Then there appeared to them tongues of fire, which parted and come to rest on each one of them.”
Acts 2:3
Some see the symbol of the fire of the Spirit as the single flame of a candle and others see it as the dancing flames of a campfire. The view of the single candle is more quiet, more private, more one on one time with the Spirit. It occasionally is a shared experience but often times it is private. It is usually passive and inside a building. The single flame has trouble staying lit when it is outside in the wind. The flames of the campfire come from the fires of many logs burning together. They serve as the focal point for meditation at the end of a day by a group of people sharing their experiences from the day, relaxing and rejuvenating and also getting their taste of the Spirit through active communication with other people. For the whole group of people gathered around the campfire, those flames are the center of attention for everyone. So whether we feel the spirit as the flame of one candle or the flame of a roaring campfire, we as Christians have no purpose until we are lit and start to burn down.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Straight Path
“Make straight the way of the Lord”
John 1:23
The words “make straight” could mean there is only one straight path for each person and that path leads from baptism through life to everlasting life with God. I love to think of this phrase. It tells me that most of the times in life we do not lose our way, we do not lose our path, but just run into a few barriers that make us take a crooked approach for awhile. As we wander or zig-zag, God comes into the picture and always is there to help us “make straight” our paths. To accomplish our journey we as humans have to develop a sense of focus on the end goals of the journey which can only come from an active prayer life. Mapquest cannot give you the straightest path to your destination until you tell Mapquest where it is that you want to go. There are no interstates to salvation. There are just paths that are filled with personal challenges and rewards.
John 1:23
The words “make straight” could mean there is only one straight path for each person and that path leads from baptism through life to everlasting life with God. I love to think of this phrase. It tells me that most of the times in life we do not lose our way, we do not lose our path, but just run into a few barriers that make us take a crooked approach for awhile. As we wander or zig-zag, God comes into the picture and always is there to help us “make straight” our paths. To accomplish our journey we as humans have to develop a sense of focus on the end goals of the journey which can only come from an active prayer life. Mapquest cannot give you the straightest path to your destination until you tell Mapquest where it is that you want to go. There are no interstates to salvation. There are just paths that are filled with personal challenges and rewards.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Soul-Lifting
“To you, I lift up my soul, Oh Lord, My God.”
Psalms 25:1
As I ponder these words of a prayer, I realize that my soul is not going to rise up to the Lord unless I put out some energy. The word “lift” reminds me that I will have to work at it a bit. It does not mean that it is going to be a chore, but it will require effort. I think of it as a joyful experience like lifting an infant into the air and watching him smile. It takes effort, but at the time it seems effort-less. The more I work at lifting my soul to the Lord, the more natural it becomes. If I let my soul lie gathering dust while I go around satisfying myself and paying lip service to God on Sundays, it will take quite a lot of effort on the day that I decide to finally lift my soul. But here is the swell part. Although I have to make the effort, God has quite a magnetic power, so as I try to lift my soul after a period of stagnation, he turns up the wattage of his magnetism to help me lift
Psalms 25:1
As I ponder these words of a prayer, I realize that my soul is not going to rise up to the Lord unless I put out some energy. The word “lift” reminds me that I will have to work at it a bit. It does not mean that it is going to be a chore, but it will require effort. I think of it as a joyful experience like lifting an infant into the air and watching him smile. It takes effort, but at the time it seems effort-less. The more I work at lifting my soul to the Lord, the more natural it becomes. If I let my soul lie gathering dust while I go around satisfying myself and paying lip service to God on Sundays, it will take quite a lot of effort on the day that I decide to finally lift my soul. But here is the swell part. Although I have to make the effort, God has quite a magnetic power, so as I try to lift my soul after a period of stagnation, he turns up the wattage of his magnetism to help me lift
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Self
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”
Matt 5:3
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”
The Queen from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”
Would we be better off as Christians if we eliminated mirrors? Are they just symbols of all of the time that we spend focusing on ourselves? God made us with eyes that looked outward in order that we can see others. He did not create us with eyes that had the ability to look inward at ourselves. It is in looking into mirrors that we become unhappy with ourselves. We weigh too much, we have acne, we have bad hair days, we are too tall or we are too short. Mirrors probably allow us to spend too much time making ourselves unhappy and, more importantly, that that they cause us to focus our time and our energy on ourselves. This is not the Christian life, we are to focus on others, not self. We have wrecked our priorities. I don’t remember any scriptural reference where Christ talks about his appearance, where he talks about his physical self. In our consumer society we focus on self and self-worth and self improvement and self gratification. Once we have eliminated mirrors, we should tackle the word “self” itself.
Matt 5:3
“Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?”
The Queen from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”
Would we be better off as Christians if we eliminated mirrors? Are they just symbols of all of the time that we spend focusing on ourselves? God made us with eyes that looked outward in order that we can see others. He did not create us with eyes that had the ability to look inward at ourselves. It is in looking into mirrors that we become unhappy with ourselves. We weigh too much, we have acne, we have bad hair days, we are too tall or we are too short. Mirrors probably allow us to spend too much time making ourselves unhappy and, more importantly, that that they cause us to focus our time and our energy on ourselves. This is not the Christian life, we are to focus on others, not self. We have wrecked our priorities. I don’t remember any scriptural reference where Christ talks about his appearance, where he talks about his physical self. In our consumer society we focus on self and self-worth and self improvement and self gratification. Once we have eliminated mirrors, we should tackle the word “self” itself.
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