"Introspective thoughts for the mission-minded..."
Isn't it just like God...when He really wants us to learn something, or He really wants to get our attention, haven't you found that He surrounds you with that topic? In music that you hear, in the books you are reading, in a 'so-called' random TV show that you turn on, in a conversation that someone starts with you, or in a periodical that just 'happens' to get delivered to your house! Well God I hear You, and as Samuel said after the 3rd time you called him...I'm listening.
received a copy of New Man magazine this week (www.newmanmagazine.com) and on page 42 the title to this post appeared. The purpose of the article was to get you to think about our lives and the missionGod has us on...
" To become world-changers, we must change our thinking when it comes to risk. Jesus' followers are called to lay down their lives, if necessary, to see God's purposes fulfilled. Will you play it safe...or gamble hard on God's way?"
The article goes on to quote famous people as follows...
"The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."
- C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
"Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: Will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?"
- Odysseus, from the movie Troy
This is making me think about the opportunities God places in my life every day. What will I do? Will I aim at heaven? Will I love fiercely, fight bravely...or will I ignore the harm that I see, and not do anything about it?
If you have not taken the chance, please click on the link next to this post about seeing a picture of how AIDS affects children in Africa. Maybe by viewing this you will get a picture of the "harm" that AIDS brings to the innocent children of Africa, and maybe the Lord will call you to become a world-changer, here at home and around the world...
received a copy of New Man magazine this week (www.newmanmagazine.com) and on page 42 the title to this post appeared. The purpose of the article was to get you to think about our lives and the missionGod has us on...
" To become world-changers, we must change our thinking when it comes to risk. Jesus' followers are called to lay down their lives, if necessary, to see God's purposes fulfilled. Will you play it safe...or gamble hard on God's way?"
The article goes on to quote famous people as follows...
"The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything."
- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
"Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."
- C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
"Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: Will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?"
- Odysseus, from the movie Troy
This is making me think about the opportunities God places in my life every day. What will I do? Will I aim at heaven? Will I love fiercely, fight bravely...or will I ignore the harm that I see, and not do anything about it?
If you have not taken the chance, please click on the link next to this post about seeing a picture of how AIDS affects children in Africa. Maybe by viewing this you will get a picture of the "harm" that AIDS brings to the innocent children of Africa, and maybe the Lord will call you to become a world-changer, here at home and around the world...
posted by Brent F at 6:17 AM
7 Comments:
Makes me think about Wesley when he wrote: "Give me 100 men who hate nothing but sin and love God with all their hearts and I will shake the world for Christ!"
Or of Adoniram Judson, America's first foreign missionary. Judson sweated out Burma’s heat for 18 years without a furlough, six years without a convert. Enduring torture and imprisonment, he admitted that he never saw a ship sail without wanting to jump on board and go home. When his wife’s health broke and he put her on a homebound vessel in the knowledge he would not see her for two full years, he confided to his diary: "If we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace. . ." But he steadied himself with this remarkable postscript: "Life is short. Millions of Burmese are perishing. I am almost the only person on earth who has attained their language to communicate salvation. . ."
Now that's a wow!
For the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
"millions are perishing"...uncle brent, as I read your post I thought about how all over america we sit in our churches talking about the "lost" those who are "perishing" and those who need to "get saved"...but our actions don't line up with our words. Life is so short...too short, and for those of us who know what lies beyond the here and now...we need to get with it and share the message of Christ love with them. I loved the quote from Judson's journal that said, "I am almost the only person on earth who ahs attainted their language to communicate salvation..." The American church needs to "attain" (go after, seek out, learn, know...) the langauge of this culture we are living in so that we can communicate salvation to these lost and hurting people.
Innocent African kids.... they have no idea how blessed they are to have people like you and Chris and your kids thinking about them all the time!
I've been thinking about risk and failure. How many times do we sit back and not do something, because we are afraid to fail. If we really understand Kingdom Principles we realize that it is impossible for us to fail.
The reason we ever think we fail is because we are measuring the outcome of our efforts against some standard that we have made up. So, when Paul set out to preach the Gospel and instead ended up in a Roman prison, did he fail, or was he fulfilling God's purpose? He didn't set out intending to go to prison. He had other goals. So his choice was to wallow in prison and feel like a failure, or he could embrace this turn of events and write a bunch of incredible epistles.
Lord, let me be open to whatever Your will is for me, especially if where you take me looks like failure to the world!
Thank you for letting me spend time with your family.... I was richly blessed today!
You're right GOD does know what He is doing! This road I get to walk is going to be full of adventure! Thanks for being a part of it!
I watched the video with Renee and we both like totally almost cried...
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