1-1-13-Tools and Methods-2
E. Stars
Wisdom's children live changes lives.
(Luke 7:35)
"God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by all who accept it."
Would you be more effective if you lived differently? Why of Why not?
As part of our earthly childhood, and it may carry over even into our adult life; we find a hero modeling taking part in our Growing activities. These heroes may be cartoon characters or sport stars, or movie stars or others. This becomes an important influence on our lives.
Within the path of growth toward our heavenly goal, we will find that God will and has provided us with many heroes or guides. These heroes may come from contact in our earthly life, or from our religion, or from books. Christians find heroes provided in the Bible. The leading guides that Christians will find is Christ and the Holy Spirit. We have taken a more in-depth view of these relationships, in past lessons.
One of the members of God's family that will be an important model for our life, is Mary - Christ's Mother.
"Mary is in, the body. I much prefer St. Augustine's saying 'a member, a member of the church, an eminent member, but a member of the Church. Mary has a very considerable place in the mystery of Christ and the Church" (Father Yves Congar, O. P.-Roman Catholic Theologian).
As in any good school or training plan on earth that has been around for a period of time; it is often helpful to go back and look at some of the people who have went through with the program and have met with success. Well we have a training program that has been in action over 2 thousand years. We have many "stars" or "Heroes" to study, their techniques, and to provide "models" for us. We will be doing that through many of their written words that they have left us. But you should not limit your study of these individuals to just what this course or the Bible have provided you. An important part of your actions to complete this training plan should be to study the past successes and those who are succeeding today.
You will find in the Church you participate with many stars (e.g. Pope, evangelist, pastor, etc.) as well as guidance to information (e.g. libraries, periodicals, films, etc.).
"The Church must attract people on the basis of choice, not on the basis of social convention or political pressure. Those who belong to the Church will belong to it as a matter of conviction, not of habit. 'Just where is it written that we must have the whole 100 percent? God must have all... Why should we not alter to our use, quite humbly and dispassionately, a saying of St. Augustine's. Many whom God has, the Church, does not have; and many whom the Church has, God does not have" (Karl Rahner -Catholic Theologian).
"...the Church as always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel (n.4).
"The Church must exist within the world not alongside it. It must be a servant not a dictator. 'Inspired by no earthly ambition, the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ himself under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served" (n.3).
"The Church is '...to form the family of God's children during the present history of the human race.." (pastoral constitution on the Church in the Modern World-Second Vatican Council-n.40).
F. Work with People
One of the good ways to improve many desirable characteristics, is to interrelate with people. And as you inter-relate with them, train yourself to utilize such qualities as: patience, tolerance, submissiveness. This will help you to be "a servant of God" to these people. And it will help you to prepare yourself for the proper attitudes with your Father in Heaven. We can show love in many ways: by avoiding prejudice and discrimination, by accepting people, by listening, helping, serving, and refusing to judge.
(2 John 1:4-6)
"How happy I was to find that some of your children live in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And so I ask you, dear lady: let us all love one another. This is no new command I am writing you: it is the command which we have had from the beginning. This love I speak of means that we must live in obedience to God's commands. The command, as you have all heard from the beginning, is that you must all live in love."
Another good exercise is to utilize your mate, if married, or a good friend as a person who you develop many of the same characteristics as above. But you need to add such areas as sharing your faith and innermost thoughts. This prepares you for the same actions with your best friend "Christ."
Certainly there are risks involved whenever you relate to others in any way, including sharing your faith. But as a child of God you are called to take those risks and you are assured in advance of forgiveness for any failures, other than not trying.
Love grows gradually and secretly, but it is realized in sudden leaps of recognition within the unbroken circle, love grows while keeping these leaps of recognition as a reference point. Love always grows with these two strands intertwined: the passion and the recognition, the attraction and the commitment, the spirit and love. The passion grows like a wild plant, often without our intention, sometimes without our knowledge, but sustained with our commitment. But passion requires some kind of recognition, some effort of acceptance and fidelity.
"By him we cry, 'Abba Father,' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Romans 8:15-16). There is nothing irrational about calling out to God as "Daddy;" we are all like small children before God.
The decision is similar to the one you had to make when you first learned to drive or were first trusted to use a sharp knife. A car misused can be lethal, and a knife carelessly wielded is dangerous. Nevertheless most people accept the accompanying risks and responsibilities in order to use these tools for the good they do. So it is with the tools of growth. You can learn how to use them responsibly and when you do, you will be more effective in living with others, which is what God called you to do.
You can trust yourself in matters of Christian living because Good trust you and is himself trustworthy. God tenderly invites you to trust that he is your loving parent. This means that God chooses to risk letting you be on your own with the power he gives you with his guidance, under his care, and assured of his love.
