Proverbs 22:6

“Train children to live the right way, and when they are old, they will not stray from it.” – Proverbs 22:6

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Ephesians 2:19

“Now you who are not Jewish are not foreigners or strangers any longer, but are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family.” – Ephesians 2:19

John 6:29

“Jesus answered, ‘The work God wants you to do is this: Believe the One he sent.'” – John 6:29

Check out this verse on Bible Gateway

 Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne, and the four living creatures, and the elders. There were thousands and thousands of angels,  saying in a loud voice: Then I heard all creatures in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea saying: The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders bowed down and worshiped. – Revelation 5:11-14 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation5:11-14&version=NCV

Romans 12:4-5

“Each one of us has a body with many parts, and these parts all have different uses. In the same way, we are many, but in Christ we are all one body. Each one is a part of that body, and each part belongs to all the other parts.” – Romans 12:4 – 5

The Spirit of Obedience

Madame Guyon wrote this fabulous insight into obedience:
“It is not our actions in themselves which please Him, but the spirit in which they are done, especially the constant ready obedience to every discovery of His will, even in the minutest things, and with a suppleness and flexibility of mind that is willing to turn and move in any direction where He should call.”
This paints a beautiful and I believe accurate description of the humble and ready servant who reliably and capably answers his or her master’s call. This servant is going to be trusted with greater things if they are faithful with the littler things. It is invaluable to have such a person, trained and supported, available to get their jobs accomplished and then help others. Such a servant would be treasured and loved and valued for their service and heart of service. This is servant would be rewarded and our goal as followers of Jesus Christ should be to be this servant. However, as amazing and beautiful as that is, what is more amazing about our God is not just that he appreciates those who serve Him, He loves dearly and blesses His children who are screwing up all the time. Yes, I turned a corner there. In our family of believers, every person matters and is loved no matter what their own personal level of service is. We who serve sometimes cast judgment on the unworthy “audience” who sit there and are entertained having felt themselves worthy of Heaven based on warming a pew and enduring a sermon or two now and again, no heart to serve aboard. However, God adores that person. He adores and appreciates everyone He designed and lovingly made. Because of His unique and amazing love of all of us, we need to share that love with others and have that right spirit or heart of obedience. We are responsible for serving the Lord with the talents He has given us. And it is beautiful when we get it right. But we can not be right in the spirit of obedient service if we looking around at how others are doing in their walk and comparing notes and accomplishments. It is just bad form. Let God raise them up to become humble servant who He can do great things through. My job and your job is to be the best humble obedient servant we can possibly be because we can and should out of love for what God has done for us. It is freeing to just do your job. God loves that. 🙂

The In Between Spaces

Time moves very quickly, as we know time. However, in the scope of eternity it is very very short. In fact, our entire lives are just a speck on the eternal timeline. There was a looking line before us and a loooooong line will be after us. And in our brief but extremely important stint here on this planet, we see glimpses of the eternal. In the in between spaces of busy movement and required activity, we see glimpses of the immortal in the beautiful Creation He made. Yes, He made. There was no something from nothing here. There was purposeful design and all you have to do is study one item that was created to realize that. Pick one. Study it. A beetle, a bird, a tree, a fish, a person, a cloud, a flower. Study it. Get close. Look through a magnifying glass. And you will soon (if you have any amount of intelligent thought of your own) determine not only that this was made on purpose but also have a glimpse of God’s character, a view of immortality. You will see, no matter what you chose to study, that the God who made this cares about details, takes great thought into each thing and what it needs to survive, puts it in that environment, knows how it fits into the world around it, and give it peace and joy. Each item reflects the love of God, each has His fingerprint. Each is not Him but reflects Him. There is a commonality in all of God’s designed creation, a purpose, a definitive behavior to work with others, to help each other. Nature is a community and not full of soloists. It lifts the vision and the heart to reflect on these truths. God is amazing. We are amazing beings not because of us but because of Him. Who He is. He is perfect.