Tag: Matthew

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every minute

I wasn’t at Boston this year, but I am reminded of the of the crowning jewel of marathons each day. Above my desk hangs a pencil drawing of myself and my marathon partner, Clay Nicks crossing the half way point at the 100th Boston in 1996.  On my bulletin board is a clipping from a Boston magazine Qualifyadvertisement from years ago that simply says “Qualify”; something that I have striven for year to accomplish, yet have been consistently unsuccessful for one reason or another.  In some ways I feel like a part of my life was attacked yesterday, and that’s severely disappointing.  I am sure many of you feel that way today as well, so one reason or another.

But what shall we do?  Shall we sit and retreat in fear?  Shall we yield to this attack on our freedom? I say no.

Yesterday also began the second stage of my ankle’s ligament recovery as I moved out of the air cast boot and into an ankle brace.  I feel even more motivated to get back on the road and exercise my freedoms –  running around this great country of ours.

I also was reminded of this pretty neat quote yesterday morning, and I planed to share it today. It seems even more fitting now.

“Be in love with your life. Every minute of it.” -Jack Kerouac

Fitting because of the way life can change instantly of course.  But even more fitting because of this small nugget of truth from the Christ – the son of God!

And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:39

He says the second greatest commandment in the whole universe is to love your neighbor as yourself! If you are in love with your life, then correspondingly you are to be in love with the life of others as well!  Loving them as you love yourself! And that’s how we fight this craziness in our age.  Yes, there will be justice doled out by the government, and rightly so.  But we on the ground, we can start by making sure we take care of those people that we connect with every day – the neighbors around us.

every minute, every mile!

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Give It Away

Last night in the men’s group I often write about we had a nice lively discussion about this part of the most awesome Sermon on the Mount.

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Matt 5:38-42 NIV

The leader of the discussion, focused on verse 42, and how we deal with street beggars.  A couple of us challenged him to not just use that tried and true thought, but to go bigger in this verse.  To go to a place where the Christ says, if you are attacked, hit, written about, ordered about, asked to give, etc, that you will not only oblige that but that you will willingly not seek revenge and do more than asked.

I have not been able to get this off my mind. After thinking about this overnight, I realized that when we give our selves to the Christ, it’s not a matter of ‘if’ we give to the street beggar, it becomes a natural reaction and standard.  We are called to be different, to not seek our own, to not seek revenge, to not even the score, but to change the score – in favor of others.  And I think that is the heart of this challenging bit of teaching.

It sort of reminds me of the song Follow Me by Leeland

Use my hands, use my feet
To make your kingdom come
Through the corners of the earth
Until your work is done
‘Cause Faith without works is dead
And on the cross your blood was she’d
So how could I not give it away so freely?

Change the score and give it away today, freely.

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Grace and Kazoos

Last week, I rediscovered to this particular verse in Matthew that describes the way Jesus looked at the people around him.

36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Matthew 9:36 New International Version (NIV)

Wow.  What a challenge – being able to see people like that!  It’s one of those traits of Jesus that I fall short of quite often – one that makes me very glad for his grace.

Speaking of grace, take a look at the Worlds Largest Kazoo Band playing Amazing Grace. (skip to about the 4:00 mark).  That’s a great way to celebrate  National Kazoo Day!!

But I digress.  Today, as you look at those around you, stop, and think about how Jesus looked at them, at all of us!  Take a moment and view them through his eyes, and let that change the way you interact with them.  Pour out grace, kindness, compassion, and his love on them.  It will make a huge difference!

 

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Plays Well with Others

I ran across this quote yesterday and that it was pretty good.

Promote yourself, but do not demote another.Israel Salanter

I might not agree 100 percent with the first part of self promotion, however, this same thought has been on my mind a lot over the last two weeks as I deal with stuff at work.  It has made me an even firmer believer that tearing down others to get your way just isn’t the way to go.  I have watched a few cases of this bullying behavior lately, and it really has impressed me. Not in a “That’s Awesome” sort of way.  More of in a “How repulsive” sort of way.

As we, as followers of the Christ, go through our day,  we have responsibilities in our employment to share ideas and even to promote our own thinking (to God’s glory of course!).  But we have no room to do that at the sake of destroy or demoting or belittling others.  Or as one of my coworkers said last fall when he was working on peer reviews – “Do no harm”.

So today, be honest, be helpful but don’t demote belittle and demean those you meet!  ( I hope I follow this advice myself!)

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12 ESV

 

 

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Tomorrow?

I suppose this could be the last post I get to write, as tomorrow holds a lot of uncertainty for the continuation of time. So if the apocalypse happens, well, it has been fun! And hey aren’t we really supposed to live like there is no tomorrow everyday?

Carpe diem!

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34 NIV)

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15 NIV)

So maybe I will get to post tomorrow or maybe not , but either way it will be if it is the Lord’s will!