Monday 11 February 2013
Spiritual maturity=Christlikeness
Measure yourself against Jesus, measure your growth in him. If we take such pride in our growth in life, why not in this? You mark lines on the door frame for height, weigh yourself to see that your gaining muscle, watch your bank balance grow. All of these things we take pride in, so why not take pride in our spiritual growth and our nearness to Jesus?
Why not continually go through the process of transformation and draw nearer to Him and take pride in that?
We often think about maturity as having to do with the amount of knowledge you have and what you know. Its not necessarily its how you use that knowledge. My pastor made a point to say that spiritual maturity=Christ likeness. The knowledge you have just puffs you up, but when you allow that knowledge to change your mind, and enter your heart, and transform your life and then you are able to re-release that into the world, then that is true maturity, and something we should measure. So let us all grow and enter this process of transformation that will renew our minds and our lives, and bring us closer to Jesus and His likeness. So, as part of our 30 day challenge at church, this week we are called to become more like Jesus.
So to become like Him, what was Jesus like?
-doesnt judge, instead offers compassion (woman at the well)
-generous (fed 5000 people)
-selfless (knew no sin,but died on the cross for US)
- hospitable
- true to his word (covenant with Abraham)
-walks by the Spirit to become loving, patient, kind, self-controlled (Galatians 5)
These are just a few characteristics of who He was. But it is an interesting way to read the Bible, to see each story for who Jesus is in it, to see His likeness. It will help give you a new perspective on who the Lord is, but also who you should be as your draw nearer to is likeness. So I challenge you to pick up your Bible and compile a list of all that you think Jesus is based off of readings, and strive to become more like Him as you walk with the Spirit and with Him. It will renew your mind and help you to move towards more spiritual maturity. So go now! pick up your Bible and get reading, and then pray!
Love Kristy
Thursday 7 February 2013
Give God His Cake
Hello there,
I havent been writing much because I dont feel I have many readers and therefore I dont see the point in going on to post all this separate from my diary entries, but I figured this is important for anyone who happens to read so I will share.
My church is doing something called the thirty day challenge in which we are trying to change and transform ourselves and the congregation to better embody the first church that is described in Acts. Every week one of our pastors institutes a new challenge, and we attempt to carry it out personally and as a congregation. This week the challenge surrounded worship and I thought the points were wonderful.
One thing Pastor Lance said, which many fail to do is that worship should not just be something that is done on Sundays while in church. We should be worshipping all throughout the week whenever we can. Our worship reflects well on our maker, and shows our gratitude and love to the One who gave us life, and everything we have.
The second part to this is that we should be worshipping with our very lives. You could be the loudest most joyous worshipper on Sundays. Maybe you have a beautiful voice or play an instrument and you even help lead worship time, but what about your life? Are you drinking constantly? Treating your body poorly, engaging in sexual deviance and sinning the rest of the week? These things don't reflect well on your Maker, they dont reflect well on you either. They are counter productive to your Sunday worship time, and to the life Jesus wants you to live. The best worship you can give to our Lord is that you live your life every day, the way he demands and that you offer him your very best all the time. He is not a God of left overs, He is a God who demands and deserves your best.
That leads me to the final point, and the title of this post. Imagine your wedding day. You say your vows, and then retreat with your new spouse to a private area before your entrance as husband and wife. You come down to greet your guests only to find they have already eaten your beautiful wedding cake and left you only crumbs. They say "oh but we left you a piece!" What would your response be? you would be so hurt and offended because it was your cake and as husband and wife you only wanted the FIRST piece and then you would have given them the rest right? This is how God feels if we offer Him the left over parts of our life and of our worship. He deserves our first and best piece, every second of every day. This is the best way we can offer worship to him, and move closer to the Church and people we are supposed to be in His name. So give God His cake!
Love,
Kristy
ps I stole the analogy from my pastor, so no credit there haha
I havent been writing much because I dont feel I have many readers and therefore I dont see the point in going on to post all this separate from my diary entries, but I figured this is important for anyone who happens to read so I will share.
My church is doing something called the thirty day challenge in which we are trying to change and transform ourselves and the congregation to better embody the first church that is described in Acts. Every week one of our pastors institutes a new challenge, and we attempt to carry it out personally and as a congregation. This week the challenge surrounded worship and I thought the points were wonderful.
One thing Pastor Lance said, which many fail to do is that worship should not just be something that is done on Sundays while in church. We should be worshipping all throughout the week whenever we can. Our worship reflects well on our maker, and shows our gratitude and love to the One who gave us life, and everything we have.
The second part to this is that we should be worshipping with our very lives. You could be the loudest most joyous worshipper on Sundays. Maybe you have a beautiful voice or play an instrument and you even help lead worship time, but what about your life? Are you drinking constantly? Treating your body poorly, engaging in sexual deviance and sinning the rest of the week? These things don't reflect well on your Maker, they dont reflect well on you either. They are counter productive to your Sunday worship time, and to the life Jesus wants you to live. The best worship you can give to our Lord is that you live your life every day, the way he demands and that you offer him your very best all the time. He is not a God of left overs, He is a God who demands and deserves your best.
That leads me to the final point, and the title of this post. Imagine your wedding day. You say your vows, and then retreat with your new spouse to a private area before your entrance as husband and wife. You come down to greet your guests only to find they have already eaten your beautiful wedding cake and left you only crumbs. They say "oh but we left you a piece!" What would your response be? you would be so hurt and offended because it was your cake and as husband and wife you only wanted the FIRST piece and then you would have given them the rest right? This is how God feels if we offer Him the left over parts of our life and of our worship. He deserves our first and best piece, every second of every day. This is the best way we can offer worship to him, and move closer to the Church and people we are supposed to be in His name. So give God His cake!
Love,
Kristy
ps I stole the analogy from my pastor, so no credit there haha
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