Category: Random

Some people are under the impression that they are doing God a favor when they come to church on Sundays. They feel like God owes them something whenever they show up, say their prayers and give their offerings. What pride, what foolish idea to entertain in anyone’s head.

God doesn’t need our sacrifices and gifts. He is God and He will always be God even without our input. He is not some petty Greek deity that must be appeased and offered to. His power and majesty remain the same whether we recognize Him or not. His Lordship and dominion over all creation is not dependent whether we go to church or not. His greatness is not diminished by our indifference or increased by our worship. He is God, He is complete, He is whole.

The reason why we need to love Him and worship Him and give our lives to Him is not to boost His ego. He doesn’t need that from us. We worship because that is the only way we make sense of this life. We love Him because that is the only way our spirits are sustained. We give our lives to Him because that’s the only way we find meaning and purpose.

Our adoration is not for His benefit. It is for OUR benefit that He calls us to a life of surrender.

But our citizenship is in heaven… Phil. 3.20

You do not belong to this earth. You are just a passerby, a traveler who has to do your business quick and right, pack up and leave and get back to your Master’s house.

You are not of this world. You belong to a higher order of God’s creation. You have an eternity to look forward to, an eternity that God planned even before you were born into this journey.

Stop living as if this whole earthly life is the whole point of your existence. This is not your home, stop trying to feel at home here. You have a life hidden with Christ in the high heavens. You have a glorious inheritance in the kingdom of God.

Stop setting your mind on earthly things. Everything that you see around you will pass. Like a sand castle in the shore, everything here will be washed back to the sea by billowing waves. Why would you spend your whole life building a sand castle and glorying in that precarious accomplishment when you could be taking a ride in the boat of God’s grace and sail with Christ to the shores of heaven?

You may have built the best sand castle in the whole world, you may have decorated it with all your other accomplishments and prided yourself of being the sole architect and builder of your life, but that sand castle will always remain at the mecry of the raging waves of the sea. You can fortify it with your bank accounts and medals and plaques of appreciation but you can never sleep well at night because you will never know when the unmerciful waves will strike your castle down.

And no matter how you comfort yourself with the idea that you are a self made person, your best efforts are nothing but dry, boring sand in comparison to the glittering gold that adorn the streets of the heavenly city. It’s like a child priding himself of his chopsticks music in front of Beethoven, or a caricature of stick figures standing next to Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

The absurdity of the illustrations I mentioned point to one thing: your citizenship is in heaven, make your business on earth be the business our Master sent you here for. Take no other detours and side jobs. Live like the foreigner that you are. Don’t feel at home here. Don’t hold on too much to the comforts and glories of this foreign land. You are supposed to get your business done and go home.

Yes, home. Take that ship of God’s grace in Christ and leave your sand castles, no matter how good they seem now.

No one ever gets talker’s block. No one wakes up in the morning, discovers he has nothing to say and sits quietly, for days or weeks… until the moment is right, until all the craziness in his life has died down…

—Seth Godin

There is an alternative to moving [out of your current ministry]… It’s staying where you are and pumping some freshness and new life back into your preaching. If you move you might end up repeating the same pattern at another church. No, I think you ought to stay right where you are. Work on your preaching. Improve it. Revitalize it…

You have a lot to learn yet about the ministry. Too many young preachers leave the seminary fired up with enthusiasm and vision, only to lose it all after a few short years. That freshman spirit might get you through your beginning years in the parish, but sooner or later you must learn how to catch a second wind. The ministry is not a hundred-yard dash; it’s a marathon! Young Timothy hadn’t been at work too long before the apostle had to encourage him to rekindle his gift!