So why is it so difficult to be a witness. I am convinced that a big part of it is that we have become convinced by the enemy that the Gospel is not good news. If we are convinced that it is good news we will naturally want to share it, and yet we are somehow afraid that we will offend someone with this news. The Gospel can be offensive in that it is narrow (Jesus I am the way...) and it is not something we can earn (we are a proud people and don't like the fact that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God in our own efforts), but it is still good news.
The other thing that can hold us back is the response we may get. This morning I was doing some study in John 1 and was reminded that even though Jesus is the true light coming into the world, that the world did not know Him. Not because He was in any way hidden, but because people have been spiritually blinded because of sin. I pray that we will see people like Jesus does, with eyes of compassion.
Please let me know how your journey towards being a witness to the good news is going!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
I can't believe I'm doing this!
Well, I guess you can teach an old dog (careful now, I know what you are thinking) new tricks. I have been thinking about a way to interact about what God is doing in our church and it really does seem like this is an easy way to do so. So here goes...
I was talking to someone after church yesterday about entrusting our lives to a loving, powerful God who has our best interests in mind and they said "it seems simple, but I can't see God, how do I know I can trust Him". This is a valid point and it sent us off on a conversation about the need to get to know who God is so that we can trust Him fully with or lives. It really us a spiral, the more we come to know God the more we can trust Him and the more we trust Him the more we find out who He is. Taking small steps of faith help us to know that God is faithful. he can be trusted. I guess that is what I wanted to communicate yesterday is let's see if we can choose to trust/walk with God one day at a time and see what He does. I look forward to hearing from you.
One other thought. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I had been dreaming about people I had invested in over the course of my life. s I tried to get back to sleep my mind was racing and so I decided to get up and journal some of my thoughts. I won't bore you with all I wrote, but the main thought was this. Changed lives change lives. One of the biggest evidences of God's work in our life is a willingness to pass it on to others. As we do, we tend to grow in our faith as a result of giving it away to others. Luke 6:38 talks about give and it will be given to you... the context is loving your enemies and specifically forgiveness, but I think the principle applies in a lot of areas of life.
Anyway, obviously I am kind of knew at this, but if you have taken the time to read this I would love to hear any thoughts you may have.
Keith
I was talking to someone after church yesterday about entrusting our lives to a loving, powerful God who has our best interests in mind and they said "it seems simple, but I can't see God, how do I know I can trust Him". This is a valid point and it sent us off on a conversation about the need to get to know who God is so that we can trust Him fully with or lives. It really us a spiral, the more we come to know God the more we can trust Him and the more we trust Him the more we find out who He is. Taking small steps of faith help us to know that God is faithful. he can be trusted. I guess that is what I wanted to communicate yesterday is let's see if we can choose to trust/walk with God one day at a time and see what He does. I look forward to hearing from you.
One other thought. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and I had been dreaming about people I had invested in over the course of my life. s I tried to get back to sleep my mind was racing and so I decided to get up and journal some of my thoughts. I won't bore you with all I wrote, but the main thought was this. Changed lives change lives. One of the biggest evidences of God's work in our life is a willingness to pass it on to others. As we do, we tend to grow in our faith as a result of giving it away to others. Luke 6:38 talks about give and it will be given to you... the context is loving your enemies and specifically forgiveness, but I think the principle applies in a lot of areas of life.
Anyway, obviously I am kind of knew at this, but if you have taken the time to read this I would love to hear any thoughts you may have.
Keith
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)