Christ Became a Humble Child

Christ Became a Humble Child.

AMBROSE wrote:

He was a baby and a child, so that you may be a perfect human. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, so that you may be freed from the snares of death. He was in a manger, so that you may be in the altar. He was on earth that you may be in the stars. He had no other place in the inn, so that you may have many mansions in the heavens. He, being rich, became poor for your sakes, that through his poverty you might be rich. Therefore his poverty is our inheritance, and the Lord’s weakness is our virtue. He chose to lack for himself, that he may abound for all. The sobs of that appalling infancy cleanse me, those tears wash away my sins. Therefore, Lord Jesus, I owe more to your sufferings because I was redeemed than I do to works for which I was created.… You see that he is in swaddling clothes. You do not see that he is in heaven. You hear the cries of an infant, but you do not hear the lowing of an ox recognizing its Master, for the ox knows his Owner and the donkey his Master’s crib. Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 2.41–42.

Oden, T. C., & Crosby, C. (Eds.). (2007). Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings: Lectionary Cycle A (pp. 35–36). Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books.

3 UNCONVENTIONAL WAYS TO APPRECIATE YOUR PASTOR

3 UNCONVENTIONAL WAYS TO APPRECIATE YOUR PASTORby Katie Orr | October 10, 2018

It’s pastor appreciation month, and while baked goods, tie trinkets, and gift cards are usually welcomed (though not expected!) your pastor may be blessed by something a bit out of the box this year.

My husband, Chris, is a senior pastor and I have seen the best and worst sides of church people. We have been blessed beyond measure (a trip to Paris!) and wounded more deeply than I knew was possible, both through the actions and inactions of people in the pews. Although there can be difficult, unstable, and/or power-hungry people within the walls of the church, most of the heart-level hits a pastor receives are from the “everyday” church member: Words spoken or not spoken. Actions taken or not taken. Groups forming or splitting. All in the name of what they think is best for the church.

Chris and I have loads of pastor friends and I reached out to some pastor’s wives this week to help me with this post. Because as wives, we see what no one else sees. We know what church ministry does to our husbands. How it continues to forever change them and shape them—for good and for ill. As I submit this post, the comments from my pastor’s wife friends are still pouring in. With over 30 wives contributing, the thoughts below are a collaborative effort. Just like any wife would, we long to stand up for our husband, but because he is the pastor we often feel we can’t. It just seems self-serving. We each want to help our husband and support him in a public way but, selfishly, we usually lay low out of fear of putting our own conduct in the cross-hairs, if it is not already.

If you love your pastor and want to bless him this month (and beyond), we urge you to prayerfully consider these three deliberate choices:

1. PUT YOURSELF IN HIS SHOES. HE IS MORE LIKE YOU THAN YOU REALIZE.

He cannot do everything. He does not know all. He cannot read your mind. He does not have complete knowledge of the past (how things “have always been”). He cannot see the future.

He works really, really hard. He’s been trained to do his job. He doesn’t like people telling him how to do his job (though most of our husbands have never specifically verbalized this, we assume he must feel it.). He needs to hear words of admiration, affirmation and encouragement more than he does criticism. He has personal preferences and there are things about his church that he doesn’t like.
“Your pastor’s best will never be enough, but the good news is that he doesn’t need to be Superman.”

He needs time away from work. He has a family he loves to spend time with. He needs to sleep and eat, do dishes and yard work. He wants to keep his priorities straight. In case you missed it his job, though vitally important, is not the first thing on that list.

His home life is not perfect. He has disagreements with his spouse. His kids make bad choices in spite of his instruction and correction. He often feels like he is in over his head. He needs the prayer and support of others.

He sins. He struggles. He weeps. He bleeds.

Yes, he is more like you than you realize.

2. SEEK TO SEE SITUATIONS THROUGH HIS EYES. YOU RARELY UNDERSTAND THE ENTIRE STORY.

He is not out to get you. His heart is to protect, not tear down. He almost always has information he cannot share with you. He would never purposely neglect you. He is accountable to God for his stewardship of Christ’s body.

His job is to shepherd you. He loves you. He wants you to thrive. He prays for you. He hurts when you hurt. He agonizes over your sinful choices. His heart breaks when you choose to put other pursuits over intimacy with God and the body of Christ.

He has a multitude of facets to think about when making decisions. He does not make decisions quickly or carelessly. His every decision is continually under inspection. His decisions never make everyone happy.

His actions, words, and attitudes are continually on display for all to see. He is often held to a standard of perfection—he is not allowed to make mistakes. There is no safe space within the church for him to be real and open with his own struggles.

He has sacrificed much to be your pastor. He understands that, ultimately, his job isn’t about his church people but is about the worship of his God. His job is a God-given burden you will never completely see or totally understand. His ministry is not a nine-to-five job and he is on call 24/7, 365 days of the year. His acceptance of this holy calling has changed his life. Forever.

Indeed, you rarely understand the entire story.

3. CHOOSE TO GIVE HIM GRACE. HIS BEST WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH.

He is learning. He is growing. He will fail (again and again and again).

Your pastor’s best will never be enough, but the good news is that he doesn’t need to be Superman. Our hope as churchgoers ought not to be in our pastor’s performance. Our hope for life change, church growth, and the advancement of God’s kingdom is in God Himself.

