This week’s Fun Foto Challenge is all about: BARNS OR ABANDONED BUILDINGS
To see how others interpreted the theme go to:
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Abandoned Buildings or Barns
Here is my take on the subject:
Dunlough Castle, Ireland
The Cottage At Captain’s Farm Hill
![Christmas presents]tmas-tree](https://josephelonlillie.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/christmas-presentstmas-tree.jpg)
“Advent reminds us that we are a pregnant people. For God calls each of us to bring forth the Christ.” Jan Richardson, Sacred Journeys
As I was meditating in this mornings group prayer session the Lord keyed me in to the beauty of a particular song playing in the backgorund.
His voice echoed in my ear, “I wrap myself in beauty like you wrap yourself in clothing. Just remember my wrapping is only an outward expression of a deeper reality. The surface beauty you can perceive overlays a deeper beauty that you cannot.”
The Scripture came to mind, “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard the wonderful things God has prepared for those who love Him.” Corinthians
He may wrap Himself in beauty but He is more than that. He is beauty incarnate.
He may wrap Himself in light but He is more than that. “God is light and in Him is no shadow of turning!” I John
Me reclining after walking up the “Rocky” stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.
We have been discussing the paradoxes of Scripture in church these last several weeks. Yesterday I got to speak on the paradox of “laboring to rest” which we find in Hebrews 4:11. This post is the conclusion of the matter. So f you missed the first two section s they can be found at the links below:
https://josephelonlillie.com/2014/11/30/pastor-wrinkles-laboring-to-rest-pt-1/
https://josephelonlillie.com/2014/12/01/pastor-wrinkles-laboring-to-rest-pt-2/
What we have learned to this point is that the work…the labor we are called to do as Christians is the work of having faith in a living loving God. We are called to do that in a world that is constantly trying to steal our faith and get us to believe only in our own strength.
The writer to the Hebrews in the verses leading up to our opening verse in Hebrews 4: 11 makes this clear when he writes,
“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,” Hebrews 4:1-3
Our work our labor is to believe and have faith in God and to allow that faith to propel us through life rather than our own strength.
Some people scoff at this way of living saying it makes God a crutch. They would say that God helps those who help themselves. But the truth is that we are a people who need a crutch.The world, and even our own inner monologues often tells us that we have to save ourselves, that we cannot rely on God so we have to trust in ourselves, our own strength. The problem is that every time we follow this line of advice we end up in trouble. Some people have gone so far as to make even going to Heaven a work that man can accomplish in his own strength. Others following that advice of working their way to Heaven have worked their way right out of trusting Christ and into Hell. I had one man tell me that if in fact he could not get to Heaven on his own merits he was not going to rely upon someone else’s sacrifice to get him into the pearly gates. That man died and for all his labor he ended up with an eternity of torment.
When the Bible tells us to labor to enter into rest it is not talking about a list of do’s and don’ts but about laboring to build faith in the work of Christ in our lives and this is indeed a labor for the whole world is set against it:
The world tells us to work to get ahead. Christ says trust me and obey me and I will give you the life I intend for you to have.
The world says work hard and pay your own way. The Lord says trust me, pray and do the things I tell you to do and I will supply all your needs.
The world says do good works and God might be impressed enough to let you into Heaven. Jesus says come unto me and trust my work on the cross to save you and then you can rest from your labors.
In the end we have a choice about how to labor. Laboring in our own strength leads us to exhaustion and ultimately failure. Laboring to trust God and His way for our lives leads to rest and peace and ultimately success. It seems like a no-brainer to me but which will you choose?
So the Daily Post has me stranding someone else on a desert island today
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/someone-elses-island/
His name was Bobby. I took him out to the island on a Tuesday and left him there after digging a well for fresh water and tilling a garden and leaving him plenty of seed to sow. I bought him a flock of sheep, after all shepherding while a lonely work is full of spiritual benefit. Bobby desperately needed that. I also left him a fishing pole so he could learn to fish and a Bible so he could learn to fish for men.
I’ll check back with him in a few years on Wednesday. If he isn’t stark raving mad he should be a better person for it. Maybe next time he won’t reject my invitation to church Mwahahaha!
This post is written in response to:
http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_writing_challenge/digging-for-roots/
Roots in Rocky Soil
by JE Lillie
I stood by the western wall of Blarney Castle staring at the twisted roots, remnants of the growth that had once encased the castle in its strength. The image took me back to my own family whose roots were not in Ireland but in a place just as rocky, some would say barren.
