Sunday, August 7, 2016

Aug. 7, 2016 12th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 12:32-40
32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What we live for is what we become.  I will end up - my heart will end up - where I put my energy and hope.  We become possessed by what we set out to possess.

Because this is more true than we would like to admit, we need to be reminded often  that life is a gift not a possession; and so is the Kingdom of God.
To lose life is to find it; to be possessed by the gift of the Kingdom is to become a servant in the work of the Kingdom.  It is not just ours to have.  It is ours to give.
And this means we will do strange things, even surprise ourselves.

For God’s Kingdom, freely given, joyfully received, becomes not a possession we have but a possession which has us!


“I don’t know why I put myself
on the line.  I don’t know why I
said no to segregation.
I’m just another white Southerner,
and I wasn’t brought up to love
integration.
But I was brought up to love
Jesus Christ,  and when I saw t
he police of this city use dogs on
people, I asked myself what
Jesus Christ would have thought
and He would have done and
 that’s all I know about how
I CAME TO BE HERE,
ON THE FIRING LINE.”
(White youth standing up for blacks in 60’s)



Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, possess me with love and thankfulness, so I can be a servant in your Kingdom.”


























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