So, perhaps the greatest gift you can give your pastor this month (and every month) is some careful, humble soul-searching and making the choice to change your perspective when it comes to all things church.

Consider praying along these lines during October and beyond:

God, give me the insight to see each situation from my pastor’s point of view. Help me to remember that he is more like me than I realize. Enable me to respect his God-given role and divine responsibility—even when I just can’t understand all the pieces. Holy Spirit, bring these truths to mind when I am tempted to make judgements and/or speak about church issues with others. I need your grace and strength to love my pastor better. Help me.


ABOUT KATIE ORR
Katie Orr is the creator of the FOCUSed15 Bible studies and Bible teacher. She is passionate about equipping busy women to experience God daily. A former Cru college minister, and mother to three, she and pastor-husband, Chris, serve together in the local church.

Your Love, Lord, is Wild!

Pieces

Amanda Cook

Unreserved, unrestrained, your love is wild Your love is wild for me

It isn’t shy, it's unashamed your love is proud to be seen with me

You don’t give your heart in pieces, you don’t hide yourself to tease us

Uncontrolled, uncontained, you love is a fire 
Burning bright for me

It’s not just a spark, its not just a flame your love is a light 
That all the world will see 
That all the world will see

You don’t give your heart in pieces, you don’t hide yourself to tease us 
You don’t give your heart in pieces, you don’t hide yourself to tease us

Your love not fractured, its not a troubled mind 
It isn’t anxious 
It's not the restless kind
Your love’s not passive 
Its never disengaged 
It's always present 
It hangs on every word we say 
Love keeps it promises 
It keeps its word 
It honors what’s sacred 
Cause its vows are good 
Your love not broken 
It's not insecure 
Your love not selfish 
You love is pure

You don’t give your heart in pieces, you don’t hide yourself to tease us 
You don’t give your heart in pieces, you don’t hide yourself to tease us 
You don’t give your heart in pieces, you don’t hide yourself to tease us

Songwriters: Caroline Ailin / Philip Cook / Thomas Gregersen

"You can have joy because you are not alone in anything you do." 

(Craig Denison, First15, August 7, 2018)

The Age of Religious Complexity

A. W. Tozer remarks in The Pursuit of God, “Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all. If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity.” 

The Declaration of Independence

In Congress, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

My Speech at Memorial Service - Corinth Cenotaph (May 30, 2018)

In May 1868, the commander-in-chief of the Union veteran's group known as the Grand Army of the Republic, General John A. Logan, issued a righteous decree that May 30th be a national day of commemoration for the more than 620,000 soldiers killed in the American Civil War. The day was to be known as Decoration Day. 

What did people do on Decoration Day?

• People from every walk of life laid flowers on the graves of their war dead; and,
• They creatively decorated them to honor the sacrifice of those who lay beneath the soil that entombed them

Today we gather in this silent city of the dead to memorialize, to preserve the memory of, these brave men and women who contended with our enemy in mortal combat in order that these United States might be clothed in freedom for every man, woman, boy or girl - regardless of their race, creed, or even early country of origin.  

It is fitting that we conduct ourselves in this way each year.

We hold to a tradition at the Corinth Fire Department that at the start of our business meetings, we recite The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. Many of our civic groups do the same. We can be heard repeating the memorized lines, "And to the Republic, for which it stands. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."I asked myself last evening as I stood to pledge, "Do I really affirm these words, or am I just intoning them out of habit or request?” I want these words to mean something to my children and grandchildren so that they carry with them the pride that I hold for this nation and her people.

So I put my hand to my chest, and with full voice, in invite you to repeat with me The Pledge of Allegiance:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag. Of the United States of America. And to the Republic, for which it stands. One nation. Under God. Indivisible. With liberty and justice for all." 

My friends, we, as Americans, possess something special, and wholly unique in the world. We steward something worth fighting and even dying for. But we must never allow minor irritants to become major distractions along the way to achieving our God-given purpose as a people.

Pettiness, disrespect, sectarian loathing, spoken and written untruths and even the dishonoring of our nation’s most cherished institutions must cease, for they hold no place among a people so blessed by their Creator.

I implore us, in the name of God, to resist such blatant misdeeds, that we might be a people for whom it can be said, “They are a city on a hill; a people set apart for special use.”

Let us Pray: “Our Lord and Our God. We gather here to memorialize those who have given so much so that we could be the beneficiaries of such great blessing. We ask that You guide our nation today as we sail into uncharted waters both here and abroad. Hold those who lead us at every level of government. Call us afresh to pray more for them than to criticize or judge them for their motives, for these are truly known only by You – and You see.

Draw close to the men, women, and children who grieve the loss of a loved one for whom we now gather to commemorate. They are ours – and we are theirs – and we stand with our hearts and hands wide open to help them.

We ask You again to bless the United States of America that she might be a blessing to the world.

In Your Name, I Pray. Amen.

Receive the Gift He Offers

All that is required of you is to open your heart and receive the gift he offers. There is an endless amount of God’s presence to receive. He is a vast and endless ocean that will never be fully discovered. But still he calls you to come and dive in. The Bible commands us in Ephesians 5:18 to “be filled with the Spirit,” to be filled with God himself. (Craig Denison - First14 5/3/2018)