THE GOD OF THE SCRIPTURES

What comes into your mind when you think about God? The great preacher A.W. Tozer wrote that "we tend, by a secret law of the soul, to move toward our mental image of God." So it's crucial that our idea of God correspond as nearly as is possible to the true being of God.

Certainly, in our limited human condition, we cannot think of God as He really is. But if we are drawing our image of God from the wrong sources, then He'll be too small.

Today, since "spirituality" is so big in our culture, celebrities and people of influence often talk about their relationship with God... but for many, God seems to be a vague deity they've made up, a personalized edition of a spiritual force who exists to make people feel good about themselves.

We need to take care not be squeezed into the mind-set of the culture around us. In every situation of each day, we have a choice. We can fix our attention on ourselves, and recast God in our own image. Or we can fix our attention on God, as the Scriptures really reveal Him to be.

-- Ellen Vaughn in Daily Seeds from Women Who Walk in Faith


#2567

THE HUMBLE GOD

[God] delights, it seems, in using trees, flowers, rivers, automobiles, friends, enemies, church buildings, paintings in order to announce His presence or to work out His purposes… There is something crude in the depiction of God intervening directly in the play, the clumsy deus ex machina interrupting the speeches of the other actors and upsetting the stage. How much more tantalizing the God who hints and lurks and cajoles hiddenly through and around the actors, even unbeknownst to them. It is the humble God who chooses so to act.

-- Robert Barron in And Now I See


#2566

MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIPS

William Menninger once suggested that relationships in marriage depend on how effectively we can change from preferring to get to preferring to give.

-- U. M. Bishop George W. Bashore


#2565

SIMPLE OBEDIENCE

We grow spiritually by obeying God through the words of Jesus being made spirit and life to us, and by paying attention to where we are, not to whether we are growing or not. We grow spiritually as our Lord grew physically, by a life of simple, unobtrusive obedience.

-- Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest


#2564

THE WISE COUPLE

There is no question that husbands and wives are different. The challenge is to put these differences together and become a team. When working out differences, the goal is for neither spouse to win; the goal is to have the marriage win. Differences in the backgrounds of husband and wife come out of life style, birth order, and how they were parented. The wise couple is aware of these differences and makes allowances for them.

-- Dr. Kevin Leman in Keeping Your Family Together


#2562

GIVING IN

Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising the moral level of society; it is descending to society's own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smilingly accepting its surrender.

-- A. W. Tozer


#2561

ALL ARE HEALERS

It is important to stress that every human being is called upon to be a healer. Although there are many professions asking for special long and arduous training, we can never leave the task of healing to the specialists. We are all healers who can reach out.

-- Henri Nouwen in The Wounded Healer


#2560

BEING A FATHER

No life experience makes you feel more like a man, more in touch with God's very heart, more determined to battle for His Kingdom, and thereby, more genuinely alive than being a father.

-- Gordon Dalbey


#2559

BEING A FATHER

No life experience makes you feel more like a man, more in touch with God's very heart, more determined to battle for His Kingdom, and thereby, more genuinely alive than being a father.

-- Gordon Dalbey


#2559

BEREAVED FATHERS

… the deceased has removed into a better country, and bounded away to a happier inheritance; … thou has not lost thy son, but bestowed him henceforward in an inviolable spot. Say not then, I pray thee, I am no longer called 'father', for why art thou no longer called so, when thy son abideth? For surely thou didst not part with thy child, nor lose thy son? Rather thou hast gotten him, and hast him in greater safety. Wherefore, no longer shalt thou be call 'father' here only, but also in heaven; so that thou hast not lost the title 'father', but hast gained it in a nobler sense; for henceforth thou shalt be called father not of a mortal child, but of an immortal …. For think not, because he is not present, that therefore he is lost; for had he been absent in a foreign land, the title of thy relationship had not gone from thee with his body.

-- St. John Chrysostom


#2558

GOD'S CALL AT RETIREMENT

So our call consists of daily marching orders rather than an invitation into a guild from which we may never be released…

There is no retirement from our calling, even though we may retire from a specific occupation. We are called to love God and to enjoy Him forever.

