I had a wonderful Sabbath. Really enjoyed my Sunday School class as we continued to talk about living a life of worship to God. Great service with a powerful message about a God that will never leave us all the days of our lives. And a great time of fellowship with my family at to'ana'i. God is good.
Point to Ponder: Who are you going to live for - yourself or God?
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
Did you pray the prayer above?
If you haven’t yet opened your life to Christ, what are you waiting on?
Who could you tell about your decision to follow Christ and begin living a purpose-driven life? Write down some names and tell someone today.
My response:
This chapter begins by telling us that God is the reason for everything. That we should always strive to bring God glory. God is glorified when all things in creation are acting out their purpose. So when birds are chirping, they're bringing God glory. When ants are...well, whatever ants do, they're bringing God glory. And when we humans fulfill God's purpose for us, we also glorify God.
The chapter then lays out the five purposes that God has for our lives. The first purpose is that we are to get to know and to love God. And we do this by worshipping Him. How do we worship Him? By the actions of our lives. We talked about this in our Sunday School class today. How worship is not just a onetime thing. Not just in church one hour every Sunday, or one hour every Wednesday. Worship should become a way of life. The prophet Micah said to worship God is to act justly, to be merciful and to walk humbly. If we lived out Micah's words, what an awesome form of worship to God. To do what is right. To be merciful and humble is indeed a lifestyle that we should all strive to emulate.
The second purpose is to love other people in God's family, or to fellowship. We too often fail to do this, or do it in the improper way. We must love each other and bear each other's burdens. We must life each other up, instead of tearing each other down. So often, we elevate ourselves by tearing other people down. Our worship is worthless and meaningless if it's only verbal and not by action. In the words of the Apostle James, what good is it to pray for a cold man to by warm or a hungry man to be fed, yet doing nothing about it. That's what true fellowship is about. Loving our fellow Christians and our fellow man.
The final three purposes are to tell others about Christ, by serving others and by becoming like Christ. Jesus challenges us to not only read the Word, but to also live it. If we only read and then don't act on it, it's like looking at yourself in the mirror and then forgetting what you look like. I look forward to the rest of this journey as we continue to learn from each other. Many people attempt this book and then fail to finish it. Some haven't even gotten to chapter 10. And I believe the reason for that is they did it alone or with an insufficient support group. It is my prayer that we take this journey together and we can all learn and expand our relationship with God together. It will be tough with the holidays coming up, but I encourage you to keep the fire burning and meditating on God's Word and what it means for you and your life. Be blessed.
This chapter was a great read to start the day. I just had a couple of thoughts. There are examples of how we honor and glorify God all the time, yet we probably don't recognize it. This weekend was our final game for the season. Although it has been tough season, there have been a lot of things that have been positive.
ReplyDeleteThere are only 2 things that will silence a stadium, the National Anthem and Prayer. The last line of the Anthem is - O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? I view this as an honor to God for providing us freedom and all that is great about our nation. The protocol is that all men take their hats off and everyone puts their hand over their heart. For me it represents a sign of respect and love. God is power. When you can silence a stadium before a game, especially in the south, we know who is Mighty!
The other moment and probably the most heart warming for me is at the end of the game. There is a prayer for both teams. It is totally voluntary, yet I see that player prayer circle grow larger every year. The protocol is simple, after the game the chaplain for our team will stand in the middle of the field. The players will gather around and the coaches will stand but will have their hand on the shoulder of a player, any player. This gesture shows the simplicity of Gods love. I know this is when God puts competition into perspective. As a fan, when you see two teams that were just competing against each other, now on their knees honoring the Lord you know who comes first, it truly is not about us its about Gods glory:)
PS - Al great idea. We have been following along in TN. Looking forward to taking this journey with everyone. Looking forward for more in the future
What an awesome perspective Flo. It is awesome to see that there are still some public events where we still honor God. There has been such a huge push in our country to rid God from the public square that everytime I see people honoring and glorifying God in public, my spirits are lifted. I am always a fans of Christian athletes. When I hear them profess their love of Christ in front of people, it gives me confidence to do the same. I am proud when I see Samoans do well in life. I am also proud when I see fellow Christians not being ashamed, yet speak out of their love for Christ.
ReplyDeleteThat prayer circle at the end of games is symbolic about what's REALLY important in life. You won't find a bigger Longhorn fan than me. But in the bigger scheme of things, my love for the Longhorns don't hold a candle to what's truly important, my relationship with Christ.
Keep sharing Flo and the rest of the Tennessee family.
This chapter reminded me of when I was in the shipyard back in 06-07. I had hit rock bottom and I finally started to listen to God. I did a complete 180. I started talking to others in my department and found we had something in common, our love for God. Religion was never really a subject many of us discussed, for me, I guess I was ashamed. I didn't want to be made fun of. Eventually I got over that fear of not being accepted and started talking to anyone I could about God. My family on the ship started out as 4 or 5 and it grew to at least 20. I just thought it was so amazing to see God's work in progress. To think it started with me being born again and worshiping with 4 or 5 others. Seeing us all use our gifts reeled in others and we were then sharing with them as well. I was just in awe of how fast our family grew. It was amazing because the people you would least expect were joining us. Being able to share your love for God feels so great.
ReplyDeleteThis chapter also made me realize that it's so easy to get distracted and stray away from Him. I can't believe it's been a year since I've had a real relationship with God. I started to slack and then next thing you know I'm completely lost again. It happened so fast. How could I let myself fall back so far and so quickly? Even with all my faults, He was still there waiting to welcome me back with open arms. This is a great opportunity to rekindle that fire.
Hey Jean,
ReplyDeleteStay encouraged. Fellowship is a great way to stay the course. So glad that you are on here. Have a good night! Folole