1. Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.
2. Reject anything that is producing an addiction in you.
3. Develop a habit of giving things away.
4. Refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry. Time saving devices almost never save time.
5. Learn to enjoy things without owning them.
6. Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation. Walk whenever you can. Listen. Marvel at God's creation.
7. Look with a healthy skepticism at all "buy now, pay later" schemes.
8. Obey Jesus' instructions about plain, honest speech. Let what you say be simply 'Yes or No'.
9. Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others.
10. Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the Kingdom of God.
Taken from Richard Foster's book, Celebration of Discipline.
Think about it!
Jason
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
What do you seek?
Hear the word of God:
That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.
Matthew 6:25-34
How well have you been seeking lately? Has that been where your main passions and heart have been focused? For many of us, we may not be able to say that. We may say that we have been too busy with the day to day. We have had so many things to catch up on. We have had so many people demanding our time. Could you imagine living a life with no concerns like the lilies of the field? Could you imagine just getting up and going out like the birds and collecting just what you needed for that moment? These animals and plants and nature all allow God to be their supply.
What would this look like for a Christian? We don’t plan our lives around how much money or how many things that we have. We just live for the day and try our best to be our best for God. We try our best to influence as many as possible that day. We try our best to be there for our families first. We try our best to Seek God above all else! This comes through study, prayer, silence and solitude with God, worship, and just being with our maker. Some days the simple life sounds so beautiful and some days it seems like something that would be so hard to obtain. I guess none of us will ever find out unless we start out on that journey and seek!
Jason
That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.
Matthew 6:25-34
How well have you been seeking lately? Has that been where your main passions and heart have been focused? For many of us, we may not be able to say that. We may say that we have been too busy with the day to day. We have had so many things to catch up on. We have had so many people demanding our time. Could you imagine living a life with no concerns like the lilies of the field? Could you imagine just getting up and going out like the birds and collecting just what you needed for that moment? These animals and plants and nature all allow God to be their supply.
What would this look like for a Christian? We don’t plan our lives around how much money or how many things that we have. We just live for the day and try our best to be our best for God. We try our best to influence as many as possible that day. We try our best to be there for our families first. We try our best to Seek God above all else! This comes through study, prayer, silence and solitude with God, worship, and just being with our maker. Some days the simple life sounds so beautiful and some days it seems like something that would be so hard to obtain. I guess none of us will ever find out unless we start out on that journey and seek!
Jason
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Simple or complex?
I know that our discipline classes have been so spread out over the last two months. Spring Break took us away from getting together, and so many of us have been in and out of town. If you have paid attention though, you have noticed that the devotionals have not stopped on our devotional blog. There has been a discussion every day about involving ourselves in a spiritual discipline. The point of all of these times together is to help us grow closer to our Father, with the hopes that our faith in our God will overflow into the lives of our boys, our families, and our community. How are we doing? That is a question that we will be discussing next week in our final disciplines class. I do want us to prepare ourselves for that time together. We will be going through the disciplines we have discussed and sharing any thoughts or feelings we have had along the way.
“God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising.”
Ecclesiastes 7:30
Worries, stress, arguments, strife in marriage and friendships. How many of us have had at least one of these problems in our lives? As we have worked on our time with God, I know that there have been things in my life that have automatically changed because my time has been centered more on Him, than on myself. Some of you have made comments similar to this in emails, blog comments, and in your own personal journals that you have shared with me. We all have so many things in our lives that keep us from having more time to spend with God and our families as well. I would like to ask you to pause as you read this and make a list of things that you think you have placed ahead of your relationship with God.
God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising! I enjoy this quote. It sheds so much light on the problems that we have allowed to take over our lives. Remember those worries, stresses, arguments, and problems in relationships? How many of them were caused by God, and how many of them were caused by some of those things that we have allowed to come before God?
“The Christian discipline of simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward life-style.” - Richard Foster from the book, Celebration of Discipline
We live in a world where everyone wants to have what their neighbor, co-worker, friends, and other family members have. I made that list of people because I have heard someone say as much about those people just this week. My own son was saying how much he wanted the Transformer that he had seen another child have. We want, want, want, but have you ever thought about what you give away with each and every thing you buy or receive?
