Apr 29, 2007: Romans 12:1-2
Romans M 10 Message
Text: Romans 12:1-2
BIG IDEA: We become people who focus on the “line of eternity” through the Word, beauty, people, and what we do.
Introduction
Michael Gelb wrote a book called How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci. Among the points he listed were have an insatiably curious approach to life, a commitment to test knowledge through experience, a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
D.A. Benton has written a book called How to Think Like a CEO. She interviewed over 100 CEOs and weaves their thoughts throughout her book. Benton speaks about 22 "vital ceo traits," including being honest, courageous, attentive to details--which are analogous to climbing tiers of a terraced mountain…
We tend to think of sports as physical, but so much success is mental.
As a skinny football player in high school, I was encouraged by reading a book called Quarterbacking by Joe Theisman, a successful professional football player who had been a physically small high school player and a diminutive college player at Notre Dame. He said 90% of football is mental. 95% of being a quarterback is mental.
I found that my performance as a quarterback rose and fell based on the quality and lack thereof of my mental state as a quarterback.
How we think in art, business, and sports is crucial.
It’s also crucial in our faith.
This is why Paul says what he does about our mind in Romans 12:1-2.
The apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2 says:
A Living Sacrifice
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Paul in Romans 1-11, as we have seen, has shown us the gospel or “good news” of what God has done for us in Christ.
Paul has explained how God, in his great mercy, has become a human being in the person of Jesus Christ, to absorb in his body our sins, those spiritual toxins that separates us from God, so that we could be forgiven, restored to God, and receive the very spirit of God, and, as a result of that, new life…resurrection life. Paul says that in view of this mercy of God, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is true worship.
In our current world, when people think of religion, they tend to think of a systematic way of viewing reality and a code of ethics to live by. But in the ancient world, people tended to think about religion as sacrifice. Paul would have known that his hearers would have associated religion with some kind of sacrifice. And so, drawing on that assumption, the apostle Paul urges his listeners, in view of God’s mercy toward them, to respond by offering their bodies, their very selves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This, Paul says, is true worship… truly acknowledging God’s worth.
Paul in keeping with all of Scripture urges his listeners to offer every part of themselves to God.
Part of offering our bodies to Christ would include exercising them, resting them, not abusing them with junk food, not misusing our bodies sexually, using for God’s holy purposes…
But offering our bodies includes more than this, when Paul speaks of us offering our bodies to God, he is calling us to offer our whole selves to God.
Paul says. “Offer your bodies to God as living sacrifices.” He is encouraging us to offer every part of ourselves to him…
And Paul says in vs. 2 we are to offer our minds to God. He says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
When Paul talks about the fact that we are not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, the Greek word that he is using here can be literally translated “don’t be conformed to this present age.” Paul uses the same word in Galatians 1:4 when he talks about this present evil age.
Like many of first century Jews shaped by the Old Testament, Paul believed that history was divided into the “present age” characterized by separation from God, confusion, despair and death and the “age to come” in which God would give new life to the world and to human kind, bringing justice, joy, peace and eternal life once for all.
When Paul don’t be squeezed into the mindset of this temporal, passing world, Paul is referring to the fleeting, passing, temporal value system of this world, this age.
So when Paul speaks of not being conformed this present age, he’s talking about not being conformed to the fleeting, passing, temporal values of this age…
And then Paul says, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…
A significant part of what it means to be transformed is to take on, in contrast to most of the people of the world, an eternal perspective.
How do we become people who are not fixated on our temporal “dot” of our existence on earth, but on the “line” of eternity?
(By the way, as C.S. Lewis the Oxford scholar has pointed out the paradox is that history shows that those who are focused most on the next life have done most in this life for the peoples’ of this earth. People like William Wilberforce have fought against slavery, like Amy Carmichael who have rescued children from child prostitution, missionaries like Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer who either built or inspired others build hospitals for the poor.)
How does this happen?
One of the ways this happens is by exposing ourselves to the eternal perspective of God in his word…
How do we do that?
