Psalm 66:1-7
21st Century King James Version (KJ21)
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Come and see! Don't stand aside, waiting for the right moment, when everything is perfect. Don't stand aside dispassionately, waiting to see what everyone else might do. Come and see! Dive right in, praising the Lord for his mighty works. Come and see, immerse your life in his greatness and discover that God abundantly provides, that his might and power and wisdom is used for you, to gather you in and enrich your existence. Come and see, to discover that all the good things we can say about God barely scratch the surface of his eternal goodness.
Come and see!
May you seek God with all your heart, for you will surely find him
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Psalm 65:9-13
Psalm 65:9-13
New International Version (NIV)
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Sorry for the delay... moving hundreds of miles from Chattanooga turned out to be a bit more time consuming than expected. If you need boxes, however, we have extra.
Have you ever wondered why the earth is so beautiful? Have you ever seen pictures (or the real thing) of a coral reef and wondered why such splendor exists? Have you ever wandered through a dense forest and been amazed at the grandeur there?
I think God likes to create beautiful things. I think God loves beauty, and he fills the earth with beauty as a way of expressing delight.
In taking time to appreciate the beauty God makes, I think we recognize how magnificent the God we worship is. God isn't just about the bare basics, but about abundance and love and wonder. God loves beauty, and calls us to enjoy that beauty and to create beauty with God.
May you revel in God's abundance
New International Version (NIV)
****************
Sorry for the delay... moving hundreds of miles from Chattanooga turned out to be a bit more time consuming than expected. If you need boxes, however, we have extra.
Have you ever wondered why the earth is so beautiful? Have you ever seen pictures (or the real thing) of a coral reef and wondered why such splendor exists? Have you ever wandered through a dense forest and been amazed at the grandeur there?
I think God likes to create beautiful things. I think God loves beauty, and he fills the earth with beauty as a way of expressing delight.
In taking time to appreciate the beauty God makes, I think we recognize how magnificent the God we worship is. God isn't just about the bare basics, but about abundance and love and wonder. God loves beauty, and calls us to enjoy that beauty and to create beauty with God.
May you revel in God's abundance
Saturday, July 19, 2014
No More Night
The world's best scientists tell us that the earth will meet its end when the sun expands to such a point that it consumes the earth within its girth.
But we already knew that, didn't we? Thousands of years ago, the apostle John tells us in Revelation what the end will look like--the earth will be consumed in the light of God. There will be no more night, he says, because God himself will be our light. There will be no more darkness, because the light of God's grace and love will envelop every corner of the renewed and redeemed earth. There will be no more shadowy corners where evil lurks, because evil will have been destroyed. The light of God will be all there is.
We will be swallowed up by grace, and of this state, there will be no end. What science has recently learned has been lurking in the pages of Scripture for years, ready and available to all those willing to learn.
But we already knew that, didn't we? Thousands of years ago, the apostle John tells us in Revelation what the end will look like--the earth will be consumed in the light of God. There will be no more night, he says, because God himself will be our light. There will be no more darkness, because the light of God's grace and love will envelop every corner of the renewed and redeemed earth. There will be no more shadowy corners where evil lurks, because evil will have been destroyed. The light of God will be all there is.
We will be swallowed up by grace, and of this state, there will be no end. What science has recently learned has been lurking in the pages of Scripture for years, ready and available to all those willing to learn.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Psalm 65:1-8
Psalm 65:1-8
The Message (MSG)
Next week, I'll be driving a 26' moving truck (our special yellow truck, as we tell Caleb) north to a new home. I have a hunch it will handle a little differently than my station wagon, which zips right along, not weighing much in comparison to a moving truck filled with baggage.
Baggage. It's that stuff we bring with us, that we accumulate over a lifetime, that often slows us down. Imagine how free you'd feel if you didn't have all that baggage weighing you down.
When we come to God, we come loaded with the guilt, with the sins of our past, but God takes that load off our shoulders. God releases us from the burden of guilt we carry, and God helps us to live into our true purpose, which is perfect and holy communion with God. We don't achieve that on this side of heaven, but God points us in that direction, giving us glimpses of the Kingdom of God--we tune our ears and begin to hear dawn and dusk calling to each other, saying 'Come and worship'.
Step by step, we draw closer to that life God has in store for us, so that when we step through the veil and into eternal life, we'll recognize parts of it from the glimpses we had on this side of the veil.
May you trust God with your burden on this day
The Message (MSG)
Next week, I'll be driving a 26' moving truck (our special yellow truck, as we tell Caleb) north to a new home. I have a hunch it will handle a little differently than my station wagon, which zips right along, not weighing much in comparison to a moving truck filled with baggage.
Baggage. It's that stuff we bring with us, that we accumulate over a lifetime, that often slows us down. Imagine how free you'd feel if you didn't have all that baggage weighing you down.
When we come to God, we come loaded with the guilt, with the sins of our past, but God takes that load off our shoulders. God releases us from the burden of guilt we carry, and God helps us to live into our true purpose, which is perfect and holy communion with God. We don't achieve that on this side of heaven, but God points us in that direction, giving us glimpses of the Kingdom of God--we tune our ears and begin to hear dawn and dusk calling to each other, saying 'Come and worship'.
Step by step, we draw closer to that life God has in store for us, so that when we step through the veil and into eternal life, we'll recognize parts of it from the glimpses we had on this side of the veil.
May you trust God with your burden on this day
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