“Gentle on my mind.” Glen Campbell

Some people have a pleasant way about them and being with them is a delightful joy. Every time you are with them is like a refreshing rain. The stoke they have about living life hangs in the air like the aroma of springtime and every memory you have of being with them brings a smile to your face. Such people are hardly if ever demanding, or complaining, or any of the negatives we associate with arrogance. Indeed, humility is the reason such people touch the world around them with gentleness. Lord make me such a person.

“Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 4/24/2019

“A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.” William Hazlitt

Gentleness can be such a beautiful description of both attitude and action. It is a precious manner of doing things that influences our every interaction. We can express it toward a person, a plant, an animal, and especially God. It communicates a softness in the way we touch others in what we say and do. Practice gentleness and spread its magical touch in the world. 

“Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.” Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 4/22/2019

“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” George Orwell

The key to a restful heart is found in a gentle and humble spirit. The word “gentle” that Jesus spoke of having, is an equestrian expression used to describe the partnership that exist between a horse and its rider. The horse is said to be “broken” to the will of the rider. Jesus tells us that inner peace and rest will come to us when we willfully accept God’s direction for our lives. All struggle ends in this surrender of self.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 4/21/2019

"We must remember that we are stewards of what God has provided for us, not owners." Joyce Meyers

Good stewardship of the earth begins with good stewardship of our own body and soul. If we want our children to responsibly care for the planet we should instruct them to brush their teeth and say their prayers. Good stewardship begins with a healthy respect of the one who is entrusting His possessions to us. This is true of the planet as it is of our own body and soul.

“The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.” Ps.24.1 “Conversations Within” ts 4/20/2019

“You were made by God and for God and until you understand that, life will never make sense.” Rick Warren

I belong to my wife, my family, my friends, and my God. They can and should expect certain actions from me. All my attitudes and actions should find root in those to whom I belong. How wonderful to know that they also belong to me. To have this firm sense of belonging can be the most liberating experience in life.

“You are not your own. You have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body.“ 1 Cor.6.19-20 “Conversations Within” ts 4/18/2019

“Now, stand in the corner and think about what you have done.” (Time out)

I need to be reminded time and again that my life is not mine to do with as I please. I have a number of responsibilities to my Creator, my family and friends. We can all choose to ignore them and God certainly allows all of us to do so, but not without natural consequences. I believe He has given us this freedom so that we may learn to view these obligations more our delight than our duty. The time comes when a child obeys the parent out of love and respect not because they will given time out in some corner.

“It is He that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Ps.100 “Conversations Within” ts 4/17/2019

“Be mine!” (that heart shaped Valentine candy)

My wife holds a very special place in my heart. It naturally follows that if it is in my power, there is nothing good that I would not do for her. We also hold a very special place in God’s heart. It naturally follows that He will not withhold what is good from us. Whatever we face, we face with His assuring grace. Tell it to your heart over and over again until you are able to rest confidently of His love.

"I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine…” Sol.6.3 “Conversations Within” ts 4/16/2019

It is wonderful to be someone’s prized possession.

How staggering it is to realize that God has laid claim to those who look to Him in faith. “I am His, He is mine,” is how the old hymn put it. I am proud to use the word, “my” when I speak of “my” spouse or ”my” children or “my” grandchildren, even “my” friends. For God the Father to say the we are “His” people is one, if not the most important, descriptions that define our lives.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1Pet.2.9 “Conversations Within” ts 4/15/2019

I do not belong to a religion, I belong to the God.

One truth that I have difficulty applying to my life is that my life is not my own. I belong to God. How so. Well first I am His creation, He is author of my existence. He is also the sustainer of it as well. Every breath I take is borrowed from Him. He has also redeemed my life at the cross of Christ. I also belong to Him because I choose it. Experience has taught me that I have nothing, am nothing, and can do nothing of value without Him. Still, I struggle. I still act like my life is mine to do with as I see fit. 

“Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” “Conversations Within” ts 4/13/2019

“There may be some sins of which a man cannot speak, but there is no sin which the blood of Christ cannot wash away.” Charles Spurgeon

The resurrection of Christ in a very real sense is God’s declaration that He has accepted the sacrifice of His Son for the sins of the world. I trust this to be my only hope of a favorable life beyond the grave. I know too well that I do not deserve Heaven. But I know just as well that there is no condemning judgement for those who are in Christ.

“He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” “Conversations Within” ts 4/14/2019

“Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”

According to Jesus, everlasting life is knowing God, and not as we imagine Him, but as Christ is revealing Him. I do not want to worship any god I might conjure in my limited understanding. I want to serve God as He really is. He has asked us to cast down our false images and approach Him through faith by the Spirit He sends to live in our heart. And what of eternal life? One brother aptly put it this way. “Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever?”

 “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 4/13/2019

“Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” C. S. Lewis

We are promised that eternal joy awaits all who look to Jesus for life as God intends. There is no reason why this joy cannot be ours now. After all, He is here with us now and promises that we will be with Him forever. This moment is inseparably connected to all the other moments promised us.

“I go to prepare a place for you.”  Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 4/12/2019

Once, when confessing a personal shortcoming to a friend, he humbly but pointedly said, “Isn't that the reason we have Jesus?”

Every culture in the world that I know of, has a belief system about the afterlife. Most of us want life to go on forever. Coupled with this desire is an almost universal hope that everything will turn out better than worse. When I have doubts about my own shortcomings, I look to Jesus who has told us to leave them in His hands. Christ invites every person to trust His accomplishments to see us safely beyond this life. The other option is to stand on my own record and that is something I am certain would fail me.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom.6.23 Conversations Within” ts 4/11/2019

"To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” J.K. Rowling

Some days I just don’t feel it. I hear that someone has passed and my heart feels the pain of loss more than the joy of celebration. If I really believe that glory awaits us after we die, then the passing of a child of God is great cause to celebrate. I still have mixed emotions at best. But even Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Perhaps it was due not so much to the sorrow of loss at the graveside as it may have been due to our doubts beside it.  

