This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God. 2 Cor. 10-11, The Message.
While this week's devotions haven't all been about making great friendships, they are related to that effort. What we think about ourselves, how we live with Christ, and how we live Christ are a part of the process. But one of the most precious gifts God has placed in our friend-making tool box is the gift of generosity.
I've given plenty of gifts to my friends and I've received even more. I can't count the times or the ways in which I've given or received. They're too many. It's because giving in this way is something that comes from deep within us. It is a joy to give to those we love and care about. And rarely to do we even think about the cost or the sacrifice, most of the time we just see a need and we give!
That's because when we give like this we become more like God!
God is generous, in fact extravagantly generous, giving more and more and more than what we need or what we ask for, or what we expect. Paul told the church at Corinth that the reason God gives in such ways is so that we can give too.
Isn't that the way God works in all areas?
God loves so that we can love.
God teaches so that we can teach.
God forgives so that we can forgive.
God cares so that we can care.
God gives so that we can give.
Yes, we are blessed to be receivers of all that God blesses us with, but we are not to leave it at that. Rather we are channels through which God works, loves, forgives, gives. It's not a place of privilege but a place of responsibility; humility rather than honor.
God is using us, clay pots, for divine purposes, so that as we are filled, we pour out on those around us so that we all receive the best from God!
It's called the Generous Gift of Generosity!
Peace ><>
pc
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Ordinary Beauty
I love pottery. It seems that when we go places that have arts and crafts vendors, I'm drawn to the pottery. There's something about the hand crafted containers, something imperfect, beautiful. Maybe it's because even when pieces are made to match, there are always slight differences, every one absolutely unique. I've collected many pieces of pottery, from new chalices that sit on the shelf in my office and the variety of pieces on the shelves at home, to the piece in this picture that I found on an archeological dig at biblical Bethsaida.
Pottery is an important tool in archeology. It helps pinpoint the date of a layer of civilization, but it also helps us to see the daily life of people in the bibilcal time. It helps us see what Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians 4,
If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. ou know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. 2 Corinthians 4:7-8, The Message.
As bold as Paul was in his ministry and preaching, he was still humble in his faith. He knew who he was because of Christ and that gave him great power. Paul saw himself as a simple clay pot that doesn't have great value except that any vessel can hold things of great worth...and we do.
That's why the analogy is perfect for us. We are clay jars, unique, imperfect, and absolutely beautiful created by God's own hand.
Yes, you are a unique and ordinary yet beautiful vessel of God...
...created to hold His very presence for the world to see.
Peace ><>
pc
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Spray Tans, Tanning Salons, & Just Basking
Tans are (still) all the rage. The quest for the glow of bronzed skin is an industry unto itself. There's an aura about a dark sun-tan, it signifies many things, but mostly beauty in that tawny brown, glowing flesh. And it matters little anymore whether that outburst of melanin comes from a true tan coming from hours spent on a deck in the backyard, a towel on the beach or a chaise next to the pool. It doesn't matter if comes from just a few minutes a week in a tanning salon, all the same benefits without the hassle of time. And if it doesn't affect melanin at all, but is the kind of tan that's nothing more than whole body cosmetics, that's okay, too!
It's all about the glow.
It was pointed out to me recently that for someone who likes to spend their spare time outdoors (camping, working outside, etc.) that I'm not very tan. It's true. This season, I've not spent the time outside that I would prefer, but the fairness of my skin doesn't truly represent my passion for the outdoors.
But I'm after another type of glow.
Whenever, though, they turn and face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are - face to face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone [like the law]. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, The Message.
This is the glow I seek and it can come only as I spend more and more time face to face with Christ!
O sure there are some who put on this kind of "spiritual tan" thinking that somehow it can come from microwave Christianity in only a few minutes a day, or others who think that a "spray glow" is enough, as long as one looks like they are Godly.
But we know those don't work. In fact we can see right through them. The glow of Christ in us comes not from the skin, but from within. It comes in kindness and mercy; in love and forgiveness; in patience and action. It's evident where people get their spiritual tans...
...basking in the radiance of the Son!
(and I think it's time to roll over!)
Peace ><>
pc
It's all about the glow.
It was pointed out to me recently that for someone who likes to spend their spare time outdoors (camping, working outside, etc.) that I'm not very tan. It's true. This season, I've not spent the time outside that I would prefer, but the fairness of my skin doesn't truly represent my passion for the outdoors.
But I'm after another type of glow.
Whenever, though, they turn and face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are - face to face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone [like the law]. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like Him. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18, The Message.
This is the glow I seek and it can come only as I spend more and more time face to face with Christ!
O sure there are some who put on this kind of "spiritual tan" thinking that somehow it can come from microwave Christianity in only a few minutes a day, or others who think that a "spray glow" is enough, as long as one looks like they are Godly.
But we know those don't work. In fact we can see right through them. The glow of Christ in us comes not from the skin, but from within. It comes in kindness and mercy; in love and forgiveness; in patience and action. It's evident where people get their spiritual tans...
...basking in the radiance of the Son!
(and I think it's time to roll over!)
Peace ><>
pc
Monday, August 27, 2007
The Gospel in One Word
"...we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love." 1 Cor 13:13, The Message.
The theme of this week is bFriend, discovering the power of Christian Friendship. It's one of the main themes of Paul's letters to the church at Corinth, getting along with others. In other words, God is interested in the kind of friends we make but even more in the kind of friends we become.
It's really true that if we become great at befriending others, we will have many great friends, but if our goal is to have great friends without being a great friend, we'll find ourselves lonely.
There's a really simple reason we are to focus on becoming a friend rather than making friends...it keeps our trust in God.
Too often we humans get tied up in each other's lives to the degree that we depend on each other instead of God. So when our friends let us down, it ruins our day, our week, our lives. But that's when we are focused on making friends.
Rather God wants us to focus on becoming great friends because in doing things that great friends do is to depend on God for the strength to do them. Paul concludes his "love chapter" with this charge, "trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly." And in so doing we can become the greatest of friends...
...of God...
...and of others.
The theme of this week is bFriend, discovering the power of Christian Friendship. It's one of the main themes of Paul's letters to the church at Corinth, getting along with others. In other words, God is interested in the kind of friends we make but even more in the kind of friends we become.
It's really true that if we become great at befriending others, we will have many great friends, but if our goal is to have great friends without being a great friend, we'll find ourselves lonely.
There's a really simple reason we are to focus on becoming a friend rather than making friends...it keeps our trust in God.
Too often we humans get tied up in each other's lives to the degree that we depend on each other instead of God. So when our friends let us down, it ruins our day, our week, our lives. But that's when we are focused on making friends.
Rather God wants us to focus on becoming great friends because in doing things that great friends do is to depend on God for the strength to do them. Paul concludes his "love chapter" with this charge, "trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly." And in so doing we can become the greatest of friends...
...of God...
...and of others.
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