I have been greatly encouraged and motivated lately by a simple little thought that has helped me with larger tasks and goals – particularly helping me with attitude. The idea: Win little victories. I may not be able to climb the whole flight of stairs, but I can take the first two. I may not be able to lose 100 pounds, but I can lose 2. I may not be able, metaphorically, to take the Promised Land, but I can cross the Jordan River. Tom Peters calls this milestoning. And it’s a critical thing to do.
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Thirty-seven years I have followed Christ, and somehow this hymn and its lyrics have passed me by. I saw the words last week, and it blew me away. Written in the mid 1800s by Anne Cousin, before it was a hymn it was a poem inspired by the letters and the last words of Samuel Rutherford. Only later was it set to music. (Sorry hymn purists, but I’m ready for a 21st-century musical update.) It actually has 18 or 19 stanzas, but here are the ones that are typically sung: [click to continue…]
I have a friend who used to say, every time somebody asked how he was, “It’s a good day to be dead.”
No, he was not a Klingon, or a descendent of Crazy Horse. He was actually referring to one of the most revolutionary truths in the Christian life. And truth be told, he wouldn’t just stop with the whole dead thing. He’d say, “It’s a good day to be dead, and alive in Christ.”
The truth to which he was referring is expressed most succinctly in Galatians 2:20. Here’s how the New Century Version translates it:
I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore — it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.
The implications of Paul’s simple declaration are profound. It tells me what I have received in order to live victoriously in this life, and to fulfill my purpose for which God created me and saved me.
I have received the life of Christ (“Christ lives in me”).
I have received Christ’s faith (“the faith of the Son of God” – a possible translation).
And I have received Christ’s self-giving love.
There is no situation, no bondage, no need for transformation, no frustration, no failure that the life, the love, and the faith of Jesus in me cannot respond to with power. And the same is true for you, assuming you have trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior.
So how, then, do we apply this truth? [click to continue…]
I have been greatly encouraged and motivated lately by a simple little thought that has helped me with larger tasks and goals – particularly helping me with attitude. The idea: Win little victories. I may not be able to climb the whole flight of stairs, but I can take the first two. I may not be able to lose 100 pounds, but I can lose 2. I may not be able, metaphorically, to take the Promised Land, but I can cross the Jordan River. Tom Peters calls this milestoning. And it’s a critical thing to do.