your post has been there a while with no response which makes me feel sad. i think maybe you are feeling out of sorts, and i hate that we might be leaving you hanging.
i have only a few minutes.
therefore...my second thought...
meditate on scriptures (complex passages from psalms, ecclesiates, etc -- stuff with almost palpable meaning) or sacred writings like the creeds and (almost) canonized prayer, like that of the book of common prayer.
i don't think the passages have to be related to righteousness, just mediating on god reveals his righteousness.
Part of it is spending the time you have meditating on good things (like the bible in general and on kindnesses etc.) rather than a movie or book or video game or whatever it may be that at best distracts from what's good and important and at worst poisons your mind (unless it's a really Godly movie, book, game, ...). I know, I know. I'm one to preach. It's really more of a theory. The other part of the theory is really putting scripture into practice. It's the difference between the priest (or whatever he was) knowing all the right things and still passing by the injured man on the side of the road and the foreigner simply doing what he knew to be right, even though it was harder, cost him, and quite possibly could have gotten him killed. He just knew what was right and did it. Simple. I'm not suggesting that our salvation is based on works, but I doubt His mercy will extend to someone who spurns His teaching. Besides which, the benefits of being right with God in this life alone far outweigh the trouble, not the least of which benefit is the peace that passes understanding - part of what will be "added unto you". What really drove this home for me was talking with a couple who suddenly became vegetarians. These people were Christians, and they did NOT become vegetarians for religious reasons. Bear with me; I'll make a connection soon enough. You see they saw a very informative documentary about the health impacts of eating too much meat and simply decided not to eat meat anymore. What I couldn't understand was why they would make such a drastic life-changing decision so lightly. His comment to me (are you ready for it?) was 'As Christians, we're used to learning something and applying it, so when we saw the documentary, it was very natural to make the decision to stop eating meat'. Woa. That really is the way it should be. Just learn something and apply it. Simply be different whether you feel different or not, and the rest will follow (...and all these things will be added unto you). A great place to start is the sermon on the mount and the beatitudes. Just reading it alone makes me feel so much purer. I believe there's two main points Jesus makes in this passage: 1. Try to be perfect in everything. 2. You're going to fail miserably at being perfect, but God's perfect grace will save you.
P.S. I'm sorry I'm just now commenting. Every time I started to before, something came up.
So, let me translate for my hubby. What he was trying to say about our friends becoming vegetarians after watching a documentary was, "Why don't we do that with God's word?" ...hear it and immediately apply it. He WAS trying to say that is the way we should be with the reading of scripture, and was NOT trying to say we should all watch a documentary about the evils of meat and become vegetarians.
By the way, my husband is in no way, shape, or form an advocate for becoming a vegetarian. If you want to be a vegetarian that is fine with him......He is more than happy to eat your share of the meat. This man is a meat eater through and through. He has a picture of sausage on his blog for goodness sakes.
Okay, so on a serious note, seeing someone make such a drastic change in their life, kind of makes you think of how drastically changed your life would be if you did read God's word and immediately apply it to your life. Now THAT would be radical.
P.S. Brian, why doesn't the link to your profile work? Maybe that's a stupid question, but I am relatively new to this website. I asked you about it on Michelle's first blog, but maybe you didn't go back and read it...so, I thought I would ask again. Ummm...that's all. I guess I should probably stop writing now because you all probably lost interest after the first paragraph.
7 comments:
hi gina :)
my first response was, "uh...i dunno..."
lol.
your post has been there a while with no response which makes me feel sad. i think maybe you are feeling out of sorts, and i hate that we might be leaving you hanging.
i have only a few minutes.
therefore...my second thought...
meditate on scriptures (complex passages from psalms, ecclesiates, etc -- stuff with almost palpable meaning) or sacred writings like the creeds and (almost) canonized prayer, like that of the book of common prayer.
i don't think the passages have to be related to righteousness, just mediating on god reveals his righteousness.
...well...um...thats what works for me...
i love you.
take care.
-michelle-
You know, that's almost exactly what Jeremy said. I think you guys have alot more in common than you think. :)
jeah...what jackie said...
-michelle-
Part of it is spending the time you have meditating on good things (like the bible in general and on kindnesses etc.) rather than a movie or book or video game or whatever it may be that at best distracts from what's good and important and at worst poisons your mind (unless it's a really Godly movie, book, game, ...). I know, I know. I'm one to preach. It's really more of a theory. The other part of the theory is really putting scripture into practice. It's the difference between the priest (or whatever he was) knowing all the right things and still passing by the injured man on the side of the road and the foreigner simply doing what he knew to be right, even though it was harder, cost him, and quite possibly could have gotten him killed. He just knew what was right and did it. Simple. I'm not suggesting that our salvation is based on works, but I doubt His mercy will extend to someone who spurns His teaching. Besides which, the benefits of being right with God in this life alone far outweigh the trouble, not the least of which benefit is the peace that passes understanding - part of what will be "added unto you". What really drove this home for me was talking with a couple who suddenly became vegetarians. These people were Christians, and they did NOT become vegetarians for religious reasons. Bear with me; I'll make a connection soon enough. You see they saw a very informative documentary about the health impacts of eating too much meat and simply decided not to eat meat anymore. What I couldn't understand was why they would make such a drastic life-changing decision so lightly. His comment to me (are you ready for it?) was 'As Christians, we're used to learning something and applying it, so when we saw the documentary, it was very natural to make the decision to stop eating meat'. Woa. That really is the way it should be. Just learn something and apply it. Simply be different whether you feel different or not, and the rest will follow (...and all these things will be added unto you). A great place to start is the sermon on the mount and the beatitudes. Just reading it alone makes me feel so much purer. I believe there's two main points Jesus makes in this passage:
1. Try to be perfect in everything.
2. You're going to fail miserably at being perfect, but God's perfect grace will save you.
P.S. I'm sorry I'm just now commenting. Every time I started to before, something came up.
Uh..yeah. That last comment just kinda got away from me. It just kept coming.
So, let me translate for my hubby. What he was trying to say about our friends becoming vegetarians after watching a documentary was, "Why don't we do that with God's word?" ...hear it and immediately apply it. He WAS trying to say that is the way we should be with the reading of scripture, and was NOT trying to say we should all watch a documentary about the evils of meat and become vegetarians.
By the way, my husband is in no way, shape, or form an advocate for becoming a vegetarian. If you want to be a vegetarian that is fine with him......He is more than happy to eat your share of the meat. This man is a meat eater through and through. He has a picture of sausage on his blog for goodness sakes.
Okay, so on a serious note, seeing someone make such a drastic change in their life, kind of makes you think of how drastically changed your life would be if you did read God's word and immediately apply it to your life. Now THAT would be radical.
P.S. Brian, why doesn't the link to your profile work? Maybe that's a stupid question, but I am relatively new to this website. I asked you about it on Michelle's first blog, but maybe you didn't go back and read it...so, I thought I would ask again. Ummm...that's all. I guess I should probably stop writing now because you all probably lost interest after the first paragraph.
Ya. What she said.
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