Discipleship

Honestly Following Jesus

/ pastorpete51 / Leave a comment

And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabbi let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.   Mark 10:51 ESV

Some of us might feel we need some kind of special mysterious experience to understand God. But Jesus always made things very simple for people. Out of all the thousands of people in the crowd that day it is amazing that only this one blind man named Bartimaeus could see clearly. When he heard that Jesus was coming his way, he believed that God was really interested in his problem. Then Bartimaeus began to shout as loud as he could asking Jesus to have mercy on him. The people around him told him to quiet down. They didn’t believe that Jesus would be interested in helping somebody like Bartimaeus.

But the good news for Bartimaeus and for us is that Jesus is interested in everyone. He had not walked up the street where Bartimaeus was sitting by accident. Just like Bartimaeus all you and I have to do is believe he cares and ask for His help no matter what anyone else say. Then just like Bartimaeus we will discover that God is passing by today because He loves us and sent Jesus for anyone ready to be honest and who are willing to follow Him!

KIMG1825

Media Mealtime and Multitasking

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments
Priority

It came to me today that my efficient manner of layering tasks one over the other is not God’s best for my life. So in my own battle here are a few things that God is helping me to do.

Prioritize- God first in my day. No media till after prayer. The phone is on but I won’t even glance at it till after prayer, morning coffee and breakfast. This might seem like a no brainer but for me it has been a welcome return to those slower starting pre-cell phone days. This little time is the first fruits of our day and should belong first to God.

No Media at Mealtime!

Have you seen families sitting in a restaurant paying good money for food but paying little attention to one another while they text or play games on their cell phones? The scarier part of this is we might be more likely to do this ourselves at home. It is time to liberate mealtime from the dictatorship of media! That includes eating alone. How can we even taste the food if our attention is elsewhere? God gave us a 3 times a day appetite so we would have 3 opportunities a day to give thanks and then enjoy what He has given us!

Mini Media Fasting

The attitude of the 21st century might be summed up by the phrase “No cell phone left behind!” But unless we are the President or an on duty 1st responder, the truth is the world will not miss us for 30 minutes. While I do admire folks who go off grid for a month; I confess that I am not there yet. But half an hour on my morning walk without a cell phone I can do. Maybe for you that might be time at the gym, a visit with a neighbor- (cell phone left behind) or an hour fishing. So why not give these ideas a try this week? You might be amazed at what God can do with just a little bit of our time that we liberate just for Him and His purposes!

This Little Salt of Mine

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You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. Matthew 5:14 ESV

Being the salt of the earth gets a lot less attention than being the light of the world. After all when was the last time you heard anyone singing, “This little salt of mine!”? When people think about the salt of the earth they vaguely picture plain and ordinary folks. On the other hand, when my mother used to say that sailors were using “salty language”; she meant something quite different. Then what exactly is there about salt that Jesus is urging us to understand?

It may help to remember that salt comes up from mines deep in the earth. Its uniqueness is that it is totally different from the soil around it. In the same way, when we became Christians God dug us up by His grace and brought to the surface for a special purpose. His grace has transformed us and so He asks us to let that grace flow through us to transform our own little part of the world. Every day He gives us the opportunity to demonstrate the difference that grace has made in our lives; not to try to fit in and become like everyone else. When Jesus prayed that we would be in the world, but not of it He was asking that His grace would flavor everything and everyone around us. We are on earth for such a short time, so why don’t we start singing, “This little salt of mine; I’m going to shake it out!”

SAM_0311