I'm Back!! My feet were again stepped on by God's Word!!

25 So you must stop telling lies. Tell each other the truth because we all belong to each other in the same body.[a] 26 When you are angry, do not sin. And do not go on being angry all day. 27 Do not give the devil a way to defeat you. 28 If a person is stealing, he must stop stealing and start working. He must use his hands for doing something good. Then he will have something to share with those who are poor.

29 When you talk, do not say harmful things. But say what people need—words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will help those who listen to you. 30 And do not make the Holy Spirit sad. The Spirit is God’s proof that you belong to him. God gave you the Spirit to show that God will make you free when the time comes. 31 Do not be bitter or angry or mad. Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Never do anything evil. 32 Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ. 

                                                                         Ephesians 4:25-32 International Children’s Bible

Yes, I am back!  Still not doing much wandering, that will have to change but that is another blogg for another time!!   The above passage was a devotion from the other day.  As I read it I thought of my own reactions to things that happen in my day and week, well OK life!!  I thought about how we tell each other the truth as we see it (aka lie to one another).   How we let anger eat us up by which we give the devil, Satan, a foothold with which he can defeat us.  How we steal, not from each other as much as as we steal from the poor by not giving to them as we see a need.    How when we talk we tend to say harmful things more than we say things that will make other stronger.  I thought about how we are bitter or angry or mad and how we shout and say things that hurt people, sometimes with intent and other times when it just happen but would not have if we would have just thought or just kept our mouths shut.    These last few are hard to miss in the passage!!  I also thought about how this makes the Holy Spirit, and God, sad.  The above is not just in the world but it is as much, if not more, within the Body of Christ!

There are two other things I noticed and they are at the end of the passage; things which we do but do less that the other things this old man has seen within us as Christians.  The first we need to do anytime we are thinking about doing that which we do so well that I have spoken of above.   Instead of all the evil we do so easily we need to: "Be kind and loving to each other". We need to think before we act.  We need to engage our spiritual life and be kind and loving; showing grace to those we interact with in the church building and those we interact with outside the church building.  Yes, I know!  MUCH EASIER SAID THAN DONE!!   Then again the passage also says "Forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ!  If I remember that would be anytime and every time!!  In the Lord's Prayer we ask God to forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  By which would you like to be forgiven by God.  As God forgave you or how you forgive others?  If you forgive like God does then you are in the clear; aren't you!?!

Wondering some more

The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. ~ Psalm 103:8, NLT

When I saw this verse in my E-mail this morning, my first thought was is this our image of God as his children and is it the image the world, the not-yet-christians, has of God?  In both case I think the answer is no.   For the not-yet-christians I think it is a fear, as well as a message given, at least in times past, of God being "out to get you!"  The image of "God sending people to Hell".  This may be the same thing that causes God's kids to not think of God in this way.  Just wondering way before I even had a chance to wander today!

Another thought came as I wrote; why are we as God's kids not acting like our Daddy.  Being compassionate, merciful, slow to anger (been in a church board meeting or business meeting lately?) and filled with UNFAILING love?   Again simply wondering!

GOD Cares for you!

Isaiah 43:1-7 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

¹The Lord created Jacob and formed Israel. Now, this is what the Lord says:

Do not be afraid, because I have reclaimed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
²When you go through the sea, I am with you.
When you go through rivers, they will not sweep you away.
When you walk through fire, you will not be burned,
and the flames will not harm you.
³I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Egypt is the ransom I exchanged for you.
Sudan and Seba are the price I paid for you.
⁴Since you are precious to me, you are honored and I love you.
I will exchange others for you.
Nations will be the price I pay for your life.
⁵Do not be afraid, because I am with you.
I will bring your descendants from the east
and gather you from the west.
⁶I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
and to the south, “Do not keep them.”
Bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the ends of the earth.
⁷Bring everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.

As I read this passage preparing for a Men's Bible Study I was impressed by the idea of how we are precious, honored and loved by God.  This in turn got me to thinking that those who yet to know God through Jesus are also precious, loved, and honored by God.  This lead me to think about who we God's children do not honor, love and find precious those who yet to know our Papa, our Abba, Baba, our Daddy, our Father.  We are God's children and God's Ambassadors; shouldn't we love, honor and find precious those he finds precious; who He loves and who He honors?

