for thought and meditation on a friday

[Markopolo]

decent weather for opening day of deer season... i"m a gunna get em..

His Nature and Our Motives
By Oswald Chambers

…unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. —Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in his motives, having been made good by the supernatural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to place within anyone who would let Him a new heredity that would have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus is saying, “If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind.” Your motives must be so pure that God Almighty can see nothing to rebuke.

Who can stand in the eternal light of God and have nothing for Him to rebuke? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that through His redemption He can place within anyone His own nature and make that person as pure and as simple as a child. The purity that God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is exactly what Jesus has undertaken to do through His redemption.

No one can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations— He gives us His teachings which are truths that can only be interpreted by His nature which He places within us. The great wonder of Jesus Christ’s salvation is that He changes our heredity. He does not change human nature— He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.

have a blessed friday

[USMC87]

Jesus changed my life forever, Amen!

[RogerDat]

The best a man can do is try to figure out what is the right thing to do and then do that to the best of his ability. He won't always be right, it won't always work out right but the odds favor better outcomes and less to regret or explain at final judgement.

That effort is generally helped by learning the tenants of ones faith. A whole lot that profits a man in trying to figure out what is right to be found in the New Testament.

[Boaz]

VERY good lesson Marko ! Thank you !

[Wayne Smith]

Roger, I think you missed the whole point. Man can't do it so God has given us his Son to live in us, changing us to make us more capable. I still get in His way all to often. Surrender to the Son of God is our challenge. By myself, trying to life according to the standards of religion, I am helpless.

[GhostHawk]

AMEN a thousand times Amen! Praise the Lord, praise him with great praise and thanksgiving.

I have to agree with Wayne.

First you need to purify your heart. Remove any ill feelings, hate, anger, agression, memorys of pain. Take each one out, look at it as Jesus would. Why did this person cause you pain? Because they were tormented beyond endurance. Because they did not know or understand that pain talked about, shared, is pain diminished. But joy talked about and shared is Joy Multiplied.

So the only way they had to feel better was to make others miserable.

And if you can look at that as Jesus would, and forgive him. The tears will wash that pain away and cleanse your heart. Eventually your heart will be pure enough that the Holy Spirit can come back and help you. And its a big help, Peace that surpasseth all understanding, peace like a river descending upon you.

Life gets a whole lot better real fast. And the first time you go to commit a sin that peace is gone. And you go UHoh, how do I get it back. Back up, back away from that sin. Put on a soft voice, be humble. Lord I was found, and I liked it. But now I have made a mistake and am lost. Listen, listen HARD.

Be GOOD to those around us, love our enemy's as ourselves. FORGIVE! Love. You will find that peace again.