Skip to main content

The Message Of Christ

 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:16)

          My father wasn’t fond of cats, and the story goes that cats can tell who doesn’t like them and that’s the person they go to. I’m not a people person. I think somehow people do the same thing. I went to a retreat many years ago that was supposed to be delightfully different from most retreats – it had large chunks of time that was to be spent alone, just God and me. I had a stack of books with me (of course) and went to sit on a porch swing.

          And spent the next hour (or more) listening to the trials of someone I had never met. She needed someone to listen to her, and I’m glad I was able to, but not only did she abscond with the time I wanted to spend along with God, she decided that I was her new friend. Don’t get me wrong – she’s a nice person with legitimate needs. I probably am one. It’s just that it seems as though there’s a neon light over my head that draws nice people with legitimate needs.

          Sometimes, the need isn’t as legitimate. The second neon sign over my head seems to read “In need of repair. Come fix me.” And it’s true. I am broken – like everyone else. But the things on which the fixers seem to fixate are often things like the fact that I’m not a people person or not just like them.

          It’s easy to get a little (little?) impatient with these people. Or, maybe for you, it’s a different sort of people. In any case, it’s easy to get a little impatient with people. But today’s passage says that we’re to let the message of Christ dwell among us richly. That message is “Christ loves you. He died and rose for you…” What changes would take place in our attitudes if that message played through our minds more often – if it dwelt richly among us?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more