Archive for Freedom
The Garden Party: Pleasing Yourself
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(This blog is part two of The Garden Party. In part one of this blog, I referenced Ricky Nelson’s performance at Madison Square Garden and his inspiration for writing the hit song, Garden Party. Be sure to read part one for the context of this blog.)
While it might sound selfish, after all, pleasing oneself….is that godly? But what if pleasing yourself means that you are listening to your heart? Being comfortable in your own skin? Being authentic? Being who God made you to be? Loving yourself?
Does the sound of that set off alarms in your heart? Yet Jesus clearly told us that we were to love others AS WE LOVE OURSELVES (Mark 12:30-31). What can that possibly mean? Is that self-centered?
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Do You Need to Forgive Yourself?
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What is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done? What is the worst mistake you’ve ever made? What is the greatest harm you’ve ever committed to another human?
Do you have your list? Did the pictures in your mind come up faster than high-speed internet?
Most of us don’t have any trouble recalling the worst moments of our lives. I imagine that when I asked those questions, you not only recalled the “bad” things you have done, but you also reconnected to some feelings of shame and guilt.
A foundational truth of Christianity is that we come into relationship with God through forgiveness based on the work of Christ. We maintain the flow of fellowship both with God and man by confessing our sins and appropriating the purifying work of Christ into our daily lives.
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Honest Anger
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A few years ago, I invited a counselor friend of mine, Susi Harbour, to come to our ladies’ retreat and administer a personality test to our ladies. I had already taken it once and thought it would be fun and useful for the ladies of our church to know more about themselves and how they ticked. Susi suggested adding an anger inventory to the activity. “Okay, sure,” I said. I suppose I didn’t quite get the purpose of the whole thing, but I figured it’d be interesting.
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Wake Up!
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A busy ministry schedule has limited my time to blog, but I want to give a quick update.
This is a land of great darkness, but more than that, it is a land of great need of the light of God’s love. Our ministry here has focused on sharing the love of God to the people of Thailand and also to Jason and Sarah Ricketts, who are missionaries here.
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Embracing Truth; Experiencing Freedom
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A few days ago, I wrote about truth.
- Truth is still truth whether you acknowledge it or not.
- Jesus is truth.
- Jesus said that known truth would make us free.
David, in a conversation with God, said
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place (Psalm 51:6).
Other translations render inner parts as "innermost being". God desires us to know truth from the inside out.
Our message at church on Sunday was about denial. We talked about how we all revert to using denial at times. For example, we refuse to step onto the scales so we don’t have to face the number which represents our weight. Or we don’t balance our checkbook because we are afraid of or dread to see the balance. And we could go on and on.
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