I can look back on many of the problems I have been through in my life and many of them were caused by me misusing my time doing and getting things. What if we tried to think of our lives in a more simplistic manner? What might change if we focused on simplifying our own lives? These are questions that we will be discussing during this next few days. I do want to end this thought today by asking each of us to take our problems and give them to God. Ask him with sincerity to truly help you to do an overhaul on your spiritual life. Use some time in study, prayer, and solitude to think about your life and those you love, especially God and just meditate on some of the things we discussed today.
May God bless us as we seek simplicity.
Jason
“God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising.”
Ecclesiastes 7:30
Worries, stress, arguments, strife in marriage and friendships. How many of us have had at least one of these problems in our lives? As we have worked on our time with God, I know that there have been things in my life that have automatically changed because my time has been centered more on Him, than on myself. Some of you have made comments similar to this in emails, blog comments, and in your own personal journals that you have shared with me. We all have so many things in our lives that keep us from having more time to spend with God and our families as well. I would like to ask you to pause as you read this and make a list of things that you think you have placed ahead of your relationship with God.
God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising! I enjoy this quote. It sheds so much light on the problems that we have allowed to take over our lives. Remember those worries, stresses, arguments, and problems in relationships? How many of them were caused by God, and how many of them were caused by some of those things that we have allowed to come before God?
“The Christian discipline of simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward life-style.” - Richard Foster from the book, Celebration of Discipline
We live in a world where everyone wants to have what their neighbor, co-worker, friends, and other family members have. I made that list of people because I have heard someone say as much about those people just this week. My own son was saying how much he wanted the Transformer that he had seen another child have. We want, want, want, but have you ever thought about what you give away with each and every thing you buy or receive?
I can look back on many of the problems I have been through in my life and many of them were caused by me misusing my time doing and getting things. What if we tried to think of our lives in a more simplistic manner? What might change if we focused on simplifying our own lives? These are questions that we will be discussing during this next few days. I do want to end this thought today by asking each of us to take our problems and give them to God. Ask him with sincerity to truly help you to do an overhaul on your spiritual life. Use some time in study, prayer, and solitude to think about your life and those you love, especially God and just meditate on some of the things we discussed today.
May God bless us as we seek simplicity.
Jason
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
You have become so dear to me ...
Today, I received an email from a deacon at the last congregation where we worked and worshipped. As I read this email and began to pray for the prayer request in the email, I realized something. We may have moved 1,300 miles away from our brothers and sisters up in Pittsburgh, but I still feel the closeness and the love in my heart that I did on the day that we left.
Dave, who is the deacon I mentioned earlier, is such a giving man. His passion for the Lord and doing the right thing explodes out of every pore of his body. I cannot tell you the times that he bent over backwards to help someone else out. As the worship leader there, you couldn’t have found a better person to watch during worship, because he was pouring his heart out with every word he sung. The day that I told the congregation that we had chosen to move away and the reasons why we were moving, he felt cut to the heart. We left the congregation because we couldn’t afford to live in that area with our growing family and the amount they were able to pay me. I hate that this was our reason, but we had to think of our family’s well-being. Anyway, Dave came up to me afterwards with check book in hand and said, “How much do you need to get you guys to stay with us?” Can I tell you how tempted I was to take that money so we could stay and worship with our family there?
We had a bond. There was a connection in Spirit, in heart, and in passion. So many great things had happened and were happening. We love our Pittsburgh family. Dave reminded me of something today. He reminded me of the Community! We were a community concerned for each others' well being. We were concerned about each other’s kids. We were all there for each other. I never doubt the love they had for all of us. Our kids learned so much about God and His family while we were at Crossroads.
