Stewardship

I will be a faithful steward of my time and my gifts, my money and my possessions, my body, my mind and my spirit, knowing that I am accountable to God.

To be a steward is to be a manager, the verb meaning of steward is manage.  So in this promise I am saying that I will manage all the things listed well.  What is listed?  Time, gifts money, possessions, body, mind, and spirit.  So that about sums it all up,  I need to manage everything I do in life well, realizing that it is to God and God alone that I am accountable.

 I don’t often do this one well.  There are tons of things in life that I don’t remember to manage well.  I don’t always have the same mind or spirit of Christ.  I don’t always manage my time well. 

 The important factor here for me though is remembering that God is my audience.  He is the one I am trying to please.

 I used to try to do all the right things, give so many hours at church, read so much Bible for so much time etc.  I used to do this because I viewed the last sentence as more of a threat.  “God knows what you are not doing right and you are accountable to him so you better get it right”  What I’ve come to realize though is that this is not what it means at all.  I think what it means is that I need to work on being in a relationship with God.  When I am in a relationship with him, then the other things will come.  And so far that’s what I think all these promises a soldier makes are about, I think they are about seeking relationship with God, and seeing the natural outcomes of that relationship. 

Maybe that’s partly what it means when it says to seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added to you.

Family

I will uphold the sanctity of marriage and family life.

I definitely uphold the sanctity of marriage and family life.  I also believe that this takes different forms.   This promise however is too packed to address in a single blog entry, there are many facets and arguments out there concerning marriage and family life. 

 I however on my journey will uphold the fact that I believe marriage and family life are important societal threads and every situation is unique.  I will stand for what I believe on different issues, maintaining my integrity in those believes whether they go against the mainstream in society or even the mainstream in religion.

Break

Ok I am taking a quick break from my covenant posts to vent. 

I hate being in meetings where someone is talking to a group of people and 3 or 4 people in the group have complete disregard for the person speaking and carry on a conversation right in front of the speaker….especially when the group is only 9 people to begin with….very noticeable and very rude.

Relationships

I will maintain Christian ideals in all my relationships with others: my family and neighbors, my colleagues and fellow salvationists, to those to whom and for whom I am resonsible, and the wider community.

I think that this one follows right along with the integrity one.  I think of the promises, it is the hardest one for many people to keep.

I mean it is easy in some circumstances, like with the people I like, but what about with the people who frustrate me the most. 

What exactly are the Christian ideals in this case?  Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.

Who is my neighbor?  Well I have people living next door they are, there are also the people on my street.  My neighbor isn’t only these people though they are everyone I come into contact with.

 There will always be difficulties with other people, but we gotta keep trying to treat people the way we would want to be treated in the same situation.  Doing the best we can to be like Jesus to everyone. 

I have a hard time with this one, and I fail a lot.  However I don’t give up, and will continue to try and live out my faith better in this way.  Sometimes the best you can do is keep trying.

Integrity

I will uphold Christian Integrity in every area of my life, allowing nothing in thought, word or deed that is unworthy, unclean, untrue, profane, dishonest, or immoral.

wow, if anyone thought the last promise was a tall order, try this one on for size.  This is where we can run into trouble.  Not just integrity, but Christian integrity.  A pretty hard one to monitor, because all the above words can be interpreted differently by different people. 

I think….that a way I can measure whether or not I am maintaining integrity and this may sound tacky, but by asking myself if I would do what I am doing, say what I am thinking etc if Jesus was physically right there in the room for me.   Or another way to think about it is found in Philippians 4:8

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

I don’t think it’s not about obtaining a certain level of holiness through my actions.  It’s more about infusing myself with God, and becoming more like him, allowing him to shine through me.  And if I do find something in my life that I really don’t believe would be pleasing to God, does he mean enough to me to give it up?  He does to me.

Kingdom Values

I realize that this is 2 blog entries in one day, but technically I count the other one as being done yesterday because I did it before I went to bed.  On to today’s promise.

 I will make the values of the Kingdom of God and not that values of the world the standard for my life.

What does it mean to make the values of the Kingdom of God the standard for my life? 

For me it is living opposite to many of the beliefs and desires of the world.  It means living in the kingdom of God that is in the here and now.  I think that sometimes we get too caught up in thinking about the future kingdom (known to many as heaven).  It definitly is about heaven, but I think it is more about bringing heaven to earth for those living in a hell on earth.  It’s about living out good news.  Sight for the blind, release for the captives, and hope for the oppressed.

It’s about caring about the world around me, caring about other people. 

