sometimes we make the mistake of judging the good we do by the thanks we get……this leads to us feeling like a failure and ineffectual as ministers or even as friends or parents.
I struggle to remember that much of what I do will never be appreciated this side of heaven. Some days I hate that. I hate that I hate it.
I know this doesn’t jive with the popular social gospel thing but we are saved by Grace through Faith. I’m thinking about Mother Teresa right now, I don’t think any one of us could ever “out work” or “do good” her. The sad thing is, she professed universalism… which is BLASPHEMY. All of her works do nothing for her soul now if she actually did believe that she (and anyone else, of any belief system) was saved by them. Scary stuff.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10
Jud… think about James 2: 14-26… to narrow it down, look at James 2:20 “You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” He goes on to talk about Abraham and him offering to take his son’s life. Faith and deeds go hand in hand.
for some reason that made me chuckle this morning…could be the two ventis i had? but that is good!
tony
can we get a graph from index on
(1) the ‘size’ of church vs. the “size” of pastor?
(2) the “holier than thou” mentality vs. “number of paticipants that wear jeans to church”
and , my favorite:
(3) “purchase price of car” vs. “% of total gifts to the church, by regular attender”
???
jud
Michael,
We are saved by grace through faith… period. exclamation point! Any right deed or just thought in my mind is as a filthy rag. Not saying at all we don’t need to do “good works”, just saying that the good works have NOTHING to do with our eternal destination. Are works the evidence of Faith? Could be. However, good works could simply be RELIGION, works based righteousness that is the base level pride of man.
Again, I could see this tying into burnout. Maybe I just have burnout on the brain because I am waiting for a certain publication to make its way to my mailbox and answer all my questions! Oh, and my response…..ouch!
while maybe generally true,and not even to sure about that either, i can blow this out of the water after all.
look at it this way: anne is much more a celebrity than me, and always will be. so per the graph she gets lots of thanks and recognition – all well deserved but not her goal.
she is also much more of a saint than i’ll ever be even though she gets some recognition and thanks – so poof goes the graph – it’s now totally worthless – but funny
so now recognition does indeed equal sainthood –
tony
oh, and to top it off she now sees visions before she sees with her eyes! we better be nice to anne she’s gettin’ some power here!
I just received an e-mail that a well known author sends out from time to time and I responded to it, only to get a response that said he was basicly too busy to respond to e-mails. Yet, we support him through purchases of his books. I was not offended, just realized that the majority do not walk as Jesus walked. He was never too busy for a simple question. We in leadership positions have shut the door to all just because a few needy people. When Jesus returns will He find true faith? I love pastor Pete’s blog and see him as a shepherding pastor, one that takes the time to apply the salve to those who are in need of it. Continue your ministry on this blog. It’s good :)
Comments
24 responses to “this picture says it all”
Quite profound.
“Anne, this is your conscience. Bring the compassion widget up higher.”
We all claim that we want to be remembered as BEing a saint, we just aren’t willing to DO saint. God help us.
I love indexed!
Good stuff and great reminder, thank you Anne
And there you go.
sometimes we make the mistake of judging the good we do by the thanks we get……this leads to us feeling like a failure and ineffectual as ministers or even as friends or parents.
I struggle to remember that much of what I do will never be appreciated this side of heaven. Some days I hate that. I hate that I hate it.
so true. why is that?
I know this doesn’t jive with the popular social gospel thing but we are saved by Grace through Faith. I’m thinking about Mother Teresa right now, I don’t think any one of us could ever “out work” or “do good” her. The sad thing is, she professed universalism… which is BLASPHEMY. All of her works do nothing for her soul now if she actually did believe that she (and anyone else, of any belief system) was saved by them. Scary stuff.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before hand so that we would walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10
Nice blog
It’s like comparing Mother Teresa and Princess Diana….
deep.
Jud… think about James 2: 14-26… to narrow it down, look at James 2:20 “You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” He goes on to talk about Abraham and him offering to take his son’s life. Faith and deeds go hand in hand.
http://justanotherminute.wordpress.com/category/blog-bible-study/page/2/
for some reason that made me chuckle this morning…could be the two ventis i had? but that is good!
can we get a graph from index on
(1) the ‘size’ of church vs. the “size” of pastor?
(2) the “holier than thou” mentality vs. “number of paticipants that wear jeans to church”
and , my favorite:
(3) “purchase price of car” vs. “% of total gifts to the church, by regular attender”
???
Michael,
We are saved by grace through faith… period. exclamation point! Any right deed or just thought in my mind is as a filthy rag. Not saying at all we don’t need to do “good works”, just saying that the good works have NOTHING to do with our eternal destination. Are works the evidence of Faith? Could be. However, good works could simply be RELIGION, works based righteousness that is the base level pride of man.
Through faith comes works.
Again, I could see this tying into burnout. Maybe I just have burnout on the brain because I am waiting for a certain publication to make its way to my mailbox and answer all my questions! Oh, and my response…..ouch!
Love it!
This graph is begging for a parent-child relationship version. And I’m thinking “quantity of poop” should be on one of the axes.
peace|dewde
http://dewde.com
while maybe generally true,and not even to sure about that either, i can blow this out of the water after all.
look at it this way: anne is much more a celebrity than me, and always will be. so per the graph she gets lots of thanks and recognition – all well deserved but not her goal.
she is also much more of a saint than i’ll ever be even though she gets some recognition and thanks – so poof goes the graph – it’s now totally worthless – but funny
so now recognition does indeed equal sainthood –
oh, and to top it off she now sees visions before she sees with her eyes! we better be nice to anne she’s gettin’ some power here!
I just received an e-mail that a well known author sends out from time to time and I responded to it, only to get a response that said he was basicly too busy to respond to e-mails. Yet, we support him through purchases of his books. I was not offended, just realized that the majority do not walk as Jesus walked. He was never too busy for a simple question. We in leadership positions have shut the door to all just because a few needy people. When Jesus returns will He find true faith? I love pastor Pete’s blog and see him as a shepherding pastor, one that takes the time to apply the salve to those who are in need of it. Continue your ministry on this blog. It’s good :)
What of you’re a famous saint. Like Mother Teresa or Anne Jackson?