiencing pleasant circumstances you naturally think about the people you love. So I thought about my wife TammyLyn and sent her some photos to let er know that I was thinking of her and that I wished she was with me and that I loved her. 

After some anxiety over finding a place to park my car, I eventually made it to the Hostel in Buffalo, which admittedly is a new experience and caused a bit of anxiety too!   

Think college dorm room, meets fraternity house, meets army barracks, and maybe a bit of the apartment on “Friends”… The Hostel Buffalo Niagara is a laid back pad man, can you dig it…

Okay, I’m a nerd and as I planned this spiritual pilgrimage I decided to intentionally step out of my comfort zone and stay at a hostel.  Hey if you are going to try new things you actually have to plan new things and do them so, I am doing it. 

And although my anxiety level was up, because Mr. Spontaneity hasn’t stayed in Buffalo before and couldn’t reserve parking, WHAT!, I have now, this morning, settled down, now that  I have gotten some sleep and my horror movie fears of murder, theft, and sexual assault at the hands of strangers were baseless.  

I am currently in the “Lounge” typing this out and may even be so bold as to do the podcast if no one else is around…. 

Anyway, I am alive and well and looking forward to this afternoon and tonight’s event where I will be able to serve, worship, praise, and thank the Lord for who He is and for all that He has done.  

So, it is my prayer that all who hear this will enjoy the journey of this life by connecting with God thought faith in Jesus Christ and then by travelling with God everywhere you go.   And even if you have fear and anxiety of doing new things or doing things differently, let me encourage you that when you do them with the Lord, you never have to worry because He will never leave you and He will guide you in the way you should go. 

So keep walking and talking with God, it’s the only way to travel!

 

Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Hebrews 12:11 (NLT2)
11  No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

Today’s verse tells us a hard truth but reminds us of a greater purpose.  

Today’s verse tells it like it is: discipline is painful!   Some of the changes that will help us to become more like the people God made us to be will require some concerted effort to renew our minds and possibly shape our bodies to accomplish.  The changes that we want and the deeper relationship with God requires that we be disciplined in instituting solutions and in the regular application of Biblical wisdom through Bible study and prayer.   

Developing new habits and crucifying the flesh can be a daunting task but if we remain diligent in our seeking the Lord and in doing what He directs us to do, we will eventually create new godly habits and see significant results as our minds are renewed and our hearts are surrendered to God.  

So discipline might be painful but as today’s verse assures us, it will reap a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in the way. So keep at it, keep pursuing the Lord and the person He wants you to become.    

___________________________________________

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.

Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

The Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 6

On the Hidden Nature of the Christian Life

The Hiddenness of Practicing Piety concludes

Asceticism is self-chosen suffering; it is passio activa, not passio passiva, and, therefore, most vulnerable. Asceticism is constantly threatened by the godless, pious wish to make oneself equal to Christ through suffering. One’s own claim to take the place of Christ’s suffering, to complete the work of Christ in suffering, namely, killing off the old self in us, is also lurking dormant within asceticism. In this, asceticism usurps the bitter and ultimate seriousness of Christ’s work of salvation. Here asceticism makes a dreadfully harsh show of itself. Voluntary suffering should serve only better ministry and deeper humility on the basis of Christ’s suffering. But here it becomes a terrible distortion of the suffering of the Lord himself. It wants to be seen; it becomes a merciless living reproach to other people, for it has become the path to salvation. In such “public” ostentatiousness, its reward is really squandered, because it is sought from other people.

“Put oil on your head and wash your face” could likewise become an opportunity for subtle pleasure or self-praise. But that would misinterpret it as a disguise or mask. Jesus, however, says to his disciples that they should remain humble in the voluntary exercises of humility, that they should never burden others with such exercises, using them as a reproach or a law. Instead, they should become grateful and joyous that they are permitted to remain in service to their Lord. What is meant here is not the cheerful face of a disciple seen as a Christian stereotype, but the proper hiddenness of Christian deeds, the humility which does not know of itself, just as the eye does not see itself, but only others. Such hiddenness shall be revealed one day, but only by God, not by oneself.[1]

---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------

Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!

at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts

(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com. 

These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247

Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.

My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 160–161.


Wednesday, November 2, 2022

I Love It! – GAMES On - Practicing Appreciation - Purity 878

I Love It! – GAMES On - Practicing Appreciation  - Purity 878

Purity 878 11/02/2022 Purity 878 Podcast

Good morning,

Today’s photo of the sparkling sunshine pathway to the “hump” of Magdalen Island on the Hudson River beneath a blue sky decorated with a collection of wispy cirrus clouds comes to us from my brother in law who shared this scene on social media two days ago commenting: “When this view is down the road from your home, how can you not take advantage of day like today.”  How indeed?  While my brother’s wife’s brother didn’t share the location of this sight, as the former mayor of Tivoli, NY tipped his hand by including the hashtag “#ilovit” which is Tivoli backwards, and a google map search later led me to conclude that if this view was from Tivoli, it had to be in the southernly direction of the Hudson River, because there are no islands to the north. 

