If you want to be the best human you can possibly be…

Reminders to myself:

 

If you  want to be the best human you can possibly be…

1.       Allow people to bless you.  It is a joy to them and a joy to us..

2.       Accept that betrayal comes in this life.

3.       Don’t worry about future resources needed to worship Jesus.  He knows where they are and He will provide them at the right time.

4.       Because of humans having free will there will be bad choices made.

5.       One result of Adam and Eve’s sin and ours is that Jesus would be crucified.

6.       God is in charge and He is full of unfailing love for us. Our critics are not in charge.

7.       Never do something that is a betrayal of God or other people.  Things that leave us with shame and regret are to be avoided.

8.       During communion remember that Jesus gave His life for us.  His body.  His blood.  He is spiritually sitting down with us at the table.

From Jonathan Martin, Prototype,

“We have always been inclined to worship people or things we perceive as being great. So we exaggerate our own greatness, inflate our successes, downplay our weaknesses, and hid our scars. Thus human history is largely the story of people who say, ‘My god can beat up your god, my king can beat up your king, my army is more awesome than your army,’ and then attempt to prove the point to each other. All in the name of greatness….So what do we make of a God who is worshipped not for His might but for His weakness, even for His sounds? Not a human wearing the medals of military conquest to convince us He is a god, but a God who wears His suffering on His sleeve to convince us He is human? Instead of ‘my god can beat up your god, my king can beat up your king,’ Jesus’ path to kingship comes wrapped in a very odd strategy indeed: He is the King of kings largely because He lets himself get beat up. He is victorious not despite his scars but because of them…By allowing His own life to be taken, Jesus exposed the pitiful ‘power’ of the bullies and disarmed it.” (p. 92-93, 95)

 

“Because John’s apocalypse uses war imagery, people often mistakenly assume that somehow the victory of God was incomplete on the cross, that the real victory comes when Jesus arrives with a sword and finally fights fire with fire, finally overcomes force with even greater force. But a careful reading shows that this is far from the case. For example, when Jesus comes riding in on a white horse with a sword, wearing a robe dipped in blood, it is not the blood of his opponents—it’s His own. There is no battle scene, because Jesus has already defeated the powers (and all the bullies) through His sacrifice on the cross.” (p. 97) 

 

9.       Don’t let anyone steal your joy.  Sing hymns in the night.  Sing them in the daylight.

10.   When deep in sorrow about upcoming hard things, pray.  Tell God what you want.

11.   Surrender to the will of God.  Do not be violent.  Do not repay evil with evil.  Overcome evil with good.

12.   Surrender to betrayal, false charges if God puts you there.

13.   Do not be the one who betrays a friend or denies a friend.  If you do then confess it and turn back to the love of God. 

 

Mark 14.

Larry Wishard