daddy4ms

My Aunt Kay Jean suggested I start sharing a verse of the day.  I liked her suggestion but decided instead of a verse of the day, I would share a verse of the week.  Be reminded of who God is from His Word. 28  And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29  Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31  The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)

Well, it is almost time for my annual physical. I can't think of too many things that I dislike more. Yet, I have come to learn the importance of a routine check up on our physical health especially as we get older. I thank God for my good health over the years. This physical challenged me to think about my spiritual health. Do we take the time each year to "test" how we are doing spiritually? It seems that this type of check up is much harder to do. What is included in this check up? Is it based on how much I am doing for God? Or is God the only one who can give us an accurate assessment? As I ponder this question today, I am drawn to two specific questions. These questions are often asked in Scripture and I think are often asked in our lives as well. They will not be surprising questions to you. However, rather than try and determine what is included on our "annual spiritual physical", we should let Jesus guide us. The questions are: Do I love God?...

Yesterday, we spent the day at home and had our first family worship of the year. I decided that I would challenge the family to 2 specific goals in 2 areas of our lives. Above our front door, Bethany has put up the following phrase, "Love God. Love Others." It is a great reminder as I leave the house each day. I decided to pick two ways that we as a family can do both of those things in 2010. Here is what my goals are for the Martin's in these areas: Love God--As a family, we are going to strive to spend time with God alone at least 5 days of the week in prayer and Bible reading. Our challenge is to pray for each member of the family during our prayer times and to get into God's Word on a regular basis. We will also strive to have a good attitude during family worship as well as corporate worship. We will seek to learn as much as possible during these times of worship. Love Others-The two areas are respect and service. In the area of respect, the kids are t...