Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of the group 4Him singing… The Basics of Life, … declaring that we need to get back to the basics of the faith … no matter how redundant they are.
Highlight Passage: Colossians 3:23-24 [NKJV] …
23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.
… When we serve Christ in everything we do, we honor the Lord with what we do.
============
Highlight Context – Ephesians 6: 5-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… As slaves to Christ, do whatever we do, as bondservants, unto the Lord.
============
Reference Passage #1 - Psalm 119: 9-11 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… The discipline and repetition of getting God’s word buried deeply into our hears will change the way we think and act.
Reference Passage #2 - Romans 12: 1 [NKJV] …
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
… We need to make what we do in life, no matter how mundane and repetitive, our “living sacrifice” to the Lord.
Reference Passage #3 - 2nd Tim. 3: 16-17 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Again, … God’s word buried with redundancy, deeply into our hearts, will change the way we think and act.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, David Roper, wrote of the discipline and fruitfulness which comes from following Godly mentors/leaders/counselors. He writes, The high school I attended required 4 years of Latin instruction. I appreciate the value of that discipline now, but back then it was a grind. Our teacher believed in drill and repetition. “Repetitio est mater studiorum,” she intoned over us several times a day, which simply means, “Repetition is the mother of learning.” “Repetitio est absurdum,” we muttered under our breath. “Repetition is absurd.”
I too used to hate those recitations of Latin verb conjugations in high school. But now I realize that repetition and redundancy are what life is all about. And as my mentor used to say, over and over and over again, “redundancy teaches.” In fact recognizing just how immature I was as a new-born Christian, he took me on an 18 month trek where he had me contextualize and memorize two topically based (and practical) scripture passages each week. The exercise was a drudge, … repetitively memorizing verse-by-verse each week. And then repeating them over and over again, … until finally I was able to recite all 60 topical memory verses in the series to my mentor [USE THIS LINK]. That repetitive exercise changed my life FOREVER.
My mentor realized that the very repetitive practice of scripture memory would do what God promised in 2nd Tim. 3: 16-17 [see linked above]. And if I pursued that exercise, as Paul exhorted in Col. 3: 23, for God … and not to impress men, I would be transformed; … and I was.
So, perhaps we need to do what the group 4Him sings above and get back to the basics of exercising the redundancies wrapped up in the basics of our faith, … and I would maintain that the most basic of those repetitive pursuits would be getting God’s word deeply into our hearts so, as the Psalmist writes in Psalm 119: 9, 11, we can eradicate the sinful practices of our flesh.
My Prayer Today: Oh, my Lord, Jesus! … Help us to do whatever it takes … no matter how redundant or repetitive, to honor you as “living sacrifices.” … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment