Where is Your Ladder Leaning?

"There is seldom a period in which we do not know what to do, and we move through life in such a distracted way that we do not even take the time and rest to wonder if any of the things we think, say or do are worth thinking, saying, or doing. We simply go along with the many "musts" and "oughts" that have been handed on to us, and we live with them as if they were authentic translations of the Gospel of our Lord." (Nouwen, Henri, The Way of the Heart, Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1981, p. 21)

I have spent the last few years trying to discern which parts of me and my life are truly from the Lord and not just things I have picked up along the way and labeled "Christian." I think it is critical to stop every so often and ask the hard questions. I may be working really hard to climb up the ladder of life, but am I sure it is leaning against the right wall?

In the Sanctuary...

I just love this picture. I "borrowed" it from the website of my friend, Paul Kiler (see his link to the right "Artis-Divina").

For some reason it really strikes me. I see that girl as me...wearing my sweats...doing the day-to-day stuff...and trying be in the sanctuary at the same time. I don't know what she is reading, probably the bible, searching for the Word of God. The sacrifice of Christ is clearly displayed above her head.

The picture just resonated down inside me somewhere. Do you see yourself here too?

Is Your Imagination Starved?

This is the February 11 entry in Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Hightest.

IS YOUR HOPE IN GOD FAINT AND DYING?

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose imagination is stayed on Thee." Isaiah 26:3 (R. V. marg.)

Is your imagination stayed on God or is it starved? The starvation of the imagination is one of the most fruitful sources of exhaustion and sapping in a worker's life.

If you have never used your imagination to put yourself before God, begin to do it now. It is no use waiting for God to come; you must put your imagination away from the face of idols and look unto Him and be saved.

Imagination is the greatest gift God has given us and it ought to be devoted entirely to Him. If you have been bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, it will be one of the greatest assets to faith when the time of trial comes, because your faith and the Spirit of God will work together.

Learn to associate ideas worthy of God with all that happens in Nature - the sunrises and the sunsets, the sun and the stars, the changing seasons, and your imagination will never be at the mercy of your impulses, but will always be at the service of God.