THE DOMINANT INFLUENCE IN OUR LIVES

“How can young people keep their lives pure? By obeying Your commands. With all my heart I try to serve You; keep me from disobeying Your commandments. I keep Your law in my heart, so that I will not sin against You.”  (Psalm 119:9-11 GNT)

Only through God’s Word are our minds remolded and our values renewed…

Obedience is the pathway to holiness, but it is only as we have His commands that we can obey them. God’s Word must be so strongly fixed in our minds that it becomes the dominant influence in our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions.

Jesus said, “Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me” (John 14:21).

-- Jerry Bridges in “The Pursuit of Holiness”

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SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL FOR GOD

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things."   (Philippians 4:8 NIV)

Malcolm Muggeridge titled his short biography of Mother Teresa “Something Beautiful for God.”  My idealistic soul says that each of us should do our work with that motto in mind -- particularly when what we do is done for Christ and the church.  The song we sing, the report we give, the class we teach must be excellent -- as truly excellent as we can make it -- because it is done for God.  It was such a passion for quality that made J. S. Bach identify each composition -- including those that were written on secular themes -- as "for the Glory of God alone."  Bach's vision of success was one of excellence, and his standard for excellence was that his work should be acceptable to the praise of God. 

-- J. Ellsworth Kalas in “If Experience Is Such a Good Teacher Why Do I Keep Repeating the Course?”

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A RECIPE THAT PLEASES GOD

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  (Matthew 5:8)

When I was in grade school, we had a game in our neighborhood. We’d raid the pantry and find all kinds of food to mix in a blender. We’d put in eggs, peanut butter, ketchup, mustard, cottage cheese, and anything else we could get our hands on. Surprisingly enough, my mother was okay with this, as long as we followed two rules:

            1. Everything we put into the blender had to be edible. No dirt, rocks, or metal. Items like shaving cream fell into a gray area.

            2. We had to eat one spoonful of the final concoction.

That’s why this game quickly lost its appeal. We got results that looked and smelled awful, and tasted even worse.

Sometimes I wonder if my heart resembles our blender game. It’s certainly not pure and unmixed. What about you? What ingredients have you poured into the blender of your heart?

The New Testament has a lot to say about the kinds of things we put inside us. For example Paul tells us, “Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) When you pour in the right ingredients and avoid the others, you find it’s a recipe that pleases God.

-- Kyle Idleman in “The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins”

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