Matthew 6:33-34

Where: my dining room table
Drinking: Starbucks Sumatra 
Listening to: Mumford and Sons (Great music for the Irishman in me!)


Pray:
Father, it is a blessing to watch the snow today.  When I'm weary and daunted by brokenness, it is a good thing to watch something so peaceful cover the ground and remind me that You make all things new.  Everything seems fresh and new in the cover of snow.  Today, fill me with Your Spirit.  Help me to love You, love people and live surrendered better today.  


Read:
 ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. --Matthew 6:33-34


Think:
(Ask, Analyze and Apply)


Write:
I worry less about my food, clothes and shelter than I did 4 years ago.  I have been through times when I wasn't sure how I was going to keep my house or support my family.  It is only by God's grace that I feel further from losing my material safety.  However, my mind finds new things to worry about.  I am always in a battle with my own sense of security.  There are days when I look at my job and my gifts and can't see how everything comes together.  I'm not  a brilliant guy or a great leader.  My successes can all be directly traced to moments of surrender and obedience directly followed by God's providential action.  Remembering I'm not awesome leads me to insecurity or to trust.  The more I think about my weakness, the more insecure I become.  The more I think about God's sovereignty and love, the more I just love watching Him use me.  


A friend of mine played football in high school.  His coach, looking at the field and seeing they were short a player, grabs my friend by the shoulder pads and throws him on the field.  He stumbled around, not knowing the play.  All of a sudden, he gets knocked down.  The play was over, and he walked off the field only to see the fans cheering and his teammates slapping his helmet and congratulating.  He had inadvertently gotten in the way of the opposing teams star player.  He "tackled" him and saved the game.  Sometimes it's not about knowing everything.  It's about being wear the coach tells you to be.  


Do:
Today, I'm going to rest in the truth of who God is.  I'm going to read my book on Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas (great book!), drink tea and watch the snow.  Praise God for rest!  

The Cost of Discipleship

Things at home and the office are pretty busy, so I have kept the blogs short.  Look for more content soon.  In the mean time, let's discuss a quote from one of my heroes, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.


"Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate." 
— Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship)


It is impossible to understand grace without the devastating realization that we are sinners.  What do we need to do to communicate unconditional love and grace to a culture that believes there is no such thing as sin?