"So if you want a beautiful life, put your faith and trust in Jesus."

A thought by Daniel Fusco, from his book, Crazy Happy (p. 19). The Crown Publishing Group, Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

Putting your faith and trust in Jesus is the way to a beautiful life. So what does he mean by that?

Faith and trust leads to beauty!

Daniel says, "And here’s a key to life as a follower of Jesus: it’s not just believing in Jesus one time when you commit to him; it’s about following him every day as well. It’s about walking with him.

"See, too many of us have this idea that when you’re born, you’re born and that’s it. It’s a great thing to be born, but what’s next? If you never interact with your parents again, will you grow? It won’t happen, right? And it’s the same way with Jesus. You put your faith and trust in him one time. That’s salvation. But then the adventure begins: you follow him every single day so that you grow."

He goes on, "If we want to experience the crazy happy life God intends for us in Jesus—the life that fills our longings—we have to internalize this new reality. God’s ideas are unique. They’re so different from our culture. But they lead to exactly where you and I want to be. And better yet, they lead to what God wants for us

"His beauty changes everything. It comes as a gift, and when we live into his beauty, the world changes."

He continues, "What’s both interesting and heartbreaking is if you ask most people who don’t go to church how they would describe the Western church, you’ll likely find it doesn’t go all that well. Very few people are going to list off the Beatitudes when they describe the church. Very few people are going to describe Christians as 'poor in spirit,' 'hungering and thirsting for righteousness,' 'mourning.'

"Don’t get me wrong—I love the church. She is the body and bride of Christ. But if we’re real with ourselves, we’ve got to know that the rest of society is not thinking Beatitudes when they see how we live most of the time."

He then says, "I would venture to say it’s really urgent for us to figure out how to get back to a faith that’s beautiful—for the sake of a dying world, and also because that’s how Jesus loves us to live. And at the end of the day, living beautiful lives that are pleasing to Jesus is what it’s all about."

And that is so true, isn't it?

Yes, yes!

Comments

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle? Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...

“When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 57). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. To realize that from God’s perspective life is a test goes a long way in determining how you handle your life. It is important to see that in testing your character is both developed and revealed. Rick goes on to say that “even the smallest incident has significance for your character development. Every day is an important day, and every second is a growth opportunity to deepen your character, to demonstrate love, or to depend on God.” So there is a God purpose behind each situation in your life. Even the bad ones are there to strengthen you and develop you. You see those bad situations are really good ones because they are there for your good. I start each day with a reminder that God is good. Not every situation that is going to come in my day is good but because G...

“What areas of my personality, background, and physical appearance am I struggling to accept?”

A thought by Rick Warren, (2012-10-23) from his book, The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? (Purpose Driven Life, The) (p. 35). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. Rick posed this question at the end of his chapter, You Are Not an Accident. In this chapter he deals with the fact that God created you the way you are with a purpose. In other words you are not an accident. I am also reading the Apostle John’s view of Jesus and what He said and did while He was here on earth. In the beginning of Chapter 9 there is a story about a blind man. And the disciples who were with Him asked Him a good question, “Who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind? ” Have you ever asked the same thing about something in you that you don’t like? Like that characteristic is a curse or something. Society has set a standard that is not a standard of God. Remember, He created you and you are not an accident. Je...

Just Continue That Thought...

Search This Blog