Brown's Daily Word 5-21-09

Good morning, Dear friends,
This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Praise the Lord for the way He calls us out of the world, transforms our lives into His new creation, and sends us forth in to the world to live as His witnesses. He calls us out of rugged individualism and puts us in the fellowship of His Body, the Church, the Church militant and the Church triumphant. We are called to live our lives, not in isolation, but in the context of His Family. The General rules of the United Societies ( Methodist), first published, in 1743, not only provide guidelines for Christian living in the world, but also stipulate that "works of Mercy", and works of piety are the personal condition of being a Christian.
There is great temptation to live a life of alienation from the Lord and from His people. Actress Shirley MacLaine once said, "The most pleasurable journey you take is through yourself...the only sustaining love involvement is with yourself... When you look back on your life and try to figure out where you've been and where you're going, when you look at your work, your love affairs, your marriages, your children, your pain, your happiness... When you examine all that closely, what you really find out is that the only person you really go to bed with is yourself... The only thing you have is working to the consummation of your own identity. And that’s what I’ve been trying to do all my life." - HOGWASH! What a mixed-up woman she is! Shirley MacLaine is utterly consumed by self. Her philosophy is, "All I really have to do is take care of me. All that is important in life is me." WHAT A SELFISH WAY OF THINKING AND LIVING! Yet, she is like so many people in our world. Most people are only interested in themselves. They live for themselves and are concerned primarily for their personal welfare. But the Christian is called to live for Christ. Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." In this reference, the apostle Paul is saying, "I have died to myself and I don’t live for me anymore. I don’t live for money or prestige or praise or power. I do not want to do my thing in my way because Christ lives in me, and so I live for Him now and forever more." A story is told of an old mountaineer who gazee into the fire for a while, sighed and then said, "Aw, Ma, why don’t we just call in the dog and see if he’s wet." That is what you may call the height of laziness. I do not want to say that we are all downright lazy, but most of us have a lazy streak in us.
When it comes to living for Christ and giving our lives to Christ, we are either lazy or we are uncommitted, undedicated, undecided, unfaithful, unfruitful. If we decide to go to church, we go to church. If we want to stay home or do something different, we do that. For most, THE LORD’S WILL IS NOT THE DOMINANT FORCE IN OUR LIVES. In terms of practicality, our will is what matters most, but it should not be this way! Vance Havner said it this way, "Too many of us today are shaky about what we believe, BUT NOT SHAKEN BY WHAT WE BELIEVE." Our faith doesn’t shake us or have a hold on us. The Christian life is about living for Christ and giving our lives to Him. It is putting Christ first in our lives no matter what or who comes our way. Its purpose is to reach out to all people in love and with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In Christ,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOb8ihacSM4