We love you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. - 1 Thessalonians 2:8
This family meant so much to us. They still do, but we have been led here to this community. We are a family working, living, crying, hurting, loving, ministering, worshipping, serving, and being together. We have all been drawn here for a reason. We have all come from varying backgrounds. The amazing thing though, is that I believe that God placed us all in each other’s lives for a reason. Did you know that community is a discipline? Practicing being together is a discipline. Some of you may think that this should be something so easy to practice. We are together a lot, so doesn’t that make us a community practicing community anyway? Part of this community is realizing that we are sharing in all of this together. Not only the good times and the fun times, but the hard times as well.
Others…become agents of grace in our growth toward wholeness in Christ while we become agents of God’s grace to their growth. - Robert Mulholland
I want to challenge us all to practice intentional friendship. Practice a friendship that goes beyond just the shallow knowledge of each other. Some are already setting aside time to sit down and study together. They pray and read the Word together. They share their hearts and have this time where they are being vulnerable and close to each other. That is a great part of the community. That is being with each other in the strongest way possible. I am responsible to make sure you are growing closer to God. You are responsible for me as well. We are responsible for showing this community to our boys and letting them know that this is a safe place to be together and grow together in ways they have never grown before.
I want to challenge you all to think of ways that you can grow closer in this spiritual sense in our community. If you feel drawn to form a bible study group, or just meet and pray once a week together in our coffee shop, or whatever, listen to that Spirit’s tug in your heart and do it. Think of it this way, if I have become so dear to you, like in 1 Thessalonians 2:8, what are you doing to help me grow in my faith? We should all be asking ourselves that question about each other every day. Take the time to consider what you are doing and follow the Spirit’s guidance as he leads us all into a deeper community of believers.
I love you my brothers and sisters!
Jason
Dave, who is the deacon I mentioned earlier, is such a giving man. His passion for the Lord and doing the right thing explodes out of every pore of his body. I cannot tell you the times that he bent over backwards to help someone else out. As the worship leader there, you couldn’t have found a better person to watch during worship, because he was pouring his heart out with every word he sung. The day that I told the congregation that we had chosen to move away and the reasons why we were moving, he felt cut to the heart. We left the congregation because we couldn’t afford to live in that area with our growing family and the amount they were able to pay me. I hate that this was our reason, but we had to think of our family’s well-being. Anyway, Dave came up to me afterwards with check book in hand and said, “How much do you need to get you guys to stay with us?” Can I tell you how tempted I was to take that money so we could stay and worship with our family there?
We had a bond. There was a connection in Spirit, in heart, and in passion. So many great things had happened and were happening. We love our Pittsburgh family. Dave reminded me of something today. He reminded me of the Community! We were a community concerned for each others' well being. We were concerned about each other’s kids. We were all there for each other. I never doubt the love they had for all of us. Our kids learned so much about God and His family while we were at Crossroads.
We love you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. - 1 Thessalonians 2:8
This family meant so much to us. They still do, but we have been led here to this community. We are a family working, living, crying, hurting, loving, ministering, worshipping, serving, and being together. We have all been drawn here for a reason. We have all come from varying backgrounds. The amazing thing though, is that I believe that God placed us all in each other’s lives for a reason. Did you know that community is a discipline? Practicing being together is a discipline. Some of you may think that this should be something so easy to practice. We are together a lot, so doesn’t that make us a community practicing community anyway? Part of this community is realizing that we are sharing in all of this together. Not only the good times and the fun times, but the hard times as well.
Others…become agents of grace in our growth toward wholeness in Christ while we become agents of God’s grace to their growth. - Robert Mulholland
I want to challenge us all to practice intentional friendship. Practice a friendship that goes beyond just the shallow knowledge of each other. Some are already setting aside time to sit down and study together. They pray and read the Word together. They share their hearts and have this time where they are being vulnerable and close to each other. That is a great part of the community. That is being with each other in the strongest way possible. I am responsible to make sure you are growing closer to God. You are responsible for me as well. We are responsible for showing this community to our boys and letting them know that this is a safe place to be together and grow together in ways they have never grown before.
I want to challenge you all to think of ways that you can grow closer in this spiritual sense in our community. If you feel drawn to form a bible study group, or just meet and pray once a week together in our coffee shop, or whatever, listen to that Spirit’s tug in your heart and do it. Think of it this way, if I have become so dear to you, like in 1 Thessalonians 2:8, what are you doing to help me grow in my faith? We should all be asking ourselves that question about each other every day. Take the time to consider what you are doing and follow the Spirit’s guidance as he leads us all into a deeper community of believers.
