Til glory

Our Daily Bread
I like silly humor at times.  The sillier the better.  One of my favorites is the Monty Python movies.  They combined some of the story lines into a Broadway musical called Spamalot.  At one point, they are gathering the dead folks on a large cart moving through the village.  One poor soul was not ready to be put on the cart and exclaimed "Not yet dead".  A rousing song ensued!

We have all lost someone close to us.  It is not easy.  We remember the good times and the bad times with the person.  We remember what we did wrong and we remember regrets.  We think about them over the holidays and special occasions.  Remembering can be good because it can help us heal.

While we laugh at the "not yet dead" scene, we should remember we are "not yet dead" each and every day.  We are on this earth for a purpose.  "Find your grail" today and live your life for God!

Lord, thank you for the promise of heaven and being with you.  We know you are always with us!

Simply Saturday
Passion
I want to write a little bit about passion today.  Please understand that this article is the opinion of a silly old bear named Duane.  Some may say "he don't know nothin' bout no passion!"  ha!

The dictionary defines passion as follows:

pas·sion  [pash-uh n]
noun
1.any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.
2.strong amorous feeling or desire; love; ardor.
3.strong sexual desire; lust.
4.an instance or experience of strong love or sexual desire.
5.a person toward whom one feels strong love or sexual desire.

There are a lot of songs written about this word.  I want to talk about having a passion for being a child of God and living our lives that way.  Where do I start?

No one really knows where passion starts in a romantic relationship.  Sometimes it just happens.  Sometimes it builds up over time.  You simply know that he or she is "the one".  So how does that work with God?  Some scriptures imply that God woos us into a relationship with him.  The Holy Spirit tugs at our hearts.  We catch a glimpse of the love that awaits us if we accept God into our lives.  We finally realize that God is "the one", the one and only true God.

Much like a romantic relationship, we can get closer to God by getting to know him better.  We learn about God from reading the Bible and religious books from trusted authors.  For non-Bible literature, I love the C.S. Lewis books about his relationship with God such as Surprised by Joy.  There is also My Utmost for his Highest by Oswald Chambers.  Very good reads if you want to grow your relationship with God.  Getting to know someone also includes talking and listening.  Most folks find this trickier with God since he is not a physical being that can sit across from you at Starbucks.  You know, havin' a latte with the maker of the Universe.  Good times.  ha!  For me, it is more about taking time to listen.  Be open to the myriad of ways that God can speak to you.  For example, the beginning of this week was very difficult for me in several ways.  At one point, I seriously considered disconnecting myself from several things like Facebook, church, Bible study class, etc.  As I took a step back, I asked God for direction.  The next morning I received a private message from a Facebook acquaintance pouring out his heart out and asking me for some insight.  I cried.  I didn't realize he (or anyone) read my blog or my FB posts.  I didn't realize that they actually mean something to some folks.  I was drowning in self-pity and couldn't look around.  God spoke.  I listened.  I shared some things with my friend.  We both were fed by God that day.  A passion for God causes and results in these types of interactions.  I can testify!

So usually after getting to know someone and deciding "he is the one" or "she is the one", we make a commitment.  The commitment phase occurs a little earlier in the relationship with God since we usually learn about him from an early age.  The type of commitment I am talking about here is a commitment to "passion" for our relationship with God.  It means putting God first in your life.  The type of passion even more intense than a romantic relationship.  You MUST have God in your life. You HAVE to trust him for every breath.  You cannot ignore him or not spend time with him.  This is different than much of what you hear in church!  I tried to explain to a romantic interest that he would never be number one in my life.  God would always have that place.  When he protested a little, I explained "I have to put God first so I can be the man you need me to be".  He finally understood!

How does our passion for God manifest itself?  When you are in a romantic relationship, there are lots of things that you can do to show how much you care.  You can tell the person "I love you" each and every day.  You can buy gifts or flowers or candy or cards.  You can leave little notes in the fridge (yes, I am a romantic).  How can we manifest our passion for God?  I like to keep things simple when I can.  Love God and love others.  Yes, there are a lot of little details about those things about specific acts that God calls us to do.  Giving of ourselves.  Being as godly as we humanly can.  Sharing our faith with others.  Serving others.  Worshiping God with others.  All these things just scratch the surface on the things we can to do manifest our passion for God.

What is your passion?  Is it God?  How do you show your passion for God?  Let us think about this today and pray for each other to live our passion.

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We are far from perfect, but despite our mistakes and our sins, we will never abandon the Lord and he will never abandon us - adapted from a statement about Abraham from the EfM Training Guide