August 24, 2008

Okay, I'm new at this so bear with me. With Andrew is South Africa, Chris in India and Lindsay in Japan, I wanted to share a daily devotion to help us stay connected spiritually. I hope that our immediate family and others will visit this blog regularly, and I am trusting that the Lord will use this to draw us closer to himself and to one another.

Matthew 5:16. "Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and praise your father in heaven." I'm beginning here because this is my "life verse", a verse in scripture that has particular meaning for me. Jesus gives us two important thoughts here. First, we are to do good works. To me, this means we are to love others in tangible ways, serving them holistically. The cool thing is that God has created us indidually so how I love people will be different than how you do. We don't have to compare ourselves to others. God has given us unique talents, gifts and experiences that he wants us to use for his good purposes. Second, the reason we do good works is to bring praise, credit and glory to God. It's not about us - what credit or affirmation we get is not important. Rather, we want people to naturally give the credit to God when we do good works. This means that we need to be identified with God and, in a winsome way, help point people to him.

Well, that's it for now. Comments encouraged! I love you.

Dad