Just Continue That Thought...

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 127). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) When Jesus came out of the water when He was baptized by John the Baptist a voice from above said, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”    John Ortberg says, “Jesus depended on God’s acceptance because he faced massive human rejection. God’s acceptance is stronger than human rejection, but it was not just for him. And the same is true for us. .” John says, “The alternative to soul-acceptance is soul-fatigue.”   We live in that world don’t we?   You see, as John says, “The soul craves rest. Our wills sometimes rejoice in striving; our bodies were made to (at least sometimes) know the exhilaration of tremendous challenge; our minds get stretched when they must focus even when tired. But the soul craves rest. The soul knows only borrowed strength. The sou

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 127). Zondervan. Kindle edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) by Rodney H. Young And I’m sure that is true of you especially at this time of the year. We’ve survived Black Friday and Cyber Monday but there are still more days to come. John tells of a Christian psychiatrist named Frank Lake and that he worked with many people who wanted to serve noble causes, but the stress and demands and difficulties got to them, and soon they became drained and bitter and cynical and discouraged.    Life can do that.   But he got together with the great Swiss theologian Emil Brunner and they looked at the life of Jesus and wondered how He handled it. They saw that “Jesus faced enormous stresses and difficulties and pain. Yet he never got sarcastic or cynical or unloving or burnt out. No one took away his joy.”   What did He do that made su

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 126). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) There are a lot of verses in the Bible that we love to quote.   On the surface we think we know what they mean but in reality we need to go below the surface.   Matthew 11:30 is one of those verses.   In the NIV it says, “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light ” and when our circumstances are difficult then we get confused and our faith is hurt.   But John here shares that, “Easy is a soul word, not a circumstance word; not an assignment word. Aim at having easy circumstances, and life will be hard all around. Aim at having an easy soul, and your capacity for tackling hard assignments will actually grow. The soul was not made for an easy life. The soul was made for an easy yoke.”   That is so important for us to see. John starts this section by saying, “In the

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 121). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Now that doesn’t make sense some might say.   I thought it was all about doing more religious activities and trying to be good.   But John says, “The ‘with God’ life is not a life of more religious activities or devotions or trying to be good. It is a life of inner peace and contentment for your soul with the maker and manager of the universe.” He continues, “God wants to make every moment of my life glorious with his presence. This is the core of the ‘with God’ life. It’s not just that he wants to be with us, but that he desires to make our lives ‘glorious.’ That’s not a word we use often, but it’s a great word when we think of the effect being with God can have on our souls. It means basically that he wants to fill our souls with beauty, splendor, wonder, and magnificence

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 104). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) This season of the year has so much potential to bring pain.   We didn’t get invited to that party.   We didn’t get that gift that they know we really wanted.   We don’t have enough money to get home for Christmas.   So many things that can bring us pain but it all comes down to what we are reaching out to for our happiness. John says, “A soul centered in God always knows it has a heavenly Father who will hold its pain, its fear, its anxiety. This is spiritual life: to place the soul each moment in the presence and care of God. ‘My soul cleaves to you, your right hand upholds me.’ It is much harder than it sounds to keep our souls centered on God. We hold on tightly, but often to the wrong things. But staying centered on God — his word, his ways — is the essence of life for

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 112). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I think that is an important thought for us to realize on this Thanksgiving Day.   I like how John puts it, “God planted eternity in our hearts so that we would not stop seeking life beyond ourselves.”   That is why the act of giving thanks no matter your situation is so necessary in handling life.   Our soul wants you to understand that this is not the end, we have a future. We are going to spend time with one set of our kids today.   Now I don’t think that Margaret will remember all the pain that had happened when Brett was born or our daughter in-law, Marissa will think about the pain when Ashlyn and Addison were each born.   Yes there was great pain in the moment, terrible pain but as John says, “What starts in pain, ends in joy.”   I know they are so thankful for the l

A thought by John Ortberg (2014-04-22) from his book, Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You (p. 105). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) John says, “One is sin. Sin cannot coexist with a soul centered on God. If I choose to live in bitterness, or to indulge lust, or to deceive my wife, I am choosing to keep God out of my thoughts.” And then he says, “The other disconnect is what might be called the ‘troublesome thought.’ This soul-enemy is actually much more pervasive. It’s not necessarily a sin. It’s simply a way of thinking that does not take God into account. The troublesome thought begins with any normal concern you might have. For example, you open your quarterly statement from your 401K and notice that instead of gaining, your fund lost a few hundred dollars. Certainly reason to be concerned, but then you begin a succession of thoughts that practically consume you: Will I have enough to retire? What if