Skip to main content

Above the clouds



I had the privilege of flying above the clouds in January. I always find it stunningly beautiful. Especially seeing the sun rise or set over the rippled snowfield. And this time I was reading an article by Dane Ortlund - Jonathan Edwards, the Christian life and calm. And I got to this Edwards quote:
‘The Christian temper is to be meek and calm and not easily provoked, to be undisturbed by affronts and injuries. The Christian is above these things; he is out of the reach of them; he does as it were dwell above the clouds, out of the reach of winds and storms, and enjoys a perpetual serenity and tranquility.'

Edwards never saw what I was seeing out of the Airbus window. But in a sense he did. By faith. He knew what it was to be seated with Christ, above all rulers and authorities and suffering and sin, to set his heart and mind on things above, to consider himself dead and his life hidden with Christ in God, hidden in Christ seated at the right hand of the Father, hidden in Christ who is his life. And that produced in him a true calm; fearless and gentle, strong and gracious.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 things servant leadership is

Having cleared away 10 things servant leadership is not , here are 10 that it is. Credit to Harrison Mungai for his help in observing many of these features and helping us to think through this really important area. I used to think that all that was necessary in gospel ministry was faithful Bible handling. Preach the Word carefully and surely everything else should follow? But I was wrong. Sadly it is possible to have high quality expository preaching and ungodly leadership. It shouldn’t be possible but it is. And it’s a very ugly thing. Peter Mead has written  on the danger that can be done to a church or ministry when appointment of leaders values ability over character. So here are ten aspects of biblical servant leadership, specifically in relation to gospel ministry leadership, from 1 Thessalonians, especially chapters 2 and 3: Servant leadership is, wherever possible, Plural . A lot of articles and books on leadership assume that it is a personal project. Search Google
Post a Comment
Read more

4 combinations of workplace relations

Ephesians 6:5-9 gives a beautiful picture of healthy workplace relationships: servants who serve and leaders who serve . But that mutuality is not the only combination.  Here are 4 different models of interaction between leader/boss and servant/employee: OPPRESSIVE LEADER AND SUBMISSIVE SERVANT This tends to be the pattern in settled traditional societies and modern totalitarian societies. Here hierarchy is strong – the pyramid model. Those at ‘the top’ very much see themselves as ‘above’ others and those at the bottom know their place and submit. Leaders are dictators who cannot be questioned, ‘strong leaders’ who make harsh demands and place heavy burdens on the people ‘under’ them, accumulating resources, power, control and status for themselves (1 Sam. 8:11-14; Neh. 5:15; Eccl. 5:8-9). In this model, leadership is the privilege and ability to make things better for yourself or to push your own agenda. It is certainly not servant leadership. This pattern ‘works’ in a sense in that
Post a Comment
Read more

Utumishi wa Neno taster

It's finally starting! We had our first taster day for the church-based Utumishi wa Neno preaching course on Saturday. It was great to spend a few hours with 14 or so brothers and sisters and just spend soak in the Word. One of the crazy things we did was to read through the whole of Philippians out loud. How long did it take us? 15 minutes. And all of us enjoyed the experience and heard things we'd never noticed before. More thoughts on the day here . And for those who asked for the notes, they're available to download here . If you're in Kenya and want to get involved in the on-going Utumishi training see more info on the iServe Africa website .
5 comments
Read more