All Things For God's Glory

Mark 10:17-23   Jesus loved this rich young aristocrat.  But, did Jesus love this man the same as He loves His own kids ?  I would contend that He did not.  God cannot even look upon sin, let alone love it.  And if we truly believe that we are born dead in sin (Col. 2:13), then we must admit that we are dead through and through - heart and body, and that there is nothing else about us to love.  We are actually called the enemy of God in Romans 5:10. This means God is at war with us, and we are at war with Him and His kingdom.  Jesus' love for this man was the love He tells us to have for our enemies, the love He had for the "world" in John 3:16 - meaning it is a love that is a choosing to do good in spite of being despised, rejected, scorned, mistreated, misunderstood, and murdered.  It is a love based upon the grace of God and not upon the recipients' worthiness.  But did Jesus' love for that young man signify his acceptance into God's ...

2 Corinthians 3:18-4:18   " But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory,  just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart..."  For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.   But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;  we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;  always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.   For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the l...

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.  But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.  To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out...I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture...My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand."  John 10:1-3, 9, 27-28 By God's grace, I was privileged to see one of the Father's sheep hear His voice and enter into the sheepfold a few weeks ago!  How I rejoice in the work of the Holy Spirit to draw this dear lady to Himself!  I will call her Mary for the sake of her privacy.   Mary is 70 years old and has had a very hard life.  She is now in the end-stages o...

Gospel Transformation As I think over the past 5 years, I am swept off my feet with amazement for my Savior, Jesus Christ! He is changing me from a person who was completely living life for myself and my dreams and goals, to a person who is, by God's grace, learning to live every day to please my Lord and Loving Master, Jesus Christ! I don't say this proudly - because I had nothing to do with my spiritual heart transplant that occurred five years ago. And there is no perfection in my daily life – I still need the gospel of Jesus Christ every day in battling my sinful self – but there is definitely a changed purpose, and a passion for loving God that I never had prior to that time.  Is Our Suffering Wasted? Five years ago, I was literally at the end of my physical and emotional endurance. I had battled a neurological disease called Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) or as it used to be called Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) for 10 years. It had developed into a...

This past week, one of my dear friends went home to be with the Lord.  That's no small thing to say, though in "Christianese" sometimes we take that phrase for granted. Because of the resurrection, Helen is with the Lord now, and is anticipating a new body someday, to replace the old, worn out one that she left behind her on this earth.  Helen is basking in the presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ right now, and we would not wish her back, except for our own selfish reasons, because we miss her. I'm going to miss her constant reminders that God is sovereign and in control, and her quiet walk with the Lord that impacted the lives of so many people, mine included. I'm so thankful for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that because of it, we have hope that Helen is right now in the presence of the Lord, and that someday, I, too, will be in the presence of the Lord, and I will see her again.  But even more importantly, I will be rid of this old body a...

Adam and Ruth's sweet family! Norwex Raffle Basket - worth over $700.00! It's been a long time since I wrote anything on my blog.  It's been a very busy summer and fall. My sister and brother in law, Adam and Ruth Young, finally got to bring home their precious daughters from the DR Congo a few weeks ago!  They went through quite an ordeal getting them home, and the Lord blessed them with many answers to prayer in the form of many miracles along the way.  The girls don't speak English yet, so that's an additional learning process for all of them.  To see their story, go to  http://www.whatsmixing.com/ Of course, they've incurred many expenses along the way in this adoption process.  In order to help them pay for the final adoption expenses, Ruth is raffling off a Norwex basket.  (If you don't know what Norwex is, please go to  http://ruthyoung.norwex.biz/    I have a lot of Norwex, and I love it for cleaning the house ...

As I've been contemplating the gospel this week and how to live it out more biblically, I've been listening to some messages by John Piper that he preached in 1995 on the basis for the mission statement for their church. As I've listened to these, God is thrilling my soul again with how magnificent the gospel of Christ is and how practical it is in my daily life. I've paraphrased much of what he said, as well as written some of my own thoughts. His quotes are in quotation marks and I've used the Scriptures that he used.  Psalm 1:1-3 - "How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers." "If we are people of the One Great Book, the very essence of the Bible flows from us! There are no weak people who...