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| Well, I have reused the old Souldout.org domain as my new blog site. Curtsblog.com will redirect there also. Since I am using Word Press, it is really easy to update, etc. It also has a comments feature where you can leave comments as long as you register with an email addy. Now-a-days, you pretty much have to require registration to avoid massive spam and "comments" by porn sites.
Check it out since I will be posting the weekly notes from our study of Colson's book "How Now Shall We Live". It is an excellent look at how Christians are really supposed to engage society and culture in a redeeming way as opposed to just retreating into our mega-church Christian love bubbles while we wait for Jesus to come back.
I'm also going to link up some of the best stuff on the web for your viewing enjoyment- like some good google and youtube videos.
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| 2 Corinthians 12:10 "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Philippians 4:11-13 "Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
1 Timothy 6:8 "But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content."
Hebrews 13:5-6 "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?"
GK Chesterton said "There are two ways to get enough: one is to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less."
He was of course talking about material stuff not God. The paradox is that we seem to have an unlimited desire for stuff, and a limited desire for God. It really should be the other way.
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| One of my favorite authors- Philip Yancey writes this about our tendency to only see the here and now which then forces us to live selfishly and independently. But God calls us to live by another principle- faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6)
In America, I’ve noticed, a consumer mentality tends to infiltrate relationships as well as commerce. Some people treat marriage partners like automobiles; every few years it’s time to upgrade to a new model. Some Christians treat churches the same way. And some even approach God with a consumer spirit: when God performs satisfactorily, he merits our worship, but when God seems distant or unresponsive, why bother?
Why bother? Because the deepest strength comes only through testing.
Partly from listening to elderly people, I have learned that faith means trusting in advance what will make sense only in reverse. Sixty years casts another light on marriage; the century looks different from a grandmother’s view. And I believe that human history will take on a new look from the vantage point of eternity. Every scar, every hurt, every disappointment will be seen in a different light, bathed in an eternity of love and trust. Not even the murder of God’s own son could end the relationship between God and human beings. In the alchemy of redemption, that most villainous crime became a day we now call Good Friday.
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| 2 Timothy 3:12 says , "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
The Apostle Paul says that if you choose the will of God, you can expect some degree of persecution from the world- maybe like what Peter describes in 1 Peter 4:4- "And in all this, they (the world) are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign you."
If you choose a life of godliness, the world will malign and slander you- maybe in very subtle ways, but I think there are very few Wall Street bankers that look at a missionary and say “Now there’s a good way to spend your life”. They probably just shake their heads and say “religious nutcase”. And guess what- your family will probably say the same things. Heck I've thought the same thing even if I've never said it. Peter said they malign and slander you. They make you look the fool and ask questions like “why would she want to waste her life doing that?” I guess it depends on how you define a wasted life. I think how you define it is critical. But remember, if you look the fool for following God’s will, you are in good company. Jesus was slandered, humiliated and spit upon, Paul was called a madman and beaten half to death every where he went and history is full of martyrs and missionaries who look like fools to the world.
What worries me so much about American Christianity is that we try so hard to fit into our culture that we never look like fools. We look like people who have chosen, for whatever reason, to simply live “moral” lives. But Jesus didn’t call us to simply live moral lives; He called us to live radical lives of love and faith. That’s what Paul calls “seeking to live godly in Christ Jesus” in 2 Timothy 3:12. And he promises us that if we do that, we will be persecuted.
In America, we think that the Christian life is primarily about choosing morality over sin, but Peter tells us that it is really about choosing to have the same mind and purpose as Jesus. That means we will choose suffering over sin.
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| I listen to Piper's messages from his website every day at http://www.desiringgod.org and I have to recommend that everyone download and listen to the 4 messages he did this week (monday-thurs) called "How to pray in the Holy Spirit". If you don't, you are probably just lazy and don't care- in which case you really need to do it.
We are always looking for the drive-through version of Christianity. We want it quick, easy and cheap, but it is hard to imagine any religion- much less any significant relationship that can exist on the "quick, easy, cheap" model. God’s primary weapons in this world are His Word and prayer- and the Holy Spirit is the power that turns them into weapons of divine power to demolish strongholds and renew your mind. You will not defeat the world until (a) you want to, and (b) you learn to take every thought captive to obey Christ. And the only way that happens is by renewing you mind through Bible reading and prayer. The Holy Spirit works in and through the Word and prayer. I don't know how it all works- some of it really is a divine mystery but you have to let Jesus talk to you if you want any real change in your life. | | |
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