November 2011
23 posts
“Two things I ask of you, LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonour the name of my God.” —Proverbs 30:7-9
do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me;
give me neither poverty nor riches,
but give me only my daily bread.
Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you
and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’
Or I may become poor and steal,
and so dishonour the name of my God.” —Proverbs 30:7-9
October 2011
27 posts
“The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops — no, but the kind of man the country turns out.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
“WHAT God did makes sense. It makes sense that Jesus would be our sacrifice because a sacrifice was needed to justify man’s presence before God… However, WHY God did it is absolutely absurd. When one leaves the method and examines the motive, the carefully stacked blocks of logic begin to tumble. That type of love isn’t logical; it can’t be neatly outlined in a sermon or explained in a term paper… It IS inexplicable. It doesn’t have a drop of logic nor a thread of rationality. And yet, it is that very irrationality that gives the gospel its greatest defense. For only God could love like that.”
—Max Lucado
Play
“The 5 Levels of Leadership is almost here, and I’m excited. This is my best material, and it’s been tested and proven for over 30 years. I know the 5 Levels work. Here on the blog, I’ve been going over the levels, and this week it’s time for”
—Level 3 - Production: Making Things Happen Separates Real Leaders from Wannabes
“Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.”
—Anne Frank (via definitelydope)
September 2011
26 posts
The good news is...
“He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.” Matthew 21:44
In our passage today Jesus speaks about Himself as this skandalon. If we fall on Him we will be broken to pieces; but if we don’t fall on Him we will be crushed. Either way we are going to get broken. The first part of our text shows us that if we stumble because of Christ and are broken, then we are in a position where we can be made truly whole. Our breaking down becomes our building up, and when we sincerely come to Jesus in faith this is what happens. The breaking becomes the occasion for faith.
The second part of our text speaks of judgement. There are those who will never respond in faith to their fall over that stone. These are the ones who say, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’ (John 6:60). They may even recognize there is no other place to go, but they still hang on to their own lives and are thus crushed.
During a sermon I once heard, the preacher made this remark: ‘The gospel contains “good” news and “bad” news.’ He went on to explain that there are attractive parts and less attractive parts. But he failed to explain that there is a reason for those less attractive parts of the gospel : they challenge us to deeper discipleship. Indeed, I have a difficulty with Christians who refer to the tough sayings of Jesus as ‘bad news’. If they choose to use that expression then I just wish they would go on to explain the good news is that the bad news is good.
Father, the clarity of Your Word sometimes shakes me - even shocks me. But You hurt me in order to heal me. Every action of your heart towards me is redemptive and for my good. Help me always to remember that. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Devotional by Selwyn Hughes
