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Have We Shut Down…the church
English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)
228 The masses have been going off down “the road of a justified discontentment” and continue to do so. It hurts… but, how many we have caused to be disaffected among those who are spiritually or materially in need! Christ may once more be set among the poor and the humble: it is precisely with them that he is more at ease. (1)
The news this morning, and the talk I overheard at breakfast at the pastor’s conference I am at, is about the government shut-down. People can’t go here and do this – the grand canyon is closed, this agency is closed – that agency is closed. Some are rejoicing, some are voicing that “justified discontent” at our leaders and their inability to get things done.
Many are disaffected, discomforted, and even more will become more and more disillusioned.
But I wonder about the church – and if we’ve done the same thing. That in order to maintain our entitlements – we’ve disaffected the very world which we are to be serving. We don’t focus on relieving burdens, we don’t focus on bringing comfort, we don’t bring Christ’s healing to where there isn’t.
Not because we aren’t working. Most pastors and most church people do, instead of too little, too much. We study and we gather and we strategize and we wonder why we aren’t effective.
It’s because we don’t take time in our relationships – seriously, we don’t take time to bring Christ to people – to bring them to Him. It’s not because of a lack of desire – I think we have that. It’s because we simply don’t spend enough time with Him ourselves. Time in prayer, time in reading – not to study, but to read to understand His devotion to us… time to simply sit and adore Him.
For it is in those situations we allow Him finally, to take our burdens, our cares our anxieities, and dree us from them. We learn to just walk with Him. absolutely absorbing His presence….
Then from there.. we walk with Him in ministering to the lost, the broken, the poor in Spirit.
Spend time with Jesus…. please….
For then, we will not have shut down the church, we will have opened it up…. and it will minister in His Name..
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 1151-1155). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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Some Advice for Surviving Mondays at Work
English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Devotional/Discussion Thought of the Day:
5 Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. 6 Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. 7 And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. 8 Good work will get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or free. 9 Masters, it’s the same with you. No abuse, please, and no threats. You and your servants are both under the same Master in heaven. He makes no distinction between you and them. Ephesians 6:5-9 (MSG)
When I made you a present of that Life of Jesus, I wrote in it this inscription: “May you seek Christ. May you find Christ. May you love Christ.” These are three very distinct steps. Have you at least tried to live the first one?
At first, the scripture passage from Ephesians and the quote from Josemaria may seem dissonant, or at least unrelated.
But as I consider this particular Monday morning, they resonate completely.
It is easy, as an employee or the boss, to view our work from what benefits me, that its all about me getting done what I need to get done. We will do a good job at work, but only if we get the wage we feel we deserve. We wil only work as a team, if we get our reward for the job well done, and not the blame when others on the team fail to work hard enough to get the team’s goal accomplished. If we are the boss, it’s easy to expect people to go beyond the average and do their best – without our having to invest ourselves in them.
The answer to being a good boss, or a good employee (and some of us are called to be both) lies not in ourselves. It is found in Christ, it has to be, we have to trust Him. For the one who believes and trusts in Christ – this is our core value. This relationship with God is how we define ourselves. It is what gives us the strength to both know the truth, and to be honest about it. Without knowing this, how can we address our own faults, be honest and work sacrificially, and in th best interests of those around us? How can we find the humility to serve, and the strength and patience to work through things.
It is only in trusting Christ, it is only in seeking first His mastery, His reign, His Kingdom, that this can happen. It is only realizing that He is the one we answer to in life – and that His standards are far different and far higher than our own, or those of our earthly bosses.
Look at Christ – the best of servants – who gave up everything not for His own success, but for the success of those who failed the Boss. Look at Christ the Boss, who trained His servants to the point they were willing to die to achieve that which Christ wanted – the reconciliation of the world.
Believers – seek Him first, find yourself in His presence! Know His love for you…. and work with Him by your side…
Godspeed this Monday.
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 966-968). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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- A Blog of/for the Tired and Wondering if it all Matters… (justifiedandsinner.com)
- Imitating Christ… in dying to self. (justifiedandsinner.com)
