Routine Maintenance

 

Spending time and money doing routine maintenance is not one of life’s more exciting moments. When I take my car to the garage at the prescribed intervals I pay for oil and filters that disappear under the hood, unseen. So why do it? Keeping up with ‘routine maintenance’ is a proven way to keep my car reliable and operating for a much longer time. If I let things go, there would not be any noticeable result for a while. But, neglect would eventually lead to breakdown and greater costs in the long run.

If we want to remain spiritually vital there will be some routine maintenance, some soul care, that is critically important. Keeping ourselves spiritually healthy isn’t always exciting, requires intentionality, and involves expense. We can neglect spiritual disciplines for a long time without any outward evidence. But, there are rich rewards to be found in those disciplines. We read this in the Word: “Train (exercise) yourself to be godly.  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:7)  This directive is framed as a choice we make.

Jesus says that a vital connection to Him is the key to growing in Christ-like character.  "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-5, NLT)  This, too, is a choice.  Unlike a natural branch which is permanently connected to the vine unless cut or broken off, we can sever the flow of life and become spiritually unfruitful.

So, how do we do soul care that makes spiritual growth optimal in our life?

We practice REFLECTION.

One of the basics of true prayer is time with God and ourselves that helps gain clarity of thought, to discern our true motives, and receive godly wisdom. Many Christians conceive of prayer in one of two ways:  they may repeat some words from Scripture or a prayer book; or they run off a list of needs and requests, rather like placing an order for take-out!  Yes, can pray in those ways, but true prayer engages our mind and heart with the Spirit in reflection, sometimes called contemplation. We think about the day, our words, our actions and listen for the Spirit’s inner voice.

This kind of prayer is a kind of guided introspection. We also think on God, quiet and still.  When we learn to ‘wait on the Lord’  we gain the ability to respond and grow in grace. We also become better at decision-making and problem-solving.  processes. When we engage in reflection and contemplative prayer we uncover our hidden personal biases and develop both God-awareness and self-awareness.

Jesus teaches us "Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace." (Matthew 6:6, The Message)

We practice WORSHIP.

If you’re thinking ‘go to church,’ you are only partially right. Certainly a regular commitment to gathering with other Believers to worship formally  is important. Worship is not an event, it is a way of life. Worship is ‘putting God in a place of highest worth.’  Our words reveal our reverence for Him. Our love for Him shows in our compassion and care for others. Our ultimate hope in Him is evidenced in our joy, even in difficult times. We choose who or what we worship everyday. If we serve ourselves, we become ego-driven. If we turn our mind and heart to our Father, confessing His worth (the essence of true worship) the result is spiritual life that is deep, that makes us beautiful inside and out.

 

We practice SERVICE shaped by LOVE.

Who doesn’t like being served?  That is normal and it great to receive love and care with thankfulness. There is a daily choice that is not always fun, that can be costly, something we do as routine maintenance: we serve!  “How can I help you?” is a question we must learn to ask, if not in actual words, at least in the way we respond to others. Giving ourselves away, taking no thought for ourselves, is a discipline, but it becomes a habit that is life-giving. Jesus modeled the way of life for us.

One day just before His death, His disciples were arguing like children over status.  His response was to teach them the principle of service. "Jesus called them together and said, “You know that in this world kings are tyrants, and officials lord it over the people beneath them. But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave. For even I, the Son of Man, came here not to be served but to serve others, and to give my life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28, NLT)

There are other choices we make – simplicity, authenticity, integrity, humility – to name a few but it would take a book to explore them. I can recommend this one if you want to learn soul care, the routine maintenance of spiritual life:  The Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster).

The word from the Word "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-5, NLT)  "When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23, NLT)  

Yes, spiritual vitality demands routine maintenance, choices that are regular, daily, simple, and God-focused. How about it?

(Video of this blog at this link)

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My Story Your Glory

 

The story of me was a story of shame

Wrong turns written on every page

So many parts that were so messed up

But I love the part where You showed up

Rewriting my past rewriting my hurt

Line by line word by word

And now my story is livin proof

There's not a chapter that you can't use

 

My story Your glory

My pain Your purpose

My mess Your message

In all things I know You're workin

One life one mission

One reason why I'm livin

All for You not for me

My story Your glory

 

Now the story of me is a story of grace

Fingerprints of mercy on every page

No more ashamed of the path I took

You set me free to be an open book

If even my scars are part of Your plan

Take all of my heart Lord here I am

My only cause til You call me home

Is knowin You more and makin You known

 

All of me all for You

Let all I say and all I do

Point to the one who changed my life

And let me speak the legacy I leave behind

 

Andrew Jacob Pruis | Matthew West

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Perfect People Only Need Apply

Does it seem to you that only others can worship, pray, or serve God, that you are too flawed to know and love Him? Does some memory of failure, some past choice, some flaw of character stand in the way of a richer relationship with God? Or perhaps you have taken the other road, trying so hard to make up for that failure, working so hard at making yourself ‘perfect’ that you know little of the joy of Jesus. Perhaps you missed a recurring theme in the Bible.

God used very flawed people to accomplish His work, loved failures to wholeness, and demonstrated His grace in weakness.

Take the life of Samson for an example. His story is one of the longest in the book of Judges. God met his parents miraculously and promised them a son. He was to be dedicated to the LORD for His purposes.  His life began this way: ”The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him.” (Judges 13:24)  But it goes bad quickly. Samson loved foreign women and had a terrible temper!  His personal story is not family friendly, a polite way to say that he was often out of control.   

