Category: Random Thoughts

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What is your passion?

I love the way God enters into my life to help me ponder the meaning of my life. There is a new show coming out on Fox this fall called Glee. The show is the story line is a group of preceived misfits or loosers who simply love to sing and their advisor who himself is trying to figure out what a meaningful life is. As I watched the pilot a question was asked of the advisor about what type of life example he wanted to live for his unborn child, one where money is the answer or one where the life he is living, he lives because it is his passion. The line goes “the only life worth living is the one you are most passionate about.” As it turns out he is passionate about music.

This ties in with an event we had at my church tonight where both the executive pastor and senior pastor shared their passion about bring Christ to people who live in the Northern and Eastern suburbs of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. The life they are living is the life they are most passionate about. One of the most exciting this is that they were inviting 1000s to join them on the journey God is taking them on. We were invited to be ignited by their passion for serving others and sharing the message that Jesus brought to us 2000 years ago.
My passion is the fusion of my work, doctoral studies, and the spiritual formation of myself and others. I am not one to make first contact with people but I love to come along side them and help them grow deeper in their relationship with God and others. I have been pondering the last week a framework to help me in this task be it in a face to face setting or in the virtual world.
My question to you is what is the passion that make your life worth living and are you pursuing that passion?
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Stuck on a Thought

OK, I admit it, I believe that I have moved from passionate pondering to obsessive preoccupation with phrase “God’s Will” or “the will of God.” I have been hanging out in 1 Peter and Peter uses both phrases. Where I really got started was 1 Peter 4 where Peter tells his audience to put the things of the the world behind them and live for the will of God. In my last posting I explored the idea of what I see as a corporate understanding of the will of God or God’s will, but as I think about it now the ideas that I expressed in my last posting are the beliefs that move me to action. Other people may key in on other beliefs. That is not to say we can accept some beliefs and reject others, rather I see God putting a passion in our heart to really focus our energy in one or two areas so as not to over extend ourself. We need to do one thing and do it very well.

I think what I was doing was making a connection between God’s will for our life and God’s purpose or plans for our life. I think there is a connection there, but not the way I was thinking. The connection I see is that “God’s will” is the internal calibrating beliefs and values that we live by. Our purpose then is to act on those beliefs and put them into service for God. In James we are told to put our faith into action, not to earn our salvation or rewards, but rather to show others the faith that we proclaim.
My question is what beliefs are you living out? How have you grounded your beliefs, in the Bible or in the world? Do your actions truly reflect what you say you believe?
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God’s Will –

In 1 Peter 4 we are told to not live as the world around us lives, but rather our lives should reflect God’s will. This has gotten me thinking about this subject of God’s will, not the “Oh this must have been God’s will”, rather I am wondering if there is not a “universal” God’s will as well as God’s will for our life as an individual.

Here are a couple of thoughts about God’s will for all Christ-followers. I start in Matt 22 where Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees and responds to their question about the greatest commandment by telling them that we need to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbors. From this I see God’s will as loving Him and loving others. This to me seems the foundation for living out God’s will. If we love God and love others we will naturally want to share the Gospel message with them (i.e. the great commission). Loving God would hopefully lead us into wanting a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him, growing to be more like Him, allowing the fruits of the Spirit to flow through us and out of us to those around us.
More to come on this later…