IMAGE IS LOADING, PLS BE PATIENT.
Monday, August 20, 2007
You are my place of safety and protection. You are my God and I trust you.”Psalm 91:2
Have bad things really happened to you? You and God may have different definitions for the word bad. Parents and children do. Look up the word bad in a middle-schooler’s dictionary, and you’ll read definitions such as “pimple on nose,” or “pop quiz in geometry.” “Dad, this is really bad!” the youngster says. Dad, having been around the block a time or two, thinks differently. Pimples pass…
What you and I might rate as an absolute disaster, God may rate as a pimple-level problem that will pass. He views your life the way you view a movie after you’ve read the book. When something bad happens, you feel the air sucked out of the theater. Everyone else gasps at the crisis on the screen. Not you. Why? You’ve read the book. You know how the good guy gets out of the tight spot. God views your life with the same confidence. He’s not only read your story…he wrote it.
from Come Thirsty; Max LucadoWhatever is true, whatever is honorable,…if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”Philippians 4:8 RSV
Change the thoughts, and you change the person. If today’s thoughts are tomorrow’s actions, what happens when we fill our minds with thoughts of God’s love? Will standing beneath the downpour of his grace change the way we feel about others?
Paul says absolutely! It’s not enough to keep the bad stuff out. We’ve got to let the good stuff in. It’s not enough to keep no list of wrongs. We have to cultivate a list of blessings: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Thinking conveys the idea of pondering—studying and focusing, allowing what is viewed to have an impact on us.
Rather than store up the sour, store up the sweet.
from A Love Worth Giving; Max Lucado
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