thoughts from A.W. Tozer

This quote is about conversion and how truly finding God means that we will want to seek Him more.

from The Pursuit of God - 

“The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless.  Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego.  Christ may be “received” without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver.  The man is “saved”, but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God.  In fact, he is specifically taught to be satisfied and is encouraged to be content with little….Everything is made to center upon the initial act of “accepting” Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls.  We have been snared into the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek Him.  This is set before us as the last word in orthodoxy, and it is taken for granted that no Bible-taught Christian ever believed otherwise.  Thus the whole testimony of the worshiping, seeking, singing church on that subject is crisply set aside.  The experiential heart-theology of a grand army of fragrant saints is rejected in favor of a smug interpretation of Scripture which would certainly have sounded strange to an Augustine, a Rutherford or a Brainerd.”

 

Weekly Lyrics

I’m not a huge fan of singing hymns most of the time, but I was listening to this hymn (a new version) this morning and was captured by so many of the words in it.  I’ve italicized the words that caught my attention and made me really think.  There’s some powerful stuff in the truths that are expressed in this song.

Come Thou Fount (Gateway Worship version)

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

I was lost in utter darkness ’til You came and rescued me
I was bound by all my sin when Your love came and set me free
Now my soul can sing a new song, now my heart has found a home
Now Your grace is always with me
And I’ll never be alone

Come, Thou Fount, come, Thou King; Come, Thou precious Prince of Peace
Hear Your bride, to You we sing, come, Thou Fount of our blessing
Come, Thou Fount, come, Thou King; Come, Thou precious Prince of Peace
Hear Your bride, to You we sing, come, Thou Fount of our blessing

O, to grace, how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

Weekly Link

Fellowship of Grace’s new Worship CD – RESOUND

Weekly Lyrics

This is kind of a depressing song, but I think it really is a good picture of how life can feel sometimes – when we let our priorities get out of whack and when we forget the Purpose for and the Reason why we are called to do what we do.

“Running Out Of Days” by 3 Doors Down

There’s too much work and I’m spent
There’s too much pressure and I’m bent
I got no time to move ahead
Have you heard one thing that I’ve said

And all these little things in life they all create this haze
There’s too many things to get done, and I’m running out of days

And I can’t last here for so long
I feel this current it’s so strong
It gets me further down the line
It gets me closer to the light

And all these little things in life they all create this haze
There’s too many things to get done, and I’m running out of days

Will all these little things in life they all create this haze
And now I’m running out of time I can’t see through this haze
My friend tell me why it has to be this way
There’s too many things to get done, and I’m running out of days

Weekly Links

Sorry I missed last week!  Here’s a few:

// Check out Shane and Shane’s Christmas CD here
// Play Mars Hill’s Whac-a-fox to go along with Driscoll’s series on the Song of Solomon. Pretty creative.
// I like fall. Check out some scenic fall destinations.
// NBA playing outside??? Yup, check it out.
// A church giving away “date nights” for their married couples. Cool idea.
// The new Macbook. They just keep getting better.

“Be consistent, but don’t treat everyone the same” – Lesson I Learned @ UPS

While this may seem somewhat contradictory, it was something that began to make more sense to me after a few months of leading my team of employees. The employees I supervised all were responsible for relatively the exact same workload.  They each had their specific area and their 3-4 specific package cars to load.  It was my job to help motivate them to work hard throughout their 5 hour shift.  It didn’t take me long to realize that there were some people who I never had to check on and they would work hard and not slack off the entire time.  Other employees would obviously work harder when they knew I was watching. 

So I had to find a balance – I needed to treat each person fairly and lead them in a consistent manner, and at the same time hold them each accountable to do their work. I soon began to realize that I could not just take a cookie-cutter approach to each person to motivate them to do their job.  For example, some people responded well to regular monitoring, while others performed worse and felt like they were in trouble if I observed them doing their work for a period of time.  Some employees needed constant reminding of methods and procedures, while others simply needed an encouraging comment to help keep them focused and on task. 

Basically I needed to get to know each person individually and in order to find out how I could best help them succeed, without playing favorites or picking on the same people all the time.  This kind of leading is hard work, and I am definitely not an expert on it.  Being consistent is a lot harder than it seems, but I believe good leadership depends on consistency and treating the people you lead on an individual and appropriate basis.

Weekly Lyrics

Such simple, yet profound words in this song.  Not only do we worship Jesus for what He has done, but also for who He is – and He is something special.

For Who You Are by Hillsong

Standing here in Your presence
Thinking of the good things you have done
Waiting here patiently
Just to hear Your still small voice again

Holy, righteous,
Faithful to the end
Savior, Healer,
Redeemer and Friend

I will worship You for who You are
I will worship You for who You are
I will worship You for who You are
Jesus

My soul secure, Your promise sure
Your love endures always

Weekly Lyrics

What a great reminder! We are living in the shadow of the cross – because of what His sacrifice.  Think about what the chorus says – “how could I forget the price You paid…” – Jesus, forgive me for forgetting to remember sometimes.  Help me to live with the constant realization that I am in the shadow of the cross … Your cross.  

Shadow of Your Cross by Joel Engle

Lamb of God, Son of man how you suffered how You bled 
With a crown of thorns pressed upon Your head 
You chose the road of pain 
You walked the hill of all my shame, all my shame 
 
In the shadow of Your cross, I will live for all my days 
How could I forget the price You paid 
In the shelter of Your love I will give You all my praise 
In the shadow of Your cross I will stay 

Man of sorrows crucified pure and holy sacrifice 
As the hammer hit the nail You offered up Your life 
You gave up heaven for Your own 
You took our punishment alone 
You were so alone 

O King of Majesty 
Forever I will sing 
Of the gift You gave to me 
You gave to me

Weekly Links

Sorry! Not too many this week!

// A funny video about church business meetings. Check it.
// I like the title of this article. I wonder who would win??