February 21 and 22
"Jesus lived in a peasant's home, and faithfully and cheerfully acted His part in bearing the burdens of the household. He had been the Commander of heaven, and angels had delighted to fulfil His word; now He was a willing servant, a loving, obedient son. He learned a trade, and with His own hands worked in the carpenter's shop with Joseph. In the simple garb of a common labourer He walked the streets of the little town, going to and returning from His humble work. He did not employ His divine power to lessen His burdens or to lighten His toil. "
Desire of Ages, page 72 from the chapter, 'As a child'
I used to be in the Royal Navy. My job was to have been to look after the engines of the ship. I didn’t complete my training so only spent a short time at sea. At one point the officer I was to report to told me, “Don’t be such a prima donna”. He meant, “Grow up.” In theological terms he actually meant, “Don’t be so self-centred.”
The world doesn’t revolve around us as individuals. We are part of a machinery that functions well if we all mesh together.
The absence of the blog this week was because I was away at Pastor’s meetings. I wish I could report 5 star luxury and gourmet cuisine. We did not enjoy that. What we did get was inspiration.
My friend Victor Hulbert wrote this in the latest BUC news
“Coming from Australia, Pastor Brendon Pratt may have been jet lagged, but bounced in with enthusiasm as he shared practical answers on how to be a Christian in a consumerist society. While the mantra of the world is that 'Time = money = things = happiness', Brendon clearly showed that not only does this mantra fail, but that the antidote to it is community.
Jesus chose to be a normal human being who chose to express his humanity by fitting in, not by opting out. Jesus chose to work with the flow of the traffic, not by constantly battling against the tide of humanity.
Talk with your prayer partner. In expressing thankfulness to God thank Him, for giving you a call to community and a community to be called into.
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
