Concepts
January 19, 2009 Monday Natal,RN Brasil
At 6:30 this morn, it was cold outside – 75 F. Now, don’t smile ☺
For me, that is cold.
After all, it isn’t the actual temperature on the thermometer that matters, but what our bodies say about it, right? Or is it?
What if my body says it’s cool when it’s 100 F, so I bundle up, go into the heat, and get sunstroke. Or if my body says that 25 F is warm, and I go outside in jeans, t-shirt and thongs... and freeze?
We do have to depend upon factual realities, even if our bodies and emotions say the realities are not reality. Just as a pilot has to depend upon his instruments, rather than his own sense of direction, we need to depend upon the unchanging and undergirding reality of God’s principles in our daily lives.
As we enter into the unknown future, and are bombarded with facts and figures about the economic and political “realities” in which we live, our emotions and bodies react from worry, frustration, anger at people (and even at God). Fear crouches at our doors, wanting to come in; the sounds of confusion mounting around us.
However, if I hear another drumbeat, a different rhythm than the cacophony of sounds coming from my tv, radio, the internet and newspapers... then my body and emotions react differently.
If I live in the Kingdom of God, and listen to that drumbeat, my emotions and body settle into a quieter mode.
The concept is simple: live within the principles of the Kingdom of God.
The daily application can be a challenge!
Check out some of the principles of the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught. They are radically different from the beat of daily life in which we live!
Matt 5:1-12
1-2 • When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
3 • "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4 • "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5 • "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are — no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
6 • "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
7 • "You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'carefull', you find yourselves cared for.
8 • "You're blessed when you get your inside world — your mind and heart — put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
9 • "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
10 • "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
11 • "Not only that — count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.
12 • You can be glad when that happens — give a cheer, even! — for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.
(from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
It is GOOD to be challenged with God’s reality ☺
