Are You Grasping or Aligning?
Sometimes it may feels like we are not getting anywhere. We may be working hard, being faithful and even bearing more weight than those around us. Yet, maybe few seem to notice our work, our abilities or our investment. At times like this, we start to wonder about the future – whether we will ever be seen or heard for who we really are. We may ask what we need to do to get noticed, appreciated and/or rewarded.
Strangely, we find James and John – two of Jesus’s closest followers – in a similar situation (Mark 10:35-45). They, quite possibly with the input/influence of their mother (Matthew 20:20-28), decided they wanted to take their future into their own hands. They flat out asked Jesus to secure places of prominence for them in His Coming Kingdom. This seemed like a brazen request to the other disciples, though one that may have been in their hearts, too.
Jesus’s response included an interesting idea. He said that these places of prominence...
Is God Really "For" Us?
Our intentions and motives don’t always align with our actions. Sometimes our intentions are better than our actions. Many people intend to pray more than they actually do, or maybe they intend to study more hours than they actually log, or they intend to be nicer to their spouse than they actually are. In these cases people hope to be judged according to their intentions rather than their actions.
On the other hand, sometimes our intentions are worse than our actions. We may make judgments against others in our heart, but not ever communicate those judgments or do anything about them. We may judge or condemn or try to manipulate people, but hide our true intentions so that they may go undetected. In these situations we hope to only be judged by our actions, not our sinister intentions.
What about God’s intentions – can we clearly discern them? Not always. God’s intentions are to advance His Kingdom so that more and more people will know Him and experience...
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