This morning I read some great thoughts.
Thank you to my 1st cousin once removed, who wrote those words.... He has just recently lost his mother to Lung cancer, and years earlier his father, His mother's sister is battling stage 4 Ovarian cancer.. His family has been touched by the cruel hand of cancer far too many times and now it seems it is Jerry's time, diagnosed with stage 4 Esophageal cancer last week and will now start a journey he has watched too many times...and I'd like to share an excerpt of those words with you about Demand and Demonstrate..
**I realized we usually demand when we should demonstrate. Let me throw some examples at you. Demand love when we should demonstrate it. Demand respect when we should demonstrate it. Equality. Fairness. Maybe even kindness I don't know if that makes sense, but it made sense to me today. I think because I realize that if we demonstrate what we want, we will find we already have it."Then I read today's Bible lesson and i know that our Lord determines our day and how it will end.
1 Peter 4:7-19 (NRSV)
The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
And
"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?"
Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God's will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
And
"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?"
Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God's will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.
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