SAY WHAT?

The world’s message today is “finding worth and dignity in all the wrong places” 

HERE IS a <Luke5Fishing Godly view>

Good Morning !!!

Where do you look for a fixed sense of Dignity; worth and value ?
Why is this a Good Morning ?
Who makes it so ?
….
I ask because it is a huge issue in our culture today.

If we find our sense of worth or dignity anywhere other than the changeless Character of God, we will ultimately experience our lives as worth-less and hope-less. Jesus is the Express Image of the Father. We can find in Him how to respond to the lure of the World. It is a Good Morning, because of Who God is…
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Without the Anchor of The Word of God by the Spirit of God, we will eventually be tempted to accept the verdict of the world and feel that we are not be as valuable as we once that we were…and then we will be tempted to think life is no longer worth living. It’s happening before our eyes every day. Suicide.
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What is the purpose of Suffering ?
Is there one ?
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How about Growing Old’s suffering chorus of Arthritis, Heart Failure, Incontinence, Weakness….in a culture that worships Youthfulness, Beauty, Fitness and Pain Free Living, how can such suffering be redeemed ? How should those who are to be known by their Love for One Another confront suffering ? Suicide ? Assisted Suicide ? or California’s ‘Right to die’ when the individual chooses ?
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I submit to you that Jesus has shown us not only how to live…but how to lay down our lives…to die.

He refused a mixture on the cross that would have dulled the pain and numbed the mind.
He chose to face intense suffering with a clear mind. He did it as a human.
Is this dying an example to those of us who claim to follow Him ?

Are we willing to submit to our lot of diminishment in God’s Name and with His Grace allow ourselves to redeemed through it ?
Could it be that the inevitable suffering the diminishment of self importance (of me-ism) is crucial to the transformation into the Image of the Son of God ? …that the ‘sufferings of middle and old age and failing health’ are crosses to be taken up in our following of Him ?
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Peter exhorted his readers to submit to the discipline of suffering, suggesting that it could serve a holy purpose: “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same intentions / mind, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin.” I Peter 4:11

In Revelation 2:10 Jesus says…”Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

A Quote by someone who deals with death and dying weekly…..”Absent a living faith, and without the surrounding Love of an active community, it is entirely understandable that people want to take death into their own hands.” Reuben Zimmerman.

I’ll say it again… ‘We Really Do Need Each Other’ to be Able to Persevere and Live the Life He has Called us to demonstrate.
Hebrews 12:12-17 and I John 4:7-8 It is my conviction that no Casual, Lukewarm decision for Christ will accomplish what is needed today.

The Body of Christ must arise with Resurrection Power and example what it means to live with Dignity and Die with Grace.

This is a time of greater need; Disciples willing to Walk Together bearing the burdens of One Another when suffering comes in it’s many many forms. It is a time when we must honor not only the new born, young and beautiful…but also the aged and all who are suffering. And we must do it by taking back death from a medical practice that primarily only values greater profits and a longevity that still is ravages by death.

We must move into “One Another(ing)”: Exhorting, Encouraging, Praying and Coming Alongside Each Other when the world’s values have betrayed us. America needs to see ‘How We Really Do Love One Another’ more than living the good life.

Marty

p.s.   The questions screaming in the Headlines about Suicide are….

How shall the Body of Christ respond to the illusion that life is only worth living when it is free from disease and suffering ?

How shall we live so that the world can see that our value, our worth, our dignity is founded in the Unchanging Nature of God….and not our circumstances ?