Learning to live for HIS glory

I'm a recovering addict.  And I suspect those of you reading this are either on the caught up in or trying to get out of side of an addiction.  We're all seeking meaning in life.  Joy.  Hope.  Peace. Love. Problem is, we live in a messed up, twisted, evil world.  It can't deliver on any of those desires.  Neither can anything in it. Where do you run to escape?  When life is cruel, hard, hurts . . . ?  Where do you let your mind go when you just need to "get away"--when you're craving peace?   I know my drug of choice.  It's getting caught up in the dream world of fiction.  Letting myself believe, if only for the hour it takes to devour a book, that the world can be a much more perfect place.  Getting wrapped up in the life of some imaginary person so that I don't have to face the struggles and problems in mine.   For years, I didn't recognize my addiction for what it was.  After all, wasn't it normal for...

Sometimes another's words say it best . . . "But by HIS DOING you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption."  ~1 Corinthians 1:30 "Dear souls!  How little they know that the abiding in Christ is just meant for the weak, and so beautifully suited to their feebleness.  It is not the doing of some great thing, and does not demand that we first lead a very holy and devoted life.  No, it is simply weakness entrusting itself to a Mighty One to be kept--the unfaithful one casting self on One who is altogether trustworthy and true.  Abiding in Him is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us, and in us, and through us.  It is a work He does for us--the fruit and the power of His redeeming love.  Our part is simply to yield, to trust . . ." ~Andrew Murray "Abide in Me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fr...

The sky was singing glory on my way to work today.  It was a perfect transition from time spent at the feet of Jesus to entering the hustle and bustle of work.  The sky does it's job so well.  It never rebels . . . I do. So as I gazed upon the glorious sun rising for the day, I prayed the Lord would make me a glory reflecting light today. Later, the guests kept telling me about the rain falling, and I kept forgetting.  They'd tell me, and I'd respond, "Oh, really?  But the sunrise this morning was so beautiful . . ."  See I was so enraptured by that sunrise, I could hardly take in the rain.  I could see it out the windows.  Yet, my mind just kept going back to the sunrise. Does it keep going back to Jesus?  My mind?  Yours?  That's when we'll reflect His glory to a world drowning in rain.  Remembering His presence is a moment-by-moment choice.  Today, He blessed me with reminders and put a song in my heart.  Peo...