scripture
James 4:13-15
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
quote
There is nothing of which men are so fond, and withal so careless, as life.
Jean La Bruyere
scripture
Genesis 2:21-22, 25
So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man… The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
thought
It is ultimately fear that limits the closeness of our relationships. What if they knew my past? What if they knew my struggles? What if I was honest about my feelings? We wear so many layers of superficiality that no one really knows who we are. They only see who we want them to see. But if we strip off these layers then we could experience true relational intimacy. Wouldn’t it be an amazing feeling to know that you can go to someone and be fully yourself, flaws and all, and yet still be fully accepted?
quote
Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.
scripture
Luke 9:62
Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
thought
An Old Testament story echoes here in Jesus’ words. Remember when Lot and his family left Sodom before it was destroyed? They were told not to look back. Lot’s wife did not listen because her heart was still in Sodom, and when she turned back she became a pillar of salt. Pay attention, following God is serious business. Following God is serious business.
quote
It is a poor sermon that gives no offense; that neither makes the hearer displeased with himself nor with the preacher.
George Whitefield
