I thank You, God For granting an audience To someone as weak and insignificant as me I kneel before You In a futile attempt To right a millenia of wrongs committed against You I represent a group of people Totally unworthy, fully undeserving Completely unaware and oblivious of their need for me to be here If the court stenographer will read back the testimony It will be made clear That time and time again You [...]
Twice Prodigal Have I walked this path? I can not remember having come this way before; Yet... strange feeling of familiarity haunts me As each step I take brings me closer to home... I still taste the pods I fed those wretched swine A plague reminder of my sin and shame upon my tongue Hazy images of the land I'm walking: Imagination.. ...or memory? Something is not quite right Can't put my finger on it Inheritance [...]
when Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment in the jewish law He responded with in summary, “Love God love people” – ha, as i was typing that i accidentally typo’d “love gold” and how fitting that is but i’m sure i don’t have to go into that. Jesus added that the full law and the prophets (basically their bible at the time) rested on these two things (relationships) in fact if you study [...]
why is it so hard to live a Jesus-following life? the things i want to do i don’t do and the things i don’t want to do i find that i can’t stop myself from doing. Woe is me this wretched man, chief of sinners, sucker of note, i might as well... STOP! [not hammer time] Romans 12.2-3 ‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing [...]
Excerpt from Erwin McManus ‘an unstoppable force’ (available from Loot - http://www.loot.co.za/refer.html?referrer=85894849355 – for R170) [continued] HOW MANY TIMES DOES HE HAVE TO CALL? Why are there so many levels of Christian calling in our contemporary Christian community? Where are they found in the Biblical text? I have a strange suspicion that the nuances of these “callings” have less to do with theology and more to do with the condition of the church. Paul seemed [...]
Excerpt from Erwin McManus ‘an unstoppable force’ (available from Loot - http://www.loot.co.za/refer.html?referrer=85894849355 – for R170) Wow this last chapter of the EM book i’ve been reading resonated so hugely with my spirit i had to share (go and buy the book!): A RADICAL MINIMUM STANDARD On August 20, 1978, I walked to the altar at the first Baptist Church in Orlando, Florida and gave my life to Jesus Christ as my Lord. I remember standing [...]
THE SETUP so i have been thinking about this quite a lot lately, especially after i received a mail immediately after my last you-got-to-be-kidding-malema post from my friend mel lovingly rebuking me or at the very least challenging me on my bash-the-leader stance [if the Bible says respect and pray for your leaders who God has putten over you...] which was really great and a whole thort in itself [the confrontation from Mel i mean, [...]
When we focus on character development, we usually emphasise the elimination of sin. What it means to be holy then finds its definition in things that we do not do rather than things we do. This focus can be easily understood and justified. Certainly a significant part of our spiritual journey is the putting off of the old. Early on in the process, the dominant conversation between God and us seems to be about some [...]
‘Sometimes we forget that God is fire. We confuse Him with fireplaces and fireworks. We tend to think of Him as a fireplace when we make God too much our friend, as if He were a peer. We sometimes conclude that God is our co-pilot helping us along the way while we remain the pilot. This is the kind of fire that warms you and keeps you comfortable, while at the same time remaining a [...]
so this teacher of the law comes up to Jesus and says, “So what is the most important command in the law?” it’s a trick question and yet Jesus floors the gang of them by summing up the whole law as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength. and love your neighbour as yourself.” [paraphrase, Matthew 22.37-38] and since then, christians through the [...]