Moving Forward – Remedies for Past, Present, and Future
with the Lord - Purity 915
Purity 915 12/15/2022
Purity 915 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a former train track pathway running
through the treetops under a pleasant blue sky comes to us from a friend who
shared this scene from their outing with a group of friends on, what I believe
to be, the Hadley Rail biking Ride back in September of last year. According to the Revolution Rail Company’s
website (https://www.revrail.com/railbiking-rides/hadley-railbiking/),
in “just minutes into the ride,” riders
will “cross a spectacular 500′ foot long and 90′ high bridge that crosses over
the confluence of the Hudson and Sacandaga Rivers. The bridge overlooks a
beautiful historic parabolic bridge and a great set of rapids. If you are not a
fan of heights, this may not be the trip for you. The trip continues through
the pine canopy, where you’ll likely see chipmunks, squirrels, and sometimes
deer and fox.” I share this photo
with a sense of regret and anticipation as I may have missed my chance to do
the Hadley rail Trail back in 2021, and 2022, but there is always 2023 to
consider and possibly experience this high ride among the treetops.
Well, its’ Thursday again, and as is my habit I am sharing
this railway pathway as a visual reminder to all who read this message to get,
or to stay on, and to keep moving forward on the path of Christian Discipleship.
This photo was taken by a friend I met as part of a
divorce support group I was a part of back in 2021, who really came together as
a community and who decided to “move on” with their lives with joy by coming together,
not just for the regular meetings, but in planning fun activities where they
could socialize and enjoy their freedom in spite of the pain past or challenges
they were currently going through as they adjusted to the “new normal” in their
post-divorce lives. Although I don’t attend the meetings any longer now that I
am remarried, the Divorce Care group still exists at Star Point church and
continues to socialize and help its members with emotional support, practical
and legal advice, and with fun social activities. So if you are a Christian in the capital district
who have divorced or are going through a divorce, I would recommend that you
get connected with this group by going to the Starpoint Church website and
joining this “growth group” (https://starpoint.churchcenter.com/groups/growth-groups/divorce-care-group-with-nancy).
It really helped me to process some of
the trauma from divorce and to boldly go out on the social scene in the safety
of like minded Christians.
Divorce Care is national ministry, and I am included the
link to their website on the blog today so anyone who needs support can
possibly find a group near you or online: https://www.divorcecare.org/.
In the last couple of days I have had to deal with grief
and criticism, and as a way to get past the negative emotions I have gone
through in the last 48 hours I decide to look back, for today’s photo and to
remind myself of the joy of the journey and where I am today.
If you didn’t know it, you can get “stuck in the present”
as well as stuck in the past, so while we have to take care of the here and
now, if we are overwhelmed with conflicting emotions, we might decide to
resolve to leave those present problems of the heart behind by “moving on”, However, if you are anything like me, with an
somewhat obsessive ideation that can cycle back to the same considerations by
dwelling on the same things over and over again, you might be well served to
remind yourself of all you have been through in the past, to put aside “this
present drama” and to “move on”, knowing that you are in fact an overcomer and
no matter what has happened in your very recent past that may have been
troubling or exposed a weakness in the idea of you making progress, your
history will remind you that you are not perfect but by God you are not the
person you once were and if you are walking and talking with God, you are doing
the best you can.
So look back. Realize you have made GREAT strides on this
path. Forgive those who have offended you. And forgive yourself for not being
perfect. Stop thinking about the things
you said or did that you can not change. If you were wrong, apologize and seek
forgiveness. However, if the drama that you have been dragged into is just “drama”,
recognize that and move on. Keep doing what you are doing: keep walking and taking
with God.
I am someone who may think too much or care too much at
times and who can easily become overwhelmed when I have too much on my
plate. At work, I normally get 4 jobs assigned
to me every day. When I started being a
full time maintenance tech, I would get overwhelmed by thoughts of having to
get all four jobs completed in a days’ time and I put pressure on myself because
I wanted to “do a good job” and “get ‘er done” in each instance. I was filled with fear and anxiety about
being able to perform and when I looked at the four jobs in front of me I would
feel burden.
“Oh I got this one here and that one there. That sounds
like a real mess. Oh that looks easy. How am I supposed to get all these done
when they are all over the place!”
If this little drama wasn’t enough, occasionally, dispatch
would change my assignments in the middle of the day, adding new work or taking
away jobs as the day progressed. So because
I had anticipated how my day would go, I would go through the day like I was
riding a rollercoaster of reactivity, becoming anxious or angry at every twist
and turn of the day.
But I now have learned to “only do what is before me” and
to accept the things I can’t do and to face the day without expectations, and
knowing that my value is determined by God, who loves me for who I am, and not
my performance at work.
