The above quote has come up a few times this week and it is a poignant reminder that Holy Week is meant to draw us closer to Jesus and to reflect on the gift of the cross. However, it is also a beautiful opportunity for us to reclaim our friendship with God. Journeying through difficult times together is the true test of friendship.
John 15:13 - Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends
Living in Grace
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Obviously as a Christ-follower I will be biased, but it is remarkable that we are all still interested in following Jesus, 2000 years later, while very few of us want to become like Pilate, Herod and the Pharisees!?
Luke 22:26 - But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.
“We don't need a title to lead. We just need to care. People would rather follow a leader with a heart than a leader with a title”- Craig Groeschel
Living in Grace
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"TO CONFESS YOUR SINS TO GOD is not to tell God anything God doesn't already know. Until you confess them, however, they are the abyss between you. When you confess them, they become the Golden Gate Bridge." - Frederick Buechner
When we live separate from the Lord we feel the great distance between us and it impacts upon our very being. Confessing our sins creates the bridge over which we can cross to encounter Grace.
Living in Grace
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8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Here is another way of putting this same truth.
“I don’t think the way you think.
The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
God’s Decree.
“For as the sky soars high above earth,
so the way I work surpasses the way you work,
and the way I think is beyond the way you think. (Eugene Peterson)
My humble advice to us all is to rather trust in God's ways - they are better than our own.
Living in Grace
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“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.” - Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was born on the 4th April 1928 and her contribution to the world of poetry, literature and the human rights movement is legendary. This quote teaches us that we so often admire people who look like they have achieved something, or appear to have it all together, but we forget the pain and suffering that took place for them to get to that place. A butterfly would just remain as a moth if it didn't allow the process of metamorphosis to take place.
How can we apply this to our spiritual lives? Does this mean something for us in this season of Lent?
If we want to grow into the image of Christ what needs to change in our lives? Could these words of Jesus offer us some insight?
Matthew 18:3 - "And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
Living in Grace
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“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” - Maya Angelou
As I read these words I find myself whole-heartedly agreeing with them, however I must admit that this is not always easy to do. We may know what 'matters most', but there are plenty of other distractions that take our eyes off the important things in life.
Jesus was very good at keeping his priorities in the forefront of his mind. By spending time in quiet prayer Jesus drew his spiritual strength from his Father long before the pressing crowds started to make their demands of him.
"But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." - Luke 5:16
What can we do to make sure that we focus on what matters most?
Living in Grace
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"Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly." - Proverbs 17:12
Somehow I had missed this beautiful proverb. It is so true, especially if you consider the consequences of fools who are hell-bent on doing their own wicked things. I think that we would agree, that there are plenty of examples (of fools) around our world at the moment.
By the way, a bear who has been robbed of her cubs is not a pleasant sight at all. The mother bear's rage would be so violent and aggressive that none of us would want to cross her path.
So, these wise words teach us that the destruction of a fool is far worse than a heart-broken mother bear.
Luke 6:45 - A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
What do you think?
Living in Grace
D3LM3