I love you my brothers and sisters!
Jason
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
From crying to dancing ,,,
Today, I was sitting and watching as Joshlynn ran around the house with a piece of bread. She went and hid in our living room and when I went to check out why she was so quiet, I found her sitting in the floor and she was ripping that piece of bread to shreds. It was all over the floor in tiny pieces. She was eating each individual piece, but when she saw me walk in and look at her, the tears started flowing. She knew that what she had done was not the right thing. It was what she wanted to do “at the time.”
I pointed out her mess, made her pick up the big pieces, and then I placed her in time out. She cried the whole time, and finally when I let her get up she went right back to the table where the rest of us were sitting and acted like nothing happened. She then saw me go and start vacuuming the smaller pieces up and saw that I didn’t look to happy still, and she got up and came over and hugged my leg and said, “Sorry Daddy!” This 32 year old man, who had been so angry before, over bread, could do nothing but turn off the vacuum and pick up his daughter and hug her as tight as he could.
She did something wrong, because at the moment it was what she wanted to do. Kids are like that unfortunately, that’s why we parents need to teach them what not to do and why. The crazy thing is, we as adults are like that sometimes too. We just do something, and then we pay the price. The guilt comes and we know who we are supposed to turn to for that acceptance and forgiveness. We turn to our Father.
Psalm 30
I will exalt you, LORD, for you rescued me.
You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you restored my health.
You brought me up from the grave, O LORD.
You kept me from falling into the pit of death.
Sing to the LORD, all you godly ones!
Praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
When I was prosperous, I said,
"Nothing can stop me now!"
Your favor, O LORD, made me as secure as a mountain.
Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.
I cried out to you, O LORD.
I begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
"What will you gain if I die,
if I sink into the grave?
Can my dust praise you?
Can it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear me, LORD, and have mercy on me.
Help me, O LORD."
You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!
Joshlynn received her hug from daddy and we danced around the room for a little while and then she ran off in a rush to her next project. She was so happy, but just minutes before, she was in tears because she was caught doing something wrong. I wanted to share this story, and relate to you that part of Celebration is knowing that you have been a horrible person, and you have failed your Father, but you also know that your Father is waiting on you to run back to him and ask for that forgiveness. That is when the party starts in your heart.
Just like Joshlynn, a smile should jump onto your face, and you should begin that beautiful dance of praise, because your Daddy loves you so much even though you stumble and fail. I think that we need to really celebrate as well. You can tell when you have made your children happy, especially by letting them know they are forgiven. Take some time to thank God for his forgiveness and sing some songs, write down a prayer of praise for all He has done for you, do a little dance around the room, or just sit alone in your favorite chair and smile in the presence of your God. You are forgiven, your God is there for you as always, and He loves you!
Praise God!
Jason
I pointed out her mess, made her pick up the big pieces, and then I placed her in time out. She cried the whole time, and finally when I let her get up she went right back to the table where the rest of us were sitting and acted like nothing happened. She then saw me go and start vacuuming the smaller pieces up and saw that I didn’t look to happy still, and she got up and came over and hugged my leg and said, “Sorry Daddy!” This 32 year old man, who had been so angry before, over bread, could do nothing but turn off the vacuum and pick up his daughter and hug her as tight as he could.
She did something wrong, because at the moment it was what she wanted to do. Kids are like that unfortunately, that’s why we parents need to teach them what not to do and why. The crazy thing is, we as adults are like that sometimes too. We just do something, and then we pay the price. The guilt comes and we know who we are supposed to turn to for that acceptance and forgiveness. We turn to our Father.
Psalm 30
I will exalt you, LORD, for you rescued me.
You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you restored my health.
You brought me up from the grave, O LORD.
You kept me from falling into the pit of death.
Sing to the LORD, all you godly ones!
Praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night,
but joy comes with the morning.
