A couple people are getting this for the first time, this is written as a letter kindof, but is really more motivation for me to make sure I get my quiet time done every day. The idea came from our CEO at Stewart Engineering. Such a powerful tool, the Lord has really moved in his life since he started the same process early this year.
If you wish to be removed, please let me know. No offence will be taken. And more importantly, if you see me off the reservation on something let me know...I am growing and changing just like the rest of us.
I hope you all had a blessed Lord's day, things have been a little challenging to say the least for us. Sheena's last grandparent, her mawmaw passed on yesterday about 9am. It is a very stressful situation with the family. Prayers are appreciated.
And Sheena has felt bad since yesterday am and has spent the last 10 hrs in the bathroom for one reason or another. That means daddy got to give the baby a bath when she had an explosion from the nether regions.
(NASB) Mat 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but aif the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be ythrown out and trampled under foot by men.
14 "You are athe light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may asee your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
As part of the Sermon on the Mount this was early in Jesus ministry and the first significant teaching to His disciples in Matthew. There were large crowds gathered, His disciples had seen Him heal, cast out deamons, etc. But the tone of this is very personal and direct. The salt is most likely a reference to the preservation properties in salt. When the salt became mixed with other things, it would loose its saltyness and its value to them, it was not good for anything. We see this playing out before our eyes today and has done so many times over the past 2000 years, when the principles of the Church are compromised in order to get along with the World better; when there are "National Churches", mega churches tickling ears and filled with fluff, they will eventually fall flat on their faces. There is no substance and when there is no substance, people see right through it. We need to be salty, changing the makeup of the world that we live in.
We are to be light as well, this assumes that the World is dark, and boy is it. We are bombarded with ad after ad making what we own, what we look like seem insufficient...not good enough...making true happiness come with a new car, a new hair color, or a new whatever...how shallow and vain, my experience in Ukraine last summer showed me vividly that having less can make you more rich in many ways...they didn't have or need a powerpoint with the lyrics of the hymns they sang. They actually sang hymns and worshiped outside of church! They knew those beautiful songs by heart. They didn't waste a lot of time with TV or computers or many of the things that suck the richness out of our bones for the sake of entertainment. Today many born again believers in American are biblically illiterate, but know who is leading the points in Sprint Cup, who won American Idol...etc...etc. They are putting their light under a lampstand because without the regenerating power of the Word our minds dim and a slick talking pseudo-preacher will get us to believe what is contrary to what God has already told us clearly in His Word.
Dismounting the soapbox...I could bore you further, but I will not.
Be salt and light today so we can glorify our Father in Heaven.
Steve
If you wish to be removed, please let me know. No offence will be taken. And more importantly, if you see me off the reservation on something let me know...I am growing and changing just like the rest of us.
I hope you all had a blessed Lord's day, things have been a little challenging to say the least for us. Sheena's last grandparent, her mawmaw passed on yesterday about 9am. It is a very stressful situation with the family. Prayers are appreciated.
And Sheena has felt bad since yesterday am and has spent the last 10 hrs in the bathroom for one reason or another. That means daddy got to give the baby a bath when she had an explosion from the nether regions.
(NASB) Mat 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but aif the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be ythrown out and trampled under foot by men.
14 "You are athe light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may asee your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
As part of the Sermon on the Mount this was early in Jesus ministry and the first significant teaching to His disciples in Matthew. There were large crowds gathered, His disciples had seen Him heal, cast out deamons, etc. But the tone of this is very personal and direct. The salt is most likely a reference to the preservation properties in salt. When the salt became mixed with other things, it would loose its saltyness and its value to them, it was not good for anything. We see this playing out before our eyes today and has done so many times over the past 2000 years, when the principles of the Church are compromised in order to get along with the World better; when there are "National Churches", mega churches tickling ears and filled with fluff, they will eventually fall flat on their faces. There is no substance and when there is no substance, people see right through it. We need to be salty, changing the makeup of the world that we live in.
We are to be light as well, this assumes that the World is dark, and boy is it. We are bombarded with ad after ad making what we own, what we look like seem insufficient...not good enough...making true happiness come with a new car, a new hair color, or a new whatever...how shallow and vain, my experience in Ukraine last summer showed me vividly that having less can make you more rich in many ways...they didn't have or need a powerpoint with the lyrics of the hymns they sang. They actually sang hymns and worshiped outside of church! They knew those beautiful songs by heart. They didn't waste a lot of time with TV or computers or many of the things that suck the richness out of our bones for the sake of entertainment. Today many born again believers in American are biblically illiterate, but know who is leading the points in Sprint Cup, who won American Idol...etc...etc. They are putting their light under a lampstand because without the regenerating power of the Word our minds dim and a slick talking pseudo-preacher will get us to believe what is contrary to what God has already told us clearly in His Word.
Dismounting the soapbox...I could bore you further, but I will not.
Be salt and light today so we can glorify our Father in Heaven.
Steve
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