Read the Bible. Do what it says. Does that sound...well cold to you? Or legalistic? Or graceless? Like it is too simple to work? It is. Up to now we've left out one very crucial aspect.
None of us want to live in the desert of spiritual death. We want to be fully alive in Christ, joyfully growing in Him every day! And to do that we need to...read our Bible. Now I know what you are about to say. I totally get it. You are reading your Bible! But there has to be a way to get from just "reading" to the transformation God promised. What on earth are we supposed to do now? I think I know. Check out the video below!
Paul has a vision of new creation: Christians full of God's will not fighting it at every stage, wise not worldly. They can be worthy of their Lord, make their Father happy, do His good work and know more about Him all the time. They can be strong with His strength, patient and faithful. Christians who rejoice!
For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-14).
I want that! Not an apostle pouring himself into prayer on my behalf-although that would be nice-but to be transformed! Don't you? Yet instead we find ourself in a dry and dusty place. A place without joy, or growth, or excitement.
We don't just visit this spiritual desert; some of us built a little shack there (or even a church) and made it our home. We might even have forgotten that there is anything beyond the Christian to-do list.
Prayed. Check.
Went to church. Check.
Read my Bible. Check.
Does that sound like what Paul was praying for? Is that the Christian life he had in mind?
What will it take to transform us? One by one, family by family, Bible class by Bible class, congregation by congregation into the wise and worthy workers we want to be?
I think I know! Check out the video below for some thoughts!
PS. Are you looking for that book we were talking about? You can buy it now and when you give the book as a gift I have a free gift for you! Check it out!
Last week’s parable, “The King and his Servants” is a straightforward little tale. But it is my tale. I struggle to allow myself to be interrupted by the Lord.
Sometimes I am the little maid who is absorbed in my ordinary work and misses the call to meet the immediate need in front of me.
On those days I need to remember the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). Like the Levite and the priest, no deliberate cruelty on my part is needed. Being absorbed in my to-do list is enough to hide the need of myneighbor from me.
Read the Bible.
