1-7-11 Friday, 6:57 am Springfield, 36 degrees, partly cloudy
Today I will continue to develop my message for this weekend, and I will write the devotional I will give at halftime tonight and tomorrow for the first day of Upward basketball. Having been away for a weekend (in Los Angeles), I have a busy weekend ahead, with Upward devotions tonight and tomorrow, a wedding tomorrow afternoon, and the 4 worship services on Sunday, followed by the 3:00 Igniting leaders meeting, and the 4:00 Meet the Pastors coffee. Guide me today Lord as I prepare and get ready for these pastoral roles.
Matthew 6:1-24
Instructions on giving alms, prayer (including the Lord’s prayer) and fasting. All of these are to be done confidentially, not for public notice and recognition. These three practices are critical to a healthy spiritual life, and I must continue to cultivate them in my life in 2011, and encourage them in the lives of the congregation.
Verses 19-24 address the topic of possessions, and money. Storing up treasures on earth is futile, investing in heaven pays eternal dividends. Today we close on the refinancing of this house. We have secured an interest rate of 3.375 on a ten-year mortgage. I am very conscious of possessions, investments and the principal that “no one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (verse 24).
Guide me today most Holy Lord as I manage the earthly assets you have entrusted to me, even as I serve you fully, being devoted to you in love and complete surrender. Guide me as I “lose my life for your sake”, gaining eternal life and living into forever in your presence with the lasting fruit of a well-lived finite life on earth.
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