The purpose of the Ministry Journal is to share stories of God's good work among us and to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ in order to cultivate unity of mind and heart in mission and purpose and to remind one another of our true belonging to the family of God.
Seasons of joy are wonderful times. They are pictures of the great celebration when all longings will be satisfied in the Lord's presence forever. But our seasons in the wilderness evoke this longing through a different means. In the desert, distractions are stripped away by our realization that they can't provide for our need. We can know that "man doesn't live on bread alone” (Matthew 4:4), but our faith in that truth is tested when there is no food.
Read MoreIn the same way, when I do my duty, I am helped to go on doing it. Why is it easier to obey once we begin? Is it that we are made creatures of habit—and this is turned to good account when the habits we build into our lives are faithful ones? Is it that we somehow actualize or demonstrate our faith by acts of obedience, however small, and God (the one who rewards those who seek him) then comes to our aid?
Read MoreJust a question: When did “duty” become a dirty word?
We laugh, admitting that sometimes we tell our children to obey “because I said so” as though it is a silly and unreasonable response—when surely shouldn’t it be considered, coming from parent to child, as a full answer? Whenever the word “ought” was struck from our working vocabulary (for struck it has been) we lost something precious: a big, basic building block from the foundations of faithfulness.
Read More
