Random Thoughts for a New Year

Random thoughts for a new year, culled from the old one. About faith, love, life and relationship with God. Some have come to me in moments of quiet reflection, some in interaction with others. Some are aphoristic and avuncular. Many have been tweets and updates. Offered for your edification — or your money cheerfully refunded.

• The reason we need to keep having the gospel preached to us is because salvation is not just about our acquittal, it is also about our transformation. And it is not just about individuals, it is about the community of faith, the people God is growing together. And it is about the world God is renewing through the Lordship of Jesus the Messiah and the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to be drawn deeper and deeper into these realities so that the glory of God may be revealed in and through us.
• The world will not be changed by the gospel until we are changed by the gospel.
• When we proclaim the gospel, we are presenting the kingdom of God, because we are presenting the King. When anyone receives the gospel, they are receiving the kingdom of God because they are receiving the King.
• The nature of the kingdom of God is to manifest the love of God.
• Where the love of God is manifested, the kingdom of God is present.
• The funny thing about sacrifice is that when you love, you don’t think about the sacrifice you make — you think about the person you love.
• Inheritance is what we receive from those who came before us and legacy is what we leave for those who come after. The inheritance we have received opens many doors for us. The legacy we leave will open doors for the next generation. But we must be careful to sort through the inheritances we have received because not all the doors they open are ones that ought to be opened, nor should they become part of the legacy we leave.
• Whenever you speak to a child, you are speaking to the future. Indeed, you are speaking the future itself. Choose your words carefully.
• There is a relationship between faith in Jesus and following Him. Those who trust Jesus, follow Him. Those who do not follow Jesus, do not trust Him.
• Following Jesus a lifelong journey, and you never know where it will lead you. But you go with Him anyway because you trust Him.
• I think I’ve just about come to the place in my life of realizing that the only thing I can do is set my love upon the Lord — and even that is His own love burning in me — but that is quite enough.
• Have you ever thought of worship as spiritual warfare? One of the hymns I like to sing is “When Morning Gilds the Skies.” In the second verse, it says, “The powers of darkness fear when this sweet chant they hear: May Jesus Christ be praised.” Our worship continually announces the Lordship of Christ to the principalities and powers — and that is a very powerful thing.
• If God gives you more than you can handle, He will handle it.
• If at any time today you start to realize how much more you need the Lord Jesus than you knew before, you are having a good day.
• We cannot create diversity any more than we can create unity — or both become restrictive and deadening. But true diversity, like true unity, is a gift from God.
• Faith in the promise of God creates expectation.

More random thoughts …