| |
| |
|
Religion Information |
|
|
|
Thoughts on the Road to Emmaus
". . . their eyes were opened, and they recognized him . . ." -Luke 24:31 Two friends-people who had known Jesus, who had walked with Him, talked with Him, and eaten meals with Him every day for three years didn't recognize Him even on a long walk down a dusty road. Have you ever wondered about that? I have. How could that possibly be? The reality is: the disciples were looking at a man who happened to be traveling along the same road they were. They did not see Jesus because they did not expect to see Jesus. How many times on our walks through life do we not see Jesus? How many times do we talk with a co-worker or a parent or a child or a friend or even someone we have never met before and fail to recognize that this person holds a precious piece of Our Lord and Savior within them? And because we don't recognize Jesus in them, we treat them not as we would treat Jesus, but as just our friend, or just our co-worker, or just our child. It must make Jesus terribly sad that for all our flowery words and pious presumptions, we still do not recognize Him in each other. Moreover, consider this: Is it possible that in religious settings, we look at one another, and instead of seeing Jesus, we see only the other person's religion, their label? And because we don't see Jesus, we say, "You are so obviously not spiritual-look, you stand when we are kneeling, or you use crucifixes instead of picturing the risen Lord, or you pray to statues and icons instead of to the living God, or you don't have our label, and so, obviously God is not going to let you into His kingdom." Thus, we spend so much time questioning each other's commitment to Jesus and so much time fighting over man-made rules and laws that we forget about those people who are lost and hurting. We forget to do God's real work-ministering to those who are hungry for His word and His truths to come into their lives. Instead, having been seduced by Satan to believe that God's kingdom is some kind of exclusive club, we spend our time fighting with each other about who is going to get in and completely fail to see that the world is going to hell around us. However, we have the choice to open our eyes and commit ourselves to do God's work here on earth. Rather than judging, we can reach out to the lost souls-not by telling them about God's love, but by showing them how great God's love is. Witnessing by how we live and how we treat one another, so that they look to us and say, "I want to be like them. I want what they have." And then maybe God's grace will touch their hearts and make them ask, "How do I get it? What do they have that I don't?" But living this way hinges on whether or not we see Jesus in every single person we happen to walk down a path with in our day-to-day lives. When we look at another person, do we see someone who is worthy of Christ's message? Someone whom God loves beyond measure? Do we see Jesus Himself-lost, hurting, and alone? Or do we see just another person. I tell you truly, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. -Matthew 25:45 Think about the inherent admonition in these words. Our goal should be to treat others not as we want to be treated but as we would treat Jesus Himself. That is God's real work. We are commissioned to spend our time ministering to God's children-rather than trying to improve our status in His eyes or to impress one another. By opening our eyes to Jesus' presence in the those around us, we will come to see His spirit manifesting in our own lives. And thus we can say as the disciples did at the conclusion to the Emmaus story, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road . . ."-Luke 24:32 Open your eyes. This opportunity is with you right now. Don't waste this chance to get to know the Jesus who is in your midst at this very moment. © Staci Stallings Need more inspiration? Sign up for the monthly newsletter by Staci Stallings, the author of this article. Insights, quotes, inspiration and even a free novel by Staci sent two chapters at a time! To sign up, send a blank email to: newsletter@stacistallings.com You'll feel better for the experience!
