"He says, 'Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'"
-Psalm 46:10
One night I came home fairly late in the night. I forget what exactly I was doing, but I had arrived home when it was really dark and quiet. I stepped out of the car, and before I went into my house, I just stopped. I stood outside my house, and enjoyed the peace and quiet. The only sounds I could hear were some passing cars and the night animals. After a couple minutes, I finally went inside.
As I lied in my bed getting ready to fall asleep, I thought about those few minutes of quietness. It's so rare for me to have moments like that. In this day and age, there are so many distractions available to me. I can watch TV, surf the internet, play a video game, text a friend, listen to music, etc. My life is full of things that rob me of the moments of quietness.
I believe that one of the reasons Jesus prayed early in the morning is that there are no distractions. Whenever I go to prayer meetings at 5:30am, it is so quiet. Most people are still sleeping, the sun is just starting to rise, and stores are closed. When I pray early in the morning, I am much less distracted. I don't have to worry about the rest of the day because there is nothing for me to do so early in the morning.
Psalm 46:10 says "be still, and know that I am God". This verse is so much more applicable to us now than ever before. With so many distractions around us, it seems harder and harder to find quiet time before God. However, the quietness is the best time to meet with God. In fact, because it's so much harder to find quietness, it's so much sweeter when you do. Those few minutes outside of my house were so precious because they are so rare. Find time where you can be still and quiet before God. That's not only a challenge for you, but for me. I'm guilty of having so many things distracting me from God. I want to intentially create times of quietness before my God.
-Smart
Mercy, Justice, Beauty
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie to cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"
-Isaiah 58:6-7
I recently listened to a sermon by Tim Keller, who is a pastor and author. He spoke about doing justice and mercy. The first half of his sermon was about what that means, and the second half was about why we do justice and mercy. If you want to hear to sermon, you can find it here. Today I wanted to share what stuck out to me in this sermon.
Often times when people do kind deeds, or in the terminology of the sermon, show mercy and justice, it is because they feel guilt or because they want to seem like a good person. However, it is rare to find a person who shows justice and mercy for the sake of others. If there is no benefit or consequence to showing mercy and justice, people tend to shy away from those opportunities. People don't have any good reason to serve justice.
So how should a Christian approach justice and mercy? What compels us to help others? I have said and will continue to say this for as long as live- the cross is the most important part of Christianity. Without the cross, there is no Christianity. Tim Keller said something that spoke to me during his sermon. He said that "the beauty of the cross leads to social justice". The cross is what compels us to show justice and mercy.
Jesus' suffering and death on the cross is the most beautiful picture of mercy and justice. He showed mercy by not giving us what we deserved for our sins. He served justice by bearing the punishment that we deserved for our sin. However, Jesus suffered with no mercy and cruel injustice. The soldiers beat Jesus and mocked Him mercilessly. Pilate unjustly sentenced an innocent Jesus to death on the cross. At the place of the most cruelty and injustice, Jesus showed us mercy and justice.
The cross is so beautiful, and should compel us to mercy and justice. If we deeply accept that Jesus died for us, we should be willing to do the same for others. Jesus showed us the greatest mercy, so we in turn should show mercy to others. Jesus served the greatest justice, so we should serve justice to others. We shouldn't approach justice and mercy as a way to benefit ourselves, but as a way to share the beauty of the cross.
-Smart
-Isaiah 58:6-7
I recently listened to a sermon by Tim Keller, who is a pastor and author. He spoke about doing justice and mercy. The first half of his sermon was about what that means, and the second half was about why we do justice and mercy. If you want to hear to sermon, you can find it here. Today I wanted to share what stuck out to me in this sermon.
Often times when people do kind deeds, or in the terminology of the sermon, show mercy and justice, it is because they feel guilt or because they want to seem like a good person. However, it is rare to find a person who shows justice and mercy for the sake of others. If there is no benefit or consequence to showing mercy and justice, people tend to shy away from those opportunities. People don't have any good reason to serve justice.
So how should a Christian approach justice and mercy? What compels us to help others? I have said and will continue to say this for as long as live- the cross is the most important part of Christianity. Without the cross, there is no Christianity. Tim Keller said something that spoke to me during his sermon. He said that "the beauty of the cross leads to social justice". The cross is what compels us to show justice and mercy.
Jesus' suffering and death on the cross is the most beautiful picture of mercy and justice. He showed mercy by not giving us what we deserved for our sins. He served justice by bearing the punishment that we deserved for our sin. However, Jesus suffered with no mercy and cruel injustice. The soldiers beat Jesus and mocked Him mercilessly. Pilate unjustly sentenced an innocent Jesus to death on the cross. At the place of the most cruelty and injustice, Jesus showed us mercy and justice.
The cross is so beautiful, and should compel us to mercy and justice. If we deeply accept that Jesus died for us, we should be willing to do the same for others. Jesus showed us the greatest mercy, so we in turn should show mercy to others. Jesus served the greatest justice, so we should serve justice to others. We shouldn't approach justice and mercy as a way to benefit ourselves, but as a way to share the beauty of the cross.