If you’re a regular here or are part of a community of faith somewhere that seeks to faithfully expound the word, you’re exposing yourself to an eternal perspective by hearing the word preached/taught.
Another way to receive an eternal perspective is by exposing our selves to the Word of God is by reading the Bible. If you want to get through the Bible in a year or two, you might consider getting the ONE YEAR BIBLE. But this approach is not for everyone (hold up prop).
Richard Foster, a respected writer on the spiritual life, recommends reading a large section of Scripture a day or two a week. He believes that a longer shower once or twice a week may be better for some than a daily sprinkling.
In the Taste of Community small group we’re hosting in our home, we’re going through the ancient practice of meditation called the Lectio Divina.
In Lectio Divina you simply take a small passage of Scripture… you read it not once, but several times reflecting, savoring, praying, contemplating one word or phrase… you allow the word to sink from your head to your heart.
Another way to get the eternal perspective of the Word is to memorize part of it.
I often use part of my vacation to memorize (or re-memorize) a passage of Scripture, like Psalm 1, 103, 139 or Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount, parts of John 15, Colossians 3. This has been a wonderful way to let the Word become part of me… Sometimes, as I sleep I recite Scripture…
The Word can help us move from focusing on the “dot” of this life to the “line” of eternity…
Other kinds of spiritual reading can also help us focus less on the dot and more on the line…
C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, and Henri Nouwen are authors that have pointed me godward.
Another thing we can do that moves us from a mindset on the “dot” to the perspective of the “line” is exposing ourselves to beauty.
There’s something about being exposed to beauty that makes us aware of finiteness and exposes us to the power and creativity of God.
C.S. Lewis in the Weight of Glory says that the beauty we find in nature, music, books can move in us a longing for an eternal beauty…
Lewis says the eternal beauty is not located in these things, but only comes through them…
Lewis says the eternal beauty that comes through these things arouse in us the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited….
Beauty on earth can make us long for an eternal beauty.
When I am running through a wooded trail or sailing on the water off the coast here, sometimes I have a longing for this eternal beauty.
A pastor I know in NYC named Tim Keller says that when we meet Jesus, his face will remind us of everything beautiful we’ve ever experienced… and conversely beauty can remind us of the beauty of Jesus…
If this feels soft and subjective to you, let me cite an interesting study done by a Japanese mathematics scholar named Masahiko Fujiwara (not a Christian) on how genius emerges.
This scholar researched people who were widely regarded as being geniuses in fields such as mathematics, science, literature, art, music, etc. In each case the person who was widely regarded as a genius as a child was exposed to beauty in his or her surroundings. He thought that there was one exception in his study of a famous economist who much of his life in a poor part of India that clearly was not beautiful, but as he traced this economic genius’s history, he discovered that indeed as a young child he had lived in a place of great beauty. A second characteristic that this Japanese scholar identified in his study of people who were widely regarded as geniuses was that they know their hearts knelt in reverence to something higher than they were. The third characteristic of the genius was that they lived in an environment where spirituality was regarded as being more important than money or tangible things.
It is as we allow ourselves to be exposed to beauty in the Word, but also in nature great novels, movies, through music, and, perhaps most important, through our relationships…and as we kneel in submission to God and value the things that are spiritual and eternal above, the things that we can see, touch and feel, our minds will be renewed. We will take on a more eternal perspective, and then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
A third way we become people who focus on the line of eternity (vs. the dot of this life) is through relationships.
Alan Deutschman in his book Change or Die points out that 90% of people likely will not change. Information alone doesn’t generate change in most people. Scaring people with facts doesn’t cause people to change. The only thing that causes a person to change is having a relationship with a person or a community that inspires hope.
If we want our minds transformed from the present age so that our focus is not on the “dot” but on the “line”, we need to be with people whose energy orients us that way.
I’ve a had a number of people do that for me.
One person I think of is my mother. She re-dedicated her life to God not long before I gave my life to Christ as a teenager.
