Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Sunshine is blocked by a heavy layer of fog, but nothing can block us from the love of the Son who is always available for us. We simply call upon the name of Christ; our sweet Holy Spirit will remind us that He abides in us at all time. This is the new life we have received from our Heavenly Father. This is the good news that we are experiencing each day.
Someone says, “Listen, God doesn’t have time for your little problems. He is busy in the Middle East right now. He has bigger fish to fry. If you want something for yourself, you better get it the best way you can: buy this product and you will be important; wear these clothes and everyone will realize how distinguished you are; read this book and the knowledge will set you a cut above the crowd. Take care of yourself “
That sounds good; we begin to respond and then we hear Paul’s indignant, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ.” Instinctively, immediately, we know that he is right. The only good news that will make a difference is that the living God personally addresses and mercifully forgives us. He sets things right at the center. That is what we need. What we want. We determine that we will not abandon the free life of the gospel and live in the fantasy dreams that others paint for us and then sell to us for a fee. We will live forgiven and in faith, not as a bloodsucker on others, but creatively for others. We will not mope or cringe or whine. We will praise and venture and make. Let the people who tell us those lies about God be cursed!
The personal dimension of the gospel is good news about ourselves. The reality of what is within us is every bit as important as the news from the political, industrial and scientific centers of the world. Even if world peace were an accomplished fact and the domestic economy stabilized to everyone’s satisfaction, we still must deal with ourselves.
No matter how nice a house we live in, no matter how well educated we become, no matter how secure we feel in job or family, no matter how well we manage to provide an appearance of competence and happiness, if we are filled with anxieties and guilt and hopelessness, we cannot make it. If we cannot escape the conviction that we are no good or have no meaning, that is bad news. We need a sense of integrity and purpose. We need to count, to mean something, to be important to somebody, to make a difference.
Paul said, “It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine, but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that” (Galatians 2:20b).
This is the kind of attitude we should enjoy our new life in Christ. It is a constant spiritual battle and temptation to save ourselves or proof ourselves to be capable like god. The more we attempt to do so, the more miserable our lives become. Stop trying to play god. Start surrendering to God and live for His Son.
Love you because His love abides in us,
Lawrence
Showing posts with label meditate with Living the Message by Eugene Peterson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meditate with Living the Message by Eugene Peterson. Show all posts
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Devotional 150710
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. Praise God for giving us earth life to cultivate relationship with Christ, before we will spend eternity with Him. When we meet the One who sits on the Throne of Glory in Heaven, we know that He is not a stranger but a friend. Jesus said, “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15b). We can freely go to Him just as a friend would do to each other. And He promises that He is always there for us.
No one is born free. Our common human experience prepares us to receive this revealed truth; for when we leave the warm security of the womb, we are immediately embraced in protecting and nurturing arms. If we were set free then, we would merely die. Hunger and thirst, weather and disease, accidents and animals would make short work of us if we were set free. An infant is not born into freedom, but into a network of security and care. If the infant is carefree it is because of the constant attendance of many who are careful. We begin our lives in an intricate arrangement of constraints, limits, boundaries and restrictions. No one counts that bad. Everyone, in fact, agrees that it is good. But it is not free. If we have nostalgic longings for those years of golden innocence, they are longings not for freedom but for security. We are, if we are fortunate, born secure; we are not born free. We are, however, born with a destiny to freedom and a capacity for freedom which are realized in a life of faith.
It has been two thousand years since Christ lived and died and rose again. The world had seen succession of political and social revolutions that had featured the word freedom. Especially in the Western world, but hardly confined there, aspirations to freedom were very strong. But when I (Eugene Peterson) looked at the people I was living with as pastor—fairly affluent, well educated, and somewhat knowledgeable about the Christian faith—I realized how unfree they were. They were buying expensive security systems to protect their possessions from burglary. They were overcome with anxieties in the face of rising inflation. They were pessimistic about the prospects for justice and peace in a world bristling with sophisticated weapons systems and nuclear devices. They were living huddled, worried, and defensive lives. I wanted to shout in objection: Don’t live that way! You are Christians! Our lives can be a growth into freedom instead of a withdrawal into anxious wariness.
Instead of shouting I returned to my regular round of work— preaching and teaching, visiting and counseling, praying and writing, encouraging and directing—but I was determined to seek ways in which I could awaken a hunger and thirst for the free life among people who had lost an appetite for it, and then, having awakened the appetite, to find the food and drink that would satisfy it. The more I did this, the more I became convinced that the experience of freedom in the life of faith is at the very heart of what it means to be human.
