Contentment

This week at my local church and throughout the week at our community groups we are studying commitment.  This webpage discusses 'unshakable Christian contentment' based on a passage from Philippians.  Or, check out this web page for an additional study on being content as a Christian.

Poverty

I've just read a compelling article on living out the first beatitude: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt 5:3)
The author, Jamie Arpin-Ricci, suggests that we should take another look at how we view poverty, and what we are doing about it.  Do we ignore the plight of the poor?
"The way we live in relation to both poverty and wealth must suffer the intense scrutiny Scripture demands, and then we must make the necessary changes to our lives. After all, when God said to his people that "there need be no poor among you" (Deuteronomy 15:4), he wasn't suggesting segregation."
That's all I'll leave you with at the moment, but if you want to read the entire article, check it out here.

The secret about spiritual growth

I've had a slow epiphany... although that's really an oxymoron.  But I've been gradually coming to a new point of view, and today I think it suddenly solidified in my mind, hence the epiphany.   Although, now that I'm trying to write about it, the idea isn't as clear to me as it was a few seconds ago.  But bear with me.
Spiritual growth.  We all need to grow and become more like Christ.  That journey is never done.  But what's the point?  I always thought that I needed to grow spiritually in order to just become a better person.  Personal growth will make you a better person, but as a Christian, that shouldn't be the end goal.  We shouldn't be concerned with how God will improve my life for me.  That's rather self-centred, isn't it?  My focus should be on how spiritual formation in my life will help other people come to God and extend God's kingdom on earth.  After all, if God is truly in me, I won't be focused on my own spiritual skills but rather on how God's Spirit in me can flow through to help others.
Jesus spent his entire life helping other people.  He didn't go to church to memorize scripture and sit there and look amazing.  He was out on the front lines, using his knowledge and gifts to show people the way to enter the kingdom of God.
That's what I'm going to be thinking about more this week - how can I grow spiritually in order to benefit the people around me?

Perseverance

My local church is going through a series on Philippians, and this week we discussed Philippians 3:12-21, where Paul talks about pressing on to reach the goal.  I'd like to point your attention to a blog about perseverance.  You can find it here.  I don't have much to add at this point, since you can really read all about it at that post.