Skip to main content

A Morning View By the Wood Stove

Are you a financial expert?
Are you an accomplished musician?
Perhaps you are a fabulous architect!
You may be an extremely gifted tech person who can navigate cyber space.
It is possible you study sports and have all the knowledge of every player and are able to predict outcomes of the games.
You may be the most amazing mechanic God ever created. 
There are some who have knowledge for knowledge sake and have multiple degrees.
You might even have a very high security clearance that even your family has no clue of what you do. 
You might be the favorite server at a local restaurant because you are efficient, friendly and always have a smile on your face.

All of these and many more qualities and skills are admirable accomplishments in life. We each are gifted and able to perform many tasks on this earth with varying degrees of success. You are extremely successful in care for your family, your future and financial stability. You are the "perfect" family, have all the status items on your checklist and are popular beyond imagination. Everyone likes you to come to their party.

You are faithful members and servants in your church and beyond. Many of you use your gifts to carry over into your service for the church. You volunteer your time, you lead a small group, you attend Sunday School and you give to those who are less fortunate than you. You know all the rights things, do the right things, say the right things, know all the right bible stories, give 10% of your money and more and yet seem to be missing out on something.

What you are missing out on is total surrender of your life, surrender of your family, surrender of every item you own, surrender of your wealth, surrender of your control and surrender of your pride. All you have and all you do means nothing without surrendering all I mentioned above and especially your sin to God. Surrender means to give it all up to God and be nothing. Then watch God make you something more than you could have ever imagined to become.

I am reminded of a story in the Gospel of Mark chapter 10:17-21.

“As he went out into the street, a man came running up, greeted him with great reverence, and asked, “Good Teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?”

Jesus said, “Why are you calling me good? No one is good, only God. You know the commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.”

He said, “Teacher, I have—from my youth—kept them all!”

Jesus looked him hard in the eye—and loved him! He said, “There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be heavenly wealth. And come follow me.”

The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go.” 


Have you surrendered your whole life to Jesus Christ? Everything? What are you holding onto that is holding onto you? Give it all to God and gain heavenly wealth beyond what you could ever imagine! 


Peace,

PB



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Morning View From the Porch at Lakeside

I typically am not a big breakfast eater. Every year at Lakeside for Annual Conference there is a group of men who invite me to breakfast at The Patio. Every year I go one time and enjoy talking and joking with this group and every year I order the same breakfast, a plain toasted bagel with cream cheese and a glass of water. It is tradition, you know! I often get asked why I do not order something different? My answer is, "if something is good and satisfies my hunger, why should I order something different? Besides, I like a plain toasted bagel with cream cheese!"  I wonder why some people have a salvation experience with Jesus Christ but wander away from the most amazing relationship possible with the Creator of all? They seem to have a taste for many different flavors of seeking to fulfill their Spirit hole in their lives. Often people bounce from one religious experience to another without a deep connection and commitment. They order something different from the menu each ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Morning View By the Patio

When I was a young boy we lived in the country and I had to become very creative in how I played. Much of the time I was alone and hd to create imaginary situations so that there were "others" around me. I would also "become" someone else and emulate everything they did. I would know them, study them and learn all I possibly could about them and then become them. One of the people I "became" was Wilt the "Stilt" Chamberlain. At the time he was a famous Los Angeles Laker NBA star. I always wanted to become Wilt. I practiced his famous hook shot, watched him play on TV and learned all of his moves. I had some of the most amazing NBA battles all alone in my uneven gravel driveway. In my mind I was Wilt the "Stilt" Chamberlain. There were a few drawbacks in becoming Wilt. First, my skin pigment was as white as could be. Wilt was African American and I was never going to become Wilt. Second, Wilt was over 7 feet tall. At my peak of vertica...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Morning View From the Patio

I have been gently encouraged by someone who was nudged by the Lord to make a list for the next week of positive characteristics which make me who I am.   Today I begin with compassion. I truly strive to be compassionate with everyone I encounter. I desire to reach out and care when others are struggling. Even if I encounter someone who has hurt me in the past or I may not connect with, I try to put aside differences and find a way to share compassion with them. After all, Jesus was compassionate all the way to death. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Peace, PB
Post a Comment
Read more