Wednesday 26 September 2007

The Sound of Music...

Or the writing of a blog in this case :)

Been in Hull today, watching The Sound of Music at the cinema... One off special, so my auntie came through and went to it with my mum and me... My 3rd birthday outing! Haha :) SO good! I forgot how much i love that film! And Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer are AMAZING! I'm going to be singing songs from the soundtrack for the next 3 weeks haha.

I had my first session with my Maths tutor this week, went really well and i found it very useful! Gave me a bit of a confidence boost, as i "caught on" quite quickly once i had had certain things explained to me... I think sometimes it's hard home schooling, only from the point that if you are doing a subject that you're parent/s aren't really very knowledgable about, and you're figuring it out for yourself, it can be hard to get past the "sticking" points, well for me anyway. Only really in Maths though... I think because of the nature of it, when you get to a more advanced level, it's alot more difficult to learn the concepts and things than say it would be to study English or History more in depth... I'm just not very confident with numbers though haha, i guess everyone learns differently, and i have no idea if this is making much sense, but hopefully you get my drift! :D

On another note... I was reading Matthew 23 in my devotions yesterday... And i thought i would share a few thoughts with you (as it seems to have become a bit of a tradition to do in the quiet world of Blog) on it, because it really challenged me :) and i speak to myself here before i speak to any of you, dear Readers...

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." - Matthew 23 v 27

The Pharisees were so concerned with how they were perceived by people, that they had become so preoccupied with "keeping up appearances", they no longer cared about what God thought of them and their heart attitudes. I wonder whether once upon a time, these men genuinely loved God and wanted to serve them, or whether the only thing that attracted them to the position of Pharisee was adoration by the general public?

In man's eyes, these men were hyper-godly, wise, knowledgable, etc. etc., yet in their hearts they were hard-hearted, cold and sinful, full of "dead men's bones".

If we truly love God, and are striving to walk more closely with Him, and be more Christ-like in our every day lives, we won't care what man's opinions are of us, as long as we are pleasing God. The Bible tells us that we will be persecuted by the unsaved, we are called to be a peculiar people, but are we willing to give in to that persecution, and forsake God for a few years of peace on earth? Or are we going to stand up for our most precious Saviour, and remember that God's opinion of us matters for eternity?

". . . . for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart."

If we are seeking to be Godly, holy, obedient to God, we will have a Godly beauty that far outshines any "whited sepulchres", a beauty that shines through into our every day life, a Godly beauty in our characters that has far more effect than mere words to a lost soul. Telling people of the way of Salvation is very important, but we must walk the walk as well as talk the talk, our actions are just as much of a witness to people as our words!

So the question that remains is this, are we whited sepulchres, only wanting man's good opinion of us, and full of dead men's bones, or are we truly seeking after God, waiting for His leading and walking in close communion with Him? Is God our number One priority, or just a "hobby"?

I hope, dear Reader, that i am an encouragement to you, as the few of you who read this, are to me :)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Menekse,

Thanks for these encouraging thoughts, quite a challenge really. We can often (as my Dad says) think along the lines of 'Thankyou Lord that I'm not like the Pharisees'!

And just because I really can't help myself, here is a slightly different rendition of the verse:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean." (NIV :P)

The Youngest Miss.Turner (: said...

Haha to last part of comment above!
It was lovely to see you Menekse and I'll keep up with you and your wonderful blogs!
You're very encouraging (:

I love you xxx

Unknown said...

Josh... "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation..." James 1v12

You should remember that ;) haha but you're welcome, thank you both for your feedback, comments are always much appreciated :D

NM said...
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NM said...
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