Today's message was something particularly pertinent to me: scaling mountains in our lives. As a 19-year-old senior at Vassar preparing for graduate school, I feel like I've got K2 starting me down. But the devotion makes an excellent point. When the Israelites were wandering through the wilderness, God provided them with manna for all those years--but only enough for one day at a time. I think it's reasonable to assume that God will do the same for me: providing me with enough grace and motivation to prepare for grad school one day at a time, and then continuing to aid me past that, as I go through grad school, seek out a job, and find the spouse that God wants me to have (and prepare me for her as well, so that I can be all that I should be). When I look ahead in the long term, I feel like I'll never be able to do all of that, but if I can stay in the moment and trust God, then it suddenly seems quite possible.
More Hebrews today in the Scripture reading. It talked a bit about the new covenant, which is the first time I've noticed it explicitly mentioned in the Bible. I've had a lot of questions about that lately, so I'm going to dig deeper.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
An Aside
I'm going to break the trend for a minute here, because something's been sitting on my heart for awhile, and writing about it will help.
Lately, I've come to realize that I am, truly, nothing without God. During the past few days or so, I have been living for myself and doing the things that I think will make me happy. These aren't drastic changes of living, but they are small decisions like sleeping in instead of going to morning prayer or playing WoW when I ought to be doing homework. At first, I have fun, but the initial "happiness buzz" wears off, and I end up feeling more empty than before. I try to stave that off with more sleep and video games and such, but the cycle just repeats itself. For those who have read "The Phantom Tollbooth" when they were younger, it reminds me of the subtraction stew that the protagonist comes across; the more of it you eat, the hungrier you become.
Not only that, but I've found that my entire attitude changes as well. Without God, I am a jerk. I'm self-centered, I put others down to feel better about myself, and I'm overly sarcastic. I apologize to those who have had to deal with me recently. I don't think that I have been really bad in this regard, but I haven't been the complete friend that God calls me to be.
God is the answer, plain and simple. It's so counterintuitive to give up your life to make it better, but it's true. Even as I write this, I already feel God's grace returning to me. Rest assured, there is still much, much work to be done in my life, but if I can just walk down the narrow path that the Lord has laid out, everything will be alright.
And now I'm off to take care of business. :-)
Lately, I've come to realize that I am, truly, nothing without God. During the past few days or so, I have been living for myself and doing the things that I think will make me happy. These aren't drastic changes of living, but they are small decisions like sleeping in instead of going to morning prayer or playing WoW when I ought to be doing homework. At first, I have fun, but the initial "happiness buzz" wears off, and I end up feeling more empty than before. I try to stave that off with more sleep and video games and such, but the cycle just repeats itself. For those who have read "The Phantom Tollbooth" when they were younger, it reminds me of the subtraction stew that the protagonist comes across; the more of it you eat, the hungrier you become.
Not only that, but I've found that my entire attitude changes as well. Without God, I am a jerk. I'm self-centered, I put others down to feel better about myself, and I'm overly sarcastic. I apologize to those who have had to deal with me recently. I don't think that I have been really bad in this regard, but I haven't been the complete friend that God calls me to be.
God is the answer, plain and simple. It's so counterintuitive to give up your life to make it better, but it's true. Even as I write this, I already feel God's grace returning to me. Rest assured, there is still much, much work to be done in my life, but if I can just walk down the narrow path that the Lord has laid out, everything will be alright.
And now I'm off to take care of business. :-)
Monday, October 13, 2008
Erasmus
Today's devotion talked about Erasmus, the guy who compiled and published the New Testament in its original Greek, thus providing the basis for the King James Version. He said that he did it because he wanted all people to be able to read and meditate on the Word of God. So often I forget that the Bible was once extremely difficult to find, let alone interpret. It is such a tremendous blessing that I can read God's Word whenever I like, and yet I find it difficult to set aside time each day to do so. This saddens me, because there is no greater treasure that the Lord has given us (except for the Holy Spirit and salvation itself). I should desire to tear into it every day and have trouble putting it down. I pray that the Lord will increase my appetite for the Bible.
More reading from Jeremiah today. God continued to affirm that Judah would be taken by the Babylonians, but He gave His people hope in these new chapters: He said that one day, the land taken by Babylon would return to God's people. It's just another example of God's infinite mercy and forgiveness. No matter how badly we mess up, He is always willing to give us a second chance. Naturally, there are repercussions for our bad choices, but once the punishment has been dolled out, God gives us another shot. As someone who's failed the tests that God has given him many times, I am certainly thankful for this.
