October 26, 2018                               

                         The Investment of a Lifetime

Preaching is meant to stimulate the mind and stir the soul. Phillips Brooks was a great American preacher who could do both. He reminds us that;
"The greatest danger facing all of us is that we may fail to perceive life's greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to render the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God - and be content to have it so."

I do not wish to "be content to have it so." I wish to burn deeply, feel acutely and live intensely. I wish to invest my life in things that matter and that matter most; discerning the difference between the urgent and the important, the distinction between the good and the best. To do so, wisdom is essential. We need the wisdom from the Word that we might walk in the world.
  
Eugene Peterson the well-known Christian writer passed away this week at the age of 85 years old. He understood the issue of the investment of a lifetime:
 "We practice our death by giving up our will to live on our own terms. Only in that relinquishment or renunciation are we able to practice resurrection."

As the Apostle Paul declared, "...that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformed to His death." (Philippians 3:10)
          
Serving Him with you
Until He comes for us,
Fred