WATCHWORD:
1 Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? 4 When one of you says, “I am a follower of Paul,” and another says, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you acting just like people of the world? 5 After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Meditation:
Shirts vs. Skins?
In the midst of a nonsensical, go nowhere, political “discussion” that took on more heat than light, the love of my life and I paused in our exchange, to return to our morning devotionals. In the middle of reading the above scripture in Our Daily Bread, we both broke into laughter! How bloody stupid we had been, much like the sillies in Corinth, choosing up sides, seeking a human idol to worship.
In the light of this spiritual awareness, it seemed obvious that we were tasting unspiritual milk, and struggling with the solid food of the Word. Do we follow our Lord when it fits our “team”, or do we follow our Lord despite our “team” and what they may proclaim? Besides, who are these “teams” anyway?
There is much in the political landscape to cause serious concerns for the believer, the follower of Christ. What is our position on this and that and the other thing? Maybe the better question is, why do we tend to take that malarkey so seriously?
More often than not, when strife and other kinds of disruption strike, it seemed that whatever devotional I was reading, my Lord’s Word addressed the matter. Do you ever experience that? My reading of Oswald Chambers for last Wednesday starts with this: “Whenever anything begins to disintegrate your life with Jesus Christ, turn to him at once, asking him to reestablish your rest.” Our own distractions take us away from His Peace.
Remember this passage from Matthew? “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
When we get all caught up, emotionally, in the junk of the day and it takes away our peace, and causes us to worry, that may be one of our greatest sins. God has graced us with His peace. He’s cautioned us not to worry. He invites us into a yokefellow relationship with Him. Can you imagine what a great peace that would bring, if we could rest in him in all of our goings out and in our comings in. In all of our labor and in all of our leisure. Why, people might not even recognize us!
We are told to come to Him as a child. Chambers tells us, “a child of God is not aware of the will of God because he is the will of God. When we deviate even slightly from the will of God, we begin to ask, Lord what is your will? A child of God never prays to be made aware of the fact that God answers prayer, because he is so restfully certain that God always answers prayer.”
Once again, I hear one of my favorite Garth Brooks songs, ‘Unanswered Prayers”, and the refrain, “I thank God for unanswered prayers”, and it sinks through my thick skull that God always answers prayers, it is that often we want to pre-set the answer. It is at that point that we realize that God is in charge, not us, that we know that and trust that. In trusting, Peace returns. Amen.
Bulletin Board:
From Jim Nicely — If you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat. I strongly believe that the way we live is a consequence of the size of our God. The problem many of us have Is that our God is too small. We are not convinced that we are absolutely safe in the hands of a fully competent, all-knowing, ever-present God. — John Ortberg.
From Maury Mussleman in Peabody — Thank you for your concern and prayers. There are no changes, maybe in September. That will depend largely on the Governor. I really miss our Bible study, our weekly sessions together. We have a wonderful Lord who is sovereign and is our comfort and hope. Praise to the One who will bring us through this. Amen.
From Beth Newcomer — I loved the poem about the pandemic. That was lovely. I think I will share that with a few friends. By the way, as a designer, I USE ALGEBRA ALMOST EVERY DAY! Ha! Ha! (Algebra is French for ‘Do Over”, isn’t it?)
Facts — Statistics prove that the more birthdays you have the longer you live.
Morning Prayers:
Dear Lord, I don’t know who or what will cross my path today. But I do know that You are my Rock and my Fortress. You are my Shield and my Strong Tower. Help me to anchor myself to You today. Teach me how to stand strong in You and choose only Your way today. Help me walk by Your truth and not my feelings. Help me to embrace anything that comes my way as an opportunity to see You at work and as an opportunity to point others to You. Thank You that You love me and nothing can ever take that away from me! Even if I fail today and fall short, You whisper Your unconditional love deep into my soul and remind me that Your mercies are new every morning. That truly amazes me, Lord. Thank You for meeting with me today. Would You wake me again tomorrow with the same sweet whisper of Your love? I can’t wait to meet with You again. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
