A NEW THING

"See, I am doing a new thing..." -- Isaiah 43:19, NIV

God likes to do new things. After all, He's the master artist, the source of all human creativity.

Some of the new things God creates, such as planets or galaxies, are pretty mind boggling. But there are also a lot of other things God creates every day that sometimes go unnoticed -- new babies, new insights into the Word, and even things like opportunities... God creates opportunities for each of us every day...

Is God looking to do a "new thing" in your life? Is there an opportunity that's suddenly available to you? My guess is that if you look around, you'll see that God has opened up doors in your life that promise to draw you into deeper fellowship with Him.

God never seems to put down His paintbrush.

-- Matt Donnelly, Christianity Online


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TRUE WORSHIP

“So have you heard of the difference between religion and spirituality?” [a friend] threw out as we were chatting next to the cappuccino machine. “No. Tell me,” I replied.

“Religion is a guy in church thinking about fishing. Spirituality is a guy out fishing thinking about God.”

…True worship is not going to church and getting worship points. It is thinking about God in relation to everything else. Worship is not what you go to once a week, but what goes on in your head and your heart all the time.

“The Lord says: 'These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men.'” (Isaiah 29:13)

-- John Fisher in "Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional"


#4146

THE POWER OF SHARED SUFFERING

Once, when my parents were visiting from Illinois, I needed to run to the hospital to see one of our church members who’d had open-heart surgery the day before. My dad, who’s had a multiple-bypass operation himself, asked if he could tag along. He said, “Don’t worry, I’ll stay out of the way."

But when we got to the patient’s room, a powerful dynamic took over. When I told the man we were visiting that my dad had had the same surgery, he lost all interest in me [his pastor]. He turned his attention to my dad and started asking questions. The next thing I knew, dad pulled a chair up beside the bed and the two of them were sharing experiences I couldn’t begin to relate to. I had to smile as I stood back and watched the two of them bond. I knew I was observing the awesome power of shared suffering.

--  Mark Atteberry in “Free Refill”

#4145

SERVANT LEADERS

"The first responsibility of a leader is to define responsibility. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." (Max DePree)

Do we fully understand what it means to be a leader? Look at the then-obscure young carpenter from Galilee, one Jesus Christ. He led the world from darkness and condemnation to eternal life for those of us who know Him as Lord and Savior.

How did He do it? By washing feet, by touching the "unclean," by giving hope to the blind and lame, and by dying a horrible death on a cross. He was God, yet assumed a lowly position to serve the world -- a world that hated Him.

If we are Christian leaders -- whether pastors, employers, politicians, or parents -- how are we to lead those entrusted to us?

Flaunt our authority over them in an effort to "be in control"? Try to get every last ounce of effort out of them to enhance our position or bank account? Ask them to do things we would never do, as in "Do as I say, not as I do"? No!

Jesus said, "But among you it should be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave." (Matthew 20:26-27)

-- Mike LeMay, from an article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette, 4/24/09

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OVERLY CONCERNED ABOUT OURSELVES

“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  (Philippians 2:4)

[People] who are always studying themselves, going over all their words and all their thoughts, and going back over all that they have done, afraid of having said or done too much. These people are sincere, but not simple... not at ease with others... [in them] nothing is easy, free, ingenuous, natural. [God wants] people who are not concerned with themselves as though always making up before a mirror.

-- Francois Fenelon

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