I {LOVE} Sunday::to press on to know...

Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD;
his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.”

Hosea 6:3

{With the Sunday Community at Lisha's #GiveMeGrace }

I [LOVE} Sunday {and Saturday}::to walk the path of the righteous...

With Sandra's Still Saturday and the Sunday Community at Lisha's #GiveMeGrace 

Still Saturday::a purpose for all of life...

Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;

make known his deeds among the peoples!

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wondrous works!

 Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his presence continually!

Remember the wondrous works that he has done,

his miracles and the judgments he uttered,

O offspring of Israel his servant,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

Sing to the Lord, all the earth!

Tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples!

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,

and he is to be feared above all gods. 

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,

but the Lord made the heavens.

1 Chronicles 16:8-13; 1 Chronicles 16:23-26

Still Saturday::to feel rich...

If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy.

Author Unknown

Still Saturday::we know better...

Most of us have grown up thinking that being loved means being made much of.

Our whole world seems to be built on this assumption. If I love you, I make much of you. I help you feel good about yourself. It is as though a sight of the self is the secret of joy.

But we know better.

Our happiest moments have not been self-saturated moments, but self-forgetful moments.

Paradise will not be a hall of mirrors. It will be a display of majesty. And it won't be ours.

Love is the labor--whatever the cost--of helping people be enthralled with what will satisfy them most, namely, Jesus Christ.

John Piper,  The Passion of Jesus Christ,  p.117

{Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. From now through Easter, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week.}

Still Saturday: death to the timid and dull...

When Christ died for sins, he took from the devil his one lethal weapon: unforgiven sin.  

Freedom from fear was the aim of Christ in doing this. By dying he delivered "all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery" (Hebrews 2.14)

The fear of death enslaves. It makes us timid and dull. Jesus died to set us free. When the fear of death is destroyed by an act of self-sacrificing love, the bondage to boring, bigheaded self-preservation is broken. 

We are freed to love like Christ, even at the cost of our lives. 

John Piper,  The Passion of Jesus Christ,  p.97

{Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. From now through Easter, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week.}

I {LOVE} Sunday::to remember: It's no longer I who live...

I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh
I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me
and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2.20

Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. During this time, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos* might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week.

Still Saturday::the best life...

[Christ] died to produce in us a passion for good deeds. Christian purity is not the mere avoidance of evil, but the pursuit of good. 

When God's forgiveness and acceptance have freed us from fear and pride and greed, we are filled with a zeal to love others the way we have been loved. We risk our possessions and our lives since we are secure in Christ.

Christ died to make us...passionate to help the poor and the perishing. It is the best life, no matter what it costs us in this world: They get help, we get joy, God gets glory.

John Piper,  The Passion of Jesus Christ,  p.91

{Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. From now through Easter, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week.}

I {LOVE} Sunday::to remember I live for the one who died for me...

...and [Christ] died for all, 

that those who live might no longer live for themselves 

but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

2 Corinthians 5.15

Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. During this time, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos* might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week.

Still Saturday::dying to live...

{Blue speckled mockingbird eggs}

...the Bible says that the new way of obedience is fruit-bearing, not law-keeping.

"You...have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God." {Romans 7.4}

We have died to law-keeping so that we might live to fruit-bearing.

Die to the law, that you might bear the fruit of love.

John Piper,  The Passion of Jesus Christ,  p.81

{Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. From now through Easter, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week.}

To live like it...

Meeting at Starbucks to continue working out the details for our May book launch, Robbi and I sat outside with our drinks and the warmth of the sun on our shoulders.

I can't recall what prompted the detour in our conversation -- from launch party plans to the sharing of a piece of the puzzle that's my story, but I mentioned to Robbi that in the prodigal years early in our marriage, my husband and I believed, but we didn't have faith. 

If you asked us if we were Christians, we would have said yes, but we certainly weren't living like it, I explained. 

Later that day, I heard faith described as acting like you really believe what God says is true.

Exactly. We didn't act like we believed much of anything.

If I truly believe that in Christ I've been forgiven, I won't wallow in shame and condemnation.

If I truly believe God has and will meet my every need, I won't be consumed by fretting and worrying.

If I truly believe in God's sovereignty, I won't entertain woe-is-me's or be paralyzed by fear.

If I truly believe God is loving and good, I'll cheerfully obey His commandments and trust that what He allows in my life will be redeemed for my good.

I believe you, Lord. Thank you for the grace to live like it.

{Photos - a few of the feathery visitors to Pollywog Creek last week}

Still Saturday::without moving a muscle...

{mulberry tree in bloom}

When Christ died and rose again, the old temple was replaced by the globally accessible Christ. You may come to him without moving a muscle. He is as close as faith.

John Piper,  The Passion of Jesus Christ,  p.69

{Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. From now through Easter, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week.}

I {LOVE} Sunday:to be brought near...

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off
have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2.13

Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. During this time, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos* might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week.

Still Saturday::where will we turn?

We can cut ourselves, or throw our children in the sacred river, or give a million dollars to [charity], or serve in a soup kitchen on Thanksgiving, or perform a hundred forms of penance and self-injury, and the result will be the same: the stain remains and death terrifies.

We know that our conscience is defiled — not with external things like touching a corpse, or eating a piece of pork. Jesus said it is what comes out of a man that defiles, not what goes in (Mark 7:15-23). We are defiled by pride and self-pity and bitterness and lust and envy and jealousy and covetousness and apathy and fear — and the actions they breed...they don't come from new life, they come from death, and they lead to death. That is why they make us feel hopeless in our consciences.

The only answer in these modern times, as in all other times, is the blood of Christ. When our conscience rises up and condemns us, where will we turn? Hebrew 9:14 gives us the answer: we turn to Christ.

We turn to the suffering and death of Christ — the blood of Christ. This is the only cleansing agent in the universe that can give the conscience relief in life and peace in death.

John Piper,  The Passion of Jesus Christ,  p. 51

{Between February 12th and April 16th (the Wednesday before Easter), I am reading and discussing John Piper's The Passion of Jesus Christ - Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die with a group of friends. From now through Easter, my Still Saturday quotes and I {LOVE} Sunday scriptures will come from my readings in this book by Piper, and the photos might simply be a few favorites from those I've taken during the week.}