Hebrews 10:24, “…and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds”.
1. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ
2. Devote themselves to observation, interpretation and application of God’s Word in their lives
3. Encourage God-centered behavior and thought
I was thrilled and humbled by your response to Devout Devotions last week. Your input has been fantastic and I would be remiss if I did not mention one of my very best friends, Elle from A Complete Thought. Her encouragement, enthusiasm and contributions to get this off the ground have been invaluable.
I’d also like to encourage all of you to:
1. Send me your suggestions & input.
2. Participate by writing your responses on your own blog (if applicable) and linking to this post in the comments.
3. Create a fruitful discussion here in the comment thread.
Week Two: Great Expectations
Lets take some time together to examine ourselves and address the following questions:
- Before you begin a new activity for the Lord, what questions should you ask yourself ?
- Whose reputation matters most to you–yours or God? How do your actions show this?
- The majority of culture rebel against God, at home, work and even church. How can you stand against this tide?
- Do you think people should have to live with the consequences of their sins? What does God think about this?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
1. Questions to ask myself: How has the Lord prepared me for this task? What steps of obedience will I take to serve in this task?
2. Whose reputation matters most: I confess it is the Lord’s reputation. I stand convicted that some of my life choices have shown my confession to be false, and that I care more for my own reputation. Realizing that God keeps giving me opportunities to be tested and grown in this area gives a humbling aspect to how I think about my reputation. My prayer that He would increase and me decrease.
3. Standing against the tide: My efforts here are heavily focused on how I’m raising my children to think with a Biblical worldview–to filter thoughts and decisions through a Biblical grid. That in itself requires these days a standing against the tide of not disciplining or training your children. Again, if not for the Lord’s many opportunities of instruction. Aaay-yi-yi.
4. Living with consequences of sin: For a long time I didn’t believe that grace meant living with consequences of sin. I viewed grace as so utterly free, free, free that I didn’t think I deserved my consequences. Wow. There’s some error for you–what I “thought I deserved.” Talk about missing the point!
God’s grace free to me in forgiveness and salvation cost Him the death of His Son. And God’s grace requires (of that cost) that I die to self and live to Him. When living to Him means living according to the consequences He has allowed–to teach me more of Himself and His work, then and only then, is even more of His marvelous grace revealed. He doesn’t leave me in my consequences, He empowers me to show His glory and victorious power in overcoming them.
Hmmm. I like the questions. Hard to come up with quick responses. I’ll just do one.
1. “Before you begin a new activity for the Lord..”
Here are my first thoughts, “Is it really for the Lord?” “Do I think He somehow needs me to accomplish something, or do I know that ‘the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve’ and that He needs nothing from me?” “Am I fulfilling my primary responsibilities as a loving daughter of God, wife, and mother, before I commit to do something ‘for the Lord’?”
I find there are a million ministries and areas where I am anxious to serve and I’m always wanting to “begin a new activity for the Lord.” I have to continually check this desire and rest in the Lord, knowing that He has placed me in a season where I am sacrificing this “service” for my children’s sake (raising my children is probably the most important ministry/service/activity for the Lord I will ever engage in) and so that my husband can be available to serve.
As I rest in where the Lord has placed me, I find fulfillment in the tasks He’s given me now, and can look ahead to a time when I will (Lord willing) be engaging in new activities for the Lord.
I ended up blogging my answers!
I also wanted to add that I agree with both Elle and Abigail. I have fought the idea that grace meant no consequences, to the point where I stood against many other in a class at one time. I also think that there are many good things for us to do, which is why it’s SO important that we know what God wants for US.
I blogged my response also. The post is entitled “reputations and consequences.”
and it can be found here:
http://pragmaticcompendium.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/reputations-and-consequences/
Thanks again for doing Devout Devotions. It’s good for me.
After talking it over with FirstHusband, I realized I didn’t exactly answer one of the questions. Instead of writing about suffering the consequences of our sin, I wrote about taking responsibility for our sin. Two totally different things.
I wrote another post, entitled, “can I change my answer?”
http://pragmaticcompendium.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/can-i-change-my-answer/