The Lively Blog of Thoughts

Romans 12:1-21
I beg you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service to God. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

There are struggles in life where we don’t necessarily want things to happen that may be God’s will. When it approaches that time in life that someone dear to us is sick and ill (like with cancer), we see their struggles and their pain and we don’t want to lose them. However, give us the spirit and faith to say that “thy will be done.”

What makes this extremely difficult, besides the fact that this person is very near and dear to us, is they are very spiritually active doing very good works here on this earth. They contribute their time and money and their soul to helping others and that is very difficult to understand how their life could be taken sooner then we want. However, please help us say that “thy will be done.”

With technology changing so rapidly, we find it difficult to just keep up with this pace of change. Our IPhones are more powerful than ever, our access to world events as they are happening is instantaneously and our life is so bombarded with forces coming at us from all sides.

What are we to do? Can we slow this all down and “smell the coffee?” Afraid not!. This is just not in the cards. Someone had said that as we speedily pass through the daily life chores / job challenges, we don’t even have time to”think!” This is where this thought comes to a point. Do we even have time to have our solitude worth or God in prayer to think in good things?. 1 Thessalonians 5:21–Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

so, how do we, in the midst of our chaotic daily activities, have time to get some quiet times to just think and pray and think in good things?. I think we have to work really hard to find those opportunities to get”away from the daily bombardment of stuff.,”. It might be early in the morning, it may be a walk at lunch time, it might be just before we go to bed. We need this to stop to Speed up with this fast paced life!

We are approaching the fall of the year. Mornings are cooler and the sun is not as strong during the day to heat things up.

The coming of fall and the changing of season reminds me of just how short life is and how fast things are changing in our lives.  We need to take heed of these changes and how we should think about our relationships with her family and friends but especially with our God.

In some ways, the changing of the seasons should reflect the change in our relationship with God as well. We should grow stronger and closer to God just as the seasons of life passes us and we get older and more mature.

The writer of the past said in Ecclesiastes 3:1-12–To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

What is “your time of life (season) to do the works of God?  How are you doing good in your life?  What “season” are you in and what will you do in the upcoming season for God?

God is not far away. Acts 17:26-27–From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

Oh! to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer,This is my constant longing and prayer; Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures, Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear. 

Oh! to be like Thee, oh! to be like Thee, Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art; Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness; Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

Oh! to be like Thee, full of compassion, Loving, forgiving, tender and kind, Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting, Seeking the wand’ring sinner to find.

Oh! to be like Thee, lowly in spirit, Holy and harmless, patient and brave; Meekly enduring cruel reproaches, Willing to suffer, others to save.

Oh! to be like Thee, Lord, I am coming, Now to receive th’ anointing divine; All that I am and have I am bringing, Lord, from this moment all shall be Thine.

Oh! to be like Thee, while I am pleading, Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love, Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling, Fit me for life and Heaven above. (By Thomas O. Chisholm-1897). 

We are to be like our Lord and Savior and all about “our Father’s business just as Jesus was.  What does this mean?  Consider the following:

Matthew 16:27: For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

John 15:8: This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Luke 2:48-50: When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

We have the strength of our Father in anything we do as we go about our daily ways. 

[15] Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, [16] making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. [17] Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.

How do you handle interruptions in your life?  Does this disturb your train of thought?  Do you stay focused on the task at hand or do you loose that focus and get off track when life’s little, or big, events crash down upon you?  Think about how our life has been affected by technology. Our smartphones are always “on.”  We can’t (or don’t want to) get away, truly get away with quiet time, time to ponder what our real purpose on this earth is meant to be. These disruptions ar not good, just hinderances. 

Life seems to have a way of throwing things in our pathway that gets us off the straight and narrow and keeps us from truly following our desired path. Does this happen in your spiritual life as well?  Do you feel at times that you just can’t stay focused on your desire to follow God’s will in your life?  You try and pray that God will grab a home LTD of things in your life but someone calls, you get an email or text of something that takes over your thought process. You know what God wants you to do but you find that for some reason or another you have taken a right hand turn and should have taken a left hand turn several hundred miles back?  The frustrating thing about this is that these little disruptive events don’t seem like a big deal at the time they happen but later down the road you can see they were plain as day when they occurred. 

However, some of these disruptive times can be good. Most of the time they are not. Sometimes we loose our desire to truly follow God’s will, do the things His word instructs us to do. We lose track of God and His spirit in our life. 

On the other hand, there are times that we need a nudge or a kick in the pants to wake up and get in with God’s will in our life. 

Pray that you can find time to reflect on what is good, what God had planned for you today and tomorrow. What are those thoughts He wants you to pass along to those you meet, sending prayers to God for those in need. These are God’s work for you today. Don’t let the disruptions of today get you off track!

Have you ever heard the saying, “I am as poor as dirt.”  I suppose that everything has to be put in perspective. Regardless of how or where we were raised, we have a perspective on life that is totally dependent upon where we were raised and what we were exposed to at that time. If we grew up with only a small amount of means, then our perspective may be different than if we had been reared in a more prosperous environment.

I know of a small farming and mountainous area far, far away from modern conveniences of life.  Those families lived without telecommunications such as a telephone or televisions, including indoor plumbing of water and bathrooms, just to mention a few.  No, this was not in the 1700’s, but in the 1950’s through the 1970’s.  In one person’s quote, “we were poor as dirt!”

The problem with this concept is that it does not consider the blessings from God that can provide joy, peace, and comfort. It’s not the financial blessings that brings about joy in our lives but rather the peace from God that makes us happy. I can be as poor as dirt but as rich as the richest person alive.  Like Solomon of old, “Proverbs 23:5: Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”

The family I mention above had loving families in the community, a church that knew and loved God and were blessed by God.  Isn’t it wonderful to know that the blessings and faith in God is the most important riches this life can bring?