When we share our “views” on life, while we may not know all that is happening in someone’s circumstances, we can get a pretty good idea where they are coming from and when someone is pointing others to the beauty that surrounds them I believe it can be a reflection of the state of their lives. If someone is taking time to appreciate the good things around them and share them with others, I believe that they are far from God because they are not only finding moments of peace and beauty for themselves but they are trying to share the moment with us and perhaps unwittingly sharing themselves. In sharing a photo, we are telling people: here I am, at this day and time, I was here and I was well, and whether we have a deep personal connection with the person or not, we can share in their joy.   

Well, it’s Wednesday, and that “hump” of Magdalen Island sitting in the Hudson has been shared to reflect my brother in law’s appreciation for his place in life and as a visual reminder that we have reached the midpoint of another work week.  While Wednesdays can be pretty blah and matter of fact because we are find ourselves in between the joy of the weekend past and the weekend yet to come, I hope to remind all of us connected to God through our faith in Jesus Christ, that while we might only be able to find the happiness in positive circumstance, like a weekend’s rest or enjoying a good view, the Christian disciple has no limits on the joy they can experience as our relationship with God transcends our physical location and the circumstances of our current situation.  

The joy of the Lord is our strength! When we put our faith in Christ, we have peace with God. We are forgiven. We are secure in His love and assured of good outcomes, ultimately if not in the here and now.  

While I certainly encourage all my friends to seize the day and practice appreciation for the things we encounter and to give thanks to God for those things, I also am quick to point out that our relationship with God is enough to give us a continual sense of peace and subsequently fill us with joy.

Marcus Warner and Stefanie Hinman, in their book “Building Bounce:  describe a way of practicing appreciation with the acronym: GAMES, so let’s play ball and see how we can practice appreciation to help us be emotionally resilient, to continually find our way back to joy.

G – is for Gratitude.  That’s right, It’s November, so let’s give thanks! But in this instance, Warner and Hinman recognize that there is a lot to be grateful for so in their acronym, their instruction is highly specific. For the first step to play this GAME of appreciation, Warner and Hinman directs us to find something we can have gratitude for RIGHT NOW, in our present moment.  This brings us into the moment of our lives, connecting us to our bodies and our present experience, a checkup of sorts, and directs us to see a positive light in our lives right now as we live and breathe.  This can be the fact that I am alive, I am breathing, I am relatively well and free of pain.  I have warm clothes on, I am comfortable. I have electricity. I have a lot of things in my life, right now, that I can appreciate and be thankful for.

A – is for Anticipation, where we reflect on something in the Future I can appreciate.  For example, we can appreciate that this workday will come to a conclusion, and we can enjoy our time at home later. We can appreciate that we will see our friends at work. Or that we will be able to have a nice dinner later.  IF there is much we can appreciate in the present, this just naturally carries into our Futures. If now is good so will our future. 

M – is for Memories, where we can appreciate things in our Pasts.  This can be memories of good things and times, our it can even be a memory of not so good tings and times that we no longer are experiencing.  Our memories can be used to appreciate all that we have encountered that have made us grow and to bring us to where we are now.

E – is for Experiences – where we can plan to do things that we can appreciate and appreciate the fact that we can plan them!  Making plans or reflecting on something we can do that gives us some circumstantial happiness can give us joy.  Or we can just do them – If there is an experience that will give us happiness, but will not have resultant guilt or shame, we should do it and appreciate the experience.

S – for Singing, yup, there is some wisdom to the old adage to whistle while we work! The act of singing can lift our spirits and give us joy. I personally recommend getting into Christian worship music and singing songs of praise that simultaneously connect  us to the Lord and encourage us about our relationship with Him and all He has done for us. 

So, as we walk through another Wednesday, remember to get your GAMES on and practice appreciation.  When we do that, we discover that it really is a wonderful life and when we know the Author of Life, The Lord, we can experience a relational joy to God from knowing that He personally directed our lives and provides us with all there is to appreciate.

So appreciate all you have and all that God has done, is doing, and will do for you when you keep walking and talking with Him.

     

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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.

This morning’s meditation verse is:

Psalm 112:5-9 (NLT2)
5  Good comes to those who lend money generously and conduct their business fairly.
6  Such people will not be overcome by evil. Those who are righteous will be long remembered.
7  They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the LORD to care for them.
8  They are confident and fearless and can face their foes triumphantly.
9  They share freely and give generously to those in need. Their good deeds will be remembered forever. They will have influence and honor.

