"The true test of a person's spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening."That's a quote from Oswald Chambers' "My Utmost For His Highest". That thought really got me thinking. How easy is it to say spiritual things when we're going through something extraordinary? How hard is it to think on those same spiritual things as we go about our mundane existence? How easy is it to say "I'm praying for you."? How hard is it to actually remember to pray? How easy is it to say "I'm blessed." at church? How hard is it to live a life of gratitude to our Father?
God is not impressed with lip service. He wants our hearts. That doesn't mean we can't say those things, but along with saying them we should live them!
What is our attitude toward the ordinary things of life when we're not under the spotlight?
As James MacDonald says, "Gratitude is the attitude that determines our altitude!"
12 comments:
Matthew 15:18
Thanks Anonymous! That's a great verse!
Mathew 15:18
But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart;...
I'd love it if you'd sign your name! ;)
Luke:
Thanks for posting this today. It's good to remind ourselves and hold each other accountable to this. Life can get all too routine, as can our relationship with God. Rather than go through the motions, we need to seek His face in a real way DAILY.
I have "My Utmost For His Highest". I think it's time to revisit that book. Good stuff!
Good reminder!
Something I try to do to avoid the "I'm praying for you" lie is to pray for the person immediately after I say it. Just because I say I'm going to pray for someone, it doesn't mean I have to wait until I have time to lock myself away in a dark closet and pray earnestly for 3 hours (although, that would be cool). Offer up a pray right after you say it! That way, you're more likely to remember later on and pray again.
haojomix- I like that one.
"Faith without WORKS is dead"
200,000 homeless in Guatemala from the killer rains of Hurricane Stan.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2076152005
2.5 million are homeless in Pakistan from earthquake.
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Asian_Earthquake/0,,2-10-1957_1815520,00.html
True, true, true and yet sometimes so hard to remember.
I'm tagging you becasue you are the one person that I KNOW has at least 23 posts. And I'm really curious as to what the 5th sentence of your 23rd post is.
THE RULES
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.
T
Here's the 5th sentence in my 23rd post: Yeah, they rocked.
I had to make an executive decision on what my "fifth" sentence really was since my grammar was off. If you like the other one better after you read the post, feel free to disagree with me.
Here's the post it's in. Sorry it's kind of anti-climatic. The post was funny though. :) I still have those slippers.
Luke, I'm going to have to disagree with you.
"Really cool slippers with purple shiny trinkets attached!" was clearly the 5th sentence, and clearly more interesting than "Yeah, they rocked." ...and for once, I don't even care that it was grammatically incorrect.
Thanks for being a good sport and playing along! Did you ever post pictures of those slippers?
I really appreciated your post...thanks!
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