Pausing to listen to another's needs and responding to them does not mean that you are hiding your light under a bushel. You need to be sensitive in your living and relating. Beware of the heavy-handed, bull-in-a-china-shop approach in which you are so insensitive to others that you turn them off to Christianity. Be sensitive to the need for appropriate timing; listen. If you do not, you might well experience rejection, because you are trying to fulfill your own needs, not the needs of others. Living out your faith can be done in a number of ways; it does not always have to be couched in prayer, Bible reading, or specific talk about God. A "cup of cold water" at the right time and place can be the mark that sets you apart as a Christian, as Jesus observes in Mark 9:41. Furthermore, your vocation can be Christian in and of itself. Elton Trublood said, "Secular work well done is 'holy enterprise'!"
The presence and wisdom (plan) of God expresses itself through you as you relate to and care for others. It is certainly your hands that do the work but without God's wisdom (plan) and guidance in and with you, you would be very much alone and ineffective. With it, you possess the most powerful resources available. God represented in you as you care for others and in those for whom you care. He manifests his comforting presence in this way.
The twenty-eight chapter of Deuteronomy is a powerful statement of the basic order of the universe. It does not claim that the individual who observes the laws of God will always receive prosperity, but it does state that there are certain laws according to which the world is run and that these are basic required rules. Any people group which runs contrary to these rules comes to grief, and conversely the individuals that observes them is assured of a future relationship with God. Justice charity/love and integrity - reap their own reward because that is the way the world is meant to be run. Behind the chances and changes of life there is a pattern which the Creator has laid down for the smooth running of the world he has made. We have a choice either to shape our relationship with others in accordance with these guidelines or we should not expect a rewarding future after we pass over to our permanent home.
Any time you act out of God's love, whatever form your action takes, you are being Christian. The exploding of God's love into every inch of your life, God makes all of life sacred.
Remember whose power you bring into every situation - the power of God the Father, his loving Son, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Remember - what resource you bring to each situation - the Bible, prayer, church, forgiveness, servanthood, hope, and others.
You will feel a sense of partnership and security, knowing that God is fully present in your living and relating. You will have purpose and direction because you will know who provides motivation, where you come from, and where you are going.
"Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of Heaven, which being shaken with the wind they let fall at each others roots, where by they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other." (John Bunyan).
E. Stars
Wisdom's children live changes lives.
(Luke 7:35)
"God's wisdom, however, is shown to be true by all who accept it."
Would you be more effective if you lived differently? Why of Why not?
As part of our earthly childhood, and it may carry over even into our adult life; we find a hero modeling taking part in our Growing activities. These heroes may be cartoon characters or sport stars, or movie stars or others. This becomes an important influence on our lives.
Within the path of growth toward our heavenly goal, we will find that God will and has provided us with many heroes or guides. These heroes may come from contact in our earthly life, or from our religion, or from books. Christians find heroes provided in the Bible. The leading guides that Christians will find is Christ and the Holy Spirit. We have taken a more in-depth view of these relationships, in past lessons.
One of the members of God's family that will be an important model for our life, is Mary - Christ's Mother.
"Mary is in, the body. I much prefer St. Augustine's saying 'a member, a member of the church, an eminent member, but a member of the Church. Mary has a very considerable place in the mystery of Christ and the Church" (Father Yves Congar, O. P.-Roman Catholic Theologian).
As in any good school or training plan on earth that has been around for a period of time; it is often helpful to go back and look at some of the people who have went through with the program and have met with success. Well we have a training program that has been in action over 2 thousand years. We have many "stars" or "Heroes" to study, their techniques, and to provide "models" for us. We will be doing that through many of their written words that they have left us. But you should not limit your study of these individuals to just what this course or the Bible have provided you. An important part of your actions to complete this training plan should be to study the past successes and those who are succeeding today.
You will find in the Church you participate with many stars (e.g. Pope, evangelist, pastor, etc.) as well as guidance to information (e.g. libraries, periodicals, films, etc.).
"The Church must attract people on the basis of choice, not on the basis of social convention or political pressure. Those who belong to the Church will belong to it as a matter of conviction, not of habit. 'Just where is it written that we must have the whole 100 percent? God must have all... Why should we not alter to our use, quite humbly and dispassionately, a saying of St. Augustine's. Many whom God has, the Church, does not have; and many whom the Church has, God does not have" (Karl Rahner -Catholic Theologian).
"...the Church as always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel (n.4).
"The Church must exist within the world not alongside it. It must be a servant not a dictator. 'Inspired by no earthly ambition, the Church seeks but a solitary goal: to carry forward the work of Christ himself under the lead of the befriending Spirit. And Christ entered this world to give witness to the truth, to rescue and not to sit in judgment, to serve and not to be served" (n.3).