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you (Galatians 5:1). Freedom is not an abstraction, and it is not a thing. It is a gift and a skill. It is a gift that another provides; it is a skill that must be exercised by each person within the learned limits of reality. If we would understand freedom, we must be taught; if we would acquire freedom, we must be trained. Among the writers of Scripture, Paul is the specialist in matters of freedom. He said, “My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness” (Galatians 5:16-17). Train yourself to exercise freedom in Christ by focusing not on your own wants and desires but Christ’s. The more we yield to the Holy Spirit, the more we find ourselves free from the bondage of sins and selfish cravings. Indeed, we are free in Christ!
Please remember me in your prayer. I am leaving tonight for China until end of the month.
Love you freely in Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. Praise God for giving us earth life to cultivate relationship with Christ, before we will spend eternity with Him. When we meet the One who sits on the Throne of Glory in Heaven, we know that He is not a stranger but a friend. Jesus said, “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15b). We can freely go to Him just as a friend would do to each other. And He promises that He is always there for us.
No one is born free. Our common human experience prepares us to receive this revealed truth; for when we leave the warm security of the womb, we are immediately embraced in protecting and nurturing arms. If we were set free then, we would merely die. Hunger and thirst, weather and disease, accidents and animals would make short work of us if we were set free. An infant is not born into freedom, but into a network of security and care. If the infant is carefree it is because of the constant attendance of many who are careful. We begin our lives in an intricate arrangement of constraints, limits, boundaries and restrictions. No one counts that bad. Everyone, in fact, agrees that it is good. But it is not free. If we have nostalgic longings for those years of golden innocence, they are longings not for freedom but for security. We are, if we are fortunate, born secure; we are not born free. We are, however, born with a destiny to freedom and a capacity for freedom which are realized in a life of faith.
It has been two thousand years since Christ lived and died and rose again. The world had seen succession of political and social revolutions that had featured the word freedom. Especially in the Western world, but hardly confined there, aspirations to freedom were very strong. But when I (Eugene Peterson) looked at the people I was living with as pastor—fairly affluent, well educated, and somewhat knowledgeable about the Christian faith—I realized how unfree they were. They were buying expensive security systems to protect their possessions from burglary. They were overcome with anxieties in the face of rising inflation. They were pessimistic about the prospects for justice and peace in a world bristling with sophisticated weapons systems and nuclear devices. They were living huddled, worried, and defensive lives. I wanted to shout in objection: Don’t live that way! You are Christians! Our lives can be a growth into freedom instead of a withdrawal into anxious wariness.
Instead of shouting I returned to my regular round of work— preaching and teaching, visiting and counseling, praying and writing, encouraging and directing—but I was determined to seek ways in which I could awaken a hunger and thirst for the free life among people who had lost an appetite for it, and then, having awakened the appetite, to find the food and drink that would satisfy it. The more I did this, the more I became convinced that the experience of freedom in the life of faith is at the very heart of what it means to be human.
Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you (Galatians 5:1). Freedom is not an abstraction, and it is not a thing. It is a gift and a skill. It is a gift that another provides; it is a skill that must be exercised by each person within the learned limits of reality. If we would understand freedom, we must be taught; if we would acquire freedom, we must be trained. Among the writers of Scripture, Paul is the specialist in matters of freedom. He said, “My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness” (Galatians 5:16-17). Train yourself to exercise freedom in Christ by focusing not on your own wants and desires but Christ’s. The more we yield to the Holy Spirit, the more we find ourselves free from the bondage of sins and selfish cravings. Indeed, we are free in Christ!
Please remember me in your prayer. I am leaving tonight for China until end of the month.
Love you freely in Christ,
Lawrence
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Devotional 200510
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it. Every day is a great day because it is a gift from above. I thank God for giving me another new day to experience His wonderful grace and mercy. If we focus on the faithfulness of God and learn to count His blessings each day, nothing can detour us into finding satisfactions by worldly means. The core of spiritual discipline is learning to choose godliness in our encountering with all things and all people in life.
There are a thousand ways of being religious without submitting to Christ’s lordship, and people are practiced in most of them. We live in golden calf country. Religious feeling runs high but in ways far removed from what was said on Sinai and done on Calvary. While everyone has a hunger for God, deep and insatiable, none of us has any great desire for Him. What we really want is to be our own gods and to have whatever other gods that are around to help us in this work. We are trained from an early age to be discriminating consumers on our way to higher standards of living. It should be no great surprise to pastors when congregations expect us to collaborate in this enterprise. But it is serious apostasy when we go along. “And Moses said to Aaron, ‘What did this people do to you that you have brought a great sin upon them?’” (Exodus 32:21). Aaron’s excuse is embarrassingly lame but more than matched by the justifications pastors make for abandoning worship in our enthusiasm to make the congregation flourishingly successful.