Just wondering!! No wandering involved!

Have an Attitude 2

I wonder what would happen if the organized church had this attitude;

You’re welcome just as you are.

Your thoughts are welcome. Your doubts are welcome.

We’re all in this together.

The first one I think most churches (i.e. mainline churches) feel they have this attitude.  I am not quite sure that this is true.  Yes, we are willing for new people to come and be part of the gathering; we may even be willing for them to join but at some point they need to look like the rest of the ducks!  We want the wood ducks to become mallard ducks; those new comers need to assimilate and look like us, talk like us and especially worship just like us!!

I happen to be part of a denomination of which some one said "You can worship Buddha; as long as you say 'Jesus is Lord'!"  Well that may be true in some of our churches but I  can tell you it is not true in all of them.  If you want a good church fight just bring up the idea that a persons baptism is not an issue.  To join the church of which I am a member you are to be immersed (I think that the constitution reads that it has to be a baptist baptism but we ignore the baptist part as long as you have been held under the water.)  We especially have an issue if you doubt certain teachings of the baptist doctrine!

I do think that the idea of we are all in this together is done well; we are willing to do ministry with the other churches in the community; the building is used for a weekly community dinner.

Now for the last part of this statement "God is here, ready to connect with you in a fresh way."  All God's people would say "YES!  AMEN!" to the part up to the comma; God is here!  "Connect in a FRESH WAY!?!" "Wait a second here buddy!!"  Fresh way means we may have to do things we are not comfortable with!  I might have to do something that I am not comfortable doing!!

I do think this is the attitude we need for the mainline churches, our churches, to grow.  I think that the body of Christ need to move out of their comfort zone and do ministry in this attitude.  The minimum we must do is support ministries within and without the four walls of the church that have this attitude!  Here it is in it fullness

You’re welcome just as you are.

Your thoughts are welcome. Your doubts are welcome.

We’re all in this together.

God is here, ready to connect with you in a fresh way.

This is a sign inside Lifetree Cafes or Lifetree's site

Can't We Just Get Along?

Ephesians 4:31 - 5: 2  (TMSG) ³¹Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk.  ³²Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.  ¹Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.  ²Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. (The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Copyright © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)


When I read this part of the passage "Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you" as part of a devotional from the Church at which I am a member; I asked myself (and I may have said it out loud) "Is this possible?  To forgive in this way.  All the time?"  The Wednesday November 16th, I ask the men's group as we looked at the devotions  of the November 6th through 13th; those same questions.  I said that I felt it was nearly impossible!  While yes Philippians 4:13 does make it clear I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH  CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME; I also know that most of us are not living that verse out daily like we ought!

Having looked at the verse before the one I reacted to does help me a bit.  If we were to follow the words in verse 31; others would need to do a whole lot less forgiving like God forgave us!! If the rest of the church would also engage in the Don't and Nevers; we need to do less forgiving like God forgive us!

What would my church or your church look like if we Simply followed verse 31 & 31 above?  Paul is asking a lot there but then Paul goes and tells us "We should watch God and then DO what GOD DOES!!  Other versions say to imitate God like children.  As a father I know the good and the bad of a child's imitating my behavior; and we will not go there today!!  We have all had the experience of one of the teachers at the school where my mother was a paraeducator.  The teacher  chose to speak to the parent of a child who could color his sentences with words that an elementary age child should not know let allow speak.  When it was point out that Johnny could make a sailor blush; the parent was reported to have colored their remark equally as well!  Unlike this parent; God shows us how to speak, to make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk;  to be gentle with one another, sensitive and to forgive one another quickly and thoroughly!  God is the prefect parent and shows us the way to perfection as His children!  I echo Paul's statement in Philippians 3:12

I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. (New Living Translation)

Here is the challenge.  Look at God's behavior toward you in Christ and then behave that way toward those around you!  I will guarantee that we will bless a lot of people we meet!!