This
is a continuation of a series of Lenten thoughts appropriate to the
remembering our Christ with all the awe He truly deserves.. Please
consider sharing these Lenten thoughts with a host of your friends.
These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
These thoughts are added to each Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday)
A young man
had hated his parents for ten years. They had quarreled and he was not a
forgiving person. He didn’t just hold a grudge, he embraced it.
There was a barrenness about his soul that made him unable to feel at ease, either with the world or the inner world of his spirit.
And then one day he found Christ.
And the commandments to love his fellowman and his God with equal vigor overwhelmed him, and his faith became a living thing. He began to trust more and lose his temper less and his favorite hymn became “What a friend I have in Jesus.” He had heard about being born again and now he was and when one night he took stock of how he had changed, he wept with joy.
I have not yet seen one of them, but there are now movies with alternate endings. The story line is changed just enough to reach different conclusions. You get to pick the one you like best. A fascinating idea.
And that is how it is with us and our own lives. If along the way you had reacted differently to certain things, consider how the whole script of your life would have been altered.
It is a “What if “ game we all have played. What would have happened if we had done this or that? Gone here or there? Made a political or theological turn to the right or left? Met this person or that person rather than ones we did meet? You have chosen certain people as your friends, a certain pattern of life to follow, whether to make God number one or further down the list.
What if? When it comes to life and its choices, it is not an idle question.
In your everyday life, how often do you ask yourself, what would Jesus do in this situation? Or do you just wing it? Is faith a factor in your life rather than an aside? There is a difference.
In this colorful world what does your faith look like? Is it a bright and shining thing? Or is it often tattle-tale grey? In the spectrum of your soul it makes a difference, it really does.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish…” says the book of Proverbs. (29:18)
The writer Katherine Logan wrote, “If a vision is of God then it is a vision that comes in advance of a task well done.” (rewritten)
Whoever we are, whatever we do, intermingling a strong faith with life makes us a stronger person, a better person, less of a me-first person.
There was a barrenness about his soul that made him unable to feel at ease, either with the world or the inner world of his spirit.
And then one day he found Christ.
And the commandments to love his fellowman and his God with equal vigor overwhelmed him, and his faith became a living thing. He began to trust more and lose his temper less and his favorite hymn became “What a friend I have in Jesus.” He had heard about being born again and now he was and when one night he took stock of how he had changed, he wept with joy.
I have not yet seen one of them, but there are now movies with alternate endings. The story line is changed just enough to reach different conclusions. You get to pick the one you like best. A fascinating idea.
And that is how it is with us and our own lives. If along the way you had reacted differently to certain things, consider how the whole script of your life would have been altered.
It is a “What if “ game we all have played. What would have happened if we had done this or that? Gone here or there? Made a political or theological turn to the right or left? Met this person or that person rather than ones we did meet? You have chosen certain people as your friends, a certain pattern of life to follow, whether to make God number one or further down the list.
What if? When it comes to life and its choices, it is not an idle question.
In your everyday life, how often do you ask yourself, what would Jesus do in this situation? Or do you just wing it? Is faith a factor in your life rather than an aside? There is a difference.
In this colorful world what does your faith look like? Is it a bright and shining thing? Or is it often tattle-tale grey? In the spectrum of your soul it makes a difference, it really does.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish…” says the book of Proverbs. (29:18)
The writer Katherine Logan wrote, “If a vision is of God then it is a vision that comes in advance of a task well done.” (rewritten)
Whoever we are, whatever we do, intermingling a strong faith with life makes us a stronger person, a better person, less of a me-first person.
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