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Archive for the ‘Faith’ Category

Changing Perspectives

Posted in Discipleship, Faith, John Ortberg, Maturity, Quotes on May 2, 2012| Leave a Comment »

John Ortberg

“The growth of the disciples looked something like this: First they had faith in Jesus; then they began to have the faith of Jesus. Their mental maps began to look like Jesus’ mental map. — John Ortberg1

John goes on to say that the deepest conviction of the followers of Christ is boiled down to one sentence,

… his disciples realized that Jesus is the Savior of the world—that he really is the revelation of God himself—and therefore they trusted him with their eternal destinies as well. Elton Trueblood wrote these words, and I think they are profoundly true: “The deepest conviction of the Christian is that Christ was not wrong.”

That’s really what it comes down to, experiencing Christ in living enough to decide to believe him, to take up the faith he had.

Related Post: “Mr Monk’s Gospel Lesson” – May 14, 2010

1 Ortberg, John (2008-09-02). Faith and Doubt (Kindle Locations 715-719). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

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Lesson from a Trapeze Artist

Posted in Faith, Trust, tagged , , on April 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »

John Ortberg, in a little book called Waiting On God, tells of a lesson from The Flying Roudellas.

There are two primary people involved in a successful trapeze act — the “Flyer” and the “Catcher”. The Flyer is the one who lets go and the Catcher is the one who catches.

There comes a time for the Flyer to release, arc into the air, then wait as still as possible for the catcher to pluck him from the air.

The one thing the Flyer must remember is to “never try to catch the Catcher!” — wait as still as possible and trust the catcher to do his job. Waiting on God is a lot like that.

There is a certain vulnerability in letting go of old ways, things we know are not right for us, that which holds us back. There are long pauses, afterwards, where we feel as if we are just hanging there with nothing under us. But God is a good catcher if we let go in obedience, trust his word, and don’t panic in the process.

“They that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” — Psalm 9:10

“But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.– Psalm 5:11

“The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” — Deuteronomy 33:27a

— fritz

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Wild Honey

Posted in Benefits, Decisions, Devotion, Difficulties, Explanations, Faith, In Christ, John The Baptist, tagged , on January 31, 2012| 1 Comment »

“John (the Baptist) wore a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey” — Matthew 3:4.

A former beekeeper, myself, I know bees don’t take kindly to being robbed. We wore special clothing and took special precautions to avoid being stung — but John ate wild honey. He would just reach in and get some! Why?

Evidently he valued the taste of honey more than the sting.

Now let’s focus on a passage from Saint Paul:

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” — 2nd Corinthians 4:7-10

For the Apostle, following Christ sometimes stung — troubled, perplexed, persecuted, cast down. Yet he kept at it! Why?

Evidently he valued the taste of Christ more than the sting.

There is sweetness in Christ found nowhere else that, once tasted, causes some to value it more than anything else. That’s what we have — Wild Honey, and it’s great!!

— fritz

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