Friday, October 26, 2012
Dog Tales
We're dog-sitting for a boxer mix named Daisy. This dog makes me laugh. At an early hour this morning, she woke me up with whimpering. She wanted out of her kennel. I let her out, and after she went potty in the backyard, I left her loose in the house. Next thing I know she's whimpering outside our bedroom door. Then I heard her sniffing under the door. More whimpering. I'm getting a kick out of this, but Jeff wanted to sleep, so he got up and went to get his robe. Evidently Daisy heard him coming, because the next sound from her was her tail thump-thumping against the wall. That critter knows how to make a person feel wanted!
This afternoon I took a nap on the couch. When I woke up and looked down at Daisy, who was on the floor next to me, she got right up in my face, so I turned away. When I turned back toward her, there was her snout an inch from mine--she's so friendly :)
Sunday, October 21, 2012
The Hound of Heaven
I've been reading Yours, Jack, which is a compilation of C. S. Lewis's writings. Lewis was an atheist early in his life, and it was encouraging to read his testimony of when he became convinced that there is a God: "You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him of whom I so earnestly desired not to meet." He went on to tell that when he admitted that God was God, he knelt and prayed, "perhaps...the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." Soon he came to understand and appreciate the amazing humility and mercy of the God who accepts someone with such an attitude.
I, too, hesitated in my journey toward God. Very early in my freshman year at Iowa State University, the Lord sent several Christians to me, and they asked me if I had accepted Jesus. I knew that I hadn't given myself to Him. I wanted to be in charge of my own life because I thought the Lord would lead me into a life of boredom, and that if I preached the gospel (which I knew He wanted me to do), I'd be labeled a Jesus freak and would lose my friends. However, I began to fear hell, which was a gift of God's mercy and the beginning of His pursuit of me. Later He showed me that He was with me always, because He wanted to be. And that's how He won my heart.
The scripture shows us what happens when people run from God. For instance, Jonah, who ran straight into the belly of a fish, where he had no recourse but to turn to the Lord and ask for help. And the Lord was right there, listening to him.
If the Lord is this willing to pursue those who run from Him, how much does He pursue those who run to Him? Don't ever think that God doesn't want to speak to you, because He really, really does.
Here are some wonderful Scripture verses about God pursuing people, even those who aren't pursuing Him:
"God is faithful, by whom YOU WERE CALLED into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:9).
"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me" (Psalm 139:9-10).
"He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though HE IS NOT FAR FROM EACH ONE OF US" (Acts 17:26-27).
"Compel them to come in" (Luke 14:23).
This is the Lord's heart.
I, too, hesitated in my journey toward God. Very early in my freshman year at Iowa State University, the Lord sent several Christians to me, and they asked me if I had accepted Jesus. I knew that I hadn't given myself to Him. I wanted to be in charge of my own life because I thought the Lord would lead me into a life of boredom, and that if I preached the gospel (which I knew He wanted me to do), I'd be labeled a Jesus freak and would lose my friends. However, I began to fear hell, which was a gift of God's mercy and the beginning of His pursuit of me. Later He showed me that He was with me always, because He wanted to be. And that's how He won my heart.
The scripture shows us what happens when people run from God. For instance, Jonah, who ran straight into the belly of a fish, where he had no recourse but to turn to the Lord and ask for help. And the Lord was right there, listening to him.
If the Lord is this willing to pursue those who run from Him, how much does He pursue those who run to Him? Don't ever think that God doesn't want to speak to you, because He really, really does.
Here are some wonderful Scripture verses about God pursuing people, even those who aren't pursuing Him:
"God is faithful, by whom YOU WERE CALLED into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:9).
"If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me" (Psalm 139:9-10).
"He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though HE IS NOT FAR FROM EACH ONE OF US" (Acts 17:26-27).
"Compel them to come in" (Luke 14:23).
This is the Lord's heart.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Christ in Us
I've been reading Hearing God by Dallas Willard. Here's an interesting quote from the book: "When Peter and John were confronted with the lame beggar as they entered the temple in Acts 3, Peter commanded the man in the name of Jesus Christ--that is, he commanded him on Jesus' behalf--to rise up and walk (v. 6). Then Peter took the lame man by the hand and pulled him to his feet (v. 7). Peter did not kneel down and pray for him, nor did he pass by saying, 'We'll be praying for you!' He put his whole bodily self on public display as an agent of Christ."
My thought is that our union with Christ as believers and our participation in His work does not depend on saying a prayer. Certainly it requires trust in the Lord's power and in His presence with and in us, but perhaps nothing more than that. This is way outside the religious box, yes?
My thought is that our union with Christ as believers and our participation in His work does not depend on saying a prayer. Certainly it requires trust in the Lord's power and in His presence with and in us, but perhaps nothing more than that. This is way outside the religious box, yes?
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