When I was prosperous, I said,
"Nothing can stop me now!"
Your favor, O LORD, made me as secure as a mountain.
Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.
I cried out to you, O LORD.
I begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
"What will you gain if I die,
if I sink into the grave?
Can my dust praise you?
Can it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear me, LORD, and have mercy on me.
Help me, O LORD."
You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!
Joshlynn received her hug from daddy and we danced around the room for a little while and then she ran off in a rush to her next project. She was so happy, but just minutes before, she was in tears because she was caught doing something wrong. I wanted to share this story, and relate to you that part of Celebration is knowing that you have been a horrible person, and you have failed your Father, but you also know that your Father is waiting on you to run back to him and ask for that forgiveness. That is when the party starts in your heart.
Just like Joshlynn, a smile should jump onto your face, and you should begin that beautiful dance of praise, because your Daddy loves you so much even though you stumble and fail. I think that we need to really celebrate as well. You can tell when you have made your children happy, especially by letting them know they are forgiven. Take some time to thank God for his forgiveness and sing some songs, write down a prayer of praise for all He has done for you, do a little dance around the room, or just sit alone in your favorite chair and smile in the presence of your God. You are forgiven, your God is there for you as always, and He loves you!
Praise God!
Jason
Monday, March 30, 2009
Glimpses of hope ...
I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. Philippians 1:3-7
Today I was reminded of something. We were having our Impact class this morning and we did an activity that involved worshipping together, praying together, and taking the Lord’s Supper together. Eight boys in our class and I sat in a circle and read from the scriptures. They partnered up and said prayers for each other that brought a couple to tears, and they sang songs that sounded so beautiful that we had people standing outside the doors worshipping with us.
Since the boys were partnered up, I was the odd man out so I sat out of the experience and allowed the boys to all play a part. One of our boys stood up towards the end of the time and brought me the bread and the juice. He asked another of our boys to continue in song while he prayed for me. I sat there and allowed him to pray over me and I took the communion. I was actually brought to tears, because this boy thought of me. So often there are times when we wonder whether or not the people we are teaching, actually get it. This was a “Yeah God!” moment where I wanted to shout it from the rooftops and stand and say, “Hallelujah, they are getting something!”
We had another moment like this at Winterfest, where a few of us house dads were given the honor of having our feet washed by some of our boys. That was just another time where God used the bits and pieces of the Message that we have all been bringing into the lives of our boys, to truly start a transformation process in their lives.
I chose the passage in Philippians because that is something that I can see myself saying about some of our boys right now. “A good work,” has begun in the lives of our boys. God, who began that good work, will carry it on to completion. I celebrate and thank our God that he is showing these little glimpses of hope that our ministry is definitely not in vain. Not that I ever thought that our work was in vain, but we all need a little “Yeah God!” moment in our lives now and again.
If you have had some of these moments in your life, please share them with us all, because we all need a chance to celebrate in the great things that God is doing in our lives and in the lives of those we love so dearly. There are many different ways of practicing Celebration, but seeing those glimpses of hope and God’s glory in our ministry are definitely something we all need. Celebrate the great things that are happening in your life and ministry by sharing them with your co-laborers, with your family, and with your friends. Praise God for those we love and wrestle in prayer over. Thank God for those you love, and tell them!
Thanks for allowing me to be a part of this ministry with you all!
Jason
Today I was reminded of something. We were having our Impact class this morning and we did an activity that involved worshipping together, praying together, and taking the Lord’s Supper together. Eight boys in our class and I sat in a circle and read from the scriptures. They partnered up and said prayers for each other that brought a couple to tears, and they sang songs that sounded so beautiful that we had people standing outside the doors worshipping with us.
Since the boys were partnered up, I was the odd man out so I sat out of the experience and allowed the boys to all play a part. One of our boys stood up towards the end of the time and brought me the bread and the juice. He asked another of our boys to continue in song while he prayed for me. I sat there and allowed him to pray over me and I took the communion. I was actually brought to tears, because this boy thought of me. So often there are times when we wonder whether or not the people we are teaching, actually get it. This was a “Yeah God!” moment where I wanted to shout it from the rooftops and stand and say, “Hallelujah, they are getting something!”