I grew up just South of the New Hampshire border smack dab in the middle of Massachusetts. I was third generation conservative Republican in one of the most liberal states in the union. My father was a small business man and civically minded citizen in the seventies, fully ensconced in the small business world, strongly favoring the free market economy while standing firmly against every philosophy of the “liberal pinko commies”, as he called them. Both Dad and Gramps served in town leadership throughout their lives choosing to ply their minority political stance wherever they could.
Dad was a hard man and I was his soft son. We were as different in manner as two men could be. He spent his days practicing his shot on ants in the back yard. I collected the little critters in jars trying to save them from my dad’s quick draw.
I began my spiritual journey early in life. At first I was fascinated by witchcraft. As a young teen I studied with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and then followed the bread crumbs God left me into the Pentecostal church my Uncle attended. My father an avowed agnostic (which really just means he refused to make any decision at all) instantly declared me crazy.
Maybe it was just teenage rebellion but I ran rather than walked deep into the church. Dad and I had many arguments over that and over my subsequent decision to become a minister. But when Dad became sick in the early nineties I left Bible College and came home to help in the business. After he died suddenly I launched into an eight year stint in the business world working newspapers and other management positions before finding my way back into the church.
I have served as an assistant pastor in the town I grew up in since 1996 and recently I was appointed to a town board in that same town. Somewhere along the way I seem to have captured my father’s sense of humor (something I didn’t even know he possessed when I was growing up) at least that’s what people tell me. I also captured his politics though I am sure he would probably think I have some “pinko commie” leanings were he still around. Somewhere in my journey I got a little tougher which tells me that maybe somewhere in his journey my father was a little bit softer and maybe he and I weren’t so different after all. Maybe we were just at different points of growth in this rocky New England soil.
This week’s Sunday Still Challenge is all about the circuitous paths we take. Find out how other photographers have interpreted the theme of THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD at
Here are my interpretations:
The road into Torc Falls is a long and windy way.
But I do not have to travel to Ireland to find a long winding road. I can travel plenty in my native New England.
This post is part two in our sermon from Sunday 11-30-14. If you missed part 1 you can find it here:
Our leading Scripture is found in Hebrews 4:11
“ Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
So what does laboring to rest mean?
Does it mean that if we work hard eventually we will get to rest in Heaven as a reward for our labors?
Some say that Christianity is a religion of “do’s” and “don’ts”, that if we are ever to make it to Heaven we have to work very hard for it.
They might say something like,”Be good.Be saintly and God might just find you good enough to let you enter Heaven.”
Many people labor under the false idea that God is up in Heaven with a calculator right now tabulating good works versus bad works. When asked if they expect to go to Heaven their answer is that they hope that they are basically good people and that God will find their good works to outweigh their bad works and so He will let them into Heaven; But this is not biblical and it is certainly not what Jesus or the writer to the Hebrews meant when they suggested that we labor to enter into rest.
Paul the apostle Paul questioned
“What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage?”
And he was right when he concluded
” Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.” Romans 3: 9-12
Later he wrote:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph. 2:8-10
The work and the labor spoken of do not speak of our own works or of Heaven.
Good works can never earn us entrance into Heaven. Our works will never be good enough to earn us a place in Heaven. Our place in Heaven is only guaranteed by our faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus , himself,said “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
So we see that what God requires of us in order to get into Heaven is not a list of good works but a daily living faith in Jesus Christ.
Paul the apostle wrote in Romans 10 that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
And again in the book of Ephesians chapter 2 He tells us it is by grace you are saved through faith.
Have you realized what we are to labor at yet? Tune in tomorrow!
Ailsa has challenged us to take the high road and get above our subjects this week.
To see how other bloggers rose to the occasion got to
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/11/28/travel-theme-above/
Here are my thoughts on the subject
This is a view of the grounds of Blarney Castle from the top of its parapet.
The city of Amsterdam plays out beneath me as I stand on the balcony of
The Vrie Universitie.
Delft From the top of the Nieuwe Kerk.
In our seasons of shaking may God give us grace to walk.
The last couple of weeks God has brought up the subject of trust. As I was meditating on ‘trust’ all I kept hearing was “Trust Me, Trust Me”. My first thoughts were, of course, I trust you, God! In fact, I trust You with everything. As I went about my week it seemed liked everything I picked up to read or listen to was all about trust some way or another.
Sometimes it takes me a little while to catch on, hence my blog title, be still and listen. lol I’m like, okay God I’m hearing You and You want me to concentrate on trusting You. In the stillness and quietness of my prayer closet God spoke to me and said;
“You need to Trust Me and dig your feet in for a season of shaking.”
I believe that season is rapidly approaching, if it’s not here…
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