And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. (2 Cor 12 TMSG)


I need to remember this one today. Really.

It is not about me. My strength comes from God. I can do nothing without Him. So why do I still try sometimes. The more I submit, the greater our bond. And if I am bonded to the One of ultimate strength, that is what makes me strong.

Ouch!

If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we're a pretty sorry lot. (1 Cor 15 TMSG)

Ouch, that smarts! The tough teachings usually do.

I need to remember it is not what I get out of Christianity that matters, it is what I put into it.

Ouch!

Do you really love me?

Thoughts from 1 Cor 13 (TMSG)...

I'm bankrupt without love

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
 Love doesn't keep score of the sins of others.

(Love) puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end.

Love never dies.

Love extravagantly.

Love extravagantly.

Who's on First?

We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving Him. (1 Cor 10 TMSG)

It is such a mystery. It is so hard to get it into my head. Jesus offered himself as the perfect sacrifice on my behalf. Yet that does not make me the boss of Him. Knowing WHO Jesus is is important to how we respond to Him.

I think we tend to see Jesus as our personal butler sometimes. "Jeeves, do get me some tea!" But Jesus is so far from that. So far from a doormat. He is Lord. He could not have accomplished what He did without being strong. He did it out of LOVE, and not obligation.

That has a huge impact on how I act. If He did it out of obligation, I could treat Him as my servant. If He did it out of LOVE, I should desire to return that love. If He did it out of LOVE, it is His gift to me.

My workplace owes me a check. We trade my skills for their money. If someone were to just start giving me money every couple of weeks, I would hope that I would think about them differently. I need to see and understand Jesus as a gift-giver. He didn't have to do it. But He did. It was LOVE.

But just experiencing God's wonder and grace didn't seem to mean much - most of them were defeated by temptation during hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased. (1 Cor 10 TMSG)

It is not about the gift, it is what we do with the gift that matters. The Israelites had experienced not only God's presence, but his grace and mercy as well. But as soon as things were not going their way(the hard times), they desserted Him.

God is God all of the time. And as such, we must understand and acknowledge his sovereignty. We don't always understand why things happen the way they do, but we always trust in our God who has seen us through so much.

Let's not have short memories.

Knowledge

We sometimes tend to think we know all to answer these kinds of questions - but sometimes our humble hearts can help us more than our proud minds. We never really know enough until we recognize that God alone knows it all. (1 Cor 8 TMSG)

Amen!

But life can be complicated...

All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time with the Master without a lot of distractions. (1 Cor 7 TMSG)

Life can be complicated, but I think that is often our choice. We choose the jobs we have, the things we buy, the "must have" conveniences, etc. How did people live without all of these things?

Yet they did.

Just do it!

There is no time to waste, so don't complicate your lives unnecessarily. Keep it simple - your daily routines of shopping and so on. Deal as sparingly as possible wiht the things the world thrusts on you. This world as you see it is on its way out. (1 Cor 7 TMSG)

Life is complicated. I am way to busy. But what is most of my time spent on? Is it really the things I want to do or is it the things the world has me believe that I want?

I need to simplify, but simplification is hard! Isn't that ironic? But maybe its because I make it hard. Letting go is sometimes not so easy.

Where's Spherical?

Where you are right now is God's place for you. (1 Cor 7 TMSG)

Sometimes this is comfortable, sometimes it is not, but it is always the truth.

I have been through some very uncomfortable experiences in life. But I am not alone! And it seems that the folks I often run into are the ones who have either been there too or are still in that kind of a place. God needed me to go through that so I could share my experiences and help, just like others shared their experiences and helped me.

Besides, if we never had sadness, what would happiness really mean to us?

No deal!

But better devastation and embarrassment than damnation. (1 Cor 5 TMSG)

Monty, I think I'll take what's behind door one.

Sign me up!

Be God's fool -- that's the path to true wisdom. (1 Cor 3 TMSG)

Sign me up!

Is this a contest?

Human strength can't begin to compare with God's "weakness." (1 Cor 1 TMSG)

So much that we don't know, yet we act as if we do. Real wisdom begins with realistically admitting our limits. It is not a weakness to be honest, in fact, it takes more courage to be honest that it does to lie.

I believe that it is arrogant to think that we have this universe figured out. No matter how much science achieves, there are too many gaps for me to put my trust in science alone. It's not that I don't trust science, I just don't trust it alone.

Some would call me a fool. And I am okay with that.

I just find it a bigger leap of faith to say this is all by chance.

Be strong!

Strength is for service, not status. (Romans 15 TMSG)


We are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others, not for our own comfort! Doh!

Ouch!

If the way you live isn't consistent with what you believe, then it's wrong. (Romans 14 TMSG)

Ouch! It's not that I consider myself a bad person, but I know that being good isn't enough either. But do my "head" beliefs really make it all the way to my heart?

Oops!

Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don't impose it on others. (Romans 14 TMSG)

Perhaps if we took this more to heart, life would be a little easier.