More Wandering of an Old Man

Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.  Colossians 2:7 (NLT)

 

When this verse came to my inbox the other day I thought; "Well here may be the Body of Christ's problem!"  Do we let our roots grow deep into Christ?     Are we doing what it takes to get rooted in Christ?  Are we seeking that deep water source which is in Christ?   I know in the real world that when the heat hits plants, even mature trees that are not rooted into a DEEP SOURCE of water will die. I wonder about us as the Body of Christ?  Do we let our lives be built on him?  Do we look for that good foundation that is Christ?   Again, as we are have temperatures in the mid low thirties I have heard of our local community college's contractor continuing to pour the foundation for a new building on campus; I am not sure this is good planning but I am not in the concrete business nor the building business.  I am in the building the Family of God business and I wonder about our foundations? 

 

Doing these two things, rooting him Christ and Building on Christ,  will allow our faith to grow strong in the truth we were taught, this leads to another question, which is "What truths have we been taught."  Have we been taught G*D'S TRUTH or have we been taught some one's interpretation of G*d's Truth?   Personally, I think it is likely a 50/50 thing.  Half of what we were taught is G*D'S TRUTH and the other half is interpretation of G*d's Truth.  I know that from time to time as a pastor I will have to plead Guilty to the latter and be held accountable for not doing the former.  Again, I wonder.  I wonder if we need to do a better job of having a mindset like the people of Berea (Acts 17:11)?  

 

The last thing the verse says is "we will overflow with thanksgiving" if we are rooted and built.  So; I wonder are we overflowing with thanksgiving?  If not we need to work on our rooting and building site!

Happy Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
Let the whole world know what he has done.

New Living Translation (NLTPsalm 105 (NLT)

 

Do you want to know God's Will?

1 Thessalonians 5:16 - 18 (NLT) ¹⁶Always be joyful.  ¹⁷Never stop praying.  ¹⁸Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. 
Here is God's will for those who belong to Jesus the Christ.  We are to be always Joyful; always Prayerful and always Thankful.

Always joyful; this is a hard one for me.  I do not like mornings!  I work the opening in Fast Food business (we open at 6a.m.!).  Some people say "Good Morning" at they come to the Drive Through window; about half the time my responce is "Well it is morning!"  I sometimes say "Morning" as I reach out to take their payment.  Some folks look t me weird, some of it is me I am a bit weird but I think some hear the word "good" without me saying it and wonder, like I do, "just how good is it!"  I usually respond to the look with say something like "I did not place a value judgement on it!"  God has shown me and is still working on me that I need to be joyful always!!

Always Prayerful, sometimes we think of prayer as when we "talk" to God.  You know "Here's Bread, Here's Meat!  Good Lord let's eat!  Amen!"  Prayer really is a conversation we have with God.  If one is having a conversation both people in said conversation take turns speaking.  Therefore being Always Prayerful, involves our speaking to God but it also involves our listening to God speak to us.  That may be as we drive the car to work; as we sit listening to others speak in a meeting or gathering; it may be sitting in the  deer woods,  like a friend of mine taught me;(miss those times with that friend!!) or taking a walking to shed unwant pounds.  The thing is we must listen as well as talk.  I once heard some one say we needed to listen twice as much as we spoke because we have ONE MOUTH and TWO EARS.  While as a person drawn to public speaking (or in this case public writting) I am not sure I buy that idea; I do know that we, the followers of Jesus, need to do more listening at times than we actually do!!  Again, remember that a preacher speaks as much to the preacher (sometimes more) than the preacher does to the congregation!

Always Thankful, I have written on this on Novemeber 23, so I will says that I like how  the Message says it "1 Thessalonians 5:18 (TMSG) ¹⁸thank God no matter what happens." Again easier said than done!!

Do you want God's Will?  BE Always joyful, Always Prayerful and  Always Thankful!

Thanksgiving

1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NCV) ¹⁸and give thanks whatever happens. That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus.

Sunday, my pastor; The Reverend Doctor Joe Hyde, used this verse along with the two ahead of it as his text.  He pointed out that we needed to give thanks for the Obvious things; those things that happen every day that we may not think that much about.  We just expect these things to happen; like breathing, getting up, having a job, or a home.  The things that are always there and we do not miss but that we would miss if suddenly those things were missing!  Give thanks for the obscure things.  These are the things that go on around us that we have think about in order to see yet we also take for granted.

The last thing he spoke of were the Objectionable things.  These are the things we spot within seconds of them occurring.  An example he gave was from Corrie Ten Boom's life.  The fleas in the housing of death camps.  This example, for me is the most telling of what the objectionable things can be.  Fleas, make one itch; their bite are annoying and all in all they are a pain to get rid of!  Yet, the fleas for the Ten Boom sisters did a couple of things; without the fleas they would not have been able to keep their Bible; they would not have been able to read their Bible nor could they have lead the Bible studies in the death camp housing.  If you to not know or do not remember the story; the guards were afraid of/did not desire to be infested with the fleas therefore they did not do the greatest search of the prisoner coming in the camp and the guards also did not enter the housing because of the fleas; which meant what went on in the housing for the most part was unseen by the authorities.
As I look at the giving thanks for the Obvious things I see a need to improve.  I do not have a really thankful attitude at 5 or 6 a.m. as I start my work day; I really do not have that thankful of an attitude at most hours some days.  As for the objectionable things, while I do not have to deal with fleas or Nazi Death Camp guards, there are those things in life that are the fleas.  Customers who are a pain; co-workers who are worse than the aformentioned customers!  Days when things just are not going as planned.  Yet those things are there for God to use to shape and change my life. 
A guy I know blogged about John Piper's essay on cancer.  Rev. Piper takes an objectionable thing, cancer, and gives some advice that to me is mind blowing and it will definately expand one's thinking on the "objectionable thing" of life.  I see many things that could replace the word "Cancer" in Piper's booklet!
So, GIVE THANKS IN ALL THINGS!!