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Whether I wore it as a bumper sticker on my car, or on the fly leaf of my bible or even had it tattooed on my arm that, “Godliness with contentment is great gain,” without it being explained (made real-experienced) in the actual setting of my particular circumstances and situations it’s just one more brick added to my already very heavy load in life.
How much stuff is needed to inflate my ego, to make me feel good about myself? I like how the Bible says that it isn’t ‘money’ but, “the love of money that is the root of all evil.”
How often does this very remote but persistent nagging thought gnaw at my innards that I was created for something far more than having or not having things?
I live on earth not somewhere in outer space where God might have a place, so how could these words have any relevance to me in the here and now: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”?
It is becoming so evident to me through many painful experiences that what I’m looking for has nothing to do with finding the ‘perfect’ man, wife, woman, husband, car, job, house, country, friends, or anything of this world, but has everything to do with this God and Father making available to me right now today in this moment, His perfect unconditional loving acceptance.
We were created to be loved, and I am experiencing this energizing reality as I breathe deep of His perfect love for me, and in so doing I find myself relating perfectly with what He had/has purposed for me to BE from before the foundations of the world.
Rich
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
How much stuff is needed to inflate my ego, to make me feel good about myself? I like how the Bible says that it isn’t ‘money’ but, “the love of money that is the root of all evil.”
How often does this very remote but persistent nagging thought gnaw at my innards that I was created for something far more than having or not having things?
I live on earth not somewhere in outer space where God might have a place, so how could these words have any relevance to me in the here and now: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”?
It is becoming so evident to me through many painful experiences that what I’m looking for has nothing to do with finding the ‘perfect’ man, wife, woman, husband, car, job, house, country, friends, or anything of this world, but has everything to do with this God and Father making available to me right now today in this moment, His perfect unconditional loving acceptance.
We were created to be loved, and I am experiencing this energizing reality as I breathe deep of His perfect love for me, and in so doing I find myself relating perfectly with what He had/has purposed for me to BE from before the foundations of the world.
Rich
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son. Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
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