When one of us five kids was about to make a big decision, she would often encourage about the consequences in 10 years and in eternity. When of us kids would fail at something or experience something disappointing, she would encourage us to look in light of 10 years and in light of eternity.
When I was a high school senior I remember applying to schools and hoping to go to one of top two choices. And I remember my mom, my IVY leagued educated mom, saying don’t put a school at the top of your list just because it’s prestigious or because their graduates command a certain salary, pick a school that will help you fulfill your life purpose, what God wants for you. If you pick just because of its brand you may rely on your education more that God… that’s eternal perspective.
I have a wife, mentors, friends who orient me to the eternal.
Frankly, I have many wonderful people in my life who don’t, they are people who orient to the here and now…
But I want the people who orient me to the eternal to be my core influencers.
I am aware that it’s not a high percentage of people of younger generation who have this eternal orientation.
So, if you can’t find a friend like this, go back in history. Considering becoming friends with William Wilberforce, the Christian politicians who fought to dismantle the slave trade (as featured in the the movie Amazing Grace), or Eric Liddle the Olympic runner who went to serve in China (featured in the movie Chariots of Fire) or Mother Teresa or Amy Carmichael, the missionary to India.
Another way to live for the line and not the dot is by what we choose to do (this points comes to us at slightly different angle).
What we do affects our perspective.
As I said when we looked at Romans 6 several weeks ago, we not only change from the inside out, but from the outside in. What we do affects our perspective.
Richard Rohr has said we don’t think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking…
When I was working for as part of part of big corporation in Tokyo, once in a while a young woman would swing by the work area to let me know she was going on vacation. She’d be giddy with laughter and say I’m going on this trip… it’s going to be so great… I’m going to go shopping by some a Prada purse, a Louis Vuitton bag and some Cartier Jewelry.
I’d say something that’s not my idea of an ideal vacation, but have a good time!
If I knew the person better, I might ask aren’t you embarrassed by that? She’s say, no what’s there to be embarrassed by? I’m going to have a great time!
The brand-name shopping spree vacation will tend to tie a person’s heart to things that will not last.
In contrast, this past week someone was telling me about how his daughter spent part of her vacation serving an orphanage in China. He said, this really opened her heart in powerful way to these children and to missions in general. She wanted to bring kids home and she going back to China next summer to serve in an orphanage.
Jesus says, 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus says where our treasure is our heart will follow. So, if we our treasure is here our heart will be here, it’s in heaven our heart will be there.
We can become a person whose mindset is on the “line of eternity” and not the "dot" through the Word, through beauty, through people, and through what we do.
Then as Paul says in Romans 12:2 we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
In his book, The Great Divorce, writer C.S. Lewis recounts a welcoming celebration held in heaven honoring a follower of Jesus who has just died. The book’s narrator, being shown around heaven at the time, sees this welcome celebration with boys and girls dancing around her and asks, “Is this person being honored is some great celebrity?
But his guide tells him, “It’s someone ye’ll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah… Fame in heaven and fame on earth are two quite different things.
‘And who are all these young men and women on each side?’They are her sons and daughters.’ ‘She must have had a very large family.’ The guide says, ‘She had no children of her own… Every young man or boy that met her became her son--even if it is was only the boy that delivered meat to her back door. Every girl that met her was her daughter. ‘Wasn’t that a bit hard on their own parents?’‘No. There are those that steal other people’s children. But her motherhood was of a different kind. Those on whom it fell went back to their natural parents loving them more.
And now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them.’"
Sarah Smith lived consciously or unconsciously in way that was oriented to eternity.
I am want to live that way too.
I want to live the kind of life today in light of my life “tomorrow.” I want to make my decisions today in light of the world to come.
What about you?
If so, live for the “line of eternity” (and not for the "dot") by exposing yourself to the Word, beauty, people who orient you to the eternal and through what you do.
Pray
(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)
Text: Romans 12:1-2
BIG IDEA: We become people who focus on the “line of eternity” through the Word, beauty, people, and what we do.
