Overload...

It is impossible to summarize the happenings of chapters 5-8. I will declare that it is far better to just read them. However I have included some verses that stood out, but more importantly, challenged me in my reading.

“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If YOU lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?”

Matthew 5:13 (Message)

What a simple response to the question of life. I submit that the times in our lives when we feel empty, depressed and directionless are the times that we have lost our saltiness. When we are out of relationship with Christ we feel it to our very core. Our purpose is to be the salt. When we’ve lost our saltiness, we’ve lost our purpose. I can’t helped but be convicted by how many lives I have failed to sprinkle with a dash of Jesus Brand Salt because of my own lack of saltiness.

“And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, sating, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you’ and not meaning it.” Matthew 5:33-37 (Message)

Well anyone who knows me knows why this convicts me. I am painfully immune to the taste of my feet. I also and more secretly tell people with the best of intentions that I will in fact pray for particular requests in any given circumstance. But, time goes by and more often than not I forget. So with at least one person reading this (Scott) I am committing to writing down these requests as they arise and reading them daily as a reminder to lift them up to God like I said I would. I started the list tonight. Go ahead ask me!

“You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other.” Matthew 6:24 (Message)

Argh! It’s important for me to remember that anything that begins to take the place of God in my day is competing for my heart.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” Matthew 6:34 (Message)

Again, I believe obvious why this stands out. I commit to focusing on what God is doing through Restoration Church and the young men that God has placed in my path to disciple here. Tomorrow maybe we’ll go to Texas, maybe we’ll go to the Philippines or maybe we’ll just sit tight. That’s for God figure out! I encourage everyone to not only take comfort in the fact that God loves us and has His best in mind for us but also be super excited about!

“Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The way to life – to God! – is vigorous and requires total attention.” Matthew 7:13-14 (Message)

Holy Toledo! I just read this blog post about how choosing to follow the Lord was a condition of the heart and the only way to be in realationship with Christ is good ole fashioned Bible reading and prayer in conjunction with corporate worship with other believers! If you haven’t yet sensed the tone, I wrote that! Genius right? And there I go storing up treasures on earth! Sheeeesh. Long story short, there is no new fandangled way to come to Christ! Love it!

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.” Matthew 7:21 (NLT)

I will never forget the time I read this and realized it was for Christians, for me. Every time I read this verse I think about that being me. When my time comes, will I cry out Lord, Lord and will he know me? Now, I can say YES! with the assurance that only Christ can provide! I don’t think that would have always been the case. I find there are a lot of verses that I have read but never applied them to my life. SCARY!

I also really wanted to point out the faith of the Roman soldier in Chapter 8. I’m not going to copy the whole story, stinking go read it (Matthew 8:5-13)! I love revisiting these moments of radical faith in the Bible. I want to have radical faith!!!