Guard Duty!

A critical aspect of self leadership is to guard your heart. No one can do this job for you. Eschew the sweet seductions of this life that can easily enter your heart and spoil your life. Instead, focus on him. Value what he values. Set your heart on loving as he loves. He will help you. Ask.

A Prayer begins . . .

Heavenly Father, you are an awesome God. Help us learn to value you what you value. Teach us how to love as you love. We ask you, please help us guard our hearts.

Look carefully at each verse in the left column. Every verse connects you to a beautiful SoAmazing Card and a feature-filled page. Finish reading this page, then pick a Bible verse in the left column and Clickle away! Read the new page and then select a Bible verse in its left column and Clickle away! Do it again and again.

Two selected book quotations begin . . .

Grace Is Irresistible

David A. Seamands, Healing Grace: Finding Freedom from the Performance Trap, Light and Life Communications, 1999, pp. 22, 23.
SoAmazing.com

Category: Christian Living
ISBN: 0893672386
Keywords: John Wesley, sermon, parsonage, Oxford's Holy club, ordained, Anglican, clergyman, foreign missionary, seeker, holiness, sacrificial service, good works, God, peace, Christian, grace, religion, India, Devedas, servant, master, family, joy, grieved, Light and Life Communications, Seamands, David A. Seamands

"One Sunday I referred to John Wesley as an example in a sermon. Wesley, son of the parsonage, member of Oxford's Holy Club, an ordained Anglican clergyman and foreign missionary, was a devout seeker after personal holiness. But despite all his sacrificial service and good works, he did not find peace with God, and called himself 'an almost Christian.' Then on May 24, 1738, he discovered grace, while listening to someone read Luther's Preface to the Book of Romans.

. . . Wesley said that he became 'an altogether Christian,' and that whereas before he had the religion of a 'servant,' now he had that of a 'son.'

When Devadas came next to see me, he was visibly excited. 'Until Sunday I never realized that I have been literally living up to my name--'servant of God.' I have been thinking and feeling and living not like a family member should, but like a servant does.' Since everyone in India clearly understands the difference between the two, I said to him, 'Devadas, let's do some role playing. You be the servant in the family and I'll be the son. Let's live out a day in their lives, from morning to bedtime, and see what the differences are.' He agreed. Before long we were really into it, putting into words the wide differences between our roles.

The servant is accepted and appreciated on the basis of what he does, the child on the basis of who he is.

The servant starts the day anxious and worried, wondering if his work will really please his master. The child rests in the secure love of his family.

The servant is accepted because of his workmanship, the son or daughter because of his productivity and performance. The child belongs because of his psoition as a person.

At the end of the day, the servant has peace of mind only if he is sure he has proven his worth by his work. The next morning his anxiety begins again. The child can be secure all day, and know that tomorrow won't change his status.

When a servant fails, his whole position is at stake; he might lose his joy. When a child fails, he will be grieved because he has hurt his parents, and he will be corrected and disciplined. But he is not afraid of being thrown out. His basic confidence is in belonging and being loved, and his performance does not change the stability of his positions."

SoAmazing Review: In Healing Grace: Finding Freedom from the Performance Trap, David A. Seamands builds the case for grace and against the need to perform. Almost magically, the pressure to perform eases page by page till in the end, grace is proven irresistible.

Buy Healing Grace: Finding Freedom from the Performance Trap Now!   Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Christianbook.

Faith In God Can Withstand The Toughest Tests

Paul Little, Know Why You Believe, InterVarsity Press, 2000, pp. 19, 20.    SoAmazing.com

Category: Christian Living
ISBN: 156476754X
Keywords: committed, Christians, question, faith, doubt, Christian, church, authenticity, educational process, fear, propanda, God, Jesus Christ, Bible, InterVarsity Press,
Little, Paul Little

"Even committed Christians question their faith and wonder if it's true. Doubt can strike terror to the soul and be suppressed in an unhealthy way. Those who have grown up in Christian homes and in the Christian church find it easy to doubt the authenticity of their early experiences. From their youth they have accepted the facts of Christianity solely on the basis of confidence and trust in parents, friends and pastor. As the educational process develops there is a reexamination of how much of their early teaching they own for themselves.

Such an experience is healthy and necessary to make our faith virile and genuine. It's nothing to fear or to be shocked about. At times when I travel to new places, I tend to ask myself, looking at unfamiliar streets and people, 'Little, how do you know you haven't been taken in by a colossal propaganda program? After all, you can't see God, touch him, taste him or feel him.' And then I go on to ask myself how I know the God and Jesus Christ of the Bible is true. I always come back to two basic factors:
      1. the objective, external, historical facts of the
           resurrection.
      2. the subjective, internal, personal experience of
           Jesus Christ that I have known in my own life
            through serious surgery and hard career
            decisions.

When a person, young or old, begins to question and God seems far away, doubts should be welcomed as a way to grow. A Christian can help by welcoming the honesty and openness, creating a climate where a person feels free to 'unload' and express doubts. If not, a person can be driven underground, even turned away by someone with a high shock index, implying that a good Christian would never doubt. The questioner feels judged harshly. They aren't stupid. Sadly, I've seen some who have met an unloving response, quickly shift gears and mouth the party line. But it doesn't genuinely come from the heart. When they are out from under pressure to conform, they shed their faith like a raincoat because it has never become their very own.

Doubt and questioning are normal to any thinking person. Rather than express shock, listen to the questioner and, if possible, even sharpen the question further. Then an answer can be suggested. Unflinchingly we can discuss problems, because Christianity centers on the One who is Truth, and scrutiny is no threat."

SoAmazing Review: Paul Little has marshalled powerfull agruments for why you should believe. Know Why You Believe presents them for your consideration.

Buy Know Why You Believe Now!   Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Christianbook.

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