-Smart
Faith in the Process
"He told them another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.'"
-Matthew 13:31-32
I've recently been listening to sermons from Elevation Church about faith. One thing that I've been learning is that Christian life is a process. Jesus often talked about how the Kingdom of God is like a seed that God plants in our hearts. What we often fail to realize is that this means that the Kingdom of God takes time to grow. We lose faith in ourselves and in the growth of the Kingdom of God in our lives.
This semester I've been working on my senior design project. Coming into the class, I didn't expect it to be too much work. Of course, I expected that I would have to put in some work, but didn't realize that this project would be a lot of work. I've never pulled an all-nighter in my entire undergraduate career until this semester. I've had to stay up to finish an English paper and to finish a piece of my senior design project.
Throughout the semester, the professor gives us assignments related to the progress of our project. This helps us stay on track with the project so we finish it on time. However, I'm the kind of person who likes to get everything done at one time. I normally procrastinate on assignments until the night before, where I complete the assignment all at once. I don't enjoy working at something for a long period of time. The night that I stayed up to work on my project, I was stuck on a part of the design. I felt so helpless as I kept trying to fix the design for hours, only to get nowhere.
I realized that this feeling of helplessness often shows up in my life of faith. I want to grow in my faith quickly, not having to work at it day in and day out. However, the nature of a seed is that it has to cultivated until it grows. A farmer doesn't sow a seed and then expect it to grow in a single night. He tills the soil and pulls the weeds until the seed grows into what it's meant to be.
I think my issue is that I sometimes see the seed rather than what the seed is meant to become. A farmer doesn't choose a seed based on what the seed is, but based on what the seed will become. A seed is amazingly unimpressive and useless. However, once the seed grows, it bears fruit that a farmer can eat and sell. When the farmer looks at a seed, he doesn't see a seed; he sees a tree. He has faith that the seed will grow in its time.
What if we had the same attitude about our lives? What if we stopped looking at the unimpressive seed and starting looking at the tree? A person who has faith in something impressive doesn't really have great faith. True faith is when someone can look at a seed, but see a tree. True faith is when someone has faith in the process. There will be times when our lives seems unimpressive and maybe even useless. However, the Bible assures us that the seed is always growing, whether we know it or not. "Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how (Mark 4:27)."
Experiencing the Kingdom of God is a process. There are times where we will have to take care of the seed when nothing seems to be happening. However, God is always working. Trust that God will work in your life, even when it seems to be a long and slow process. Keeping cultivating faith in your life. Have faith in the process.
-Smart
-Matthew 13:31-32
I've recently been listening to sermons from Elevation Church about faith. One thing that I've been learning is that Christian life is a process. Jesus often talked about how the Kingdom of God is like a seed that God plants in our hearts. What we often fail to realize is that this means that the Kingdom of God takes time to grow. We lose faith in ourselves and in the growth of the Kingdom of God in our lives.
This semester I've been working on my senior design project. Coming into the class, I didn't expect it to be too much work. Of course, I expected that I would have to put in some work, but didn't realize that this project would be a lot of work. I've never pulled an all-nighter in my entire undergraduate career until this semester. I've had to stay up to finish an English paper and to finish a piece of my senior design project.
Throughout the semester, the professor gives us assignments related to the progress of our project. This helps us stay on track with the project so we finish it on time. However, I'm the kind of person who likes to get everything done at one time. I normally procrastinate on assignments until the night before, where I complete the assignment all at once. I don't enjoy working at something for a long period of time. The night that I stayed up to work on my project, I was stuck on a part of the design. I felt so helpless as I kept trying to fix the design for hours, only to get nowhere.
I realized that this feeling of helplessness often shows up in my life of faith. I want to grow in my faith quickly, not having to work at it day in and day out. However, the nature of a seed is that it has to cultivated until it grows. A farmer doesn't sow a seed and then expect it to grow in a single night. He tills the soil and pulls the weeds until the seed grows into what it's meant to be.
I think my issue is that I sometimes see the seed rather than what the seed is meant to become. A farmer doesn't choose a seed based on what the seed is, but based on what the seed will become. A seed is amazingly unimpressive and useless. However, once the seed grows, it bears fruit that a farmer can eat and sell. When the farmer looks at a seed, he doesn't see a seed; he sees a tree. He has faith that the seed will grow in its time.
What if we had the same attitude about our lives? What if we stopped looking at the unimpressive seed and starting looking at the tree? A person who has faith in something impressive doesn't really have great faith. True faith is when someone can look at a seed, but see a tree. True faith is when someone has faith in the process. There will be times when our lives seems unimpressive and maybe even useless. However, the Bible assures us that the seed is always growing, whether we know it or not. "Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how (Mark 4:27)."
Experiencing the Kingdom of God is a process. There are times where we will have to take care of the seed when nothing seems to be happening. However, God is always working. Trust that God will work in your life, even when it seems to be a long and slow process. Keeping cultivating faith in your life. Have faith in the process.
-Smart
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)