The Christian Walk

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” –Ephesians 4:1-3 (ESV).

Soon after I became a Christian at an early age, I remember my pastor, the Rev. Claude Boynton, a great teacher and saint of the Lord, preaching a sermon on how our daily walk—the manner we live our lives following Christian principles—should be taken with seriousness and deep consideration.  “We are ‘little Christs’” he said, “and representatives for Him in the world.”  I remember how he taught that we should be humble, gentle, patient, and how we should become loving burden-bearers and peace-seekers.  Then he quoted from the poem by Annie Johnson Flint, “The World’s Bible.”  Please access it online, if you haven’t memorized it, and read it in its entirety to give you impetus for the importance of living what we believe as Christians.  Here is one verse of her words that have been set to music:  “We are the only Bible/The careless world will read;/We are the sinner’s gospel,/We are the scoffer’s creed;/We are the Lord’s last message,/Given in deed and word;/What if the type is crooked,/What if the print is blurred?”

Our Christian walk is very important, both to ourselves and to others.  Mike Van Hoozer expressed our living vitally in these words:  “Learn from the past, prepare for the future, and perform in the present.”

May our Christian walk be strengthened day by day by Him who promised, “And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b, ESV)

Work

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might…” –Ecclesiastes 9:10a.

“Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.  And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:  and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” –Psalm 90:16-17 (KJV).

Pride can be of two kinds:  a vain pride when we feel egotistical, superior, conceited and self-important about what we accomplish.   Or pride can be a feeling of self-respect, dignity and self-worth knowing that we have done our best and show good results from our efforts.  I learned early in life the precept taught in Ecclesiastes  9:10:  “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.”  My parents were both very hard workers who took pride in their work—jobs well done on the farm.  They taught their children to work and to be responsible with work.  Moreover, they were role models, setting an example of a good workman.  Work is a privilege and should be approached seriously and with our best efforts.  Later on, as I grew (I hope) in knowledge and understanding, I found there is a “theology of work.”  The Bible teaches us these important theological aspects of work well done:

(1)  Believers work because they are made in God’s image.  Some believe work came about because mankind fell into sin and the curse of work was upon them.  However, man worked before the fall.  It was made more difficult by the fall.  God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and told them to cultivate it—which entailed work.  Work was initiated by God and is a primary commission for mankind.  Although agricultural in the beginning, today work encompasses labor that is physical, mental, social and spiritual.  And we are to do whatever our work and calling “with our might” and make it pleasing in God’s sight.

(2)  Integrity in work reflects God’s character working in and through us.  Christians should be at all times conscientious, honest, productive and thorough in their work.  Our work should be done “as unto the Lord.” 

(3)  Within our work God also made a plan for rest.  He worked six days in creation and on the seventh day rested.  He gave man a day of rest.  Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27, KJV).  Man’s physical, emotional, mental and spiritual limits are aided by a day of rest.

(4)  Christians should see their work, whatever it is, as serving the Lord.  Work is not just earning a living.  Worthwhile work brings a sense of purpose and worth and helps others grow. 

Billy Graham wrote, “Every believer will receive a reward for his works” (Facing Death and the Life After.  Waco, TX: Word, 1987, p. 265).  What better reward than to hear the Lord say to the individual believer:  “Well done, thou good and faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of thy Lord’  (Matthew 25:23. KJV).

On Being Comforted and Comforting

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” –I Corinthians 1:3 -4 (ESV).

Go to the root meaning of the word “comfort” and you find it is from the old Latin prefix com (with or for) and the noun fortis, strength; therefore, com + fortis: with strength.  To give strength, courage and hope is the idea behind comfort.  In writing to the Corinthian church, Paul’s central theme was on the relationship between suffering and the power of the Holy Spirit in the apostle’s life to bring comfort and strength to the believer.  A very important concept Paul proposes is that God who comforts the believer in all his situations, especially where there is affliction and suffering, is so that we, in turn, can be a comfort to others.  The idea is “we have been comforted” and therefore “we know how to lend comfort.”

In recent days I have had an unusual number of telephone calls and messages from persons who are hurting and need to be comforted.  What is my responsibility as I seek to minister to those who are hurting?  Because I have been comforted by others, I in turn am to seek to be God’s instrument for helping others to evaluate their own afflictions and see a way through them.  It is not by special knowledge I have except that ever-present assurance that God comforted me when I needed succor, and now I have the privilege of comforting others. God so often comforted through the ministry of perceptive, loving Christians.  It’s called, according to the words of a popular religious song my youth choir loved to sing several years ago:  “Pass it on!”  If you have received comfort, you in turn are to reach out to comfort others.  This is one important way we spread the love of God and at the same time we assist in relieving burdens that oppress and debilitate.  “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 40:1).

                                                                                                            -Ethelene Dyer Jones

Assurance Brings Joy

“You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy;.at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” –Psalm 16:11 (ESV).  “…it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” –Philippians 2:13 (ESV).

My students and members of the youth group I used to lead often asked me, “How can we know the will of God?”  Somehow they thought I had insight to such deep and probing questions of the spirit and about life.  My advice to them then (and as it still would be now that they are grown up and adults in their own right) is:  “God’s Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105).  Consult God’s Word daily, assimilate its truths, and seek to live by them.  There are multiple promises that God’s Word will indeed guide us; here is one of them:  “”Deal with Your servant according to Your steadfast love, and teach me Your statutes” (Psalm 119:124).  Many more promises reaffirm that if we just take a little time to study daily and rely on the Word of God to give us direction, His guidance is available.  Couple Bible study with daily prayer, which involves both talking to and listening to God voice, and we are on the road to the assurance that brings joy.  And we are told when to pray, which, in essence, means being constantly in the attitude and mind of prayer:  “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:17). Do you want assurance and joy for this New Year of 2013?  God has both available for each of us who seeks.  Yesterday I had to undergo a test on my heart function, since I’m a “survivor” of (since 2007) five bypasses heart surgery.  I lay there undergoing the test (chemically induced, not “tread mill”) and scripture promises I had memorized kept going through my mind to give me comfort, assurance and joy.  This morning, from the imaging laboratory, I got confirmation that my heart is working well!  That led me to the assurance (and joy) that “God’s not finished with me yet” upon this earth!  So now, I will continue to seek God’s will, and “be about my Father’s business.”  I wish for you just such assurance and joy for the New Year!  Selah! –Ethelene Dyer Jones

Thoughts at the Beginning of a New Year

“This is God, our God, forever and ever.  He will guide us forever.” –Psalm 48:14.

“Be still and know that I am God.” –Psalm 46:10.

Would that we humans could be more like the year—

close out one phase of time and begin another!

But alas, we are inextricably bound by what has gone before:

our relationships, our experiences, even our achievements and our failures;

all, all accrue to become baggage—or precious treasure—to transport from one year to another.

And so we stand on tiptoe at the beginning of a new year.

Its pages stretch before us unmarred yet by acts we would rather not have recorded upon them;

undecorated yet by what we pray will be the artistry of worthwhile, memorable days and deeds.

And on the apex of this year—and all years—past, future, even throughout eternity, this truth:

“Our God, forever and ever!  He will guide us forever!”

Therefore, beginning this first day of a brand new year, I will

“Be still and know that God is God.”

                                                            -Ethelene Dyer Jones