Category: Level: Beginner

help

What Is Our Motive For Serving?

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Serving requires sacrifices. Sometimes we have to postpone something good we want to do in order to help someone in need. But we should remember that we are doing something better than the work we left behind. But even so, good deeds done with the wrong attitude profit us nothing. A small deed done with love profits us more than a great deed done without love. And if all we can do is small deeds, God highly values that, for he takes into account what we are able to do more than how great the deed is. If you love much you will do much. And if you are unselfish then you will accomplish much. Service and ministry should be for the benefit of others, not ourselves. Often service or ministry is motivated by desire for personal gain or glory, powered by our own will, and dependant on our own Continue Reading →

temptation

Resisting Temptation II – Imitation of Christ Chapter 13, Part Two

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This is the second of two posts on resisting temptation; the first one can be found here. All temptations stem from our unstable passions and from lack of trust in God. When we do not stick to our convictions we are like a ship without a rudder tossed around by a storm. Instead, temptations should refine us like a fire refines gold. Temptations should be resisted as soon as they knock on our door. We must not let them into the home of our heart, but rather go outside door and prevent them from entering at all. Once they enter they start to grow. A poet has said: In the beginning You might have won It’s past your skill now No more can be done Temptation progresses from a suggestion and moves into our imagination. Then we have thoughts of its pleasure and then it captures our desire. Finally, we Continue Reading →

girl praying

Staying In Touch With God Throughout The Day

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Today we have a “guest” blog in the form of a few words from Francis De Sales (b. 1567 – d. 1622), from Chapter 13 of his book Introduction to the Devout Life. His words complement a post that appeared here a few weeks ago about continuously beholding Jesus. De Sales inspires us to keep in constant contact with God throughout the day. “You can express spiritual desires to God by short, ardent movements of your heart. Marvel at his beauty, implore his help, cast yourself in spirit at the foot of the cross, adore his goodness, converse often with him about your salvation, present your soul to him a thousand times during the day, fix your interior eyes upon his sweet countenance, stretch out your hand to him like a little child to his father so that he may lead you on, place him in your bosom like a Continue Reading →

eye

Transformed By Continuously Beholding Jesus

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Do you want your daily words and actions to be more Christlike but you find that you can’t seem to get the right attitude throughout the day? You may want to consider learning to consciously focus your heart on Jesus. We call this “contemplating Jesus” because it is not meditation (i.e., mulling over, reflecting, gaining understanding), which is important for devotional times, but rather we just gaze on, behold, or give attention to Jesus. Contemplation is just a fancy word for these simple activities. The most profound passage on contemplating Jesus is II Corinthians 3:18: “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” Notice that it says “beholding” not “having beheld”. In other words, we are to continuously behold the glory of Jesus and the Father. But the fantastic promise is that Continue Reading →

rewards

Should We Be Motivated By Heavenly Rewards?

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When we think about our blessings in heaven we usually think about the immense pleasure of just being in God’s presence and enjoying his love. We may not think so much about the rewards God will give because that seems too self-focused. Moreover, how much good is a reward compared to being directly in God’s presence with Jesus? In Bernard of Clairvaux’s (b. 1090 – d. 1153) famous work On Loving God he says that “God is not loved without reward, although he should be loved without regard for one” (Sec. 6.17). Bernard rates loving God for the rewards as only the second of four levels of loving God. And yet scripture repeatedly uses rewards to motivate us to be Christlike. God assures us in Ephesians 6:7-8 that we should do “service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, Continue Reading →