Blogs

“And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28a)

I enjoyed the challenge Pastor Mark gave us on Easter Sunday. He challenged us to find three things that amazed us about God and then tell them to three different people. I am taking on this challenge and would like to share my thoughts with you.

1 Cor 14:20 "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature."

The apostle uses the word "infant" here in regard to how our thinking ought to be about evil. Not the word toddler or even child. An infant has so little consideration about their world; it generally consists primarily of eating, comfort, and sleeping… and also pooping I guess. The point is that it is limited thinking, non-extravagant thinking on a subject. About the issue of sin then, we are encouraged to maintain limited thinking about it and avoid sinful thinking. While it is a backwards manner of saying it, nevertheless the believer demonstrates spiritual maturity by maintaining this limited thinking about sin.

James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many {ways.} If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well.”

There are some who believe that maturity comes with age. While this could be the case, it is not a given by any means. I know far too many who are older in age but lack real maturity. Then there are those who believe that maturity is seen in the gray hair of a man or woman, or even your station in life after achieving great status through years of work. (Proverbs 20:29 supports the gray hair idea.) This is also well and good, except that I have also seen foolishness in these folks. Age can mean nothing, gray hair simply gives away that your body is conceding to age, and status just gets you respect from those who admire your station in life and wish they had it.

Last time, I began sharing with you my definition of worship. Through a quick word study, we learned that worship is important to God. We learned that worship is usually tied to something or someone (ideally God), and that it can be an immediate or continual response. We also learned that there are other words that tie into the subject of worship, words like prayer, sacrifice, serve, remember, and bow down.

The disciples, after Jesus’ ascension, “were continually in the temple praising God.” (Luke 24:53) We are also told “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Since we know worship is important, how can we incorporate worship into our daily lives? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

When I hear the word worship, I immediately think of Sunday morning praise and worship time. How I love getting together with other believers to sing His praises! The only thing is, I don’t have that right now in my life... I’m teaching Sunday school! While I try to squeeze music into my very packed lesson when I can, somehow corralling 4-8 preschoolers while singing “This Little Light of Mine” is NOT my idea of worshiping the Lord!

So, if I know what worship ISN'T for me, do I know what it IS? I began to ask myself, “What does it mean to worship, and is it important to God?” Immediately, I turned to my Bible Software program and typed in the word “worship”. Here are a few interesting observations from my initial study:

The concept of worship is mentioned 1,329 times in the Bible. I think that fact alone means worship is important to God!

Most of us have read the book of Jonah. I was listening to a teaching this week regarding the fact that when Jonah wanted to go in the opposite direction of where God was calling him, there was a boat right there in the port waiting to take him where he wanted to go. The same is true for us. There will always be a boat ready to take me in the opposite direction that God is calling me to go.

“Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” Philippians 4:11-12

Standing in line at Kohls for an hour and a half on “Black Friday”, I had a lot of time to reflect on the commercialism surrounding Christmas. But commercialism isn’t just for Christmas anymore. From cupids to turkeys, leprechauns to Easter bunnies, each and every day the world cries out buy, buy, buy! Buy stuff for you! Buy stuff for your friends, family, pets, neighbors, coworkers! Buy stuff for the people you don’t even like!

What does the world tell us?
• Buying equals love. The more expensive the gift, the more love shown. (think car and diamond commercials!)
• It’s on sale, so you might as well buy two.

Jesus said to him, "Go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." – Mark 5:19

Large crowds followed Jesus wherever He went, literally thousands of people each day from all over Israel. His miracles, his teaching, and his compassion for the people drew them in. When he delivered the man of the tombs from the legion of demons that haunted him, the man wanted to follow as well. But instead of allowing him to also follow him, Jesus sends the man home to tell his story to those who knew him.

I am not particularly young, but there is an "older than myself" generation that has grown up with the idea of keeping their faith and religious issues private. I have had them tell me that such matters are private and that I should not be speaking of such things in public conversations.

“I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else in this world or in the world to come. And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence.” (Eph. 1:19-23)

Do you ever notice how God has designed infants to develop? First, they learn to sit, then they learn to crawl, then they learn to pull themselves up on a piece of furniture and stand. It is the same, I think, with our spiritual life in Christ.

What was the greatest gift you ever received? Is there a gift that would just take your breath away on Christmas morning as you wake up to see it with a big red bow on top? A gift that would be just too wonderful for words? A new car? A sewing machine? A computer? Or how about this: What was the greatest gift you have ever given? Were you beside yourself with the anticipation of what the recipient of your gift would do upon opening it?

If you’re looking for a gift too wonderful for words, there’s good news! You already have it! A gift too wonderful for words is already yours and it didn’t cost you a THING! This gift is so magnificent that it is BEYOND telling in human words.