DOING THE WILL OF GOD

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will.”  (Romans 12:1-2)

The end of the universe is not to be happy. The end is not to avoid suffering. But the end of life is to do the will of God, come what may. 

-- Martin Luther King, Jr. in a sermon titled “Paul's Letter to American Christians”

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PRACTICAL FAITH

“If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”  (James 2:15-17 NKJV)

We must remember that it's possible to affirm the existence of God with your lips and to deny the existence of God with your life. The most dangerous form of atheism is not theoretical atheism but practical atheism. 

-- Martin Luther King, Jr. in a sermon titled “Rediscovering Lost Values” (1954) 

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A COMPELLING VISION

Professor John Kotter, now retired from Harvard Business School, noted that two of the most important tasks of any leader are to cast a compelling vision for the future and then to motivate and inspire people to pursue it. That vision has to be a clear and compelling picture of where we want to go, our preferred picture of the future. Moses led the slaves out of Egypt, but that was not enough. Very quickly they grumbled and began to go back to Egypt where there were leeks and cucumbers to eat. It was at least safe there; the wilderness was hard. Moses had to constantly remind them of the vision. He said, “We’re marching to the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey, where we can worship freely, where we can love, where we can practice justice, where we can live in harmony."

A compelling vision unifies us. It excites us, it leads people to a willingness to sacrifice, and imbues them with a sense of purpose.

-- U.M. Pastor Adam Hamilton in his message at the 2013 Inaugural Prayer Service


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THE POWER TO CHANGE LIVES

When Martin Luther King, Jr. used rich Scriptural references in his "I Have a Dream" speech…, he knew he was speaking to people who probably recognized the significance of his allusions and their source. Times have changed however, because today's North American Christians -- white and black alike -- are losing their familiarity with Biblical passages that have the power to change lives.

Scripture no longer sparks people's imaginations because they don't know the stories and convictions that can help them live Scripturally. "If we want to understand the role of the Bible in forming Christian character and Christian community, we need to see Scripture as the Word that journeys with us through the diverse contexts of our lives."

-- UMMen Magazine, Spring 1999, quoting Gregory Jones in The Word That Journeys Through Us


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