Praise God for freedom!

Character

In wading through some old documents I found this devotion from Purpose Driven Connection I had saved:

Molded into Godly Character
by Rick Warren

Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24 (NIV)

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As I mentioned yesterday, your character is essentially the sum of your habits; it is how you habitually act. The Bible says, “Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24 NIV).

God uses his Word, people, and circumstances to mold us. All three are indispensable for character development. God’s Word provides the truth we need to grow, God’s people provide the support we need to grow, and circumstances provide the environment to practice Christlikeness.

If you study and apply God’s Word, connect regularly with other believers, and learn to trust God in difficult circumstances, I guarantee you will become more like Jesus.

Many people assume all that is needed for spiritual growth is Bible study and prayer. But some issues in life will never be changed by Bible study or prayer alone. God uses people. He usually prefers to work through people rather than perform miracles, so that we will depend on each other for fellowship. He wants us to grow together.

In many religions, the people considered to be the most spiritually mature and holy are those who isolate themselves from others in mountaintop monasteries, uninfected by contact with other people.

But this is a gross misunderstanding. Spiritual maturity is not a solitary, individual pursuit!

You cannot grow to Christlikeness in isolation. You must be around other people and interact with them. You need to be a part of a church and community.

Why? Because true spiritual maturity is all about learning to love like Jesus, and you can’t practice being like Jesus without being in relationship with other people.

Remember, it’s all about love – loving God and loving others.

Kameron at the Bil-Mar Softball Tourney

Jakson at Timertown 2010

Last minute Charlie

One of my less beneficial traits is a tendency to procrastinate. But I think "Last minute Charlie" is a more positive nickname than "Mr. Procrastinator", thus the title of this blog. The latest example of this character flaw is my preparation for tomorrow's Children's Message at church. I was called earlier in the week and agreed to come up with a simple message while our Pastor is off. We have a church campout so there won't be many kids in church - but still I should give this more than a couple minutes preparation. Like usual, Shelly helped me out. She had some leftover glow-in-the-dark bracelets from the Pumpkin Paint 2009 that we had saved specifically for this cause, and she even knew where to find them!

So tomorrow's message will come with a "snap", "shake" and "glow" wrist bracelet. I'm hoping most of them work, the box of open bracelets Shelly had with 6 only had 1 that glowed. But an unopened box was tested and the first two worked.

So what lesson do I share with our 4-8 year old children?

- Don't be a "last minute Charlie"

- Be prepared (Boy Scout theme?)

- Let your light shine for Jesus

- when you get snapped, or shaken - how do you react? it's a chance to shine!

- how long does your glow for Jesus last?

Oh boy, now my problem is picking JUST one - guess I should have procrastinated longer!