Unfortunately, the concept of Christianity that has come to be
dominant in our day is one that runs in a different direction.
According to this concept, emotional pain relief is the basic,
overall concern of life in Christ. Offering health, wealth, and
complete emotional bliss, it promises to take away the deep ache of
our needy, broken souls and to do so rather quickly. The new gospel
is fundamentally about "feeling better." It is about us.
But the historic gospel is not first and foremost about feeling
better; it is about glorifying God through Christ and coming to be
like Him. Christ did not die for the mere betterment of our
feelings, and seeking God through Him is not mostly about pain
relief. It is about character transformation. And even more than
character transformation, it is about the glorification of God. Far
from eliminating the possibility of pain, the glorification of God
may require the suffering of pain, even to the point of death.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
An inspiring thought...
The October 13th daily devotional, written by Gary Henry, had an excellent message. The following quote is great food for serious thought. It is so easy to be self absorbed and not even perceive it. If you are interested in Gary's daily devotionals, you can go to wordpoints.com and sign up to receive these daily emails.
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1 comment:
The one thing I have taken away from Job is that it is not for us to know why we have any degree of problem or pain. It is for us to trust God, and I have learned that He is always faithful to do what is good and bring the needed lesson so that we learn to know Him and reverence Him fully. Paul also teaches that God comforts us in our difficulties so we in turn know how to comfort others in their need. It is then for us to acknowledge God's hand working through us and not take the credit. You are very good at that.
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