Our Lord Jesus predicted what would be coming,"Brother will betray brother to death and a father to his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt 10:21-22).
It is not easy to stand counter-currently against consumerism that is taking place around us. It is almost like a choice between being faithful to Biblical mandate and being rejected by religious consumers. It is hard to grow a church without compromising to the needs and expectations of your consumers in the congregation. Even though the word of the Lord is not taking place in the church of America yet, the trend is leaning toward this direction: majority of people in this nation will hate you because of your steadfastness in Biblical principles. But the promise of God also affirms those submitting to Christ’s lordship: those who remain faithful till the end will be saved.
Can we slow down the growth of church if it means compromising to consumerism? Can we give up a building project for new sanctuary if it has to please the religious consumers who donate to the project, by building a golden calf? I still remember the gentle word of this little nun from Calcutta, Mother Teresa: “we are not called to be successful but to be faithful.” In this world preoccupied by desire for success, let’s be reminded that we are called to be faithful – faithful to God’s words, faithful to His priority or value system, and faithful to Christ who is the author of our faith and salvation. A great awakening is on the way, I pray that a great revival will come upon the Body of Christ in North America. The Church in America is not dead yet. She is very much alive and strong but among the ethnic community in America. Praise God that there are still faithful remnants who stand firm in their faith today. Just as God affirmed Prophet Elijah in his hopeless uncertainty, “I reserve seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal (materialism, consumerism and individualism etc.) and all whose mouths have not kissed him” (1 King 19:18). God has preserved and will continue to raise up His prayer warriors to turn the spiritual tide. Remember. The victory was secured on the cross two thousands years ago. We just need to be courageously watchful and don’t let the dying evil force to lure us into its scheme of destruction.
Stand with you in Christ,
Lawrence
Good morning. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it. Every day is a great day because it is a gift from above. I thank God for giving me another new day to experience His wonderful grace and mercy. If we focus on the faithfulness of God and learn to count His blessings each day, nothing can detour us into finding satisfactions by worldly means. The core of spiritual discipline is learning to choose godliness in our encountering with all things and all people in life.
There are a thousand ways of being religious without submitting to Christ’s lordship, and people are practiced in most of them. We live in golden calf country. Religious feeling runs high but in ways far removed from what was said on Sinai and done on Calvary. While everyone has a hunger for God, deep and insatiable, none of us has any great desire for Him. What we really want is to be our own gods and to have whatever other gods that are around to help us in this work. We are trained from an early age to be discriminating consumers on our way to higher standards of living. It should be no great surprise to pastors when congregations expect us to collaborate in this enterprise. But it is serious apostasy when we go along. “And Moses said to Aaron, ‘What did this people do to you that you have brought a great sin upon them?’” (Exodus 32:21). Aaron’s excuse is embarrassingly lame but more than matched by the justifications pastors make for abandoning worship in our enthusiasm to make the congregation flourishingly successful.
Our Lord Jesus predicted what would be coming,"Brother will betray brother to death and a father to his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matt 10:21-22).
It is not easy to stand counter-currently against consumerism that is taking place around us. It is almost like a choice between being faithful to Biblical mandate and being rejected by religious consumers. It is hard to grow a church without compromising to the needs and expectations of your consumers in the congregation. Even though the word of the Lord is not taking place in the church of America yet, the trend is leaning toward this direction: majority of people in this nation will hate you because of your steadfastness in Biblical principles. But the promise of God also affirms those submitting to Christ’s lordship: those who remain faithful till the end will be saved.
Can we slow down the growth of church if it means compromising to consumerism? Can we give up a building project for new sanctuary if it has to please the religious consumers who donate to the project, by building a golden calf? I still remember the gentle word of this little nun from Calcutta, Mother Teresa: “we are not called to be successful but to be faithful.” In this world preoccupied by desire for success, let’s be reminded that we are called to be faithful – faithful to God’s words, faithful to His priority or value system, and faithful to Christ who is the author of our faith and salvation. A great awakening is on the way, I pray that a great revival will come upon the Body of Christ in North America. The Church in America is not dead yet. She is very much alive and strong but among the ethnic community in America. Praise God that there are still faithful remnants who stand firm in their faith today. Just as God affirmed Prophet Elijah in his hopeless uncertainty, “I reserve seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal (materialism, consumerism and individualism etc.) and all whose mouths have not kissed him” (1 King 19:18). God has preserved and will continue to raise up His prayer warriors to turn the spiritual tide. Remember. The victory was secured on the cross two thousands years ago. We just need to be courageously watchful and don’t let the dying evil force to lure us into its scheme of destruction.