Introduction
Michael Gelb wrote a book called How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci. Among the points he listed were have an insatiably curious approach to life, a commitment to test knowledge through experience, a willingness to embrace ambiguity, paradox, and uncertainty.
D.A. Benton has written a book called How to Think Like a CEO. She interviewed over 100 CEOs and weaves their thoughts throughout her book. Benton speaks about 22 "vital ceo traits," including being honest, courageous, attentive to details--which are analogous to climbing tiers of a terraced mountain…
We tend to think of sports as physical, but so much success is mental.
As a skinny football player in high school, I was encouraged by reading a book called Quarterbacking by Joe Theisman, a successful professional football player who had been a physically small high school player and a diminutive college player at Notre Dame. He said 90% of football is mental. 95% of being a quarterback is mental.
I found that my performance as a quarterback rose and fell based on the quality and lack thereof of my mental state as a quarterback.
How we think in art, business, and sports is crucial.
It’s also crucial in our faith.
This is why Paul says what he does about our mind in Romans 12:1-2.
The apostle Paul in Romans 12:1-2 says:
A Living Sacrifice
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is true worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Paul in Romans 1-11, as we have seen, has shown us the gospel or “good news” of what God has done for us in Christ.
Paul has explained how God, in his great mercy, has become a human being in the person of Jesus Christ, to absorb in his body our sins, those spiritual toxins that separates us from God, so that we could be forgiven, restored to God, and receive the very spirit of God, and, as a result of that, new life…resurrection life. Paul says that in view of this mercy of God, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is true worship.
In our current world, when people think of religion, they tend to think of a systematic way of viewing reality and a code of ethics to live by. But in the ancient world, people tended to think about religion as sacrifice. Paul would have known that his hearers would have associated religion with some kind of sacrifice. And so, drawing on that assumption, the apostle Paul urges his listeners, in view of God’s mercy toward them, to respond by offering their bodies, their very selves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This, Paul says, is true worship… truly acknowledging God’s worth.
Paul in keeping with all of Scripture urges his listeners to offer every part of themselves to God.
Part of offering our bodies to Christ would include exercising them, resting them, not abusing them with junk food, not misusing our bodies sexually, using for God’s holy purposes…
But offering our bodies includes more than this, when Paul speaks of us offering our bodies to God, he is calling us to offer our whole selves to God.
Paul says. “Offer your bodies to God as living sacrifices.” He is encouraging us to offer every part of ourselves to him…
And Paul says in vs. 2 we are to offer our minds to God. He says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
When Paul talks about the fact that we are not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, the Greek word that he is using here can be literally translated “don’t be conformed to this present age.” Paul uses the same word in Galatians 1:4 when he talks about this present evil age.
Like many of first century Jews shaped by the Old Testament, Paul believed that history was divided into the “present age” characterized by separation from God, confusion, despair and death and the “age to come” in which God would give new life to the world and to human kind, bringing justice, joy, peace and eternal life once for all.
When Paul don’t be squeezed into the mindset of this temporal, passing world, Paul is referring to the fleeting, passing, temporal value system of this world, this age.
So when Paul speaks of not being conformed this present age, he’s talking about not being conformed to the fleeting, passing, temporal values of this age…
And then Paul says, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…
A significant part of what it means to be transformed is to take on, in contrast to most of the people of the world, an eternal perspective.
How do we become people who are not fixated on our temporal “dot” of our existence on earth, but on the “line” of eternity?
(By the way, as C.S. Lewis the Oxford scholar has pointed out the paradox is that history shows that those who are focused most on the next life have done most in this life for the peoples’ of this earth. People like William Wilberforce have fought against slavery, like Amy Carmichael who have rescued children from child prostitution, missionaries like Dr. Samuel M. Zwemer who either built or inspired others build hospitals for the poor.)
How does this happen?
One of the ways this happens is by exposing ourselves to the eternal perspective of God in his word…
How do we do that?