"The Church is '...to form the family of God's children during the present history of the human race.." (pastoral constitution on the Church in the Modern World-Second Vatican Council-n.40).
F. Work with People
One of the good ways to improve many desirable characteristics, is to interrelate with people. And as you inter-relate with them, train yourself to utilize such qualities as: patience, tolerance, submissiveness. This will help you to be "a servant of God" to these people. And it will help you to prepare yourself for the proper attitudes with your Father in Heaven. We can show love in many ways: by avoiding prejudice and discrimination, by accepting people, by listening, helping, serving, and refusing to judge.
(2 John 1:4-6)
"How happy I was to find that some of your children live in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. And so I ask you, dear lady: let us all love one another. This is no new command I am writing you: it is the command which we have had from the beginning. This love I speak of means that we must live in obedience to God's commands. The command, as you have all heard from the beginning, is that you must all live in love."
Another good exercise is to utilize your mate, if married, or a good friend as a person who you develop many of the same characteristics as above. But you need to add such areas as sharing your faith and innermost thoughts. This prepares you for the same actions with your best friend "Christ."
Certainly there are risks involved whenever you relate to others in any way, including sharing your faith. But as a child of God you are called to take those risks and you are assured in advance of forgiveness for any failures, other than not trying.
Love grows gradually and secretly, but it is realized in sudden leaps of recognition within the unbroken circle, love grows while keeping these leaps of recognition as a reference point. Love always grows with these two strands intertwined: the passion and the recognition, the attraction and the commitment, the spirit and love. The passion grows like a wild plant, often without our intention, sometimes without our knowledge, but sustained with our commitment. But passion requires some kind of recognition, some effort of acceptance and fidelity.
"By him we cry, 'Abba Father,' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Romans 8:15-16). There is nothing irrational about calling out to God as "Daddy;" we are all like small children before God.
The decision is similar to the one you had to make when you first learned to drive or were first trusted to use a sharp knife. A car misused can be lethal, and a knife carelessly wielded is dangerous. Nevertheless most people accept the accompanying risks and responsibilities in order to use these tools for the good they do. So it is with the tools of growth. You can learn how to use them responsibly and when you do, you will be more effective in living with others, which is what God called you to do.
You can trust yourself in matters of Christian living because Good trust you and is himself trustworthy. God tenderly invites you to trust that he is your loving parent. This means that God chooses to risk letting you be on your own with the power he gives you with his guidance, under his care, and assured of his love.
Pausing to listen to another's needs and responding to them does not mean that you are hiding your light under a bushel. You need to be sensitive in your living and relating. Beware of the heavy-handed, bull-in-a-china-shop approach in which you are so insensitive to others that you turn them off to Christianity. Be sensitive to the need for appropriate timing; listen. If you do not, you might well experience rejection, because you are trying to fulfill your own needs, not the needs of others. Living out your faith can be done in a number of ways; it does not always have to be couched in prayer, Bible reading, or specific talk about God. A "cup of cold water" at the right time and place can be the mark that sets you apart as a Christian, as Jesus observes in Mark 9:41. Furthermore, your vocation can be Christian in and of itself. Elton Trublood said, "Secular work well done is 'holy enterprise'!"
The presence and wisdom (plan) of God expresses itself through you as you relate to and care for others. It is certainly your hands that do the work but without God's wisdom (plan) and guidance in and with you, you would be very much alone and ineffective. With it, you possess the most powerful resources available. God represented in you as you care for others and in those for whom you care. He manifests his comforting presence in this way.
The twenty-eight chapter of Deuteronomy is a powerful statement of the basic order of the universe. It does not claim that the individual who observes the laws of God will always receive prosperity, but it does state that there are certain laws according to which the world is run and that these are basic required rules. Any people group which runs contrary to these rules comes to grief, and conversely the individuals that observes them is assured of a future relationship with God. Justice charity/love and integrity - reap their own reward because that is the way the world is meant to be run. Behind the chances and changes of life there is a pattern which the Creator has laid down for the smooth running of the world he has made. We have a choice either to shape our relationship with others in accordance with these guidelines or we should not expect a rewarding future after we pass over to our permanent home.
Any time you act out of God's love, whatever form your action takes, you are being Christian. The exploding of God's love into every inch of your life, God makes all of life sacred.
Remember whose power you bring into every situation - the power of God the Father, his loving Son, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Remember - what resource you bring to each situation - the Bible, prayer, church, forgiveness, servanthood, hope, and others.
You will feel a sense of partnership and security, knowing that God is fully present in your living and relating. You will have purpose and direction because you will know who provides motivation, where you come from, and where you are going.
"Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of Heaven, which being shaken with the wind they let fall at each others roots, where by they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other." (John Bunyan).
