Bad Chapter?

As a writer you realise that sometimes you have a lot of creative energy and you feel that you have written a very good chapter in a book. However, there are days where trying to produce another chapter takes everything from you and you honestly feel that the particular chapter is not good at all. The lesson in this is that one must just keep on writing, because things will turn around again. As the following quote suggests, life doesn't depend on just one chapter.

"Life has many different chapters; one bad chapter doesn't mean it's the end of the book." (Unknown)

Of course, the Bible teaches us the same thing. There are numerous examples of people who had 'bad chapters' in their lives, but through God's grace, managed to finish the rest of the book on a brilliant note.

Deuteronomy 8:16 - "...so that in the end it might go well with you."

Thought: Finish the bad chapter and turn the page to begin writing an amazing new chapter.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Inheritance?

 

⁸ Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance,
    the ends of the earth your possession." - Psalm 2:8

I heard an entertaining story about a Portuguese aristocrat who left his fortune to seventy strangers. Thirteen years before his eventual death, Luis Carlos da Camara chose at random, seventy people in the telephone directly and made them all beneficiaries of his estate. You can imagine their shock, surprise and obvious scepticism at being told they had just inherited a lot of money. It was totally unbelievable for them.

In a similar way, we are little taken aback that God promises to ‘make the nations our inheritance’ and to give us the ‘ends of the earth.’ It seems unlikely and too much to comprehend. Yet, as his chosen people, God does promise us the gift of eternal life, which is far greater than any earthly treasures or inheritance. God loves us so much that he was willing to give us the very best he has to offer, which included his only son, Jesus.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Victorian Parlor or Family Room?

 

In doing some reading around the 7 Churches of Revelation, I came across this delightful piece from Eugene Peterson. He makes this lovely observation about the church and challenging us on what we expect from a church community:

"The churches of the Revelation show us that churches are not Victorian Parlors where everything is always picked up and ready for guests. They are messy family rooms. Entering a person's house unexpectedly, we are sometimes met with a barrage of apologies. St. John does not apologise. Things are out of order, to be sure, but that is what happens to churches that are lived in. They are not show rooms. They are living rooms, and if the persons living in them are sinners, there are going to be clothes scattered about, hand prints on the woodwork, and mud on the carpet." - E.Peterson in Reversed Thunder

I think there is a lot for us to chew on in this passage. It calls me to reflect on our desire to make church 'nice' and  'clean' - or to remember that because we are all "sinners in need of grace", there is going to be a mess in some parts of our community.

Seeking to make our churches look like "show rooms" is not going to help us live in them and make them spaces for the entire family of God. What do you think?

1 Corinthians 1:10 - I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.

Living in Grace
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Don't call it friendship

 

What would you call Friendship? 
Is it eating together and keeping company with one another? Is it having similar interests or common goals? Is it speaking the same language or even coming from the same neighbourhood?

There is an African saying that argues that it is actually none of these at all. The saying suggests that we should only call it 'FRIENDSHIP' when we have wept together. Sharing the pain and trials of another person creates a bond that is hard to put into words.

 
"Eat and drink together:
talk and laugh together:
enjoy life together:
but never call it friendship 
until you have wept together." - An African Saying

"One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." - Proverbs 18:24

What do you think?

Living in Grace
D3LM3

The Medium is the Message!

After yesterday's quote from Malcolm McLuhan, about humans not having 'Earlids', I stumbled across another quote of his and thought it is worth thinking about.

“In Jesus Christ, there is no distance or separation between the medium and the message: it is the one case where we can say that the medium and the message are fully one and the same.”
― Marshall McLuhan 

The well known phrase, "The Medium is the Message", comes from McLuhan and so when you take his quote (above) into consideration we come to a greater understanding of what he is getting at. In simple, he is implying that "how" we deliver a message (and in what manner) determines how people receive that message. It is all in the "way" we communicate that a message is received.

So, when it comes to the person of Jesus, I believe that he always spoke with a heart of love, grace and mercy. And when he communicated, people could sense his TRUE HEART and so they received his message in that way. His medium of communication was 'love' and so was his content. Love was at the heart of all he did and said.

What do you think? I would love to hear from you....

1 John 4:16 - And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

We have no Earlids!

 

Marshall McLuhan makes an unusual observation about our ears and how they relate to 'hearing' and 'listening.' In his comments he states the obvious that God never created any 'earlids' for humans. We have eyelids to protect our eyes and to help us 'block out' anything visual, but we can't do the same with our ears.

"We hear sounds from everywhere, without ever having to focus.
Sounds come from “above,” from “below,” from in “front” of us, from “behind” us, from our “right,” from our “left.” We can‘t shut out sound automatically. We simply are not equipped with earlids."

The reason I share this with us today is because there is a profound difference between 'hearing' and 'listening.' Barring those who are hearing-impaired, most people will 'hear' things, but tune out the sounds they don't want to engage with. However, when there are sounds we like or are prepared to focus on, then we start to listen more attentively.  

This principle then applies to our Christian faith too. We can't use the excuse that we couldn't receive God's message, because our 'earlids' blocked it out. That is a poor and unfounded excuse. What tends to happen is that we choose to receive some messages from God and then ignore those that don't seem nice. Essentially we are in danger of having Selective Spiritual Hearing!

Proverbs 8:32-35 -
Listen to my instruction and be wise;
    do not disregard it.
Blessed are those who listen to me,
    watching daily at my doors,
    waiting at my doorway.
For those who find me find life
    and receive favor from the Lord.

Living in Grace
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For a reason

Here is a moving prayer. May it help you and encourage you. Think and meditate on the words in the prayer, but drink deeply from what the Spirit reveals to you through the prayer.

"God has created me to do him some definite service.
He has committed some work to me, 
which he has not committed to another.
I have my mission.
I am a bond of connection between persons.
He has not created me for naught.
I shall do good.
I shall do his work.
I shall be a preacher of truth in my own place,
while not intending it, 
if I but keep his commandments.
Therefore will I trust him.
Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away.
He has nothing in vain.
The Lord knows what he is about." - John Henry Newman

Exodus 9:16 - But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth

Living in Grace
D3LM3