“A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth.” Ecc.7.1 “Conversations Within” ts 4/8/2019

“Don’t die and discover that you never lived.” David Henry Thoreau

We ordinarily think that people live and then die. But Christ asks us to see life in reverse. He has explained that life comes after death. If you have ever denied yourself in order to serve others, then you know something of what this means. He died so that we might live. As He died and rose again, He asks that we die to self and rise again to live of life of serving others. Our final death and resurrection is preceded by this daily death and daily resurrection.

“…and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2Co5.15 NKJV “Conversations Within” ts 4/7/2019

"Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all.” Kahlil Gibran

I need to repeat it often and let it sink deeply in my soul that I am a temple of the living God. He desires that I wake to His presence within. This is not only a sobering thought, it is a celebrative one. I am never alone. God Himself has chosen to make His home in my heart. This simple but profound truth invites each of us to serve Him with gladness and confidently share every activity together.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” 1 Cor.6 NIV “Conversations Within” ts 4/6/2019

“Life is a church.” David Phelps

For me, church isn’t so much a meeting I attend as it is the people that I choose to share my life with. This means when I am asked where I go to church, my first thought is that I am in church pretty much every day. For me this is a sacred and deliberate activity and my worship, fellowship, prayers and spiritual discussions take place any time I am with my family and my friends.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2.42 “Conversations Within” ts 4/5/2019

“God wants spiritual fruit not religious nuts.” Meme

The trappings of religion should not be confused with the spiritual fruit God desires from us any more than wearing a wedding band should be confused with a healthy marriage. Relationship not religious ritual is the substance of spiritual health. Wearing a cross around one’s neck is not the same thing as  taking up our cross and following Christ into service to the world. 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener...every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 4/4/2019

“One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organization do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always.“ A. W. Tozer

The measure of health where church is concerned, is one and the same where family, friendship, and community is concerned. Do I have a tribe of people who conscientiously love me and actively look out for my good, and do I return the same actions to them. Do the people in my life know that I am there for them. Do I know that they are there for me?  Church is the presence of Christ in me, joining me to the welfare of presence of Christ in you.

“I will build my church” Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 4/3/2019

“The perfect church service,would be one we were almost unaware of. Our attention would have been on God.” C.S. Lewis

Worship is life and is offered to God by the way we live it each day. Like fellowship, a worship celebration can be anywhere, any day, and any time. The principle nature of worship is always spiritual and centered around the truth that God has revealed in Christ. A day at the beach can be a day of worship and should be a day of worship. Sitting around one’s table eating a meal with family and friends can be Communion--and should be Communion.

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 4/2/2019

“Don’t go to church. Be the church.” Meme

The only number that matters where church is concerned is where two or three are gathered in His name. Anytime, and anywhere two believers come together is a meeting of His family, and as such, an opportunity to deepen the presence of Christ in both. One does not go to church per se, all followers of Christ are members of His church. In this sense, church is wherever we happen to be.

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 4/1/2019

"Use your head when you use your head.” Unknown

We are encouraged many times in Scripture to be sober minded. This is not just an injunction about drinking and drugs because many other things can rob us of thinking clearly.  Who thinks clearly when they are angry, afraid, or even sexually impassioned, depressed, or worried. To be sober minded means that we take charge of the decisions we make first, by not giving them over to our emotions, desires, or some intoxication, and second, by basing our choices on what we know is good, right and true. 

“Keep your head in all situations.” 2Tim.4 “Conversations Within” ts 3/29/2019

“When you make a choice, you also choose the consequences.” Unknown

We have all eaten too much, or drank too much, or spent too much time overdoing something. Afterward we all might wish there was a “undo” button that would instantly take it back. Thanks be to God there isn’t. What is there to be thankful for? Well, in His wisdom God wove bad consequences into bad decisions, and He did so to teach us not to repeat them. Negative consequences encourage us to make positives choices. Don’t stay in the school of “hard knocks” forever. Graduate.

“Eat just enough honey, too much of it will make you sick.” Prov.25.16  “Conversations Within” ts 3/28/2019

There is only one core choice in life and when properly made, this choice will give light to every other consideration.

Love as a governing dynamic can provide all we need for choosing a wholesome, fruitful and happy life. God is love, so to choose the actions of love is to choose Him as a partner in life. Give Jesus His rightful place in the heart, and every other choice becomes subject to it. The love of Christ becomes the cadence we march to, and every step seeks to keep His rhythm in the dance of life.

“Keep in step with the Spirit.” Gal.5 “Conversations Within” ts 3/27/2019

“This place just doesn't suit my life. No, Max. It's your life that doesn't suit this place.” A Good Year

Does my life follow the suit of Christ--the suit of service? Am I comfortable putting others first, even strangers? Am I quick to defend myself, or do I, with love, overlook an offense? Am I ever looking at the horizon with the hope of healing, sowing peace and love whatever my station? Will living in Heaven suit my taste? As one brother so aptly put it. “Heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire.”

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Jesus “Conversations Within” ts 3/26/2019

“It's not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It's what we do consistently.” Tony Robbins

Once we have settled it in our heart that we truly want nothing but goodness; health; and lasting joy, all that remains for us is to be consistent. Stay with it when you know that your actions and attitudes will give you the goodness your heart desires. Live conscious of what has lasting value and then live consistent with it every day. 

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Gal.6.9 “Conversations Within” ts 3/25/2019