Thursday, June 30, 2011

Seek First

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

Often this verse is quoted by itself. Many songs have been written on the text of this one verse as well. I think the "these things" part of this verse makes a lot more sense when you read the eight verses preceding it. They are as follows:

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat?" Or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all. (Matthew 6:25-32)

And now with the context.........

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

Ahhh, that makes sense.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Legalism

A quote from "The Cross Centered-Life" by CJ Mahaney on legalism.
One of the greatest hindrances to keeping the gospel central in our lives is our creeping tendency toward legalism. It's an age old foe to God's plan of salvation through faith alone. From the earliest days of the church, legalism has thrown Christians off course and sidetracked them all over the place.
And it's just as effective an instructor today as it ever was.
It's important to understand that the legalist isn't just someone with higher standards or more rules than you. A lot of us wrongly stereotype the legalistic person as one who doesn't go to the movies, or who thinks that any music with a beat is evil. Legalism is much more subtle and serious than that.
Here's a simple definition that I use: Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and acceptance by God through obedience to God.
In other words, a legalist is anyone who behaves as if they can earn God's approval and forgiveness through personal performance. Thomas Schreiner writes that "Legalism has its origin in self worship. If people are justified through their obedience to the law, then they merit praise honor and glory. Legalism, in other words, means the glory goes to people rather than God.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Back to Blogging

I haven't been blogging lately because of the busyness of my schedule.

In order to be consistent in my blogging, I'm going to abandon the daily schedule I had previously set up for myself. You can count on regular posts about Cookie Baking Nights (every other Monday), Book Club posts on Wednesdays, and Evangelism Focus posts as the occasion presents itself. The rest of the posts will be as the title of this blog implies "Katrina's Musings" consisting of excerpts from my daily Bible reading, quotes from the latest book I'm reading, my thoughts on living the Christian life from day to day, etc.

Stay tuned.........

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Proverbs 18:1

Something to ponder today.......

Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

Proverbs 18:1

Monday, June 20, 2011

Cookie Baking Night 06/20/11

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Carissa, Ethan, and Emily. Tonight was Carissa's birthday choice (her birthday is on July 1). For supper, she chose Spaghetti-O's with raspberries and strawberries on the side. For the cookie, she chose Bird Nests.
Tonight Carissa finished up her tied fleece blanket (with a little help from Emily).

Now the set is complete. Movie-watching blankets for everyone! (The kids really did a great job cutting the blankets and tying the material together).

Postscript: At the end of the evening (while watching "Finding Nemo"), Emily lost a tooth (the picture doesn't quite do it justice, but trust me it's gone).

It was an action-packed evening. As usual, a fun time was had by all!

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Book Club Wednesday 06/08/11

The book club selection for May and June is You Can Still Trust the Communists to be Communists by Fred Schwarz and David Noebel.

This week I read chapters 4 & 5.

Chapter 5 is titled, "The Communists At Work". As an American, the thought of our country's obsession with government-paid retirement and health care was ringing in my mind when I read this line from chapter 5:

"The Communists have one objective--to come to power. They will do whatever is necessary to achieve this goal. In the economic realm, for example, they have no consistent economic program from country to country. Communist economic policy is to find out what any group wants and promise it to them."

The author goes on to say:

Speaking at a girl's school in Dallas, Texas, I outlined the communist formula for advance: Find out what people want, promise it to them, and go to work to get it for them in order to come to power over them. One girl asked the very natural question; "If Communists promise people all sorts of things but do not fulfill their promises when they come to power, why are they not thrown out?" I replied, "If I get into this room by promising you girls I have a lotion that will make each of you very beautiful, and if, as soon as I get in here, I pull out a machine gun and train it on you, why don't you throw me out?" Communism is, in essence, the fulfillment of the dearest ambitions of the populace, and retaining power by the efficient use of force.

The author went on to explain about Communist fronts, and how the Communists work with an established system to organize people in a manner where they can come to power.

Chapter 5 is titled "Techniques For Seizing Power" and gives an interesting look into organized labor unions.

I'm finding this book very interesting and highly recommend reading it. Just a word of caution: Fear can creep in while reading this book. It is wise not to lose sight of God's sovereignty and the fact that He is truly in control. I recommend reading this along with reading the Bible (as I do reading anything). Keep God's nature and characteristics present in your mind as you read it.

Click on this link for information on how to purchase this book.


Monday, June 6, 2011

Cookie Baking Night 06/06/11

Tonight was Cookie Baking Night. In attendance this evening: Emily and Ethan (Carissa started soccer season tonight). It was a full evening. We made strawberry-rhubarb muffins, read lesson 48, titled "We Must Confess Our Sins" from Leading Little Ones to God by Marian Schoolland, finished the blankets we started last time and............
ended the evening with a water balloon toss/fight. Even though we made cozy blankets this evening (in the comfort of the air conditioning), it was actually 90+ degrees and very humid outside.......a perfect evening for water balloons.
Even Uncle Greg got in on the act. (It started with a friendly toss and ended with balloons flying everywhere and four rather wet people). As usual, a fun time was had by all.

Today was my 5th chemo session with Taxol. 5 down 7 to go. I'm happy to report it was pretty uneventful as chemo days go. I didn't h...