Good morning! And how are you doing today? I hope well. As for me, I'm doing great..so far.
And as my computer is so far not occupied, I have decided to write about yesterday's journaling exercise.
It was kind of a scary one regarding clothes that must be worn at a King's wedding. It could be an ordinary wedding, I suppose, but let's imagine being invited to one whose someone special belongs within the top 1% of the folks out there.. You know, someone whose name might be in WHO'S WHO.
At any rate, this person who is giving the wedding celebration is a big shot. And according to a passage in Matthew 22:11-14, he is most distressed because one man is not wearing the clothes given to him for this celebration. Is the man arrogant? Or doesn't he want to join in on the festivities?
This is the passage from Matt. 22:11-14: "When the king entered and looked over the scene, he spotted a man who wasn't properly dressed. He said to him, "Friend, how dare you come in here looking like that?" The man was speechless. Then the King told his servants, "Get him out of here- fast! Tie him up and ship him to hell. And make sure he doesn't get back in." (Then Jesus said,) "That's what I mean when I say, "Many are called but few are chosen."
Remember that verse? It has always bothered me. I wondered what kind of clothes am I to wear? And for what occasion? So I checked the LIFE APPLICATION STUDY BIBLE for clarification and found the wedding clothes stands for the righteousness needed to enter God's Kingdom. This doesn't mean we must be perfect as you and I might see perfection. It does mean the total acceptance in God's eyes of that which Christ gives to every believer. Christ provides the garment of righteousness for each of us and we must choose to wear it. We'll be all dressed up in God's righteousness and ready to live with the King!
I want to be there. I want to be dressed in this wonderful righteousness! I want to be part of the "few that are chosen"! But, how can I be sure that I'll be chosen? How can I be sure that I am "wearing" the garment of righteousness that Christ has provided?
Well, one garment I wear quite often just has to go. It has to go to the dump! Or maybe I should burn it! I don't want anyone else having to wear it. It's the garment of self, self deprecation or self-satisfaction. An old habit, I get into self, that ugly little garment which keeps on getting out of the closet. And even worse, I let that cheap, soiled rag rule over the lovely righteousness I so desperately want to wear. Why can't I just kick it back into a dark corner?
I am not going to tell myself anymore that I am not good enough for this, or that I am too good for that. I am only good enough when Christ is within me and around me. Any radical thinking about myself will prove self-righteousness, so I will cloak myself in the righteousness of God.
I need you, always, Lord!
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! Jo
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Saturday, November 16, 2013
WHEN I FACE GOD...
Dear Ones,
Having gone back to journaling this morning, I ran head first into the Apostle Paul in his second letter to Corinth. He said, "It's no light thing to know that we'll all one day stand in that place of Judgment."
I wasn't quite ready to face that statement remembering that my faith walk was teetering on the brink of despair just day before yesterday. Yet, I persevered and kept reading to find Paul saying, "That's why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone knows how well we do this but I hope you realize how much and how deeply we care. We're not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we're on your side and not just nice to your face as so many people are." (The Message)
I read this and gave a whoop! My craziness took over, I'm afraid. Then I read on, "If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do."
There! You have it! Now you know me. I am a bit crazy, but I do love Christ and He has shown me ways that I can show that love to those around me. So I blog. And secondly, this scripture passage just might be a perfect introduction to a new Small Group that will be formed very soon and will begin meeting at our little house the week after Thanksgiving.
In this passage, I find hope. In this passage there is hope and part of my hope is that each one in our new small group will want to adopt it as their own. And for those that may read this blog, I hope you may want to adopt this passage as your own, too.
I must remember that we...the few people I know and myself...are small stuff...not comparable to St. Paul and his messages, but in our love for Christ, Christ's love for each of us and for the world, we are BIG. Yes, big. Each one of us is a big deal to God. We are His hope, His hope for each other and for ourselves.
I really must pray at this point....Lord Jesus, I pray that each person who reads this and those who plan to enter our home in two weeks will want to have a heart for You, Lord Jesus. And that we will continue to have love for each other and all those we are yet to meet. AMEN
Crazy for you and those I meet...Your Jo
Having gone back to journaling this morning, I ran head first into the Apostle Paul in his second letter to Corinth. He said, "It's no light thing to know that we'll all one day stand in that place of Judgment."
I wasn't quite ready to face that statement remembering that my faith walk was teetering on the brink of despair just day before yesterday. Yet, I persevered and kept reading to find Paul saying, "That's why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone knows how well we do this but I hope you realize how much and how deeply we care. We're not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we're on your side and not just nice to your face as so many people are." (The Message)
I read this and gave a whoop! My craziness took over, I'm afraid. Then I read on, "If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do."
There! You have it! Now you know me. I am a bit crazy, but I do love Christ and He has shown me ways that I can show that love to those around me. So I blog. And secondly, this scripture passage just might be a perfect introduction to a new Small Group that will be formed very soon and will begin meeting at our little house the week after Thanksgiving.
