WHO'S THE SINNER HERE?

Have you heard this: "Witnessing is just one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread?" (I believe it was Corrie Ten Boom who said this.) When we are sharing the Good News we sometimes think of ourselves as Better because we are already saved. The Gospel is the Good News, not an award that designates us as the Elite-Special-Chosen-of-God-Because-We-Are-Worthy. It is precisely BECAUSE we weren't--and aren't--any better than those we share the Good News with that we embraced it in the first place. We needed the wondrous message that Jesus died for us to forgive our sins and bring us into friendship with God. That need for forgiveness fulfilled for us and yet to be fulfilled in others is what drives us to show and tell others. Or it should.

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. -- II Corinthians 5:14, 15

We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. -- II Corinthians 5:20, 21

© 2006

All Scriptures are New International Version.

OLDIES BUT GOODIES

Something possessed me, while I was catching up on the computer, to play a classic oldies CD (circa 1963, for you Generation NeXt kids). Just think, no one had HEARD of compact discs in those days. Suddenly--so it seems--Baby Boomers like me are nearly Oldies. (Did one of you young whippersnappers just snicker and say, "Nearly?! Are you kidding me?!") Well, here's my news for young and old alike: none of us is getting younger. Whatever our generation, if we are learning from our mistakes and experiences, while expecting to see the work God wants to do in us and through us, we seize opportunity for a life make-over. From the outside no one may notice the changes; but WE know the difference.

What would be a crime is if we have lived to our midlife or golden years and are still choosing the same paths each day or blundering through the same mistakes, or we're blindly following the same routines that we lived in our teens, twenties, or thirties. How can we expect a different outcome if we haven't changed the way we think, speak, or act? We can start fresh, any time, right where we are, changing the course of our lives. There are myriad examples of this, but I can certainly cite one of my own from about six months ago.

For years I neglected writing as more than a casual pastime, probably partly due to my failure to finish a course I had begun. I was able to forgive myself for this, after I realized that now was the perfect time in my life to follow God's leading to see where writing carried me. Now I am pursuing it with all the passion He has given me for the written word. It does not matter that I failed to approach writing with discipline in the past. Because the Lord strengthened me in other areas of my life over the years, I brought discipline to the writing. Not that I've conquered self-discipline. Nope. It's just that He's given me enough to get started, and, like my "muscle" of faith, he strengthens that self-discipline the more I practice using it! Before, I didn't truly believe that I could change in this way just by choosing differently.

I suspect I am not alone in changing the course of my life, even though well past the college years. Let me hear from you about a choice or a learning experience (mistake?) that led to Divinely-wrought change in your life.

Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
Lamentations 3:21-24

. . . for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Philippians 4:13

By faith Abraham, even though he was past age--and Sarah herself was barren--was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
Hebrews 11:11 & 12

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12-14

© 2006

Scriptural quotations from New International Version

BOOKS--WINDOW ON THE UNIVERSE

Does anyone out there love reading as much as I do?? From the time I was able to sit up, hold a book, and turn the pages, I have been hooked. Books make us think, open new worlds for us, and change us, often for the better, but usually in a very gradual and subtle manner. What we pour into our minds or those of our children can affect us--and thus those around us--for eternity.

. . . whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Philippians 4:8, NIV

Here, without too much thought and in no particular order, is a sample of my perennial favorites for your consideration:

We Would See Jesus, a classic life-changer, by Roy & Revel Hession, 1958

The Purpose-Driven Life, also becoming a classic and highly re-readable! by Rick Warren

Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom (not Christian, but a great perspective on life through the eyes of a dying man)

My Personal Best--Life Lessons from an All-American Journey, by John Wooden, with Steve Jamison. Learn from a coach who built character and success.

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. Romance reading cannot improve on this, a novel that put women ahead of their time!

Crooked House, by Dame Agatha Christie, the all-time great mystery writer

How Should We Then Live? by Francis A. Schaeffer, THE Christian theologian of the twentieth century

Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, both by Mark Twain. Every boy should read these, and probably every girl! If you grew up and didn't, shame--but it's NOT too late.

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, is a girls' classic. A must!

Whistle While You Work: Heeding Your Life's Calling, by Richard J. Leider and David A. Shapiro, is the best secular book I've read on this subject.

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens was one of the first classics I read as a young adult, and the characters still fascinate me. Also a favorite, which I read almost annually: A Christmas Carol.

I know this will be controversial, but whatever your stance on the content, the Harry Potter series is very well-written, if taken as fantasy, though certainly NOT appropriate for younger and more impressionable readers. If we cast this aside, we will have to cull quite a bit of what is considered classic literature.

Love Comes Softly introduced me years ago to Janette Oke, whose Christian novels endeared all her characters to me, especially that particular series. Lots of good Christian fiction beckons us these days.

Anything by C.S. Lewis, but all ages enjoy his Chronicles of Narnia series, beginning with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Oxymoronica--paradoxical wit and wisdom from history's greatest wordsmiths, by Dr. Mardy Grothe, for word-lovers and quotation freaks!

I invite you to comment on YOUR favorite reads.

© 2006