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Billy Graham- America Salutes You America has had its great share of renowned preachers, missionaries and evangelists but none can hold a candle to the Reverend Billy Graham. His influence is worldwide but for Americans his life and ministry have been both influential and a matter of pride. The Dark Side of The Pope If you look at just the man/women after he/she has died, what part of the humanity do you eulogize?Every person has something to bring to us in his or her death; it is a gift from the other side and is the knowledge of the past and an open door to a new path for the future. The life lived by any person can motivate us to a brighter and more enlightened future. Helping Others - What Did Jesus Say? Helping others was something Jesus did on a dailybasis. He was constantly approached by people, but Healways found time to stop what He was doing to helpthose in need. Unholy Shadows: Gnosticism One cannot begin to appreciate the early struggles of Christianity for existence without at least a rudimentary knowledge of its formative history. Thus, it behooves us to take a brief look at Gnosticism and its challenge to early Christianity. The Gospel Of Convenience The subject of this document is so unpleasing to the 21st century American Christian, I believe that by writing it, I will step across a threshold of "Main stream evangelical Christian", to a "radical", a "dissenter", "out there" and even "lost" in the eyes of some folks who read these words. So be it. Powerful Powers Have you ever wondered what is power and where does it come from, and who has it? Well lets look at what the Bible says about power. First lets look at 1Chronicles 29:10 it says David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Finding Christian Love Online Finding Christian singles online.One of the many types of singles or dating sites on the Internet are Christian singles where you can meet like minded Christian singles for email, chat or potential marriage. All Knowledge and Wisdom Comes Direct From God These next set of verses are the heart and soul of this entire subject matter. All of these verses are telling us that all knowledge and all wisdom come direct from God and Jesus. Mexican Catholics Forgotten Many Mexican and Latin Catholics are dismayed that the Cardinals picked a German Pope, Benedict XVI, over a Latin Pope. Latin and Mexican Catholics are some of the biggest supporters of the Catholic Church. Rock of Ages William Jennings Bryan said: "Christians desire that their children shall be taught all the sciences, but they do not want them to lose sight of the Rock of Ages while they study the age of rocks."It may seem incredible to those who do not know that the Churchians created the Devil as a means of keeping their flock in fear - who also think the Devil is a Pagan concept. Spiritual Healing or Spiritual Malpractice? Christians with chronic illness need to know there is a source for healing beyond secular medicine that does not follow the pattern or knowledge of this world. That source is spiritual and comes from God! But there is a problem. Discipled by the Kingdom of Heaven -- Becoming a KingdomScribe! Jesus tells a story - a powerful story - that illustrates how God's Truth for today is always a new Word for today. And it also helps us understand that if all we're holding onto are "old truths", we're really holding onto no truths!(By the way -- if you want to read a summary of this teaching, just read the words in bold. A Worship Leader is a Spiritual Leader This article is for worship leaders. And as such, I believe it needs to focus on leadership skills. The Power of Thankfulness and Vice Versa We are soon to celebrate once again the National Holiday known as "Thanksgiving."We do this every year. Women in Religion During the debate in the Episcopal Church over whether or not to allow a homosexual bishop, a woman was presenting the argument against allowing a homosexual bishop. She stated that the Bible declares homosexuality to be wrong, which it does. Organized Religion is Great for Humanity; Rants from Lance Organized Religion has served mankind well, by uniting civilization and societies for thousands of years. God bless organized religion indeed. 6 Keys to Successfully Screening Church Staff and Volunteers Whether you are in the process of formulating a screening policy for your congregation, or already have a screening program in place, here are some tips to help you with your efforts to protect your church family.1. Doctrine of the Nicolaitanes When the Lord was showing John on Patmos what the seven churches would be like, He commended the church at Ephesus because they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which the Lord also detested. In Pergamos, the third church, these deeds had become accepted doctrine, which the Lord also hated. Choose Your Friends Carefully For those of you who have entered into a true Spirit-filled, surrendered walk with the Lord where God and Jesus are now leading and directing your life in the direction They want it to go in - one of the first things that you will find happening to you is that God will start to prune out the people that He does not want in your life and start to bring in the people that He does want in.As you will see in the Scripture verses listed below - the Bible tells us to choose our friends carefully, that he who walks with wise people will become wise himself but that he who keeps company with fools will he himself be destroyed. 7 Bowl Judgements There is now one more set of 7 judgments God will release before the battle of Armageddon is set up and Jesus returns back to us for the second time. This last set of judgments are called the 7 Bowl judgments.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
