Posted on 11/16/2002 1:02:27 PM PST by f.Christian
‘Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will... delight--in the richest of fare’ (Isaiah 55:2)
"People have to eat. This fact is far from a sorrowful necessity. So much so that many, rejoicing at the sight of a grand repast, remark: "I live to eat." For as long as history, eating has been seen as much more than mere grazing. Personality and sociology enter in to it. A meal eaten in solitude is only partly a meal. Eating is more, when bread is broken together."
"The food is on the table. It delights the eyes and nose, tantalizing the palate. As you eat, you remark on the food to those with you. Together you enjoy the life-giving substances. It is a celebration of your shared life, and humanity."
"Our Scripture has God likening himself to a feast. To listen to God, to delight in him, to seek him, and call on him; in short, to include God as the sustaining, and joyous necessity on which one's very existence depends, is to eat, drink and be satisfied in an unequaled, and decisive way."
"May your meat and drink be God, and may you be satisfied."
‘And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8)
"The temptation to think better of ourselves than we ought is notoriously powerful. To some degree it is a reflex action against the aggression of others. In youth it can be wrought by fear of new experiences. We are anxious not to be seen to be afraid, so we train ourselves to misjudge our true condition. We eat up praise when we get some, and minimize criticism."
"Developing pride... forges habits---that conceal from us the truth of ourselves."
"Usually it takes a shock such as personal loss or misfortune to tear down the props we have built up around our false self. Grief and shame can be wonderfully liberating as they facilitate the emergence of a self that acknowledges the supremacy of God, and the need for constant dependence upon him."
"Nothing is more suited to the maintenance of this disposition than frequent meditation on Christ; his story; his teaching, life, death, and triumph. In Christ's presence the masks we shelter behind are taken away. We are left open to the gaze of God. We are seen for what we are. More, we are loved despite what we are. Higher, nobler possibilities are presented to us in the Son of God. Self renunciation and service are seen as the pathway to self realization at its highest level. We are fitted to 'walk humbly with our God'."
***
Grace and the Light of Chirst(works) If the light of Christ is not keeped lite by our actions as a servant of the Lord!
These words integrity, honor, charity, etc. Are important it is what made America Great, and today we see large corporations and business trying to fudge ethics
Even on our the personal level it is important that we in small ways do our fair share of goodwill etc.
If each of us don't let our light shine (exercised gifts given us)are we not showing an indifferent, and lack of appreciation for all that has been given us?
‘Having a form of godliness but denying its power…’ (2 Timothy 3:5)
"When we think of conversion, it is often with reference to some prodigal who turns his steps toward home; of an alcoholic who escapes the toils of his disease; of the profligate transformed-and so on. Such miracles do happen, but some conversions are of a different nature. A church member who has never doubted Christianity, who has always observed its traditions, suddenly makes a discovery-that Christianity actually works. That it is tremendously relevant. That when it is brought into existence as a way of viewing people and things; as a fortifier of the human spirit; as a source of inspiration and direction for all the business of life-it has a comprehensive adequacy. Such conversions do occur, and they are much to be desired."
"When Christ is known not as a form, but as a formidable, personal power, then he is his own evidence, his own compelling argument for faith."
"It is a supreme moment in a person's life when they wake up to the fact that the ideas of Jesus are absolutely true. At such a time they are persuaded that Christ is universal law. They see that he holds the cosmos together; that everything he is and all that he stands for is foundational, constitutional, unchangeable, eternal and immutable. They feel that they have not so much come into possession of something, but that they are possessed by what is greater than themselves, something to which their heart and mind quite naturally belongs."
"Only such a... realization---equips the soul to withstand the enormous batterings of antichrist."
"Many still voice their suspicions that the Christian way is not strong enough to stop the malignant advance of wickedness. But consider this-when a fire is burning and water is sprayed on it and the fire still rages, no-one thinks that water is useless for putting out fires-that fire can be quenched with water. So, despite the repeated and imperfect efforts at Christian fellowship and service, the long-range truth lies yet in Christ-in the patient, undiscouraged increase of his peace, love, hope, goodwill and moral excellence."
"May God enable you, as well as me, to proceed beyond form-to a practical knowledge of Christ's power."
‘I am the bread of life. . .(John 6:35).’
"There was a day when Jesus stood up and announced to the people: I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. The day before Jesus made that speech, he had amazed everyone by miraculously feeding thousands of people with a few loaves of bread. A lot of people had seen that miracle, so, the next day, they went to a lot of effort to find Jesus, in the hope that they would see something similar happen. They were hoping for more of the same."
"They were being led by their stomachs."
"In response to them, Jesus said, Do not work for the food that spoils. You have gone to some trouble to seek me out in the hope that you will score another belly full. Your effort is misplaced. You need to work for food that does not spoil. You ought to labor for the food that will . . . link(link) - - - you to the life ( // TRUTH )* of God."
"Suppose every young person arriving in this world, could be given a piece of advice. One vital clue, that would set them on a course through life that would save him from wasting his time on vanities; that would keep her from going down dead end roads in futile endeavors. It is just such advice that Jesus is offering here."
"He is saying" :
"Don't give yourself to that which will end in disappointment."
"Don't let the whole effort of your life be for nothing."
"Work for something that ultimately affirms your worth."
"Work for the bread that endures to eternal life."
. . "I am the bread of life."
. . . * my addition ! ! !
‘And who is my neighbor?.’ (Luke 10:29)
"Jesus had just finished telling his parable of the good Samaritan. In the story, a desperately wounded man was left by religious leaders to perish. He was saved by someone another man, who happened to be a religious outcast. The lawyer who asked the question, "Who is my neighbor," understood well why the priest and Levite would not help the wounded man. To do so would have meant defilement for them. It was their religion, that prevented them from being compassionate."
"As for the Samaritan, he was one of a breed of people whom Jews in the southern part of the country, counted impure. They were considered unclean, in the same way that the priest and Levite saw the blood stained man as unclean. For the most part, Samaritans were not thought of as neighbors. It is all too easy for any of us, to make love for a neighbor less arduous, by classifying large tracts of the human race, as non-neighbors. Jesus refused answer the question: "Who is my neighbor?" Instead, showed that it was a wrong question."
"The person who asks that question only wants to know what the limits of his duty are? He wants his maximum obligation spelt out so he can leave off being neighborly as soon as possible. Rather than ask, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus would have us ask, "Am I a genuine neighbor?"
"May God help . . . me to be (( link )) - - - a neighbor."
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