The God of the Living, with the Queen of Bizzaro

Occasionally, I think about how bizarro some of my steeped-in-the-Bible thoughts may sound to my non-Christian friends that read this blog.

Even more occasionally, I exercise! And today I did both! I went running, something that I used to LOVE, but never do anymore.

Don’t you do the best thinking and praying when you are out walking or running? I certainly do.

Before I went running, I was reading Matthew 22. That’s all part of my plan to study Jesus in 2015.

Have you ever noticed who argued the most with Jesus? Not atheists. Did Israel even have atheists? Surely so, but maybe they didn’t openly admit it to others. Sometimes I wish my pastor friends would read my blog and fill in some of the blanks for me!

No, it was not the “sinners” (but truly, we are all sinners) arguing with Jesus.  The outcasts of their society were the ones following, listening, and seeking Jesus for help. The ones who disliked Jesus were the CHURCH LEADERS.

You know, some things haven’t changed much! It seems like we still argue amongst ourselves too much.  Why can’t we focus more on encouraging one another and working together to solve the world’s problems???

Thankfully, there are a ton of non-profit organizations, run by Christians, that are desperately trying to help the world’s poor. So we aren’t entirely missing the mark, but we do need to remember to support them! Organizations like: Hope International, Compassion International, and Samaritan’s Purse. Those are three of my personal favorites. Oh! And the Salvation Army does so much, right here in America. Alan and I are careful to support these groups, but I’m sure we could always do more.

We all have Pharisees in our life! They try to trip us up with “hot topics” of our day. If we focus too much on those things, it can steal our joy and make us ineffective servants.

Servants?  Yes, servants! Jesus came serving, and that’s what he wants from us too: to serve mankind.

We tend to focus a lot on what Jesus can do for us ETERNALLY, but let’s not forget how much he can change our lives right here on Earth. And because of that, he can use us to change the lives of others, and it all starts right in our own families.

Home schooling (because it has been a challenge for me) has made me cling to Jesus more than ever. I don’t know how I would get through this without the Holy Spirit. He truly is the God of the living.

 

32 ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”33 And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.

Matthew 22:32-33

 

The words of Jesus are so refreshing:

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:34-40

 

my son, Daniel’s, prayer, almost every night:

“Me love you, God. No me hate you God. Me love you, God. Me love Mama, Daddy, brothers. Me love you, God.”

from the mouth of babes  🙂

I’d better go! There are children to love and to teach and showers to be taken!