And yet!! God used him to lead Israel and to defeat their enemies. After a sad and violent life, he died as he had lived. "Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me one more time so that I may pay back the Philistines for the loss of my eyes.” Then Samson put his hands on the center pillars of the temple and pushed against them with all his might. “Let me die with the Philistines,” he prayed. And the temple crashed down on the Philistine leaders and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime." (Judges 16:28-30, NLT)  Does the end justify the way Samson lived? Not at all.  There were tragic consequences for his actions, but a key fact is that he was loved and used by God.

We could explore the life of King David, a man who knew the Lord and still sinned awfully. Or we might consider Peter whose pride and bluster led him to deny his Lord Jesus at a most critical moment, but God still used him to lead the early Church.  There is Paul, who was a religious zealot, persecuting Christians intensely, but God called him to take the Gospel to the far reaches of the Empire and inspired him to write half of our New Testament.

Paul expresses our hope in God’s grace with this passage. "This is a true saying, and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I was the worst of them all. But that is why God had mercy on me, so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life." (1 Timothy 1:15-16, NLT)

You are valuable to God. He has no sign that says, “perfect people only need apply!” There is a place for repentance and renewal. We are called to walk in the goodness of God, growing in maturity, grace, and victory over our sins. But we remain human, prone to failure as the hymn says: 

Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter;
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love!
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above!

We lean hard on His grace and find IN HIS strength the ability to do what we could never do for ourselves.

The word from the Word today is a great encouragement for ordinary people like me. May His truth call you to love Him more. "We don’t go around preaching about ourselves; we preach Christ Jesus, the Lord. All we say about ourselves is that we are your servants because of what Jesus has done for us. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own." (2 Corinthians 4:5-7, NLT)

(Video of this blog at this link)

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Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing

Come Thou fount of ev'ry blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise mine Ebenezer (a memorial stone)
Hither by Thy help I'm come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wand'ring from the fold of God
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy grace Lord like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart Lord take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

 

John Wyeth | Robert Robinson

© Words: Public Domain

 

 

See you next year, Jesus.

Church attendance peaked yesterday as Christians celebrated the Resurrection. For some it is just a tradition; for others it is the holiest day of the year. Flowers, song, and polished sermons mark the day and rightfully so. Christ Jesus’ victory over sin and death was marked ‘complete’ by His emergence from the Tomb. To be sure there is a lot of celebration. It was a wonderful day for me, my faith renewed, my spirit rejoicing,  the stresses of life set aside.  In the church I found true ‘sanctuary’ in His Presence.  I felt, anew, the truth that I am more than flesh and blood, that I am an eternal child of God. So, the songs are still. The churches are silent. What now? It’s Monday after Easter…

Though the celebration may end, we are sustained by the Truth that remains. God is the same this morning as He was on Easter Sunday morning. The ‘stuff’ of the celebration – flowers, songs, and flourish – are gone but Christ is the same Lord of all. We came to Resurrection Sunday with our minds prepared to rejoice, now let’s meet Monday with the assurance that He is Savior, Lord, and Hope for life.

God does not only speak on Sunday or live in the church. The Holy Spirit is not defined by a place or holy day! He is with us everywhere, all of the time. Jesus illustrates the holy connection that allows us to hold onto the joy with the vine and the branch picture. "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-5, NLT)   

He invites us to a life-giving connection that is ongoing and permanent.  Be ‘in me’ He says.  As we pray, worship, meditate, love, forgive, serve, give, an organic connection allows the Holy Spirit’s life to in us and through us.  It’s more than a feeling, it’s a fact!  That faith connection to Him keeps us focused, living our true identity as God’s own children, and we live in holy joy!

This day after Easter, don’t leave Jesus at home.
Don’t just slide back into drudgery, into a dutiful and joyless Christianity.

Eagerly ask, “what’s next, Lord?”

If a daily awareness of God’s Presence is new to you, begin new habits of prayer and praise. Plan now to be part of His church in worship next Sunday, coming with the same expectation of joy. Respond to His love today with thankfulness. Easter 2023 may be history, but we are invited to LIVE IT every day.  We would never say it consciously, but do our day to day actions say “See you next year, Jesus”?

Here’s a word from the Word. "Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory." (Colossians 3:1-4, NLT)

(Video of this blog at this link)

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Living Hope

How great the chasm that lay between us

How high the mountain I could not climb

In desperation I turned to heaven

And spoke Your name into the night

Then through the darkness Your loving-kindness

Tore through the shadows of my soul

The work is finished the end is written

Jesus Christ my living hope

 

Who could imagine so great a mercy

What heart could fathom such boundless grace

The God of ages stepped down from glory

To wear my sin and bear my shame

The cross has spoken I am forgiven

The King of kings calls me His own

Beautiful Savior I’m Yours forever

Jesus Christ my living hope

 

Hallelujah praise the One who set me free

Hallelujah death has lost its grip on me

You have broken every chain

There’s salvation in Your name

Jesus Christ my living hope

Then came the morning that sealed the promise

Your buried body began to breathe

Out of the silence the Roaring Lion

Declared the grave has no claim on me

Jesus Yours is the victory

Jesus Christ my living hope

Oh God You are my living hope

 

Brian Johnson | Phil Wickham

 

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