This morning I'm thinking of 'coffee can' savings accounts. Put a little in and a little more and a little more. Lots of deposits but very rare withdrawals. Then when the big day comes those cans get opened and all the little sacrifices become one big party.
"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." - Matthew 12:33-37 ESV
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" - Matthew 6:21-23 KJV
Notice in each there are two varieties of treasure. Grace treasure and dark treasure. No gray. No combinations. You either know God and have a coffee can of light or you don't and have a coffee can of darkness.
"Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat." - Hebrews 13:9-10 ESV
Grace is directly linked to Jesus. No Jesus. No grace. Know Jesus and know grace.
This morning I am refocused on the big party coming later. I will be there because of Jesus. Just looking at Him adds something to my life that is contributing something to the party later on. Every faith thought and every time we value grace as something to receive, give and live it adds a degree of light to a treasure of light.
Amazing.
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Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Monday, June 26, 2017
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Hope Deferred
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." - Proverbs 13:12 ESV
Are people heart sick because they don't have what they want yet or because they don't want what they already have?
I think it's both. If you spend any time with older people they treasure what they had and remember their youth and middle age vividly. It's like those times come into focus for them. Some fictionalize their past, others have deep regrets but there are others that appreciated things in the moment and then look back with appreciation and insight. The stories they tell about what happened to them in the past instruct a younger generation on what is happening in the present.
Yesterday we spoke about Jesus being the embodiment of hope and I'm looking at this verse in Proverbs in that context. I understand what it is like to live in a battle that rarely seems to end and suffer heartbreak after heartbreak. I know what it's like to want something and have that thing postponed again and again until you don't want to want it anymore but you can't change your heart's desire.
'But God...'
He Is what we have (if we have believed in His Son). Do we want Him?
He wants us.
"The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." - Zephaniah 3:17 KJV
We can enter into His love and have a present hope that is not postponed.
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" - Titus 2:13 KJV
Yes He Is coming later but His appearing is also the day of His visitation.
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." - Matthew 18:20 ESV
People talk about living in the moment and I understand that but that falls short in so many ways because unless that moment is eternal it will turn to dust. Time does that to biological things because of the fall.
Hope is living in the eternal mind of the One who has won the victory over death and Hell. It is a tree of life and trees reproduce in multiplication as they give nourishment.
You may not have what you want but do you want what you have? We are stewards of hope. If we appreciate and take care of what we have God may just give us more to take care of.
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Are people heart sick because they don't have what they want yet or because they don't want what they already have?
I think it's both. If you spend any time with older people they treasure what they had and remember their youth and middle age vividly. It's like those times come into focus for them. Some fictionalize their past, others have deep regrets but there are others that appreciated things in the moment and then look back with appreciation and insight. The stories they tell about what happened to them in the past instruct a younger generation on what is happening in the present.
Yesterday we spoke about Jesus being the embodiment of hope and I'm looking at this verse in Proverbs in that context. I understand what it is like to live in a battle that rarely seems to end and suffer heartbreak after heartbreak. I know what it's like to want something and have that thing postponed again and again until you don't want to want it anymore but you can't change your heart's desire.
'But God...'
He Is what we have (if we have believed in His Son). Do we want Him?
He wants us.
"The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." - Zephaniah 3:17 KJV
We can enter into His love and have a present hope that is not postponed.
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" - Titus 2:13 KJV
Yes He Is coming later but His appearing is also the day of His visitation.
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." - Matthew 18:20 ESV
People talk about living in the moment and I understand that but that falls short in so many ways because unless that moment is eternal it will turn to dust. Time does that to biological things because of the fall.
Hope is living in the eternal mind of the One who has won the victory over death and Hell. It is a tree of life and trees reproduce in multiplication as they give nourishment.
You may not have what you want but do you want what you have? We are stewards of hope. If we appreciate and take care of what we have God may just give us more to take care of.
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