Stand with you in Christ,
Lawrence
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Devotional 130110
Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is always a joy to share with you my journey of life in Christ. Whenever God gives a gift to us, He does not expect us to just keep it to ourselves. He expects us to share. All that we are and we possess, are the gifts from above. Once we arrive to this realization, we cannot stop sharing with others. Unfortunately, a lot of people in this world do not arrive to the same conclusion. They chose to believe “I think therefore I am.” Their existence depends on themselves and for themselves. They will do whatever it takes to accumulate wealth and well being for themselves, because, after all, this is the reason for their existence. As a result, their lives are under constant stress and worry. And they wonder why lives are full of so much fear and pain.
“Deliver me from the liars, GOD! They smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth” (Psalm 120:2). People submerged in a culture swarming with lies and malice feel like they are drowning in it; they can trust nothing they hear, depend on no one they meet. Such dissatisfaction with the world as it is as preparation for traveling in the way of Christian discipleship. The dissatisfaction, coupled with a longing for peace and truth, can set us on a pilgrim path of wholeness in God.
A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way As long as we think that the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment or another pay raise might push us over the edge of anxiety into a life of tranquility. We are not likely to risk the difficult uncertainties of the life of faith. A person has to get fed up with the ways of the world before he, or she, acquires an appetite for the world of grace.
Psalm 120 is the song of such a person, sick with the lies and crippled with the hate, a person doubled up in pain over what is going on in the world. But it is not a mere outcry, it is pain that penetrates through despair and stimulates a new beginning—a journey to God which becomes a life of peace.
Jesus assured His disciples that He will not leave them as orphan in the world, because the Holy Spirit will abide with them during their life journey. He promised, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). This is the undeserving GRACE that we receive from our merciful God, so that we can walk through our journey of faith with surpassing peace and joy. Our Lord continued to say, “I have told you these things (the Word of God), so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (16:33). Our inner peace is not a self-help or man-made psychological temporary tranquility. It is a super-natural peace that comes out from our union with the Holy Spirit from within. Our Lord desires to offer us His peace through our intimate relationship with Him. Do we want to build our security on the unreliable world or the unfailing love of God? Choose Him today!
Love you because of this Peace,
Lawrence
Good morning. It is always a joy to share with you my journey of life in Christ. Whenever God gives a gift to us, He does not expect us to just keep it to ourselves. He expects us to share. All that we are and we possess, are the gifts from above. Once we arrive to this realization, we cannot stop sharing with others. Unfortunately, a lot of people in this world do not arrive to the same conclusion. They chose to believe “I think therefore I am.” Their existence depends on themselves and for themselves. They will do whatever it takes to accumulate wealth and well being for themselves, because, after all, this is the reason for their existence. As a result, their lives are under constant stress and worry. And they wonder why lives are full of so much fear and pain.
“Deliver me from the liars, GOD! They smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth” (Psalm 120:2). People submerged in a culture swarming with lies and malice feel like they are drowning in it; they can trust nothing they hear, depend on no one they meet. Such dissatisfaction with the world as it is as preparation for traveling in the way of Christian discipleship. The dissatisfaction, coupled with a longing for peace and truth, can set us on a pilgrim path of wholeness in God.
A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way As long as we think that the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment or another pay raise might push us over the edge of anxiety into a life of tranquility. We are not likely to risk the difficult uncertainties of the life of faith. A person has to get fed up with the ways of the world before he, or she, acquires an appetite for the world of grace.
Psalm 120 is the song of such a person, sick with the lies and crippled with the hate, a person doubled up in pain over what is going on in the world. But it is not a mere outcry, it is pain that penetrates through despair and stimulates a new beginning—a journey to God which becomes a life of peace.
Jesus assured His disciples that He will not leave them as orphan in the world, because the Holy Spirit will abide with them during their life journey. He promised, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27). This is the undeserving GRACE that we receive from our merciful God, so that we can walk through our journey of faith with surpassing peace and joy. Our Lord continued to say, “I have told you these things (the Word of God), so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (16:33). Our inner peace is not a self-help or man-made psychological temporary tranquility. It is a super-natural peace that comes out from our union with the Holy Spirit from within. Our Lord desires to offer us His peace through our intimate relationship with Him. Do we want to build our security on the unreliable world or the unfailing love of God? Choose Him today!
Love you because of this Peace,
Lawrence
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