A set of rules

We might think that God wanted simple obedience to a set of rules: whereas he really wants people of a particular sort – CS Lewis

We remember

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. – Victor Frankl

Getting closer to the truth

We have a natural tendency to look for instances that confirm our story and our vision of the world. We can get closer to the truth by negative instances, not by verification. – Nissim Taleb

Well Done

Well done. is better than well said. -Benjamin Franklin

Becoming Ourselves

We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves. – Lynn Hall

He Gave

“For God so loved the world, that he gave..“ We are never more like him than when we do the same.

God’s Christmas tree

God’s Christmas tree has no colored lights. No ornaments. No trinkets. It is not even pretty to look at. But God has his Christmas tree. It is the cross of Christ.

Luke Two: Jesus’ Doings

It happened in those days that a proclamation went out from President Augustus that every citizen must register. This was the first registration while Quirinus was Secretary of War. So everybody went to register, each going to his own hometown. Joseph too went up from south Georgia from the city of Valdosta, to his home in north Georgia, a place named Gainesville, to register with his bride Mary, who by now was heavily pregnant.

While they were there, her time came, and she gave birth to her first boy. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in an apple box. (There was no room for them at the hospital.)

Now there were some farmers in that section who were up late at night tending their baby chicks. And a messenger from the Lord appeared to them, and evidence of the Lord was shining all about them. It nearly scared the life out of them. And the messenger said to them, “Don’t be afraid; for listen, I’m bringing you good news of a great joy in which all people will share. Today your deliverer was born in the city of David’s family. He is the Leader. He is the Lord, And here’s a clue for you: you will find the baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in an apple box.”

And all of a sudden there was with the messenger a crowd of angels singing God’s praises and saying. “Glory in the highest to God, And on Earth, peace to mankind, The object of his favor.”

When the messengers went away from them into the sky, the farmers said to one another, “Let’s go to Gainesville and see how all this the Lord has showed us has turned out.”

So they went just as fast as they could, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in an apple box. Seeing this, they related the story of what had been told them about this little fellow. The people were simply amazed as they listened to what the farmers told them. And Mary clung to all these words, turning them over and over in her memories. The farmers went back home, giving God the credit and singing his praises for all they had seen and heard, exactly as it had been described to them.

Clarence Jordan
Cotton Patch Gospel

Solving Problems

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein

What we love

We are shaped and fashioned by what we love - Johann Von Goethe

Retreat

We are not retreating--we are advancing in another direction. - General Douglas MacArthur

the Friend of Sinners

Only four women are mentioned in Jesus’ Genealogy in Matthew.

First, there’s Tamar. Harlotry and incest. That’s what we know of Tamar. Read Genesis 38 if you want the details.

The second woman is Rahab. What two words come to mind when you hear her name? For most people who grew up in Sunday School it is Rahab the.. harlot. She was a pagan – and a professional prostitute, according to Joshua chapter two.

The third women is mentioned in verse five. Ruth. A nice lady. But Ruth was a Moabite. She was a Gentile, an outcast, a descendant of incest. In Deut. 23:3, God curses the whole nation of Moabites. But here, God picks up a cursed lady, born of an incestuous relationship and uses her to help bring forth the Messiah.

Now, there’s one more woman mentioned in verse six of Matthew one: "Uriah's wife.” Who was Uriah’s wife? Bathsheba. What do we know about her? She was an adulterous.

And we could go on. But I think we’ve established the point.

What is the message here? Grace. This genealogy was a knockout punch to the Jewish legalist who was so caught up into purity of lineage and the line of descendents and stuff. Matthew introduces their glorious Messiah.. as descending from two harlots, one born out of incest and an adulterous. And they are the only four ladies mentioned in the genealogy other than Mary.

Let it be known that Jesus Christ is the friend of sinners.

He came crashing through the barriers that said, “You have to be born spiritual out of the ‘right kind’ of people.” And today, he comes crashing through barriers we’ve erected too. The barriers that place God in a nice comfortable corner where you can keep an eye on him. He breaks down those excuses that say, “God, you can’t use me. You can’t love me. I’m a sinner.

God built a monument to grace on that genealogy. That’s why you shouldn’t shy away from admitting your past for what it was. It can be a monument to God’s grace in our lives. That’s when God can use us the most. When we realize who we are, where we come from and how much our lives are dependent on God grace.. on receiving it and giving it to others.

If we hide from our past and pretend it didn’t happen, it’s almost as if we are trying to pretend we are people we are not. By admitting who we are, acknowledging how God completely changes our past, He is able to bring us further than he could otherwise and use us more.. just like those people in the genealogy.

Bottom line: You stack up a row of harlots and liars and murderers and cheaters and what do you have? You have Jesus. That’s the way God works.

Stephen Goforth

The way to love

The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost. - G. K. Chesterton

Self-proctology

The unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates

Admiration and awe

Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe, the more often and steadily reflection is occupied with them: the starry heaven above me and the moral law within me. Neither of them need I seek and merely suspect as if shrouded in obscurity or rapture beyond my own horizon; I see them before me and connect them immediately with my existence. – Immanuel Kant

Where he stands

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. – Martin Luther King

To Love

To love someone means to see him as God intended him. - Feodor Dostoevsky

The contours of our heart

The type of human being we prefer reveals the contours of our heart. - Ortega T Gassett