More reading from Jeremiah today. God continued to affirm that Judah would be taken by the Babylonians, but He gave His people hope in these new chapters: He said that one day, the land taken by Babylon would return to God's people. It's just another example of God's infinite mercy and forgiveness. No matter how badly we mess up, He is always willing to give us a second chance. Naturally, there are repercussions for our bad choices, but once the punishment has been dolled out, God gives us another shot. As someone who's failed the tests that God has given him many times, I am certainly thankful for this.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
The Art of Common People
God's awesome. Just wanted to start out by saying that.
Today's devotion was about how Jesus' ministry and the people he was with were completely common, and that's great news to me. I see myself as common...in a manner of speaking. I mean, I know that I'm unique and that God has given me gifts apart from other people, but I'm not anyone of fame or great reputation, and yet I am therefore the type of person that God is looking for. Naturally, He can use the great and famous, and they have a far-reaching impact when they live for God, but somewhere in the Bible it says that God uses the weak to shame the strong. It is through the work of the common man that God's glory best shines, because no one can say that it is the man's talents or abilities that made this or that task possible, but it could only have been done by the power of the Lord. That's cool.
Today's Scripture was the book of Hebrews, and to be honest, I don't really understand it. I'd like to do a Bible study on that book, like maybe over two weekends or something. It's pretty small. I'll talk to some people at the fellowship and maybe we could do one.
Today's devotion was about how Jesus' ministry and the people he was with were completely common, and that's great news to me. I see myself as common...in a manner of speaking. I mean, I know that I'm unique and that God has given me gifts apart from other people, but I'm not anyone of fame or great reputation, and yet I am therefore the type of person that God is looking for. Naturally, He can use the great and famous, and they have a far-reaching impact when they live for God, but somewhere in the Bible it says that God uses the weak to shame the strong. It is through the work of the common man that God's glory best shines, because no one can say that it is the man's talents or abilities that made this or that task possible, but it could only have been done by the power of the Lord. That's cool.
Today's Scripture was the book of Hebrews, and to be honest, I don't really understand it. I'd like to do a Bible study on that book, like maybe over two weekends or something. It's pretty small. I'll talk to some people at the fellowship and maybe we could do one.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
The Chain of Ungrace
Wow.
It has been far too long since I have posted here. Thanks to my dear and most beloved friend Kay, I have been snapped out of my coma and inspired to write here (thanks Kay, you rock! ;-D). So here goes.
Today's passage was on forgiving others, and not to brag, but I don't think I have much trouble in this area. I'm awful at holding grudges, so unforgiveness doesn't tend to be an issue. Even so, like everything with God, I need to be careful. The truth is that people haven't really ever given me a reason not to forgive them, so maybe the reason I think I'm so great in this area is because I haven't been tested too harshly. I love the quote at the end of the devotion: "He who cannot forgive others burns the bridge over which he himself must pass." That's powerful.
Today's Scripture was Jeremiah 25-27, and it's intense stuff. Basically, God's fed up. He tells Jeremiah to prophesy that God is going to deliver the people of Judah over to the Babylonians because of their disobedience. The first thing that comes to my mind is that Jeremiah must have had one of the worst jobs EVER. "Hi everyone! Thus sayeth the Lord: you're going to be captured, and it's all your fault." I'd imagine he wasn't the most popular guy. In fact, in chapter 26, he is nearly put to death for his prophesy. I'm not sure that I would be able to obey God if given such a calling, and that worries me. But God knows what I can and cannot handle, and while I'm sure He will stretch me in what He asks of me, I doubt that He'll ask me to do anything so drastic right now.
It has been far too long since I have posted here. Thanks to my dear and most beloved friend Kay, I have been snapped out of my coma and inspired to write here (thanks Kay, you rock! ;-D). So here goes.
Today's passage was on forgiving others, and not to brag, but I don't think I have much trouble in this area. I'm awful at holding grudges, so unforgiveness doesn't tend to be an issue. Even so, like everything with God, I need to be careful. The truth is that people haven't really ever given me a reason not to forgive them, so maybe the reason I think I'm so great in this area is because I haven't been tested too harshly. I love the quote at the end of the devotion: "He who cannot forgive others burns the bridge over which he himself must pass." That's powerful.
Today's Scripture was Jeremiah 25-27, and it's intense stuff. Basically, God's fed up. He tells Jeremiah to prophesy that God is going to deliver the people of Judah over to the Babylonians because of their disobedience. The first thing that comes to my mind is that Jeremiah must have had one of the worst jobs EVER. "Hi everyone! Thus sayeth the Lord: you're going to be captured, and it's all your fault." I'd imagine he wasn't the most popular guy. In fact, in chapter 26, he is nearly put to death for his prophesy. I'm not sure that I would be able to obey God if given such a calling, and that worries me. But God knows what I can and cannot handle, and while I'm sure He will stretch me in what He asks of me, I doubt that He'll ask me to do anything so drastic right now.
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