Thursday 22 October 2009
Thomas A Kempis quote...
"The more humble a man is in himself, the more obedient toward God, the wiser will he be in all things, and the more shall his soul be at peace."
Tuesday 20 October 2009
Humility in Daily Life
For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:20.
"It is a solemn thought that our love for God is measured by our everyday relationships with others. Except as its validity is proven in standing the test of daily life with our fellowmen, our love for God may be found to be a delusion. It is easy to think that we humble ourselves before God, but our humility toward others is the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real. To be genuine, humility must abide in us and become our very nature.
True humility is to be made of no reputation - as did Christ. In God's presence, humility is not a posture we assume for a time - when we think of Him or pray to Him -but the very spirit of our life.
It will manifest itself in all our bearing toward others. A lesson of deepest importance is that the only humility that is really ours is not the kind we carry with us, and carry out, in our ordinary conduct. The seemingly insignificant acts of daily life are the tests of eternity, because they prove what spirit possesses us.
It is in our most unguarded moments that we truly show who we are and what we are made of.
To know a truly humble person, you must follow that one in the common course of daily life."
Taken from Humility by Andrew Murray.
"It is a solemn thought that our love for God is measured by our everyday relationships with others. Except as its validity is proven in standing the test of daily life with our fellowmen, our love for God may be found to be a delusion. It is easy to think that we humble ourselves before God, but our humility toward others is the only sufficient proof that our humility before God is real. To be genuine, humility must abide in us and become our very nature.
True humility is to be made of no reputation - as did Christ. In God's presence, humility is not a posture we assume for a time - when we think of Him or pray to Him -but the very spirit of our life.
It will manifest itself in all our bearing toward others. A lesson of deepest importance is that the only humility that is really ours is not the kind we carry with us, and carry out, in our ordinary conduct. The seemingly insignificant acts of daily life are the tests of eternity, because they prove what spirit possesses us.
It is in our most unguarded moments that we truly show who we are and what we are made of.
To know a truly humble person, you must follow that one in the common course of daily life."
Taken from Humility by Andrew Murray.
Friday 9 October 2009
Romance
What do you think of when you hear the word romance?
My guess is that it sounds different to different people depending on their cultural background, romantic experience and/or gender.
As a Western hetrosexual male, romance has become a way of expressing love that involves taking that special woman for long walks, or having a candle lit dinner or buying them flowers. It is something that films and books have used to create an ideal scenario of the expression of love.
This in itself is not bad, but it does then leave me feeling a little uneasy when I find that God wants to romance me!
Can God love me romantically!?!
As always, I turned to the dictionary to find out the meaning of the word romance to see if that could help me in any way;
"a pleasurable feeling of excitement and wonder associated with love."
As I read this definition, I began to see how God can romance me. There are times when I don't feel excited about living for God and I have lost that sense of wonder that captures my mind and leads me to a place of worship. I can just sense that something is missing.
The important part of this sentence is that it is associated with love, and maybe this is where our western culture has created the distortion in my mind.
Love has become just a feeling. It seems to be something that changes overnight and is used for expressing our affection both for our football team as well as our loved ones. I suppose that's the problem when you only have one word that expresses many different emotions and actions.
What does the bible say about love?
1 John 3:16 says 'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.'
The bible says a lot about love and most of it comes in the context of sacrifice. We love when we lay ourselves down for others. It's not about what we get, but about what we give.
When God romances us, he wants to give us a pleasureable feeling of excitement and wonder through the ultimate expression of love, which is the cross.
John 3:16 says 'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.'
God's motivation for the death of His son on the cross was love. He gave himself, so that you might live. He now asks us to go and love in the same way. Giving our lives for others.
Surely, this is the greatest romance story ever told!
Allow God to romance you today as He reminds you of His love for you in the life, death and ressurrection of His son Jesus Christ.
Allow your hearts to be filled with excitement and wonder as He reveals His love for you!
My guess is that it sounds different to different people depending on their cultural background, romantic experience and/or gender.
As a Western hetrosexual male, romance has become a way of expressing love that involves taking that special woman for long walks, or having a candle lit dinner or buying them flowers. It is something that films and books have used to create an ideal scenario of the expression of love.
This in itself is not bad, but it does then leave me feeling a little uneasy when I find that God wants to romance me!
Can God love me romantically!?!
As always, I turned to the dictionary to find out the meaning of the word romance to see if that could help me in any way;
"a pleasurable feeling of excitement and wonder associated with love."
As I read this definition, I began to see how God can romance me. There are times when I don't feel excited about living for God and I have lost that sense of wonder that captures my mind and leads me to a place of worship. I can just sense that something is missing.
The important part of this sentence is that it is associated with love, and maybe this is where our western culture has created the distortion in my mind.
Love has become just a feeling. It seems to be something that changes overnight and is used for expressing our affection both for our football team as well as our loved ones. I suppose that's the problem when you only have one word that expresses many different emotions and actions.
What does the bible say about love?
1 John 3:16 says 'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.'
The bible says a lot about love and most of it comes in the context of sacrifice. We love when we lay ourselves down for others. It's not about what we get, but about what we give.
When God romances us, he wants to give us a pleasureable feeling of excitement and wonder through the ultimate expression of love, which is the cross.
John 3:16 says 'For God so loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.'
God's motivation for the death of His son on the cross was love. He gave himself, so that you might live. He now asks us to go and love in the same way. Giving our lives for others.
Surely, this is the greatest romance story ever told!
Allow God to romance you today as He reminds you of His love for you in the life, death and ressurrection of His son Jesus Christ.
Allow your hearts to be filled with excitement and wonder as He reveals His love for you!
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