When our children were young, my sister introduced her family and mine to a song called, “Obedience is the Very Best Way to Show that You Believe.” I especially remember my little niece, Elisa, singing this and other songs she learned from her mother. Elisa was a cuddly, curly haired girl with a surprisingly low and scratchy voice. She sang swaying back and forth on each foot, singing in her raspy voice. It was so humorous and darling. I have a recording of her singing, “My God is So Big” when she was 2 1/2. When she was a few years older, she sang this song— “Obedience is the very best way…” Continue reading
Posts Tagged With: Character
Character en Christo
What does this yielding to the Spirit in order to live from the new nature look like?
“And all of us have had that veil removed [that separated us from God] so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more” (II Cor. 3:18 NLT). Yielding to the Spirit makes us look more and more like Jesus.
“For God, who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. But this precious treasure – this light and power that now shine within us – is held in perishable containers, this is, our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own” (II Cor. 4: 6-7 NLT). Continue reading
Growing Butterfly Wings
Have you noticed that it’s natural to do what makes sense to you and what you want to do, but that it takes intentional choice to listen to the Lord and follow after Him? It’s natural for a parent to respond in irritation to a whining child or for a child to roll his/her eyes at the instructions of a parent. It takes Spirit-self-discipline to respond calmly and humbly. This illustrates the two natures within the believer: the old nature (carnal – of the flesh) and the new nature (in Christ – of the spirit/Spirit).
God provides an illustration from His creation: the caterpillar and the butterfly. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17 NIV). This verse reminds you of the butterfly, doesn’t it? However, once a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it can never become a caterpillar again, nor act like one. Once we are “in Christ” we are positioned in Him, we have a new identity, and we have His provisions. We can fly. But we don’t have to. We can choose to crawl, operating from the flesh. We don’t become that caterpillar again, but we can crawl. Continue reading
Categories: Spiritual Growth
Tags: Be Like Jesus, Butterfly Wings, Character, spirit and soul
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Thanking the Lord of Beginnings
Happy New Year! Without time, there would be no beginning. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). One of the many virtues of God’s orderly creation is the renewing quality of rhythms and patterns. God created both matter and motion – things in space and time – “All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:3 NASB).
Speed up to the present. The year 2012. Thank You, Jesus, for creating seconds, minutes, hours, days, and weeks . . . (Heb. 1:2; Col. 1:16). Teach us to number our days that we may gain wise hearts (Psalm 90:12). Thank You for the rhythm of the revolutions of the earth, the orbits of the moon around the earth and the earth around the sun. Thank You for the faithful dance of matter with motion. Here am I, a little dust fleck on planet earth, infinitesimal in the universe, yet stunningly created in line with the character of my Creator, bearing Your image – Your child! Thank You! Continue reading
Categories: Spiritual Growth
Tags: beginnings, challenges, Character, spiritual growth, thankfulness, time
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The Adventure Begins
“Does anybody here need Jesus?” asks Milton Carroll in his modern, Christian chorus. Does anyone reading this blog want to know Him, not only as your Savior, but also as your friend, intimate companion, and mentor? Does anyone want to be more like Jesus? Are you a parent, a student, a teacher, a coach, a staff member, a grandparent? We’re on this journey together.
This is a new blog for our Troy Christian Schools family. Journey North Character. Here at TCS, we aim to focus on character development as the heart of our endeavors, and by that, we mean growing in Christ from the inside out. So, this blog is a place where we can talk about spiritual growth and the Christian walk. Continue reading
Journey North Character 