From: novita menawan
THE IMITATION OF CHRIST - by Thomas A Kempis
On friendship with Jesus
What can the world offer you, without Jesus? To be without Jesus is hell most
grievous; to be with Jesus is to know the sweetness of heaven. If Jesus is
with you, no enemy can harm you. Whoever finds Jesus, finds a rich treasure,
and a good above every good. He who loses Jesus loses much indeed, and more
than the whole world. Poorest of all men is he who lives without Jesus, and
richest of all is he who stands in favour with Jesus.
On death
Of what use to us is a long life ? Alas, a long life often adds to our sins
rather than our virtue! Would to God that we might spend a single day really
well! Many recount the years since their conversion, but their lives show
little sign of improvement. If it is dreadful to die, it is perhaps more
dangerous to live long. Blessed is the man who keeps hour of his death always
in mind, and daily prepares himself to die.
On true lovers of Jesus
Jesus has many who love his kingdom in heaven, but few who bear his
cross. He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering. He finds
many to share his feast, but few his fasting. All desire to rejoice with him,
but few are willing to suffer for his sake. Many follow Jesus to the breaking
of bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of his passion. Many admire his
miracles, but few follow him to the humiliation of his cross. Many love Jesus
as long as no hardship touches them .
They who love Jesus for his own sake, and not for the sake of
comfort for themselves, bless him in every trial and anguish of heart, no less
in greatest joy. And were he never willing to bestow comfort on them, they
would still always praise him and give him thanks.
A prayer
Grant me, Lord, to know all that I should know, to know what I should love, to
esteem what most pleases you, and to reject all that is evil in your sight. Let
me not judge superficially by what I see, nor be influenced by what I hear from
ignorant men, but with true judgement to discern between things spiritual and
material, and to seek your will and good pleasure at all times and above all
else.
========================================
From: Bayo Afolaranmi
Dear Beloved,
BLESS THE LORD, O MY SOUL!
"Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits." (Psalm 103:1-2,
NKJV).
This is the continuation of the study on Psalms 103 and 104 started last week.
We examined who God is especially in His greatness manifested in His creation
which made the psalmist to exclaim to his soul to bless or praise the Lord. In
this second part of the study, we will examine what God has done, is doing, and
will still do for us that make Him deserve our worship, praises and
thanksgiving.
The psalmist urged his soul not to forget all the benefits of God. What are
these benefits? He enumerated them in this Psalm 103: the Lord forgives all his
sins (verse 3a); the Lord heals all his diseases (verse 3b); the Lord redeems
his life from destruction (verse 4a); the Lord crowns him with love and
compassion (verses 4b, 8, 11, 13, 17); and the Lord satisfies his desires with
good things (verse 5).
The psalmist declared that the Lord did all those things to his soul, hence,
the exclamation to his soul to bless the Lord. He went further to declare other
things that the Lord has done and is doing to him as well as other people: the
Lord is just to the oppressed (verse 6); the Lord led the Israelites out of
slavery through Moses (verse 7); the Lord is gracious and slow to anger (verses
8-10); and in His compassion and love, He treats us like children (verses
10-14).
Having declared the goodness (or benefits) of God, the psalmist entreated the
angels and all the heavenly hosts to join him in blessing the Lord. He even
entreated you and me, His works, to also bless the Lord.
Undoubtedly, you also will have many things to praise the Lord for. Think of
those things. Do not forget all His benefits. Recount them and praise the Lord.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
In His service,
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
=================================================
From: "Heru Martinus Salim" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Spring ___________ ----> Spring Cleaning
/By Rebecca K. Grosenbach/
===============================
Remember the old TV show, Match Game? Players were presented with a word
followed by a blank line, as in, Happy _______.
They were then asked to think of a word to fill in the blank: "Happy Birthday,"
"Happy Go Lucky," or "Happy Days." Contestants scored points for every
celebrity player who "matched" their word.
"Spring" would have been a good word for Match Game. "Springtime,"
"Spring Showers," even "Spring Clearance" would have garnered a few points. But
then there is "spring __________," the one spring tradition I'd rather not say
out loud: "spring cleaning."
I'm not sure where this tradition started. I've been told it comes from the
days when in-home cleaning didn't involve electric vacuums or static-charged
dust cloths and it was harder to keep a house clean. "In the old days," it was
necessary to take rugs outside and give them a good whack or two to free up all
the dust.
Perhaps another reason for spring cleaning is that we're more inclined to draw
back the curtains and let the sun in during the summer. And who would want to
let the sun in through dirty windows?
I love a clean house, so why do I resist spring cleaning? Because it's work.
It's plain, hard work and I don't like it. It involves climbing and bending and
scrubbing and wiping-all those "ings" I'd rather not make a part of my day.
But consider the end result. Degreased kitchen cabinets. Shining refrigerator
doors. And, of course, sparkling windows.
There is a spiritual parallel to house cleaning. It's called confession.
Sometimes confession is hard work, too. It requires humility, which is not
easily come by.
The really hard work, though, has already been done. Jesus' death and
resurrection cleared the way for us to be cleansed through confession.
Consider 1 Corinthians 6:10-11. Paul describes people without Jesus-greedy,
immoral, idolaters, thieves. Then he says, /"And that is what some of you were.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." /We were washed!
But even after we have been washed and purified, there is still the need for
regular "spot removal." Thankfully, our Father stands ready to clean us up.
/"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins
and purify us from all unrighteousness."/ 1 John 1:9.
Why is confession so important? Second Timothy 2:21 says, /"If a man cleanses
himself from [dishonorable things], he will be an instrument for noble
purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."
/Useful to the Master! Wouldn't you love to be described that way? We need only
to cry out as did the psalmist, /"Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from
my sin. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be
whiter than snow."/ Psalm 51:2, 7
This "cleaning" analogy could be pushed too far, but I'll take that chance with
the following word pictures. To get my kitchen floor really clean, I need to
scrub on my hands and knees. Similarly, confession takes place on my knees as I
cleanse my heart through prayer. And just as clean windows make a better frame
for the sun than do dirty panes, confession cleans our hearts and allows Jesus
to shine through without distraction.
The more I think about it, spring cleaning doesn't sound so bad after all. I'll
allow the scrubbing and polishing to remind me of the joy of standing clean
before my Heavenly Father, all because of the work done by his Son, Jesus
Christ.
quoted from: http://home.navigators.org/us/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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