slow down, jo, slow down

in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.
--leo tolstoy


the stones cry out,
bells shake the sky!
all of creation groans...

shhhhhhhhhhhh

listen to it.
--a. weiss

slow down, jo, slow down.
smell the roses.

just a reminder

you don't need to be good

you don't need to be together

you don't need to be smart

you don't need to be cool

you don't need to be good looking

you don't need to be confident

you don't need to be successful

you don't need to be any of those things

you just need to be broken

and lonely

and humble

and needy.

which all of us are deep down

but we just hide it

and try and act confident and together.

come to God broken and then...

God is the physician,

God is the potter,

God is the loving healer,

the mother and the father

and lover of us all,

the restorer,

the forgiver,

the most patient one,

the most merciful,

the most kind and gentle one.

we will find all we need in God,

in His provision and protection.


....this is mostly a reminder to me.

(someone else said this so don't give me credit)

let's live like we're alive

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

john donne has a point there. it reminds me of Romans 6:
"For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

as Christians, we don't have to fear death.
not eternal death,
and not the constant death in our daily lives that occurs becaus of the fallen state of the world. death happens daily in our life when we are not living life to the full in only the way that Jesus can let us and that God intended.
no fear.

active opposition

ok, so i'm taking this book study on a book called "money, possessions, and eternity". the last chapter i read went on and on about materialism and blah, and told all these stories about how televangelists got caught up in terrible scandals. not suprising to me.

what got to me was how this quote from the author, "'But I don’t support such ministries and I never have,' someone might say. Scripture doesn’t let us off so easily. There is one body of Christ, and we’re all members of it. I can’t separate myself from the rest of the Church. I must ask, how is my life resisting materialism in the Church rather than contributing to it? How am I providing a model that’s a clear alternative to the materialism undermining the integrity of the Christian community”?

now there's an idea! don’t just disapprove, actively oppose. in my mind i relate it to my own opinions about how Jesus calls us to be non-resistant. non-resistance does not mean just don’t shoot someone, it means go and actively love them. i think that Jesus calls us to act this way in all areas of life, to be active rather than apathetic in our opposition of evil. it is part of God’s redemptive plan. Jesus wants us to go above and beyond to bring forth His Kingdom.

more examples: don’t just not litter, plant a tree; don’t just not gossip about your neighbor, share an encouraging word; don’t just give your tithe, give til it hurts.

...and the church needs to do it together so that we can be sure that we are truly representing Jesus to the world.

lead me not into temptation

Hebrews 4:12-13 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”



this passage seems to get at, at least indirectly, one reason why many people find it so difficult to read their Bible consistently. so apparently, the Bible lets the intents of our hearts be known. and when that happens, God is in a position to do crazy-awesome things in our lives. conviction is ridiculously powerful and it brings people closer to God. our relationship with God is strengthened when we confess those innermost evil thoughts and the outward sins we often deny.

according to this passage it is the Word of God that has the power to bring us to this point of confession. when are we closest to God? when there is nothing between us. nothing to get in the way of our relationship. (not that we can keep anything from God anyway.) the last thing Satan wants is for us to read the Word of God so that we can be close with Him and therefore, farther away from Satan (the screwtape letters comes to mind). didn't Jesus teach us to pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”?

personally i have found that the times when i do end up reading the Bible even though i don't feel like it, are the times that i really needed to be reading it the most. it is during the time i am pondering “read God’s Word, don’t read God’s Word” where Satan has the potential to get a foothold in my soul.

when a person first makes a commitment to Christ, it is always the first suggestion to the new believer that they keep in the Word of God often. i think it is important to look at passages of Scripture like this. it is helpful for me not just to know that i should read the Bible, but to really understand why. i wish scmeone would have explained this to me in my youth. i was such a legalist, a dualist. i love knowing that reading the Word of God is about building a relationship with Him and not about figuring out what the "good" things are to do, and what "bad" things i should stay away from. Godwhen i was younger, I always understood reading the Bible as something you just should do. we should not underestimate the power that the Word of God has to transform lives.

to summarize: reading the Word of God leads to conviction, conviction brings us closer to God, Satan hates it, we should know why it is important to read the Bible, then it can really change us.