Month: December 2013

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Lectio Reflection 12/14/13

Verse
If with heart and soul you’re doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you’re still better off. Don’t give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath. It’s better to suffer for doing good, if that’s what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That’s what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others’ sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God. (1 Peter 3:13-18 MSG)

My Word or Phrase
With heart and soul

My Image
I see people like Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa who gave fully of themselves for their cause – heart & soul – despite the hardships and suffering it caused them.

My Invitation
I need to discover or perhaps just develop what it is God is calling me to give my heart and soul to. Or is it that all I do I should give it all I have? What kind of life message would that send to the world? What does this look like?

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Lectio Reflection 12/12/13

Lectio is the spiritual practice of meditating on a section of scripture and allowing God to speak to you though it.

Verse
I can’t tell you how happy I am to learn that many members of your congregation are diligent in living out the Truth, exactly as commanded by the Father. But permit me a reminder, friends, and this is not a new commandment but simply a repetition of our original and basic charter: that we love each other. Love means following his commandments, and his unifying commandment is that you conduct your lives in love. This is the first thing you heard, and nothing has changed. (2 John 1:4-6 MSG)

My Word or Phrase
unifying commandment

My Image
What comes to mind when I think of something being unified is a suspension bridge. Though a single strand of wire could not hold up the bridge, a unified bundle of wires can hold tens of thousands of pounds and not be broken.

My Invitation
Love, that is God’s love flowing through me allows me the the opportunity to live out all my beliefs and values and minister to those around me. I simply need to listen and follow God’s promptings. I also need to remember that I don’t need to do it all, I am but a single strand in the cable that is God’s love, holding us all together.

As you reflect upon this verse what is God inviting you to do?

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Lectio Reflection 12/11/13

Verse
Every person who believes that Jesus is, in fact, the Messiah, is God-begotten. If we love the One who conceives the child, we’ll surely love the child who was conceived. The reality test on whether or not we love God’s children is this: Do we love God? Do we keep his commands? The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commandments and they are not at all troublesome. (1 John 5:1-3 MSG)

My Word or Phrase
His commands re not burdensome

My Image
The holiday season when I bad pies and prepare big meals. This is not a burden because I enjoy showing hospitality in this way. I enjoy seeing people enjoying my gift to them. This is not burdensome to me.

My Invitation
Think about ways that I can love other’s in practical ways on a more regular basis.