Welcome!
Date: Thursday, September 23, 2010
Today: Grow through what you go through
Passage: Rom 12:19-21NIV
19Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d]says the Lord. 20On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”[e] 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good..
Preaching is easy; practicing is the difficult part
Personality clashes occur, regardless of how good we are
Even the disciples of Jesus, the twelve, had a problem among them
The problem was: “who is the president?” (Who is the greatest?)
In our Church, kids have something called “God’s kidz”
It is their “association”, most of them under 10 yrs
They have a President, Secretary, Treasurer and vice-presidents
What they don’t have are members; everybody has some title
I don’t blame them. They see this trend everywhere
In our organizations as well as Churches, most are after some title
While the disciples of Jesus were still talking about “the President” and the secretary, their question probably was, “why we have a treasurer and no President?”
Now, Jesus did something without any delay. He filled the vessel with water and went around washing everybody’s feet
When Jesus said, “Love your enemies”, it made sense. He had the right to say so
One of my colleagues have a phrase at the bottom of his e-mail, and I like it:
“Grow through what you go through”
Is everything that we face, intended to “grow” us?
In a way, “yes”. It all depends on how you look at it
An accident, a loss, failures, criticisms are all contributors to our growth
A child who is growing up in a rich house where he/she gets everything that they ask for, may not be the best, as they become an adult
If we have everything favorable, we can become one of the most unproductive persons
Thank God for every trouble and opposition we go through; they make us grow
When we have people shouting and yelling at us, when people intentionally disregard us, say “Praise you Jesus; thank you Lord” from the depth of our heart
I am sure you had many instances when you were not “thanked” for something you deserved thanks. Sometimes you kept a door open for somebody and they just walked through it as if you owe it to them
People sometimes command you, when you should have been commanding them
You had to do everything in the house and everything at work, sometimes
And then, somebody comes yelling at you because salt was not enough………
Kids often use a phrase: “that was not fair”
We also say that, (in our heart) many a time
When your colleague/spouse/children do certain things, you have said that
Very often, we say that to God
But look at Jesus, what He did on the cross: “Father, forgive them”
The wife of Graham Stains, an Australian missionary to India, said: “I forgive those who killed my husband and our two kids”
We have to go a long way; we do get upset easily
But God is the one who is watching us. He will come with the answer at the right time
So, bless God; be a blessing to your “enemies”
BG
Prayer: Lord, I know it is difficult, but help me to be a blessing to everyone out there today. Teach me to forgive as you did. Amen