Monday, April 16, 2007

Ordinary Appreciation Day

I went to church yesterday... yes, the building is still standing. The sermon was very inspiring and personal. I truly felt that God had sent a message especially for me, though there were several other congregants who responded during the altar call.

The title of the sermon was "Who am I" and the reference was in Exodus when God called Moses to stand before Pharoah and demand the release of the Israelites, and Moses responded, "Who am I?" wondering what made God select him of all people to be his representative.

It got me to thinking... How many times have we disqualified ourselves from something that we are entitled to because we are children of the Most High God? How many times have we said, "I can't because I'm not (choose one) good enough, smart enough, thin enough, educated enough..." I can't because I can't (choose one) sing... write... dance... pray... as good as so-and-so"

Why do we compare ourselves to other people. After God made everything, he said "It is Good." He didn't make one thing and say it's good and then another and say it was better. It was all good! The Bible says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

The people who we feel are extraordinary and exceptional that do extraordinary things started out as mere ordinary people who were given an extra-ordinary opportunity and/or set of circumstances.

Your extra-ordinary time is this... this moment... right now. You, my ordinary friend, are being given the extra-ordinary opportunity to examine yourself in the light of truth, in the light of scripture and find that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. He loves you, truly just as you are! You are called and chosen to be his representative! How exciting!

I know we've all done some stuff that should burn us to a crisp, but that's under the blood. Those sins have already been paid for, for a price none of us could afford. That's why God paid it himself. Yes, that's right. The creator of all heaven and earth... the one true living God of the universe removed his cloak of glory and for a short time clothed himself in a robe of flesh and condescended to us to make himself the perfect sacrifice to pay for our redemption. How exciting and wonderful!

If you find yourself reading this today and do not know without a shadow of a doubt that your sins, past, present and future have been paid for through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God, I invite you to ask him to forgive you. Please know that forgiveness is just a prayer away. Hope and Unconditional Eternal Love is just a prayer away. He's waiting to answer with a mighty Yes... Just ask him to come into your heart and make it His home.

God Bless you today!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great, you have a blessed day also.
MoM.

dc_speaks said...

I don't think that I have ever seen anyone invite other people into Christ's Kingdom. I applaud you for your character.

God Bless you too, Hamil10!!!

hamil10 said...

Thanks, DC and Mom. I appreciate you taking the time to browse my thoughts for the day. we shall see what tomorrow brings.

I want to try and do that more often. I never hesitated to invite people to the bar or the shaky-butt club, and that wasn't anything that would profit them for long. The Kingdom is much better and I should be just as eager to invite folks there as well. Thanks for the encouragement.

CapCity said...

I am eternally thankful for ALL Life's Blessings, Hamil...including "meeting" u:-)

dc_speaks said...

that was nice...keep em comin hamil10. I'm always checkin back to see if you've added to your blogs.

Have a wonderful week!

Melanoma in B&W said...

Dear Hamil10,

I am contacting you regarding a blog survey I am conducting. I am a Ph.D. candidate in Mass Communication at Penn State and my dissertation project consists of a survey that looks at women bloggers’ perceived motivations for and effects of their blogging.

I am sending the survey to a number of bloggers, and I would like to invite you to participate in it as well. Participation should take approximately 15 minutes of your time. I would appreciate it tremendously if you would be willing to take the survey. If you decide to do so, please follow the link below:

http://www.personal.psu.edu/cds205/blog/signin.htm

I would be very happy to share the findings of my study with you once it is completed!

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me!

Thank you in advance,

Carmen