ARE THE STREETS OF GOLD OUR GOAL?

I'm excited about the upcoming study the ladies are going to begin in September on the attributes of God.  For many years I have loved the inspiring writings of A.W. Tozer.  Once again I have come across a well focused, timeless writing he put together over 20 years ago. Over the next few weeks I would like to whet your appetite to be part of this heart refining study by sending you excerpts from the material we will be reading. 

Tozer begins by looking in detail at the infinitude of God.  He challenges us to realize that only God can satisfy our souls--not wealth, education, power,  relationships, etc.  "The Church will come out of her doldrums when we find out that salvation is not a lightbulb only, that it is not an insurance policy against hell only, but that it is a gateway into God and that God is all that we would have and can desire." 

"If you then be risen with Christ, seek those tings which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God.  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."  Colossians 3:1-3

BLINDNESS AND VISION

I've heard the exited reports of friends who have had their vision restored by cataract surgery, but, when I personally experienced this amazing perfection of vision, their stories became reality!  In the past two weeks I have had the lenses in both of my eyes replaced and I am still being struck by the beauty I'm seeing.  My sight in the left eye went from 20/200 to 20/20.   In fact now my husband's eyes have caught my attention several times because they are sooo BLUE. 

This makes me think of the blindness we can so easily suffer spiritually.  I would never have guessed that I was legally blind in my left eye; but, when it was restored to perfect vision then I knew exactly what the eye doctor had been talking about.  To not see spiritually is surely very similar.  The beauty of life, purpose, and eternity become clear with believing what God says in His word.  The more the Bible comes alive to us, the more we SEE. Check out this verse about vision.  2Peter 1:9"For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins."  I hope it makes you curious about the previous verses that name Christ-like character.   

Although I am thrilled to have wonderful vision,  I never want to lose SIGHT of the fact that seeing spiritual life clearly is the best of all because it is not only for now, but, also for eternity.

A TRANQUIL HEARTL

Mark and I walking toward the Castle Church in Wittenberg where Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis.

Life gives us lots of opportunities to fret.  Traveling can step up anxieties, particularly if flights are invlolved and unfamiliar surroundings.  Recently we traveled to Europe.  The first day we met up with a canceled flight that delayed our arrival at our final destination by six hours which resulted in a canceled rental car which doubled the price to rebook.  Then we realized the place we had reserved for our six day stay was three hours from where we needed to be every day, but, it was too late to cancel.  At the last minute finding a new place to stay was not easy with 1000 extra people visiting the small city of Wittenberg.  Situations abounded to be in turmoil.

Even before we left on our trip the Lord heavily impressed on me this truth from Proverbs.  "A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot."  We have a pretty sharp contrast here.  Actually, Proverbs talks a lot about the opposite effects in our lives of a peaceful, happy heart and a broken stressed spirit.  But, how does a calm heart become reality?

Peace first comes to us when we have a right standing before God because of Jesus' death for us that wipes away all of our sin.    Continued peace grows as we understand more of God's sovereignty over everything.  God had perfect reasons for all of the situations we experienced as we began our trip to Germany--not to make us miserable, but, to cause us to trust Him more.  The more we trust Him, the more tranquility of soul we experience.  We have to have a meshing of our will with His.  This is the center of perfect peace.

This past Saturday Ruth and I shared about the Reformation Conference and our visit to Ukraine.  If you were unable to come to the Luncheon, you can still see what we presented at discoverybaptist.org ; go to Livestream for June 10th.  Also, if you would like a copy of my notes that are full of quotes from our speakers in Wittenberg, feel free to email me at nancysuko@gmail.com and ask for them.