Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 27
I'm back!! I enjoyed reading your posts. As usual, Sarah, your thoughts were running parallel to mine. I am finishing up 1 Corinthians and read about how those members who are "less comely" are actually very important to a congregation and began thinking about why they are so important and who they are. I think they may be the ones who need continual help and are spritually weak - the ones who have trouble learning from their mistakes but have childlike hearts who need lots of love and encouragement. Maybe they don't smell good or don't have any fashion sense or money. Maybe they are loud and obnoxious and lack social sense. Whatever the reason - they don't "fit" with the rest of the group. Why are they so important? I'm thinking it may be a couple of things. They need our help to grow; but even more importantly perhaps, they give US a chance to grow. It's so easy to love someone who you find lovable. It's much more difficult to love someone you do not find lovable. That's when you find out about your own spiritual maturity and learn to draw on and appreciate God's love in your life. Reading about their importance makes you realize that God sees things much differently than we do. I need to learn to see as He does.
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5 comments:
Why am I having such a difficult time remembering to post??? I finished for yesterday but haven't started today yet. Hopefully I will remember to post later when I've finished.
Yea!!! You ARE still with us.
Funny how our studies keep matching up Debbie!! So-I am continuing to learn more about love. The author notes that many people think of the things we are commanded to do as things we are blessed with--not things you have to work to do (i.e.love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control, etc) but she notes that in 2 Pet 1:5-8 for this reason, make every effort to add to your faith foodness and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, vrotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" So--all of these things take effort--they are not something we just have at birth. And whether or not we have tendencies toward say--being kind we are still responsible to seek to add more kindness. And--at the very end of that verse---working to add to our faith, goodness, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love helps keep us from being ineffective and unproductive. SO--if we are not working toward this we are being ineffective and unproductive--even if we have Bible knowledge-not furthering ourselves is ineffective and unproductive. Wow--I never want to be described this way that is for sure!
And-as far as your comments Debbie-I could not agree more. I may be feeling that we don't want to love someone who is not as "desirable" but it doesn't make it right and it certainly doesn't show them God's love. Another thing for me to continue working on.....whew!
^oops sorry for all of my typos above--I know God wants me to have goodness--not foodness :)
I'd sure like it if God wanted us to have foodness. :)
I'm headed to bed and will do my reading there.
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