We had another moment like this at Winterfest, where a few of us house dads were given the honor of having our feet washed by some of our boys. That was just another time where God used the bits and pieces of the Message that we have all been bringing into the lives of our boys, to truly start a transformation process in their lives.
I chose the passage in Philippians because that is something that I can see myself saying about some of our boys right now. “A good work,” has begun in the lives of our boys. God, who began that good work, will carry it on to completion. I celebrate and thank our God that he is showing these little glimpses of hope that our ministry is definitely not in vain. Not that I ever thought that our work was in vain, but we all need a little “Yeah God!” moment in our lives now and again.
If you have had some of these moments in your life, please share them with us all, because we all need a chance to celebrate in the great things that God is doing in our lives and in the lives of those we love so dearly. There are many different ways of practicing Celebration, but seeing those glimpses of hope and God’s glory in our ministry are definitely something we all need. Celebrate the great things that are happening in your life and ministry by sharing them with your co-laborers, with your family, and with your friends. Praise God for those we love and wrestle in prayer over. Thank God for those you love, and tell them!
Thanks for allowing me to be a part of this ministry with you all!
Jason
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Joy into life ...
Let us read a few excerpts from Foster’s book, The Celebration of Discipline, to help direct our minds and hearts as we learn about the Discipline of Celebration.
“Celebration brings joy into life, and joy makes us strong. Scripture tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) We cannot continue long in anything without it. Women endure childbirth because the joy of motherhood lies on the other side. Young married couples struggle through the first difficult years of adjustment because they value the insurance of a long life together. Parents hold steady through the teen years, knowing that their children will emerge at the other end human once again.”
“Joy is the part of the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22) Often I am inclined to think that joy is the motor, the thing that keeps everything else going. Without joyous celebration to infuse the other Disciplines, we will sooner or later abandon them. Joy produces energy. Joy makes us strong.”
Richard Foster places the discipline of Celebration at the end of his book, partly because he says that you must work on your other disciplines first. Truly being able to celebrate is one of the hardest disciplines. How easy is it to look at our new born baby and be joyful and be so excited and ready to celebrate our love for our God? How easy is it to celebrate on the day we give our life to our spouse? How easy is it to celebrate when we watch someone we love give their life to Jesus and arise from the waters of baptism?
But can we celebrate on a daily basis? Can we wake up and see the joy in life that day? I believe Foster was right to have this as one of his final disciplines. Finding that joy and that ease to celebrate is something that happens from the overflow of so many of the other disciplines. How is your joy today? Are you able to Celebrate, and what does he mean by Celebrate? We will talk about this over the next few days. Let me leave you with this challenge.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7
Jason
“Celebration brings joy into life, and joy makes us strong. Scripture tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) We cannot continue long in anything without it. Women endure childbirth because the joy of motherhood lies on the other side. Young married couples struggle through the first difficult years of adjustment because they value the insurance of a long life together. Parents hold steady through the teen years, knowing that their children will emerge at the other end human once again.”
“Joy is the part of the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22) Often I am inclined to think that joy is the motor, the thing that keeps everything else going. Without joyous celebration to infuse the other Disciplines, we will sooner or later abandon them. Joy produces energy. Joy makes us strong.”
Richard Foster places the discipline of Celebration at the end of his book, partly because he says that you must work on your other disciplines first. Truly being able to celebrate is one of the hardest disciplines. How easy is it to look at our new born baby and be joyful and be so excited and ready to celebrate our love for our God? How easy is it to celebrate on the day we give our life to our spouse? How easy is it to celebrate when we watch someone we love give their life to Jesus and arise from the waters of baptism?
But can we celebrate on a daily basis? Can we wake up and see the joy in life that day? I believe Foster was right to have this as one of his final disciplines. Finding that joy and that ease to celebrate is something that happens from the overflow of so many of the other disciplines. How is your joy today? Are you able to Celebrate, and what does he mean by Celebrate? We will talk about this over the next few days. Let me leave you with this challenge.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7
Jason
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