Steps to Take as You Follow ChristAsk— What do I do with God’s spirit?Seek—From a prayer posture, concentrate on your breathing. Asyou inhale, ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, to animateyour every action to do his will. As you exhale, breathe the namefrom the core of your being: Jesus. Continue to meditate on him.Knock—Meditate on Galatians 6:7–9. Reflect on the differencebetween a living person and a corpse. Are most of your actions,actions of sowing in the flesh or sowing to the spirit? Ask Godfor patience that you might endure in all things by sowing to thespirit.Transform Your Life—Make it a habit to pray the prayer ofJesus from the cross whenever you find yourself tempted to dosomething that you know is not of God: “Father, into your handsI commend my Spirit.” This prayer that Jesus has given us is thekey to moving from sowing in the flesh to sowing to the spirit.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Steps in Following Christ
Sunday, July 20, 2014
The Call of the Disciple by Michael Dubruiel
Jesus tells a story about two dead men: one affluent, the other a
beggar. After living a life of luxury, the rich man finds himself suffering
in acute pain; he asks Abraham to send Lazarus (the poor
beggar) to get him a drink. Even in the afterlife, the rich man
thinks that Lazarus should be waiting on him!
Abraham points out the barrier that prevented Lazarus from
doing the rich man’s bidding in the afterlife. Of course, no such
barrier exists among the living. The justice of Lazarus’s reward in
the afterlife also points to the fact that it is no one’s lot to be a beggar
in this life; the surplus of some, as Pope John Paul II has often
preached, belongs to those in need. While he was alive, the rich
man had it within his means to relieve the suffering of Lazarus, but
he did nothing. In the mind of the rich man, Lazarus was exactly
what God wanted him to be—a beggar. In the next life, the tables
were turned: Lazarus was rewarded, and the rich man suffered.
It is a simple message, one that we have heard many times.
It also has a touch of irony: In the story, the rich man begs Abraham
to send Lazarus back from the dead to warn the rich man’s
brothers. Abraham predicts that they still wouldn’t believe.
Notice the reaction of the crowd when Jesus raises Lazarus from
the dead: “So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus also to
death, because on account of him many of the Jews were going
away and believing in Jesus,” (John 12:10–11).
Jesus sent his disciples out to heal, to liberate, and to invite
others into the kingdom of God. As a follower of Christ, what
am I doing for those Jesus sends to me?
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