This can seem a tall order, it can be hard to measure our lives to this standard.  How do we do it?  The best way to live out the values of the kingdom, is to follow the KING.

I now by God’s grace enter into a sacred covenant

OK, so it was a bit more than just a pledge.  It was a covenant, between myself and God and my church.  When I was 14 it was a ticket into full participation in band and choir, at that time you HAD to be a senior member of the church to participate.  In order to be a senior member you had to sign The Salvation Army Articles of War.

 The articles of war is the covenant that one signs upon becoming a senior soldier of the Salvation Army.  On it you find listed, the doctrines of the Salvation Army, and a set of promises, that one makes.

 I signed my covenant on May 10th 1992, and if the truth is to be told, I have thought little of it since. 

 I have not always been faithful to the covenant I made all those years ago, but it seems to me that I should decide, either to walk away from that covenant and that relationship, or revisit it and remain true to it for the rest of my life. 

 I choose the latter, which is good news since I plan on becoming a minister within the Salvation Army. 

So what I propose to do with my blog over the next ten days, is revisit the promises I made all those years ago.  Think and reflect on them, and renew them in my own heart.

 So here is the first one:

 I will be responsive to the Holy Spirit’s work and obedient to his leading in my life, growing in grace through worship, prayer, service and the reading of the Bible.

 This seems like a pretty obvious promise to the average Christian.  Christians generally believe that God is still revealing himself, through the Holy Spirit.  We believe that God leads us by his Spirit.  This seems to me to be something that should be the desire of every Christian not just a “soldier” of the Salvation Army.

For me though it seems to be the being obedient to his leading in my life that is the hard part.  I have spent a good part of my adulthood growing in judgement and anger, as opposed to growing in grace.  I find it especially hard in some circumstances to live a life of service.  It is easier to experience and give grace to some people than it is to others.  Part of growing in grace though, is being willing to live a life obedient in every circumstance.

I desire though to keep this promise.  Not because it is a rule for me to follow but it is a natural desire that has sprung out of my own receipt of the grace of God.  I also believe that the only true way for me to grow in grace is by genuinely participating in worship, spending time in prayer and reflection of God’s word and serving others. 

Yup, I will strive to keep this promise.

PS I did not notice when I first posted but you can click on the words Holy Spirit in the listed promise to find out more about the Holy Spirit

Lest We Forget

 

Remembrance day is still an important holiday.  It is not just another day off school or work, it’s a day we take to remember those who gave their lives to fight for their country. 

 No matter who you are, you can remember. 

The soldiers fought with guns and bombs, hoping that by their sacrfice furture generations could live in peace.  While we still strive to find peace in our world, we take time to remember.

 What will you be doing tomorrow November 11th at 11AM? 

            In Flanders fields the poppies blow
           Between the crosses, row on row,
           That mark our place; and in the sky
           larks, still bravely singing, fly
           Scarce heard amid the guns below.

          We are the Dead. Short days ago
          We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
          Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
          In Flanders fields.

         Take up our quarrel with the foe:
          To you from failing hands we throw
          The torch; be yours to hold it high.
          If ye break faith with us who die
         We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
          In Flanders fields.

                                  — John McCrae

Where is my appetite?

I must be sick.  I have not eaten since yesterday and do not feel the desire to anytime soon.  I don’t feel nauteous or anything like that, just not hungry.

 Choir practice went well last night, at least I think so.  We were able to basically get 3 of the songs we are doing for Christmas done with the accompaniment CD, on the first effort.  Of course there are still kinks to work out, but it was very very good considering it was the first time. 

 Last night there was like one flash of lightning, and a loud clap of thunder and that’s it.  Normal for a hot and humid July day.  IT’S NOVEMBER.  The temperature was only plus 1 degrees celcius.  Not exactly Thunder weather, and I know I am not going crazy because several people on my facebook friends list affirmed that they heard it as well.  Too weird.

 Well Sorry faithful blog readers….I just have nothing good to say today.

you don’t miss it until it’s not there

Why is it that there are some things you never miss until they are not available to you.  Take today for example, I was fine up until 5 minutes ago.  I did not feel the need to eat or drink anything.  Then I go to turn on the laundry….yeah the water is off. 

As you might be able to guess, I am now thirsty.  Very Thirsty.  It’s just because the water is turned off.  As soon as it goes back on do you think I’ll be thirsty?  NO…..

It’s also really annoying that the water is off because I am trying to get ahead of the game with my laundry….I really need some clean clothes…it’s super annoying.