If you’re a regular here or are part of a community of faith somewhere that seeks to faithfully expound the word, you’re exposing yourself to an eternal perspective by hearing the word preached/taught.
Another way to receive an eternal perspective is by exposing our selves to the Word of God is by reading the Bible. If you want to get through the Bible in a year or two, you might consider getting the ONE YEAR BIBLE. But this approach is not for everyone (hold up prop).
Richard Foster, a respected writer on the spiritual life, recommends reading a large section of Scripture a day or two a week. He believes that a longer shower once or twice a week may be better for some than a daily sprinkling.
In the Taste of Community small group we’re hosting in our home, we’re going through the ancient practice of meditation called the Lectio Divina.
In Lectio Divina you simply take a small passage of Scripture… you read it not once, but several times reflecting, savoring, praying, contemplating one word or phrase… you allow the word to sink from your head to your heart.
Another way to get the eternal perspective of the Word is to memorize part of it.
I often use part of my vacation to memorize (or re-memorize) a passage of Scripture, like Psalm 1, 103, 139 or Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount, parts of John 15, Colossians 3. This has been a wonderful way to let the Word become part of me… Sometimes, as I sleep I recite Scripture…
The Word can help us move from focusing on the “dot” of this life to the “line” of eternity…
Other kinds of spiritual reading can also help us focus less on the dot and more on the line…
C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, and Henri Nouwen are authors that have pointed me godward.
Another thing we can do that moves us from a mindset on the “dot” to the perspective of the “line” is exposing ourselves to beauty.
There’s something about being exposed to beauty that makes us aware of finiteness and exposes us to the power and creativity of God.
C.S. Lewis in the Weight of Glory says that the beauty we find in nature, music, books can move in us a longing for an eternal beauty…
Lewis says the eternal beauty is not located in these things, but only comes through them…
Lewis says the eternal beauty that comes through these things arouse in us the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited….
Beauty on earth can make us long for an eternal beauty.
When I am running through a wooded trail or sailing on the water off the coast here, sometimes I have a longing for this eternal beauty.
A pastor I know in NYC named Tim Keller says that when we meet Jesus, his face will remind us of everything beautiful we’ve ever experienced… and conversely beauty can remind us of the beauty of Jesus…
If this feels soft and subjective to you, let me cite an interesting study done by a Japanese mathematics scholar named Masahiko Fujiwara (not a Christian) on how genius emerges.
This scholar researched people who were widely regarded as being geniuses in fields such as mathematics, science, literature, art, music, etc. In each case the person who was widely regarded as a genius as a child was exposed to beauty in his or her surroundings. He thought that there was one exception in his study of a famous economist who much of his life in a poor part of India that clearly was not beautiful, but as he traced this economic genius’s history, he discovered that indeed as a young child he had lived in a place of great beauty. A second characteristic that this Japanese scholar identified in his study of people who were widely regarded as geniuses was that they know their hearts knelt in reverence to something higher than they were. The third characteristic of the genius was that they lived in an environment where spirituality was regarded as being more important than money or tangible things.
It is as we allow ourselves to be exposed to beauty in the Word, but also in nature great novels, movies, through music, and, perhaps most important, through our relationships…and as we kneel in submission to God and value the things that are spiritual and eternal above, the things that we can see, touch and feel, our minds will be renewed. We will take on a more eternal perspective, and then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
A third way we become people who focus on the line of eternity (vs. the dot of this life) is through relationships.
Alan Deutschman in his book Change or Die points out that 90% of people likely will not change. Information alone doesn’t generate change in most people. Scaring people with facts doesn’t cause people to change. The only thing that causes a person to change is having a relationship with a person or a community that inspires hope.
If we want our minds transformed from the present age so that our focus is not on the “dot” but on the “line”, we need to be with people whose energy orients us that way.
I’ve a had a number of people do that for me.
One person I think of is my mother. She re-dedicated her life to God not long before I gave my life to Christ as a teenager.