Today’s Bible verses encourage us to be generous and to live righteously as a result of our relationship with God, indicating that when we do this we can rise above the challenges of this life and leave a legacy behind that will be worthy of honor and that could influence others.  

The NLT promise book for Men only shared, verse 6 and 9 of these verses, with the emphasis of being remembered for the good we do, I guess,  but I decided to share the others verses to show that our lives are a little more than what we will be remembered for, that we are living this life now, and not just looking forward to positive testimonies about us at the hour of our deaths.  

The emphasis from our resource was “when you want to earn the respect of others”… which quite frankly as I see as a less than respectable motivation for living righteously. And without the surrounding context that tells us that these people are “confidently trusting the Lord” seems like a “do good to look good” instruction.   

So as much as it is nice to be respected, to be honored, and influence others, our aim as disciples of Christ is to be pleasing to the Lord.  Those other benefits are bonuses. 

Christ basically teaches us in Matthew 5 & 6 not to do things for the crowd, before men, so be generous, live righteously because it is what Lord would direct you to do and if you should gain the respect of others try to influence them by directing them to Jesus. 

 

___________________________________________

As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.

Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”

As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own private study and to support his work.  This resource is available on many websites for less than $20.00.

The Sermon on the Mount

Matthew 6

On the Hidden Nature of the Christian Life

Hidden Righteousness

Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

¶ “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt. 6:1–4).

The fifth chapter spoke of the visibility of the disciples’ community and culminated in the περισσόν, requiring us to understand that what is characteristically Christian is that which steps away from the world, rises above the world, is extraordinary. Then the next chapter links up with this περισσόν and reveals its ambiguity. The danger is great that the disciples will completely misunderstand this as a command to start building a heavenly kingdom on earth, despising and destroying the world order. The danger is great that in enthusiasts’ indifference to this age they will think it their duty now to achieve and make visible the extraordinariness of this new world, separating themselves from the world radically and with no willingness to compromise, in order to force into being what is Christian, what is appropriate to discipleship, what is extraordinary. It was too easy to mistake this for the preaching of another pious style and way of life, even if it was a free, new, inspiring one. And one’s pious flesh would be so willing to accept this extraordinariness, poverty, truthfulness, suffering, or even to seek it out, if only doing so would satisfy the heart’s longing to actually see something with one’s own eyes[161] and not merely to believe. One would surely be willing to nudge the boundaries of a pious lifestyle and obedience to the word, until they move more closely together, and are finally no longer distinguishable from each other. It would only be for the one goal of finally achieving the extraordinary.

On the other hand, those would gather on the battlefield who had only been waiting for Jesus to speak about the extraordinary so that they could attack him with even more rage. Proclaiming the extraordinary unmasked Jesus as an enthusiast, a revolutionary extremist who wanted to turn the world upside down, who instructs his disciples to leave the world and build a new world. Is that still obedience to Old Testament scripture? Is it not a thoroughly self-selected personal righteousness that is being proposed here?[163] Doesn’t Jesus know about the sin of the world that will wreck anything he commands? Doesn’t he know anything about God’s revealed commandments, which are given to ward off sin? Isn’t this extraordinariness he is demanding proof of a spiritual arrogance, which is the beginning of all enthusiasm? No, not the extraordinary, but rather the completely ordinary, everyday, regular, unobtrusive behavior is the sign of genuine obedience and genuine humility. If Jesus had sent his disciples to their people, to their vocations, their responsibilities, their obedience to the law as the scribes interpreted it to the people, then he would have shown himself to be pious, truly humble, and obedient. He would have inspired people to more serious piety and stricter obedience. He would have taught what the scribes already knew, but what they liked to hear preached again with emphasis, that true piety and righteousness consist of not only the external deed, but also of one’s heartfelt intentions, and not only of intentions, but also of the deed. That would really be “better righteousness” the way the people needed it, the way no one could have avoided it. But now all of that was shattered. Instead of the humble teacher of the law, they recognized an arrogant enthusiast. Of course, in all ages the preaching of enthusiasts has been able to inspire the human heart, indeed, even the noble human heart. But didn’t the teachers of the law know that the voice of the flesh was speaking from this heart in all its goodness and nobility? Didn’t they themselves know the power the pious flesh had over people? Jesus sacrificed the best sons of the country, the honorably pious ones useless in a struggle for a chimera. The extraordinary—that was the works of a pious person, done quite voluntarily, springing from one’s own heart. It was the triumphant insistence on human freedom against simple obedience to God’s commandment. It was forbidden human self-righteousness, which the law never permitted. It was lawless self-sanctification, which had to be rejected by the law. It was the free works which established themselves in opposition to unfree obedience. It was the destruction of God’s community, the denial of faith; it was blasphemy against the law, blasphemy against God. Assessed by the law, the extraordinariness Jesus taught was deserving of the death penalty.[1]

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Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship



[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship, ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 146–148.