Enjoying God

Enjoying God

Dear Champions,

The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the scripture is Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

 

When you have a general belief in God, you go to Him for things.   When you've begun to experience the glory of God, who He is and what He does becomes an end in itself.

 

What if you would come to the top of a bluff and look down at an incredible vista of the ocean with waves breaking on the sea as far as you can see.  It's beautiful!  You sit down, and you just put your fist on your chin and look at it.  You can't get enough of it!  What are you trying to accomplish?  Nothing!  It's satisfying in itself and fills you up.

 

When your prayer life is like this you've begun to approach the glory and presence of God.  To glorify Him means to enjoy Him.  We glorify God by enjoying Him forever!  John Piper says it this way:  "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."

 

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Promises or Preparation

Promises or Preparation

Dear Champions,

 

The short excerpt is by Andy Stanley, and the Scripture is in the excerpt.

Every single Saturday couples take vows to get married that they can't keep even though they mean well.  They overlooked a principle that all of us understand in every other realm of life, but when it comes to relationships we don't think it is true. Promises are no substitute for preparation.  If you've ever entered a long distance race and have not prepared for it, then it's a waste of time to promise that you will finish.  What determines whether you finish a long distance race is not the promise, but it's whether you are prepared.  Everybody understands that, but when it comes to relationships people think, "I can promise my way past my lack of preparation."  Just because you say "I do," doesn't make you able or capable, but it only makes you accountable.  When you are accountable for something that you are not capable of doing, you become miserable.  A lack of preparation cannot be trumped by a promise. 

A prudent person is a person that understands that all of life is connected.  What happened yesterday impacts tomorrow.  What I am doing today will eventually become my past, and it will show up in my future.  Proverbs 14:8 says that the wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways.  Ways are behaviors, patterns, habits, and trends, and they are what makes us predictable.  The prudent person knows that the best indicator of my future behavior is my past behavior.  If I want to know where I'm actually going to be all I have to do is look back at where I have been and see what direction I'm headed in.   The prudent person pays attention not to commitments and promises, but they pay attention to their past.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining