Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Chatting with Charity ~ 2

 
 
Chatting with Charity
 
Love Thy Neighbor
 
“What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:28-31
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For years I struggled with the age old church question of “what is my calling?” If you have spent any time at all on a church pew or listening to Christian radio you have heard multiple people tell you to follow your calling. I was always left with questions like… How was I supposed to know my calling and what if I missed mine? Then one day while reading in Mark I was reminded of just how simple my “calling” is, I am to love the Lord with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength and I am to love my neighbor as myself. After reading this suddenly the only question I had was…Who is my neighbor? Well, that was easy; my neighbor is everyone God brings into my life! Today my neighbors are my husband and children and possibly the checkout lady at the grocery store, tomorrow they will be the clients who come to me to have their hair done. Since this realization I have tried to be very intentional about showing my neighbors love. I have done simple physical acts that have encouraged fellow believers and opened doors for me to share Christ with those who don’t know Him. I plan to share here once a month a simple way that I intentionally loving my neighbor in hopes that it will inspire you to do something intentional to love yours. If you do, I would love for you to share what you did in the comments below, feel free to add a picture too!
Today, I am loving my husband by filling a candy dish on his bedside table with one of his favorite treats. It is nothing grand or over the top but it is a way for me to let him know that I thought about him, I appreciate him, and that he is important to me!
‪#‎lovethyneighbor
 
Cha Cha

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Chatting with Charity ~ 1

 
 
 Chatting with Charity
 
As Christians we know that reading the Bible is one of the most important things that we can do.  Maybe you even made reading the Bible through your New Year’s resolution. But my question for you today is, have you ever gotten to a chapter or book in the Bible and wondered, how do I apply this to my life?  Maybe Leviticus has you stumped!  Me too!  Well, I have great news.  I was recently introduced to an amazing book, Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible by G. Campbell Morgan.  The book is exactly that, applications for your life from every chapter of the Bible.         G. Campbell Morgan wrote the book, 90 years ago, as a resource for pastors who were struggling to come up with sermon ideas but it is very relevant for our lives today. This book is a wonderful book for those who are new to the Bible and those like me who have been reading it most of their life.  Recently, I was teaching from the book of Esther, one of my favorites and one I have taught from many times, and was struck by something Morgan mentioned that I had never noticed before.  He compared the value in marriage given to queen Vashti to the value that Jewish women were given in the covenant of marriage.  I have never once stopped to think about how God had provided protection, so beautifully, for the Jewish women of that time with the gift of covenant marriage.  This is just one of many things that I have found new and interesting as I have been using it.  I hope that you will get this book and that it will be a wonderful help as you dig deep into God’s word.
Do you have a favorite book or author you read to help you with your Bible reading?
 
Cha Cha