I Love My Sweetie
I Love My Sweetie
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Happy New Year!!
Don’t you just love new years? You have an opportunity to look back on the previous year and evaluate successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses. And then, make changes for the better.
Now before you think I’ve totally lost my mind for talking about new years in August, let me just say that for parents, students, and school personnel, tomorrow begins a new year. And, I have to admit that I felt a twinge of excitement as I moved all of my equipment and supplies to a new classroom and got everything set up and ready to go.
This year, I have a new room, new curriculum, new students, and new challenges. With everything being new, I began thinking about a “new year’s resolution.” At one point during my musings, I remember thinking how sad it is that other people, in other walks of life, don’t get a regular fresh start like those of us in the educational realm. Then I remembered the verse in Lamentations 3:23, “Your mercies are new every morning.”
In other words, we don’t have to wait until the start of a new year or even the start of a new week before we resolve to make a change. Every breath you draw is an opportunity to start fresh—to begin again.
We are commanded to be made new in the attitude of our minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:23-24). The words “put on” are the same words used to describe the action of getting dressed. So, just as each day you put on your clothing, each day you should also put on your new self which was created to be like God. And, in the same way that you remove a dirty shirt and put on a fresh, clean one when you notice the filth, as you walk your life and realize from time to time that your “self” has become soiled with the thoughts and actions of this present age, strip it off and start fresh. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Ro. 12:2.
It is by the grace of God we have the privilege to start over, but it needs to be immediate. Too often, however, we live in the land of mañana…tomorrow…next week…on my birthday…on January 1st…and the change never happens. The scripture says, “Today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). There is no better time than the present to make a change. After all, which of us is guaranteed tomorrow? Today is an important day to God. There are numerous admonitions in the scriptures regarding today:
Choose you today whom you will serve.
You have been set apart to the Lord today.
Obey what I command you today.
You are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God.
Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
So, happy new year, happy new life, happy today. What changes will you make today as you strive to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect? Remember, we were created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Now before you think I’ve totally lost my mind for talking about new years in August, let me just say that for parents, students, and school personnel, tomorrow begins a new year. And, I have to admit that I felt a twinge of excitement as I moved all of my equipment and supplies to a new classroom and got everything set up and ready to go.
This year, I have a new room, new curriculum, new students, and new challenges. With everything being new, I began thinking about a “new year’s resolution.” At one point during my musings, I remember thinking how sad it is that other people, in other walks of life, don’t get a regular fresh start like those of us in the educational realm. Then I remembered the verse in Lamentations 3:23, “Your mercies are new every morning.”
In other words, we don’t have to wait until the start of a new year or even the start of a new week before we resolve to make a change. Every breath you draw is an opportunity to start fresh—to begin again.
We are commanded to be made new in the attitude of our minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:23-24). The words “put on” are the same words used to describe the action of getting dressed. So, just as each day you put on your clothing, each day you should also put on your new self which was created to be like God. And, in the same way that you remove a dirty shirt and put on a fresh, clean one when you notice the filth, as you walk your life and realize from time to time that your “self” has become soiled with the thoughts and actions of this present age, strip it off and start fresh. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Ro. 12:2.
It is by the grace of God we have the privilege to start over, but it needs to be immediate. Too often, however, we live in the land of mañana…tomorrow…next week…on my birthday…on January 1st…and the change never happens. The scripture says, “Today is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). There is no better time than the present to make a change. After all, which of us is guaranteed tomorrow? Today is an important day to God. There are numerous admonitions in the scriptures regarding today:
Choose you today whom you will serve.
You have been set apart to the Lord today.
Obey what I command you today.
You are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God.
Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
So, happy new year, happy new life, happy today. What changes will you make today as you strive to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect? Remember, we were created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Journey of the Feet or of the Seat?
What an amazing summer! I saw the world's top ten beaches...sort of. Theoretically, I saw them, but not in actuality. The truth is I sat in my recliner one Saturday afternoon as the Travel Channel took me on a whirlwind tour. I was able to see the beaches, but I could not truly experience them. I could only look where the camera looked. I could only hear what the microphone picked up. The taste, smell, and feel of those beaches were out of my reach. Now, I could say that I have seen the world's best beaches, but I would be deceiving myself. If I rely on someone else to make the trip, he can give me the facts, but he cannot give me the experience. His journey can never impact me in the same way it did him.
It didn't occur to me how much I was missing until they did a story on Playa del Carmen. I have physically been to that beach. While I was there, I parasailed, laid in a hammock that was tied between two palm trees, and watched the monkeys, iguanas, and other cretures frolicking about. I was appalled that the things I enjoyed so much about that beach were not even mentioned in the show. It made me wonder what I missed out on in their coverage of the other beaches.
Sadly, some people build a relationship with God in pretty much the same way. They are content to allow someone else to do the work and then present God to them in a clean, neat package. Their knowledge of God is second-hand; they have never experienced him for themselves. They think they know God, but their knowledge of him is like my knowledge of those beaches...superficial. There is so much more to see, know, and experience. And yet, whether in ignorance, complacency, or apathy, these folks are not interested in putting forth the effort to grow.
The Hebrew people believe that true learning involves action. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." Throughout the scriptures we are commanded to "walk in his ways," and to "give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord." We must commit ourselves to God. In order to do that, we have to move--walk in his steps, study every day, and purify ourselves just as he is pure (1 Jn 3:3). We cannot sit there and expect growth to just happen. Following God is not a journey of the seat. It is, however, a journey of the feet. Get up and go. Seek God with all your heart. Though it cost everything you have, get wisdom. It's time to get off the seat and get onto the feet. May God bless your journey.
It didn't occur to me how much I was missing until they did a story on Playa del Carmen. I have physically been to that beach. While I was there, I parasailed, laid in a hammock that was tied between two palm trees, and watched the monkeys, iguanas, and other cretures frolicking about. I was appalled that the things I enjoyed so much about that beach were not even mentioned in the show. It made me wonder what I missed out on in their coverage of the other beaches.
Sadly, some people build a relationship with God in pretty much the same way. They are content to allow someone else to do the work and then present God to them in a clean, neat package. Their knowledge of God is second-hand; they have never experienced him for themselves. They think they know God, but their knowledge of him is like my knowledge of those beaches...superficial. There is so much more to see, know, and experience. And yet, whether in ignorance, complacency, or apathy, these folks are not interested in putting forth the effort to grow.
The Hebrew people believe that true learning involves action. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." Throughout the scriptures we are commanded to "walk in his ways," and to "give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord." We must commit ourselves to God. In order to do that, we have to move--walk in his steps, study every day, and purify ourselves just as he is pure (1 Jn 3:3). We cannot sit there and expect growth to just happen. Following God is not a journey of the seat. It is, however, a journey of the feet. Get up and go. Seek God with all your heart. Though it cost everything you have, get wisdom. It's time to get off the seat and get onto the feet. May God bless your journey.
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