Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from Sara Groves singing … Abide With Me … poignantly singing of a prayer for Christ to abide with us in our lives so that we can become more like Him.
The aging process for fine cheeses
=============
Highlight Verse[s]: Ephesians 4:11-12 [ESV] ... 11 And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, …
… God provides specially gifted disciples to equip the body of Christ to become more Christlike. ==============
Highlight Passage [context]: Ephesian 4:11-14 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… God gives His Body, the Church, those with special gifts to help equip His body for growth to become more like Christ.
==============
Reference Passage : … Luke 9:23 [NLT] … 23 And He said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. …”
… Jesus charges any/all who would be His disciples to deny themselves daily and follow Him.
Reference Passage : … John 15:1-4 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus explains to His disciples (and us too) that we cannot become fruitful in HIs kingdom without abiding in/with Him.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 1:6 [NLT] … 6 And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
… God, thru Paul, shows Christian that He’s going to complete us for our eternity with the Lord in heaven when we continue to abide in/with Him in this life.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Linda Washington, uses a word picture of aging fine cheeks to how we, as Christians, must be aged in Christlikeness to equip us for service to Him in this life and the next. … The ODB author wrote: In a YouTube video, Alan Glustoff, a cheese farmer in Goshen, New York, described his process for aging cheese, a process that adds to a cheese’s flavor and texture. Before it can be sent out to a market, each block of cheese remains on a shelf in an underground cave for six to twelve months. [see photo] In this humid environment the cheese is carefully tended. “We do our best to give it the right environment to thrive . . . [and] to develop to its truest potential,” Glustoff explained.
Christian discipleship in this life is an aging process, isn’t it? After our surrender of will to God’s Spirit, and we, as babes in Christ, begin to be completed in the maturation process of Christian discipleship, we desire to become more and more like Christ (see Phil. 1:6). And in that aging process, God provides gifted craftsmen (see highlight passage) to help equip disciples of Christ to grow and mature and to serve the Lord more fruitfully and effectively in His kingdom.
The question is … what are we doing, as Christians, to abide in Him (as He describes in the maturation of disciples in Luke 9:23 and John 15) and to become more fruitful in, with, and for God’s kingdom? Long ago, from a gifted mentor in Christ, I learned that the best way to become fruitful for our Lord was to begin each day in God’s word, praying that His Spirit would grow and mature me as a disciple and to serve Him more effectively.
That’s why you find me here, sharing each day what I glean from His truth, … so that I might grow in Him and help others mature in the faith. What’s your aging process in Christlikeness?
=============
My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Lord, ... for giving me Your word and other mature mentors and teachers to help me grow in Christlikeness. =
============
My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to do all we can to grow and mature and become more like Christ today than yesterday and even more like Him tomorrow than today.
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.</ span>
No comments:
Post a Comment