-- Paul B. Maves


#2557

CALLED INTO COMMUNITY

Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. He will only do harm to himself and to the community. Alone you stood before God when He called you; alone you had to answer that call; alone you had to struggle and pray; and alone you will die and give an account to God. You cannot escape yourself; for God has singled you out. If you refuse to be alone, you are rejecting Christ's call to you, and you can have no part in the community of those who are called....

Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Into the community you were called -- the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone even in death, and on the Last Day you will be only one of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ.

-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) in Life Together


#2556

ADMIRERS OR DISCIPLES?

Jesus does not want admirers, but disciples.
Admirers commend the great deeds of Jesus in the world of yesteryear.
Disciples know that Jesus wants to be present in the world today.
Admirers deftly dodge an irrevocable decision for Jesus.
Disciples unreservedly connect their fate to Jesus' fate.
Admirers are thrilled by Jesus today and thrilled by another one tomorrow.
Disciples cannot undo their change of Master.
Admirers ask: What can Jesus give me?
Disciples ask: What can I give to Jesus?
Admirers love to bask frequently in the light of Jesus.
Disciples love to turn willingly to alleviate the world's darkness and misery.
No - Jesus does not want admirers;
He can do without them.
But not without disciples.

-- Soren Kierkegaard


#2555

THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH

The church is in the world to save the world. It is a tool of God for that purpose; not a comfortable religious club established in fine historical premises. Every one of its members is required, in one way or another, to co-operate with the Spirit in working toward that end.

-- Evelyn Underhill


#2554

DISCERNING GOD'S CALLING

In addition to taking it seriously, discerning a calling requires one of the greatest challenges of self-exploration and judgment a human being can undertake. Callings are usually not easy to discover. You will have to be ruthlessly honest about your gifts and your limitations. You will have to be willing to ask hard questions and live with the answers. Discerning God's calling will take many attempts and failures. You will have to be willing to let some dreams die a painful death. You did not arrive on this planet with your calling pre-clarified and your gifts pre-developed. You arrived with a little warning: "Some assembly required."

-- John Ortberg in If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat


#2553

MAKING DECISIONS

Every day we are all faced with making decisions. Some, like getting up when the alarm rings, are so familiar that we act without giving them much thought. Others are so important that they challenge us at a very deep level. These are the choices that determine who we are in the eyes of God as well as in our own eyes. These are the decisions that involve searching our hearts, our attitudes, and our beliefs. Our conscious and unconscious values determine our responses.

-- Marianna K. Neal and Carolyn Ross Tomlin in an article in Today's Catholic Teacher, August/September 2000


#2552

MY CUP

The optimist says, "The cup is half full."
The pessimist says, "The cup is half empty."
The child of God says, "My cup runneth over."

"The Lord is my shepherd…
My cup runneth over…
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." (from Psalm 23)

-- Unknown

THE MUTUALITY OF MARRIAGE

Marriage is establishing a relationship in which the independence is equal, dependence is mutual and the obligation is reciprocal.

-- Wilfred A. Peterson


#2550

WITNESS IS "WITHNESS"

Witnessing is not only something you say, but it is also something you do. And when it is done best, it may be summarized in these words: Witness is withness. When you are with Christ, you inevitably bear witness. As you stand in His light, you cast a shadow that touches the lives of others. As you stand with others, you give your witness for Christ. Your care, companionship, and compassion for others – withness – is a convincing witness for Christ who is with you "to the end of the earth."

-- Harold K. Bates in Witness for Christ


#2549

THE HOPE OF THE WORLD

Then Jesus came to [His disciples] and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)

A vision without a task is but a dream.
A task without a vision is drudgery.
A vision with a task is the hope of the world.

-- Unknown


#2548

THE TRAGEDY OF LIFE

The tragedy of life and of the world is not that men do not know God; the tragedy is that, knowing Him, they still insist on going their own way.

-- William Barclay in The Revelation of John (Vol.II)

#2546