When one of us five kids was about to make a big decision, she would often encourage about the consequences in 10 years and in eternity. When of us kids would fail at something or experience something disappointing, she would encourage us to look in light of 10 years and in light of eternity.
When I was a high school senior I remember applying to schools and hoping to go to one of top two choices. And I remember my mom, my IVY leagued educated mom, saying don’t put a school at the top of your list just because it’s prestigious or because their graduates command a certain salary, pick a school that will help you fulfill your life purpose, what God wants for you. If you pick just because of its brand you may rely on your education more that God… that’s eternal perspective.
I have a wife, mentors, friends who orient me to the eternal.
Frankly, I have many wonderful people in my life who don’t, they are people who orient to the here and now…
But I want the people who orient me to the eternal to be my core influencers.
I am aware that it’s not a high percentage of people of younger generation who have this eternal orientation.
So, if you can’t find a friend like this, go back in history. Considering becoming friends with William Wilberforce, the Christian politicians who fought to dismantle the slave trade (as featured in the the movie Amazing Grace), or Eric Liddle the Olympic runner who went to serve in China (featured in the movie Chariots of Fire) or Mother Teresa or Amy Carmichael, the missionary to India.
Another way to live for the line and not the dot is by what we choose to do (this points comes to us at slightly different angle).
What we do affects our perspective.
As I said when we looked at Romans 6 several weeks ago, we not only change from the inside out, but from the outside in. What we do affects our perspective.
Richard Rohr has said we don’t think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking…
When I was working for as part of part of big corporation in Tokyo, once in a while a young woman would swing by the work area to let me know she was going on vacation. She’d be giddy with laughter and say I’m going on this trip… it’s going to be so great… I’m going to go shopping by some a Prada purse, a Louis Vuitton bag and some Cartier Jewelry.
I’d say something that’s not my idea of an ideal vacation, but have a good time!
If I knew the person better, I might ask aren’t you embarrassed by that? She’s say, no what’s there to be embarrassed by? I’m going to have a great time!
The brand-name shopping spree vacation will tend to tie a person’s heart to things that will not last.
In contrast, this past week someone was telling me about how his daughter spent part of her vacation serving an orphanage in China. He said, this really opened her heart in powerful way to these children and to missions in general. She wanted to bring kids home and she going back to China next summer to serve in an orphanage.
Jesus says, 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus says where our treasure is our heart will follow. So, if we our treasure is here our heart will be here, it’s in heaven our heart will be there.
We can become a person whose mindset is on the “line of eternity” and not the "dot" through the Word, through beauty, through people, and through what we do.
Then as Paul says in Romans 12:2 we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
In his book, The Great Divorce, writer C.S. Lewis recounts a welcoming celebration held in heaven honoring a follower of Jesus who has just died. The book’s narrator, being shown around heaven at the time, sees this welcome celebration with boys and girls dancing around her and asks, “Is this person being honored is some great celebrity?
But his guide tells him, “It’s someone ye’ll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah… Fame in heaven and fame on earth are two quite different things.
‘And who are all these young men and women on each side?’They are her sons and daughters.’ ‘She must have had a very large family.’ The guide says, ‘She had no children of her own… Every young man or boy that met her became her son--even if it is was only the boy that delivered meat to her back door. Every girl that met her was her daughter. ‘Wasn’t that a bit hard on their own parents?’‘No. There are those that steal other people’s children. But her motherhood was of a different kind. Those on whom it fell went back to their natural parents loving them more.
And now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them.’"
Sarah Smith lived consciously or unconsciously in way that was oriented to eternity.
I am want to live that way too.
I want to live the kind of life today in light of my life “tomorrow.” I want to make my decisions today in light of the world to come.
What about you?
If so, live for the “line of eternity” (and not for the "dot") by exposing yourself to the Word, beauty, people who orient you to the eternal and through what you do.
Pray
(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio.htm)
posted by Shigematsu at 1:09 PM
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Thank you for a wonderful message!
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