In this passage, I find hope. In this passage there is hope and part of my hope is that each one in our new small group will want to adopt it as their own. And for those that may read this blog, I hope you may want to adopt this passage as your own, too.
I must remember that we...the few people I know and myself...are small stuff...not comparable to St. Paul and his messages, but in our love for Christ, Christ's love for each of us and for the world, we are BIG. Yes, big. Each one of us is a big deal to God. We are His hope, His hope for each other and for ourselves.
I really must pray at this point....Lord Jesus, I pray that each person who reads this and those who plan to enter our home in two weeks will want to have a heart for You, Lord Jesus. And that we will continue to have love for each other and all those we are yet to meet. AMEN
Crazy for you and those I meet...Your Jo
Thursday, November 14, 2013
BEGINNING AGAIN WITH THE HELP OF GOD
It has been a long time since I have written a blog. I apologize. My heart hasn't been in it, my mind hasn't been able to find the right words, my health has been poor, and my will not strong enough. It isn't just my blogging that has suffered; it is my faith. Who reads these things, anyway? They aren't entertaining! There's nothing new in them to relate. They are just blurbs of one's hope and a means of sharing that hope with others who may or may not be interested.
But I read a bit of Paul's first letter to Corinth today and although Paul's faith was a soaring, fruitful, throbbing, contagious faith in comparison to my own, his words hit home. "Because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste.......I spoke God's truth and you entrusted your lives to God."
Imagine it! How Corinth must have leaped forward in faith believing Jesus was the Messiah who died for our sins, coming to life again after death as we know it happened on that long ago Sunday. There is no room for laxness, for a puny representation of God and His goodness, generosity, and grace. No room for half-hearted thoughts of Him, half-hearted prayers. No room! No! No! No!
So, I find my way back to my bible, my journaling, my blog. I find room again in my heart. I figure out the problem in finding my blog again. I sit down and begin to write. "My cup runneth over".... in gladness.
This blog will find its way to its cloud, its very own cloud up in its big computer sky. And maybe someday it will be read by someone who feels he or she is alone. Or someone who is afraid to die. Or someone who has scoffed at the idea of God and God's Son who is the Savior of the world. Someone who may be afraid to live in a world so filled with hatred, hopelessness, and happenstance, finding it near impossible that God may have a plan for him or her which is filled with happiness when God is allowed to guide them through the tough stuff.
You're right. I'm not Paul, or even someone chosen to show you God's goodness. I'm an ordinary person, a grandmother to be exact, and what do I know anyway? Well, I know that I have been miserable away from my Lord. I miss studying Him! I miss talking about Him, even if it's through a silly blog! I miss His company. I really miss His company.
I find Him right away, in the pages of Paul's first letter to Corinth, within Paul's words. "Because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let His grace go to waste....I speak God's truth." And I do, too, in my very best way, speak God's truth!
So, I shall begin again to pledge myself to carry out my simple work and I am trusting God to give me the energy to do it. Someone somewhere needs to know Him and if I can help that to happen--even in a small blog--I will thank God for it!
Lord Jesus, I am Yours....Jo
Hello to all my old friends, esp. Dot and Dick
But I read a bit of Paul's first letter to Corinth today and although Paul's faith was a soaring, fruitful, throbbing, contagious faith in comparison to my own, his words hit home. "Because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste.......I spoke God's truth and you entrusted your lives to God."
Imagine it! How Corinth must have leaped forward in faith believing Jesus was the Messiah who died for our sins, coming to life again after death as we know it happened on that long ago Sunday. There is no room for laxness, for a puny representation of God and His goodness, generosity, and grace. No room for half-hearted thoughts of Him, half-hearted prayers. No room! No! No! No!
So, I find my way back to my bible, my journaling, my blog. I find room again in my heart. I figure out the problem in finding my blog again. I sit down and begin to write. "My cup runneth over".... in gladness.
This blog will find its way to its cloud, its very own cloud up in its big computer sky. And maybe someday it will be read by someone who feels he or she is alone. Or someone who is afraid to die. Or someone who has scoffed at the idea of God and God's Son who is the Savior of the world. Someone who may be afraid to live in a world so filled with hatred, hopelessness, and happenstance, finding it near impossible that God may have a plan for him or her which is filled with happiness when God is allowed to guide them through the tough stuff.
You're right. I'm not Paul, or even someone chosen to show you God's goodness. I'm an ordinary person, a grandmother to be exact, and what do I know anyway? Well, I know that I have been miserable away from my Lord. I miss studying Him! I miss talking about Him, even if it's through a silly blog! I miss His company. I really miss His company.
I find Him right away, in the pages of Paul's first letter to Corinth, within Paul's words. "Because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let His grace go to waste....I speak God's truth." And I do, too, in my very best way, speak God's truth!
So, I shall begin again to pledge myself to carry out my simple work and I am trusting God to give me the energy to do it. Someone somewhere needs to know Him and if I can help that to happen--even in a small blog--I will thank God for it!
Lord Jesus, I am Yours....Jo
Hello to all my old friends, esp. Dot and Dick
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