MLJ

May 27


The world is but a broken toy, Its pleasure hollow - false its joy, Unreal its loveliest hue (W. S. Gilbert)


Our Lord is saying (Matthew 6:19) that worldly treasures do not last; that they are transitory, passing, ephemeral. 'Change and decay in all around I see...... where moth and rust doth corrupt'.

How true it is. There is an element of decay in all these things, whether we like it or not ... These things never fully satisfy. There is always something wrong with them; they always lack something. There is no person on earth who is fully satisfied; and though in a sense some may appear to have everything that they desire, still they want something else ...

There is another way of looking at the effect of moth and rust spiritually. Not only is there an element of decay in these things; it is also true that we always tend to tire of them ... That is why we are always talking about new things and seeking them. Fashions change; and though we are very enthusiastic about certain things for a while, soon they no longer interest us as they did ... The last fact, therefore, about these things is that they inevitably perish. Your most beautiful flower is beginning to die immediately you pluck it. You will soon have to throw it away. That is true of everything in this life and world ... Things develop holes and become useless ... the most perfect physique will eventually give way and break down and die ... However wonderful and beautiful and glorious things may be, they all perish. That is why, perhaps, the saddest of all failures in life is the failure of the philosopher who believes in worshipping goodness, beauty and truth; because there is no such thing as perfect goodness, there is no such thing as unalloyed beauty; there is an element of wrong and of sin and a lie in the highest truths. 'Moth and rust doth corrupt.'

Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 88-9

Friend or Foe?

Been thinking a little about the "world." How are we called to relate to it. Friend or foe? Dying to it or dying for it? How can the two go together.

John 3, God so loves the world / 1 john 2 Anyone who loves the world, God's love is not in him

James 4 friendship with the world is enmity with God / Philippians 2 shine like light's in the world

Perhaps God's love, and our sympathy with God (holiness) looks like loving the world sacrificially with the eye to redeem it, not to make it our ultimate home as it is. The eye of faith looks with love, and see the glory its lost, and the glory that could be returned, even as at the same time, the eyes of faith are not infatuated with the world, but crucified to it, as the world as it is now, is rotting, and passing.

As John says

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

It's like we live now under a long eclipse, but the moonlit darkness that casts its shadow on us all will pass? Will where we love now correlate to where we will live forever?

The real question I ask is, how does dying to the world, become the greatest 'love of all' for the world? (doesn't that seem odd?) What does the Resurrection have to do with it? And how do we enter ourselves into that sacrifice? I welcome your feedback.

CT Image Blog

A planetary nebula designated NGC 2818, photographed by the Hubble Telescope. By NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning the first day.

Genesis 1:1 - 5

(One of my Favorite Blogs..)

Turning to the Father's

I've enjoyed this podcast for awhile (till I washed my mp3 player in the wash a few months ago :(.. )

This comes from the Greek orthodox church, they introduce you to some of the early desert monks of Egypt and others doctors of the church from Asia minor. While the western church (catholic tradition) has traditionally placed an importance on organization, and administration (which is important), the eastern church (orthodox) has an incredible heritage of worship and devotion.

Want to be a missionary?

My Top Ten ways to prepare

10. Get on your knees and pray for the nations. Learn what the world map looks like.

9. Linger in the places your world that is cross cultural, relocate and immerse yourself if possible.

8. Share your life and faith every week. Think about others, interests, fears, humor, language, culture, and how to explain the gospel to others more clearly and winsomely.

7. Fight your corruptions with the gospel of grace, and wrestle with God as if sin could completely derail your life, marriage and ministry.

6. Go camping, as rough as you can. Incrementally start learning to conserving water. food and power at home.

5. Live in community, not just your best friends exactly like you, just to help with rent, but see if you can handle a cross cultural living in your own home, have certain times you eat meals together and worship together.

4. Cultivate a lifestyle of generosity, don't worry so much about how you'll 'treat' yourself on the weekends, but take some of "your" extra time and money and give it away. Imagine you're going to heaven one day and that it will be unimaginably worth it to live life for others now.

3. Cultivate a lifestyle of risk, pray for the courage to take heat for Christ from others walk into situations with people cross culturally that make you look foolish out of love, Ask God what is it that He would want you to risk each day. Be willing to have others problems totally screw up your day. Take the Jericho road, robber's are there, but also people made in the image of God.

2. Cultivate a lifestyle of service, be ready to say yes to Jesus, to love and serve others, especially those in the Church. Especially if you're young going to the East, work on how you relate to those who are older, find ways to serve them.

1. Spend time with others that share the dream of missionary service and spur each other on.

These are written in no order, just as they came to mind, its a culmination of advice I've heard in the past, things we've done and found really helpful, and thing's we are looking to keep working on. Me and my wife have both served in hispanic kensington,phila. , Kristy has been to Mexico 10 times, and I have been to Kenya twice, once for almost a year. We are hoping to go to help a pastoral / church planting coaching team that works with the east african presbyterian church, as I work for my master's in divinity. (4-5 years?)