"Only in this way will there be a circle of disciples around Jesus upon whom he can depend. He doesn’t need strong people, nor so-called confident, bold, trained, or courageous people who push things ahead in the world. He needs people who are broken, who fear lest they become disobedient to his command. Those are the people he needs, for they are servants. All the others who have a manufactured piety and feel themselves so secure in it, are for the most part hardly usable as servants. But those who fear and tremble, those who are shaken and shocked by the word of truth yet joyfully say yes and take action – these are his people."
-Action In Waiting
Friday, July 30, 2010
Saturday, July 17, 2010
For Her
The sincere do not walk the face of the earth, they are driven by it.
We have learned the wisdom of cowardice...it's called non-confrontation.
We have learned the wisdom of cowardice...it's called non-confrontation.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
You Cannot Have Faith in God and Mammon
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see."
Where we place the wholeness of our being is what we hope for and that which we are blind to is that which gives us certainty. How then can we have a surety of hope in anything the world here offers? How is it possible for a Christian to have that which is seen possess his conviction? Yet this is the experience of most. The people of faith live their lives with an egotistical concern for personal welfare to sate themselves in the indulgence of an easy life (no man finds fulfillment in the excuses of ease). This replaces their transparency before God, and substitutes it for an unsteady hope in monetary income and activities. That which would be faith by profession is nothing more than sedated conscience and conflagrated will because it's power is merely in diction unrelated to the exercised power of the Kingdom of God. Because men choose to live in a way which does not depend on devotion to the singularity of God, their faith is shattered into fictional proportions and they are undone before the grace of God being unable to recieve it.
It is a matter of either/or. Man will either have a sure hope in what he is blind to and certainty of what is not seen, or his hope will be in what is here and now and his conviction will be merely the extension of his ego.
To you who would love Christ and who would be aware of worldly security, here is a negative rephrasing of the prior verse for definitive purposes: "Now unbelief is being sure of what is tangible and certain of what is seen." Those who would pure of heart and be complete in devotion to God must keep the faith and never rest in the lure of wealth's tangibility. Place yourself in the hands of the Living God and seek His providence in all things. Substantiate your hope in what you do not see and be possessed by the convictions of the unseen Christ. He who does this will be among the nations richly blessed.
Amen.
Where we place the wholeness of our being is what we hope for and that which we are blind to is that which gives us certainty. How then can we have a surety of hope in anything the world here offers? How is it possible for a Christian to have that which is seen possess his conviction? Yet this is the experience of most. The people of faith live their lives with an egotistical concern for personal welfare to sate themselves in the indulgence of an easy life (no man finds fulfillment in the excuses of ease). This replaces their transparency before God, and substitutes it for an unsteady hope in monetary income and activities. That which would be faith by profession is nothing more than sedated conscience and conflagrated will because it's power is merely in diction unrelated to the exercised power of the Kingdom of God. Because men choose to live in a way which does not depend on devotion to the singularity of God, their faith is shattered into fictional proportions and they are undone before the grace of God being unable to recieve it.
It is a matter of either/or. Man will either have a sure hope in what he is blind to and certainty of what is not seen, or his hope will be in what is here and now and his conviction will be merely the extension of his ego.
To you who would love Christ and who would be aware of worldly security, here is a negative rephrasing of the prior verse for definitive purposes: "Now unbelief is being sure of what is tangible and certain of what is seen." Those who would pure of heart and be complete in devotion to God must keep the faith and never rest in the lure of wealth's tangibility. Place yourself in the hands of the Living God and seek His providence in all things. Substantiate your hope in what you do not see and be possessed by the convictions of the unseen Christ. He who does this will be among the nations richly blessed.
Amen.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
a story of materialism
There is a Yiddish story about a rich man who is persuaded to pay a visit to the rebbe. The rebbe leads him to the window.
“Look out there,” the rebbe says, and the rich man looks out at the street. “What do you see?”
“I see people,” he answers.
Then the rebbe leads him to the mirror. “What do you see now?”
The rich man answers, “Now I see myself.”
“So,” the rebbe says. “In the window there is glass and in the mirror there is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with silver, and no sooner is the silver added than you cease to see others but see only yourself.”
“Look out there,” the rebbe says, and the rich man looks out at the street. “What do you see?”
“I see people,” he answers.
Then the rebbe leads him to the mirror. “What do you see now?”
The rich man answers, “Now I see myself.”
“So,” the rebbe says. “In the window there is glass and in the mirror there is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with silver, and no sooner is the silver added than you cease to see others but see only yourself.”
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