Then said the Lord to him, Put off thy shoes from thy feet: for the place where thou standest is holy ground. --Acts 7:33
Acts 7 is Stephen's narration of the history of Israel just before he was put to death by stoning. The chapter makes interesting reading, but I was looking for something I could apply to my life today. When I read any given chapter in the morning, I like to pick out one or two verses to carry with me through the day, verses that give me a sense of the whole passage, or that especially fit what the Lord has already been teaching me.
I read over the chapter again, and the "holy ground" verse stood out to me. I live life in bare feet as much as possible. I am the first to go barefoot in spring, and the last to give it up in the fall. The thought came to me this morning that everything I do as a full-time wife and mother is to be holy work. It is to be offered up as worship to my Lord as I try to do everything for His honour and glory.
As I went bare foot through my day, hanging clothes on the line, changing diapers, baking bread, wiping noses, reading storybooks, editing something for Tom, giving spelling tests, checking math, supervising chores, and all the rest of it, I kept this thought in my head: "This is holy ground. This is worship. This is for You, Lord Jesus." And anytime I found myself getting impatient or frustrated, I stopped myself by remembering that bad attitudes have no place on holy ground.
Showing posts with label meditations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meditations. Show all posts
Monday, May 25, 2009
Monday, December 01, 2008
A Radically Different Family
Yesterday I was home with coughing, sniffling, sneezing--thankfully, no wheezing!--children. For our Sunday service at home, I looked up some Paul Washer sermons. You can find a bunch of them here. These are very good, and I recommend them to everyone.
In the sermon we listened to yesterday morning, Bro. Washer said that we cannot influence our culture by being like the culture in dress, music, speech, etc., but by being radically different. How do you be radically different?
This morning I decided to start reading through Luke. The very first family mentioned was the ideal Christian family. Read Luke chapter one. You will find three verses that say that so-and-so was "filled with the Holy Ghost." Their names are Zacharias, Elisabeth and John. And they were radically different from even their seemingly righteous Jewish culture in at least three instances. And these three instances were "little" things.
1. Zacharias and Elisabeth insisted on naming their son John, when there were no other Johns in the family. This just wasn't done in those days. But God said to name him John, so they named him John.
2. John wore clothes made out of camel's hair, held in place with a belt made of leather. Quite different from the fine priestly robes he could have worn as part of the family of Aaron. But John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and even dressed like him (see 2 Kings 1:8).
3. John ate locusts and wild honey. He could have feasted on the best that the land had to offer of the part of the sacrificial foods that were set aside for the priests and their families.
Food, clothes and baby names. Not what the average Christian today generally prays about, submitting their choices to the Lord for approval. Actually they didn't even do that. God didn't look over their choices and say, "Oh, that's a good choice; yeah, do that." No. They didn't offer their choices to Him. They just listened to what He said, and obeyed. In the little things. In everything.
They were not the average family. They were radically different.
They were Spirit-filled.
In the sermon we listened to yesterday morning, Bro. Washer said that we cannot influence our culture by being like the culture in dress, music, speech, etc., but by being radically different. How do you be radically different?
This morning I decided to start reading through Luke. The very first family mentioned was the ideal Christian family. Read Luke chapter one. You will find three verses that say that so-and-so was "filled with the Holy Ghost." Their names are Zacharias, Elisabeth and John. And they were radically different from even their seemingly righteous Jewish culture in at least three instances. And these three instances were "little" things.
1. Zacharias and Elisabeth insisted on naming their son John, when there were no other Johns in the family. This just wasn't done in those days. But God said to name him John, so they named him John.
2. John wore clothes made out of camel's hair, held in place with a belt made of leather. Quite different from the fine priestly robes he could have worn as part of the family of Aaron. But John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and even dressed like him (see 2 Kings 1:8).
3. John ate locusts and wild honey. He could have feasted on the best that the land had to offer of the part of the sacrificial foods that were set aside for the priests and their families.
Food, clothes and baby names. Not what the average Christian today generally prays about, submitting their choices to the Lord for approval. Actually they didn't even do that. God didn't look over their choices and say, "Oh, that's a good choice; yeah, do that." No. They didn't offer their choices to Him. They just listened to what He said, and obeyed. In the little things. In everything.
They were not the average family. They were radically different.
They were Spirit-filled.
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Christian Family
From the Pastor's Desk...
"The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the Puritans; but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. See how the families of many professors are as dressy, as godless as the children of the non-religious! How can we hope to see the Kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own sons and daughters?" --C. H. Spurgeon
"Every Christian family ought to be a little church, consecrated to Christ and wholly influenced and governed by His Laws." --Jonathan Edwards
"It is difficult to see how Christianity can have a positive effect on society if it cannot transform its own homes." --John MacArthur
"The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the Puritans; but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. See how the families of many professors are as dressy, as godless as the children of the non-religious! How can we hope to see the Kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own sons and daughters?" --C. H. Spurgeon
"Every Christian family ought to be a little church, consecrated to Christ and wholly influenced and governed by His Laws." --Jonathan Edwards
"It is difficult to see how Christianity can have a positive effect on society if it cannot transform its own homes." --John MacArthur
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Meditations in the night
"....Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good" (Romans 12:9).
The Greek word translated abhor means "to detest utterly".
Often I wake up in the night for one reason or another. Last night, during those waking moments, I kept thinking about two words: abhor and resist. Before going to bed, I was thinking of a couple of areas in my life where I am often tempted to sin. Both of these sins have a measure of enjoyment in them, as besetting sins usually do. I prayed that God would make me abhor those sins, not just merely resist the temptation. I resist the temptation to sin because I know that sin grieves the heart of God, and I know that any "enjoyment" is exceedingly short-lived. But often, even as I resist temptation, I find myself wishing I could go ahead. This wishing, of course, is still sin.
I want more than just to physically resist temptation. I want to abhor the sin itself. 1 Corinthians 10:13 speaks of a way of escape in the midst of temptation. James 1:12 tells of the crown of life given to those who endure temptation (meaning, they stand firm in the faith rather than give in to temptation). This is all useful information, of course. But what I want even more is what comes with much prayer, as found in this verse:
"Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41, emphasis mine).
I want to be in such close fellowship with Christ that I abhor my sin just as much as He does, to the point where it does not even tempt me. I know that there is no such thing as sinless perfection in this life, but I can still strive to be as holy as possible this side of glory.
The Greek word translated abhor means "to detest utterly".
Often I wake up in the night for one reason or another. Last night, during those waking moments, I kept thinking about two words: abhor and resist. Before going to bed, I was thinking of a couple of areas in my life where I am often tempted to sin. Both of these sins have a measure of enjoyment in them, as besetting sins usually do. I prayed that God would make me abhor those sins, not just merely resist the temptation. I resist the temptation to sin because I know that sin grieves the heart of God, and I know that any "enjoyment" is exceedingly short-lived. But often, even as I resist temptation, I find myself wishing I could go ahead. This wishing, of course, is still sin.
I want more than just to physically resist temptation. I want to abhor the sin itself. 1 Corinthians 10:13 speaks of a way of escape in the midst of temptation. James 1:12 tells of the crown of life given to those who endure temptation (meaning, they stand firm in the faith rather than give in to temptation). This is all useful information, of course. But what I want even more is what comes with much prayer, as found in this verse:
"Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41, emphasis mine).
I want to be in such close fellowship with Christ that I abhor my sin just as much as He does, to the point where it does not even tempt me. I know that there is no such thing as sinless perfection in this life, but I can still strive to be as holy as possible this side of glory.
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