The winning side!
As people of faith, when we first come to Jesus, often it was a crisis in our lives that led us to seek help, and in turn find that help in God. Sometimes we just don’t know what to do or where to turn in lifes crisis times, or just life’s problems for that matter. Do we know even the type of help we seek? Is it a temporary fix to get us out of trouble? Or is it something deeper, more lasting?
Don’t Covet!
Exodus 20:17
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
It all seems pretty clear cut, doesn’t it? Don’t ‘covet’ stuff that you don’t have. But do we really know what coveting even is? Well, its pretty much looking at other people’s stuff: Other people’s possessions, friends, skills, money, lifestyles, jobs, family, past etc and wishing it was yours! But that’s only the half of it. Coveting takes that original want or desire and gears it up a notch. It turns the bend and speeds down many a hill by going from a simple observation of someone else’s ‘whatever’ to quite monstrously hatching an often subconscious plan to get that ‘whatever’ for them self. Whether by stealing it, inheriting by elimination, outdoing – with regards to gaining the sense of accomplishment, pride or social standing associated with a particular something or any other un-kind measure.
Take for example wishing you had friends like somebody else – so badly – that you compromise your values and self worth to be accepted, or you spread rumors and gossip to displace the most popular person in a friendship group. Whatever the ‘wish so badly’ , it becomes a nasty piece of coveting when it sabotages ’the somebody’ else from their ability to retain their own possession, friend, job, dignity etc.
We are all incredibly prone to behaving like this. In one instant our eyes of admiration toward someone or something are yanked viscously by our twisted memories, false impressions and un-true conditioning from role models and the media, the next minute we are turned savages, stripping all good sense and moral and pillaging no matter what is lost or who is hurt along the way. We have become numero uno at all costs – and quite often, we have no idea that is what we have done.
Eoghan’s Story
Born and raised in a Catholic family, I grew up with the bible, and saying my prayers before meals and sleep. I was christened, and did my first communion in St. Mary’s church in Lae, PNG. When I matriculated into secondary schooling, I was sent to Melbourne and was boarding at a Catholic Boys School “Salesian College”. When I was not at school, I was forced to attend service Wednesdays, Saturday Nights and Sundays. This was when I started to question the faith, the Catholic church mainly referred to the New testament, and so I never grasped the whole faith, especially considering the teachings where it says you confess your sins to the Lord and they are forgiven, but in practice we had to confess to a priest and then as repentance say x number of “hail Mary’s” or other prayers for the sins.
Rev. Julie Shannon
Learn How God created His Church to function as a healthy and united body. Find explanations on how God gifts Christians, how He shapes our character and why Five-Fold Ministers are so important in His great plan of redemption.
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Family
July 2012
What a great day it is when you look at the church congregation during your regular Sunday Service and realise you need to put out an extra row of seats. Praise God that we are embracing many new people this year into our Church family.
A Church family consists of people with varying pasts, opinions and ways of doing things. The factor that keeps a church in unity as a body of believers is Jesus being glorified, Him exalted, and Him as the source of for all things. Its through His shed blood that we are saved and its through His love that we function well as such a diverse group of people.
Hope!
May 2012
Highway of Hope Christian Church (our church name) has attracted some interesting comments over the years! Its not a traditional church name by any means, and our building is not even close to a highway! However about 5 years ago, when our church was still very young the Lord gave me a vision.
