2018-03-30
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As promised last week, I will obey the Lord’s command to write about COL 3: 18-4: 6 in the context of the Lord’s will for our relationship with Him, i.e. Christ and believers. COL 3: 18-21 has commands pertaining to the marital relationship and expectations for children and parents. “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, for that is what you should do as Christians. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, it is your Christian duty to obey your parents always, for that is what pleases God. Parents, do not irritate your children, or they will become discouraged.” To get the perspective the Lord means regarding marriage, look at EPH 5: 21-25 as well. As outlined in these passages, the husband is the head of the household. However, the way he is to express his leadership is to follow Christ’s model as closely as possible. The husband’s authority over the wife should be like Christ’s over the church, even to giving his life for her, if necessary. That is hardly a husband who beats his wife or acts cruelly toward her. Having had a marriage that was a disaster in my early life, God gave me a second chance. My second marriage, of 41 years and counting, has been one of mutual respect, peace, and happiness. I share this, because I know the difference. The issue of a parent aggravating a child is also part of my own experience. Once I got over my destructive anger, I realized that my parents were only doing what was done to them. They didn’t know any better. There were many things I needed to do, things like updating old messages as I matured and came to believe in Christ. I didn’t want to make the same mistakes with my own family that were made rearing me. I understand the importance of allowing a child to develop self-esteem and faith in God. It’s important that parents present a united front to their children-one of consistency and fairness. The ideal Christian child obeys parental advice and doesn’t delay this obedience to it. When discussing a controversial issue that comes up, it’s good to guide a child to learn how to analyze its consequences. Any advice given should be based on Biblical truth. We didn’t make a long list of rules. The few rules we did make applied to all of us. The Ten Commandments are eternal and a great basis for our own decision-making.
COL 3: 23- 24 deals with telling us that we must work with all our hearts as if the Lord was our boss at whatever we do. This speaks directly to our heart-attitude regarding our jobs. Our conduct on the job should do nothing to enhance a toxic workplace. Sadly, humans rank themselves according to man-made criteria. God ranks us according to our obedience to His teaching. Christ alone has been given the right to judge [DN 7: 13-14]. We are reminded that God will give us what He has kept for us. That helps us to gain His perspective, rather than engage in evil thoughts and/or deeds, which make trouble harder to endure. We are also reminded that wrongdoers will be repaid for their behavior, because Christ judges us on the same standards for all of us. He is a consistent God!
COL 4 begins with instructions from the Lord. “Be persistent in prayer, and keep alert as you pray… Be wise in the way you act toward those who are not believers. Your speech should always be pleasant and interesting. Take advantage of every opportunity” [COL 4: 1-6]. This means care genuinely about the welfare of others, understand for what you are praying, be sensitive to the needs of others, including those who don’t share our faith in Christ, and when the other(s) are willing to listen, don’t be shy about conveying the sweet message of the Gospel. There is no reason to be a grouch or argumentative. To speak this way, we must prepare ourselves to be able to answer questions by reading and understanding Biblical truth [2 TIM 3: 16-17].
PRAYER: O Lord, we acknowledge that Your will for us is that we understand the concepts You teach us and put them in practice in our own lives. We are “to serve the New Covenant which consists not of the written law, but of the Spirit” [2 COR 3: 6]. It is You alone, who gives us our capacity to do this. You deserve our praise and thanks, which we offer here. Obedience to the activity and will of the Holy Spirit brings life, while death is the result of only considering the written law. How much greater is the Holy Spirit’s activity, which brings salvation [JN 3: 16]! Our minds are not to be closed to the Holy Spirit, but to open wide to His commands. The example of Jonah’s initial refusal to travel east to Nineveh should be clear in our minds [JON 1 and 2]. We can be closer and closer to You when we obey You. Lord, You will keep the promises You have made when we demonstrate our faith in You with obedience and willingness to improve our ways. How great and gracious is our God! In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: The Holy Spirit has given me more on the subjects raised in this devotion. Next week, I will pray first and then discuss some of these topics. (Yes, I have a list J). In conclusion, let me cite PS 115: 1 and say what it means to me. “To You alone, O Lord, to You alone, and not to us, must glory be given, because of Your constant love and faithfulness.” I have learned to love the Lord more and more every day of my life. The reason is clear to me. I can take no credit for all the blessings of my life. They come from Him, and only when He chooses. He has been gracious and generous to me-so much more than I deserve. He gives me this opportunity to share with all of you my faith in Him and the reasons for it. I serve Him with great joy and thankfulness in my heart. I take to heart His advice that whatever one does for his career, he should do it in conformity with God’s teaching. Recently, I have been delving, with His help, into my own genealogy. While that is of interest to me and my family, I won’t bore my readers with it. This is only one great blessing He gives me out of many. I encourage each of you to look for the many blessings He gives you every day. I’ll pray that you make some rich discoveries in that area in your own lives. Praise and thanks be to the Lord!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2018. All Rights Reserved.
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