Living in the Present & for the Eternal
Lots of great reading lately continues to reiterate a few glaring points: 1. God wants his people to live in the present for the eternal (C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters); 2. Our labor in the Lord is a part of everything we do (I Corinthians 15:38); 3. When Jesus was taken up to return to the Father, He had accomplished more than just resurrection from the dead, he had prepared some very ordinary men & women to carry on his message to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).
In Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, the demons are discussing the ideal living perspectives for those whose souls they wish to gain. Satan would like nothing more than for people to live in the past and/or in the future. Both distract God's people from serving those around them in their every day lives in every day ways. Our continual desire to plan, plan, plan & control our own destinies contributes to living in the future. It takes our focus off of what God is doing here & now & breeds distraction on our part.
A great quote that hit me square in the jaw comes from Bruce Milne as quoted in Randy Alcorn's Heaven, and it speaks to the fact that I typically wake up in the morning & float through the day. This kind of attitude must be dumbfounding to God considering the following:
Every kingdom work, whether publicly performed or privately endeavoured, partakes of the kingdom's imperishable character. Every honest intention, every stumbling word of witness, every resistance of temptation, every motion of repentance, every gesture of concern, every routine engagement, every motion of worship, every struggle towards obedience, every mumbled prayer, everything, literally, which flows out of our faith-relationship with the Ever-Living One, will find its place in the ever-living heavenly order which will dawn at his coming. Talk about a kick in the pants, and then to come to find out that Jesus gave a bunch of below-average guys & girls the Holy Spirit so that they could expand His message. That's just a bit too much, but these are the incredibly convicting truths I've been learning.
In Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, the demons are discussing the ideal living perspectives for those whose souls they wish to gain. Satan would like nothing more than for people to live in the past and/or in the future. Both distract God's people from serving those around them in their every day lives in every day ways. Our continual desire to plan, plan, plan & control our own destinies contributes to living in the future. It takes our focus off of what God is doing here & now & breeds distraction on our part.
A great quote that hit me square in the jaw comes from Bruce Milne as quoted in Randy Alcorn's Heaven, and it speaks to the fact that I typically wake up in the morning & float through the day. This kind of attitude must be dumbfounding to God considering the following:
Every kingdom work, whether publicly performed or privately endeavoured, partakes of the kingdom's imperishable character. Every honest intention, every stumbling word of witness, every resistance of temptation, every motion of repentance, every gesture of concern, every routine engagement, every motion of worship, every struggle towards obedience, every mumbled prayer, everything, literally, which flows out of our faith-relationship with the Ever-Living One, will find its place in the ever-living heavenly order which will dawn at his coming. Talk about a kick in the pants, and then to come to find out that Jesus gave a bunch of below-average guys & girls the Holy Spirit so that they could expand His message. That's just a bit too much, but these are the incredibly convicting truths I've been learning.
posted by CT40207 | 9:06 AM
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