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ON MEDITATION There are a few well meaning Christian friends who ask me about my leaning towards eastern philosophy and meditation. I w...

Sunday, October 5, 2014

FILLERS


FILLERS

Without realizing it, we fill important places in each other’s lives.  It’s that way between a minister and a congregation. Or with the guy at the corner grocery, the mechanic at the local garage, the family doctor, teacher, neighbors, co-workers. Good people who are always “there”, who can be relied upon in small important ways. People who teach us, bless us, encourage us, support us, uplift us in the dailiness  of life.

We never tell them.  I don’t  know, why, but we don’t.

And of course we fill that role ourselves. There are those who depend on us, watch us, learn from us, take from us. And we never know. Don’t sell yourself short. You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think.

I t reminds me of an old Sufi story of a good man who was granted one wish by God. The man said he would like to go about doing good without knowing about it. God granted his wish. And then God decided that it was such a good idea, He would grant that wish to all human beings. And so it has been to this day.

-ROBERT FULGHUM-

Photo from pinboardblog.com

CREATURES OF PASSION





…  a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…
-Ecclesiastes 3:4

Emotions are one of humanity’s  most powerful attributes. They can incite a crowd, sway a nation, distort our values, affect our decisions, inspire great works of art, and move us to serve God and others. They  can have both positive and negative implications- even simultaneously.  And the Bible is an emotional  book. There is joyful dancing  before the Lord, loud lament over  broken lives, and everything in between. There is no hint in God’s revelation that He desires sterile, calculated religion. We were created as beings of passion.

-Chris Tiegreen


Photoby www.wikihow.com

BELIEF AND UNBELIEF


Some thoughts to ponder
MAN’S WORD:

“I do not believe in a personal God.”  -Stephen Hawking,  Theoretical Physicist

“ I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother, and almost all my best friends, will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.” -Charles Darwin,  English Naturalist, Evolutionary Thinker 

"Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence." -Richard Dawkins,  Evolutionary Biologist, Professor, University of Oxford

GOD’S WORD:

 "The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display His marvelous craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or a word; their voice is silent in the skies; yet their message has gone out to all the earth, and their words to all the world..."
-Psalm 19:1-4

"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."
-Romans 1:20

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
-Hebrews 3:12-13

And Jesus said to him, "'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes."  Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief."
-Mark 9:23-24

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
-John 20:29

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
-Hebrews 11:1

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
-2 Peter 3:9