Over The Shoulder
Jan 28 – 2013
So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 2 Corinthians 5: 6-9 (ESV).
There is a popular music chart hit song by singer Michael Buble called Home with few of the lines saying this: May be surrounded by A million people I Still feel all alone I just wanna go home and Let me go home I’m just too far from where you are I wanna come home.
Adventuresomeness, yes. That in this scripture verse; Paul uses the synonym courage twice. This way or that we are always on the move. A work commute, a family outing, and many in-betweens; we always want to come home. My children often say after a long car ride when we pull into the drive way: Home sweet home…We have also heard of the saying: Home is where the heart is. So it is dear brethren, that the Church’s heart is set heavenward, our true home. When Christ set eternity into our hearts (Ecc. 3:11) he purposed for every man, woman, and child to long for our Home Sweet Home. Whether Christian or not, everyone in this tent groans to come away from this tent into our heavenly dwelling. Walking can not see it any other way. So how are we at good courage in this? The answer is in the last half of the closing verse: we make it our aim to please him. In pleasing Christ we become whole to know that when we go to and fro here in this earthly vessel, surrounded by a million people yet still feeling alone, that Christ’s Spirit in us restores us far from this tent into His. All this an adventure, home or away, letting us, now ushering us, with good courage to walk into a surround sound home face to face with Jesus: our home sweet home. Yes and Amen!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Over The Shoulder - The Glorious Dei
…But by means of their suffering, He rescues those who suffer. For He gets their attention through adversity...(Job 36:15 NLT)
“Oh! What a bummer; the slang for prosperous calamity. Attention centers itself on this corner of hard lived survival. The wealthy become wealthier and the street man becomes more like the street: broken, cracked, and stepped on. It’s a commodity trivial to any pursuit of out lasting the shelf date, or the lingering on your personal ‘born on date’. A clutched vice with no rhyme or reason to why it’s even happening at all. Except there is a means; a means of stimulation “to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you will live, and really live...”(Luke 16:9 MSG). For you see, Jesus made us a creature of creativity, not of complacency, in order to heed ourselves to Him. His rescue is the observant direction in which He pulls us out from an enduring of suffering continuously sustained through every adverse circumstance the evil one can throw our way. Our life’s lens cap gets all blurred and out of focus when we have no
suffering in this life, but gets in focus and clear when through our suffering our attention is directed to Him. Christ’s road to the cross was just as clear- He must suffer and suffer He did for us so that now we can live and really live. We live and breathe Him- the absolute essential who secured us a heavenly date; a date without expiration.
To the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.
“Oh! What a bummer; the slang for prosperous calamity. Attention centers itself on this corner of hard lived survival. The wealthy become wealthier and the street man becomes more like the street: broken, cracked, and stepped on. It’s a commodity trivial to any pursuit of out lasting the shelf date, or the lingering on your personal ‘born on date’. A clutched vice with no rhyme or reason to why it’s even happening at all. Except there is a means; a means of stimulation “to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you will live, and really live...”(Luke 16:9 MSG). For you see, Jesus made us a creature of creativity, not of complacency, in order to heed ourselves to Him. His rescue is the observant direction in which He pulls us out from an enduring of suffering continuously sustained through every adverse circumstance the evil one can throw our way. Our life’s lens cap gets all blurred and out of focus when we have no
suffering in this life, but gets in focus and clear when through our suffering our attention is directed to Him. Christ’s road to the cross was just as clear- He must suffer and suffer He did for us so that now we can live and really live. We live and breathe Him- the absolute essential who secured us a heavenly date; a date without expiration.
To the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.
Over The Shoulder - Finding It
Over The Shoulder
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. John 6:39
Car keys, sweat shirts, and children’s toys. These we sometimes seek for hours when we can not find them. We simply have lost track of them somewhere along the house. Often times we think of the word loose with anything that comes after first place. The human nature in us sometimes just can’t get it right. But at the right time Jesus reminds us who He is; He should loose nothing and all the Father has given him never ever gets misplaced.
There comes an imagery on the raising up of these un-lost things that even a pet owner may know: a dog burying a bone. That treasure the nose of the dog and its spot, he never forgets on the whereabouts to dig up the back yard does he? Simply put, the Son has buried us with Himself in the grave, only to raise us up on the last day and He knows exactly what spot in the ground to go dig up. The cross has become an X marks the spot of a treasure, that is not only found, but is kept so tight a hold on that it is impossible to misplace. Job 28:23 & 24 says it clearly and manifestly: "God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.
So where is the understanding? Or as the disciples asked, what must we do? In the earthly fashion we adhere to table, makes lists, and organize the shelves so that next time we know where those car keys are. This is not that kind of work though Church. The Son only has the power not to loose the ones He has called. Instead of looking around stop and listen. Hearing is the doing that vacates misplacement, for once you are in the Heavenly Father’s placement, there is no such thing as second place. Death and tyranny have been swallowed up by our Master’s finish. The it is finished on the cross that has no loose ends or lost cause. Jesus has been given the pennant already and it dangles all who have been given to Him. Where do you hang?
Grace and Peace. Amen.
And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. John 6:39
Car keys, sweat shirts, and children’s toys. These we sometimes seek for hours when we can not find them. We simply have lost track of them somewhere along the house. Often times we think of the word loose with anything that comes after first place. The human nature in us sometimes just can’t get it right. But at the right time Jesus reminds us who He is; He should loose nothing and all the Father has given him never ever gets misplaced.
There comes an imagery on the raising up of these un-lost things that even a pet owner may know: a dog burying a bone. That treasure the nose of the dog and its spot, he never forgets on the whereabouts to dig up the back yard does he? Simply put, the Son has buried us with Himself in the grave, only to raise us up on the last day and He knows exactly what spot in the ground to go dig up. The cross has become an X marks the spot of a treasure, that is not only found, but is kept so tight a hold on that it is impossible to misplace. Job 28:23 & 24 says it clearly and manifestly: "God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.
So where is the understanding? Or as the disciples asked, what must we do? In the earthly fashion we adhere to table, makes lists, and organize the shelves so that next time we know where those car keys are. This is not that kind of work though Church. The Son only has the power not to loose the ones He has called. Instead of looking around stop and listen. Hearing is the doing that vacates misplacement, for once you are in the Heavenly Father’s placement, there is no such thing as second place. Death and tyranny have been swallowed up by our Master’s finish. The it is finished on the cross that has no loose ends or lost cause. Jesus has been given the pennant already and it dangles all who have been given to Him. Where do you hang?
Grace and Peace. Amen.
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