Posts tagged god
thoughtiful.
Does what it says on the tin
The Story of Love.
‘Does he save his son? Or does he save the world?’
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ” John 3:16
‘He did it so that we could live. No matter what the sin, no matter what the pain, no matter what the sorrow. The sacrifice was perfect. It was perfect. And it was for you.’
Have a good Easter.
Clayton’s Story
Found this on youtube, which I guess is just another one of those distractions he’s talking about.
Life is short, don’t waste it.
Full version: www.claytonsstory.com
God’s creation
This morning in the shower I looked at my hand and realised how amazing God is.
Why?
Because there were drops of water resting on my hand.
How amazing is it that God gives us skin that is not only waterproof but has so many other great things about it too! I was talking to a friend the other day, and she was saying that the skin is the main barrier to infection as the immune system is actually pretty weak.
And then spread the amount of thought that went into a skin cell across the whole of creation, and what does that show us about God?
Wow.
image from: http://deadpoet88.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/dew.jpg
I am thankful that we worship a God who is both toughminded and tenderhearted. If God were only toughminded, he would be a cold, passionless despot sitting in some far off heaven “contemplating all,” as Tenyson puts it in “The Palace of Art.” He would be Aristotle’s “unmoved mover,” self-knowing, but not other-loving. But if God were only tenderhearted, he would be too soft and sentimental to function when things go wrong and incapable of controlling what he has made. He would be like H.G. Wells’s lovable God in ‘God, the Invisible King’, who is strongly desirous of making a good world, but finds himself helpless before the surging powers of evil. God id neither hardhearted nor softminded. He is toughminded enough to transcend the world; he is tenderhearted enough to live in it. He does not leave us alone in our agonies and struggles. He seeks us in dark places and suffers with us and for us in our tragic prodigality.
Acts 10 -Trust
So we’ve been looking for a house for next year, with a couple of disappointments so far, and suddenly today I found myself worrying about it. It’s silly because compared to lots of things, this is not a very big thing – but it was still something on my mind this evening, so I asked God if He would help me trust Him in this, but (as usual) not really expecting that.
I’ve just read Acts 10, and this is actually the answer to my prayer.
Trust in God is demonstrated all the way through. Cornelius trusts God when he sees an angel of God (v3) and acts on what he’s been told, despite only knowing part of the story – he must send some men to fetch a guy called Peter who is staying at Simon’s house by the sea. That’s fairly vague – what would you even say to Peter if you did find him at this house? And yet he sends them on this errand (v8).
We then move on to Peter, who at first does not trust what God is saying to him – he is shown three times that “What God has made clean, do not call common.” (v15). (Three is a holy number, maybe this is to emphasise the point….?) Even after being shown this, Peter is “inwardly perplexed” and “pondering” – he has to trust God that the meaning will be revealed to him, even though he doesn’t understand now.
He is also listening out to hear from God, as the Spirit tells him that three men are looking for him. He does what he is told without hesitation; and the men equally are trusting that they have been led to the right man. Peter then invites them (complete Gentile strangers), and swiftly leaves with them, less than 24 hours since they arrived, and spends a day travelling with them back. That takes trust again doesn’t it? Peter doesn’t even get to meet who summoned him until v30, back at Cornelius’ house.
Cornelius (v24) has again trusted God – “Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.” He would have lost a lot of face here if it had all come to nothing. However, it doesn’t because Peter and Cornelius both trusted enough in God that things would work. And the end result is that God through Peter brings salvation to the Gentiles, with the Holy Spirit validating it. How awesome is that! Reliance in God can lead us to greater things than we ever imagined. Peter wouldn’t have thought about baptizing Gentiles two days before he did, and yet that is what God had him do.
Going back to the house we’ve not yet got, I need to trust that God has it under control and stop worrying that I can’t currently see the end result.
Love this.
How He Loves-David Crowder (w/ Matt Chandler & John Piper)
God does renew the strength of those who wait on Him. When I’ve spent time with God, there is a change - I feel more rooted in Him and more able to move forward in that. This last week, it’s been very busy and I’ve not been spending as much time as i had been (by myself at least!) with God and already I feel a bit out of the loop. So going to come off the computer now and sort that out!
(Source: chasethesky)
