upward & inward

In the psalm of the shepherd, Psalm 23, David writes that the LORD leads him down paths of righteousness for the sake of the LORD's Name, "He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name ’s sake ." This is not a request as much as it is a statement. God leads David (and all His children) in paths of righteousness for the sake of His Name. This was one of those "Ah-Ha!" moments where I was again reminded that it isn't all about us. In fact, it is rarely all about me or you. This statement demonstrates that it is, and always has been, about God. He leads us on paths of righteousness so that His Name will be honored, glorified, and given praise. The secondary result is that we are guided to live lives that are honorable, praiseworthy, and the best paths we can take for our eternity. Jesus alludes to it in Matthew 5:20 when, in His Sermon on the Mount, he says, "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds...

Let's pretend for a moment that you and I are on our way to see someone we both admire greatly. This person could be anyone, absolutely anyone in history - Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Jr., and so on. We've received our invitations, the time and date has been set, and we're really on our way. How would we approach that event? Would it be with excitement? Or, even muted anticipation? Would it be, instead, with a casual disregard? Once we arrived, would we seek a seat in the back? Or, would we get there early for a seat as close to the front as possible? If we are followers of Christ, worshipers of the Most High God, then whenever we gather together in corporate worship, we have this opportunity.  We are not coming just for the music or the speaking - no matter how great (or not so great) they may be. Instead, we are coming to see and celebrate not a man like those in the example above, but the King of Kings and ...

I was stopped by a seasoned saint in our church yesterday with two questions regarding some changes we had made to the building. First, he asked about why removed doors from a set of nearby bathrooms. About a year ago, we removed these doors to our bathrooms behind the Activity Center. I initially thought these should be removed because they were redundant. The doors opened to a long hallway that provided all the privacy that was required - they seemed redundant, especially for those among us who are OCD about clean hands grabbing unclean handles.  However, the big deal was that we had several cases where folks (particularly men) would get in the room and get confused by another locked door that went to an adjacent locker room.  In one instance, a guest was so flustered by this that he was pounding on the door and yelling obscenities. Through the addition of signage, we solved a part of the problem, but without opening a door to get in, it is unlikely that we are going to ...