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O Obedience
Bishop Roy Nichols tells about growing up in a charismatic black church. He says that there was always a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of shouting and jumping. But Nichols said that his mother once told him, "It isn't so much how high you jump but what you do when you come down." Jesus likewise said that the ones who'll see the kingdom of heaven are not necessarily all the ones who cry out "Lord, Lord," but those who do the will of the heavenly Father.
Topics/Tags: Obedience; Good Works
"When we are in agreement with God's calling, everything we do becomes a form of worship."
- David Aikman, former Time magazine journalist
Source: New Man Nov/Dec 96, p. 15
Perhaps at some point in your life a doctor has performed the familiar "knee jerk" test on you. Using a small mallet or the side of his or her hand, the doctor will tap the pateller tendon just below your knee. If all is working properly, your lower leg will then swing foward. This is a ‘natural reaction."
How, then, does it work? The knee-jerk reflex reaction is caused by communication between sensory neurones in the leg and motor neurones in the spinal cord. The sensory neurones alert the motor neurones that the thigh muscle (which is used to straighten the leg) has been stretched; the motor neurones send back a message that that muscle should be contracted, which causes the lower leg to swing forward.
The implication, then, is that, if the knee-jerk reaction does not take place, the "line of communication" is damaged between the peripheral nervous system and the spinal cord.
Likewise, Christian friend: If you find that you are not inclined to do any of the things which Scripture tells us should be NATURAL for a born-again new creature in Christ, it probably means that some "line of communication" between you and the Lord—like prayer or Bible study—has been damaged.
Source: "ScienceNet": http:// www.campus.bt.com/ CampusWorld/ pub/ScienceNet
Topics/Tags: Prayer; Obedience; Study; Meditation
An interesting observation might be made from watching a Merry-Go-Round:
If you stand at the very center of the Merry-Go-Round, then technically you are standing absolutely still—you are rotating, but not moving. It is only when you step out, away from center, toward the perimeter of the ride that you actually begin to move in space. The farther away from center you get, the more distance you will cover with each rotation of the Merry-Go-Round.
Here is the parallel: We live in a world that is "spinning." Acceptable sin, questionable ethics, and muddled pictures of who God is—all of these have the potential to make your life a chaotic mess as well.
Only by staying "at the center"—by keeping your life within the bounds of God's revealed will—can you protect your life from the chaotic, topsy-turvy movement of the late-twentieth-century world. Only then are you able to, in the words of Walt Whitman, "let your soul stand cool and composed before a million universes" [Whitman's "Song of Myself," XLVIII].
Source: "12,000 Religious Quotation," ed. Frank Mead, Baker Book House, p. 477.
You've heard, no doubt, the expression, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket."
Writer Mark Twain had a better version of that advice: "Put all your eggs in one basket—and WATCH THAT BASKET!"
— Mark Twain (1835-1910), U.S. author. Pudd'nhead Wilson, ch. 15.
______
As Christians, our "basket" is the faith and obedience which bind us into relationship with the Lord. Through vigilance, we keep a close watch on that basket.
Source: The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations, in Microsoft Bookshelf '98
JUST THINK....
What if
God couldn't take the time to bless us today because
we couldn't take the time to thank Him yesterday?
What if
God decided to stop leading us tomorrow because
we did not follow Him today?
What if
we never saw another flower bloom because
we grumbled when God sent the rain?
What if
God didn't walk with us today because
we failed to recognize it as His day?
What if
God took away the Bible tomorrow because
we would not read it today?
What if
God took away His message because
we failed to listen to His messenger?
What if
the door of the church was closed because
we did not open the door of our heart?
What if
God stopped loving and caring for us because
we failed to love and care for others?
What if
God would not hear us today because
we would not listen to Him yesterday?
What if
God answered our prayers the way
we answer His call for service?
What if
God met our needs the way
we give Him our lives?
Source: "SBC Ring Mailing List," author unknown.
Topics/Tags: God, longsuffering of; Obedience; Faithfulness; Gratitude
"The cost of obedience is nil compared to the cost of disobedience."
Source: "Open Windows," Fall 1998. Author unknown."
Topics/Tags: Obedience; Disobedience; Cost
Baker James Cauthen, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Foreign Mission Board, was called to mission work in China in 1939 while pastoring a large church in Fort Worth, Texas, and serving as a professor at Southwestern Seminary.
Because Cauthen was already a high-profile leader in the Convention, many people made much of his decision. When the group of appointees was recognized at that year's annual convention, it was said of Cauthen, "Boy, we caught a big fish this time, didn't we?"
Later, as the Cauthens prepared to catch a ship to China, they visited with some old friends. Cauthen said to his friend: "Bill, many people are making a lot out of what we're trying to do, but for us it's simply the will of God. It's such a good feeling that I can say that if our ship is bombed in Hong Kong harbor and we never set foot on Chinese soil, I will have a sense of completeness because I will have been doing the will of God for me."
____
No matter how much of a "big fish" you become, you never outgrow the need to respond daily in obedience to the will of God.
Source: "Proclaim," 1983 #4, p. 41.
Topics/Tags: God, will of; Missions; Obedience
North Carolina pastor Mark Courts was on his way to a revival one evening, and was running late. He hurriedly pulled into a full-service gas station. As he sat in his vehicle, he felt God leading him to share the Gospel with the young man who was pumping gas. He argued with God: I don't have time, I don't have the ability… He pulled away from the gas station, promising God (and himself) that he would return to that same station the next night and speak with the young man.
The next night's revival service lasted longer than expected, so he couldn't return that night. He did return to the gas station the next morning, and was surprised to find the station closed. Puzzled, he began to pull away—until he noticed the wreath on the front door.
He noticed a small note hanging beside the wreath. Numbly, he walked toward the door, knowing what he'd find written there. Sure enough, the young man had been killed in an automobile accident the day before. Mark had missed an opportunity that wouldn't come back again...
At that moment, he recalled the biblical story of King Saul. Because Saul was disobedient, God had no choice but to "put him on the shelf" and call another person to be His appointed king. When we let once-in-a-lifetime opportunities slip by, we're running the risk of forcing God to "put us on the shelf," and find someone else who'll be more willing to do His bidding. (And, of course, that's not to mention the irreparable damage we can do to others by refusing to minister to them.)
Source: Ken Hemphill, in Serving God: Discovering and Using Your Spiritual Gifts video series.
Topics/Tags: Opportunity; Obedience; God, voice of; Evangelism
Look upon adversities as adventures.
—Robert Harold Schuller (1926- )
Misfortune is an occasion to demonstrate character.
—Lucius Annaeus Seneca (C. 4 B.C.-A.D. 65)
Misfortunes come on wings and depart on foot.
Neither usefulness nor duty is God's ultimate purpose. His aim is to bring out the message of the gospel, and if that can only be done by his "bruising" me, why shouldn't he?
—Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
No man is fit to comprehend heavenly things who hath not resigned himself to suffer adversities for Christ.
—Thomas A Kempis (C. 1380-1471)
Source: Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992). Entries 194-198
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