So now I don’t even really look at the other jobs assigned
to me. I try to only look at the job I am going to dispatch on. All of these enlightened responses have
helped me keep my peace and patience.
· So if you are dwelling on the past. Look at now and look
at the future.
· If you are stuck in the present, “stuck in the middle with
me”, look to the past to remind yourself
that you survived this far and look to moving on by dealing with this “clear and
present danger” to your mental health by doing those steps: offering forgiveness,
seeking forgiveness and making a plan
and going ahead.
· And if you are worried about the big dark future or “what
MAY happen”, if this and that happen or don’t happen etc., SLOW YOUR ROLL,
stand firm in the present with the determination that you will do everything
you can do, in your power, and by the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, IN FAITH, TODAY
to set a course for the future where when THAT DAY comes, you will be ready for
it, and assured that you did all you could, regardless of the results.
Oh, and by the way, in all of these scenarios, we walk and
talk with God and consider HIS WAYS and HIS WISDOM, for how we live our lives
and WE DO THEM, to the best of our abilities.
We tell the truth, we live in the truth, and if we discover we have made
a mistake, we correct our course, but we don’t live in condemnation and we don’t
change the direction of our path of following the road that the Lord has put us
on because of bumps along the way, unless the LORD is directing us to.
So hey, God’s mercies are new every morning and if you were
upset yesterday, that’s no reason to be upset today. Take time to connect with
the Lord in Bible study and prayer and by thanking Him for all He is and for
all He has done in, and will do, in your life.
Sure a little rain will fall, and occasionally there will
be some major storms to walk through in this life, but when we remember who we
are in Christ and that fact that we never walk alone when we follow the Lord,
we can have peace, and amazingly joy when we apply His wisdom to our
lives.
So figure out God’s remedy for your situation today, if
you need to, or just continue in the way of peace that you have discovered when
you walk and talk with God.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The NLT Bible
Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Hebrews
6:11-12 (NLT2)
11 Our great desire is that
you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain
that what you hope for will come true.
12 Then you will not become
spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those
who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.
Today’s verses encourage us to keep loving others with the expectation
that it will make you spiritually sharp and caring, and thus proving that you
are in God’s kingdom and due to inherit His precious promises.
Loving others is easy when you don’t have to deal with them. Loving people from a far on the safe confines
of a meditation cushion may work for the Buddhists but the Lord calls Christians
to get our hands dirty and occasionally wash some feet!
God calls us to care for people and help them. God calls us to
love our enemies.
Before Christ, it was so much easier to just “hate people” who
disappointed you.
“Oh he said something I don’t like? I hate him. He’s dead to me.”
But now as Christians, we are called to make peace, as much as it
depends on us, with all men. Yikes!
So instead of just knee jerk reacting to people and consigning
them to the realm of the “hated” people that we don’t interact with, God compels
us to consider what it is like to walk a mile in their shoes and to actually listen
and try to understand where they are coming from. And EVEN IF, they are WRONG and WAY OFF BASE,
we are called to forgive them and love them anyway!
Iron sharpening iron isn’t always a “buddy-buddy” situation. We become “spiritually sharp” by learning to
reject our worldly “knee jerk responses” for the Lord’s wisdom and by being
patient in suffering, to be kind in the face of adversity.
So as much as we may feel righteous by rejecting people that
disagree with us, we should consider travelling the path of humility that Jesus
walked. He knew everything and had to deal with untold levels of ignorance and
sin when he came to earth. He was misunderstood and hated but He responded with
love forgiveness, and He showed us the way to inherit the promises of God.
So keep loving people, try to show them the way, but understand
that even if they reject it, we are to still be kind and loving towards them to
sharpen our resolve to be like Christ.
___________________________________________
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s
“Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
The
Church of Jesus Christ and Discipleship
Chapter
Eleven
The
Visible Church-Community, continues
Jesus’ community with
his disciples was all-encompassing, extending to all areas of life. The
individual’s entire life was lived within this community of the disciples. And
this community is a living witness to the bodily humanity of the Son of God.
The bodily presence of the Son of God demands the bodily commitment to him and
with him throughout one’s daily life. With all our bodily living existence, we
belong to him who took on a human body for our sake. In following him, the
disciple is inseparably linked to the body of Jesus.
The first report
about the young church-community in Acts (2:42ff.; 4:32ff.) testifies to this
same fact: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the
community, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” “All who believed were
together and had all things in common.”[28] It is instructive to
note that in this passage community (κοινωνία) finds its place
between the word of proclamation and the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. To
define the nature of this community in such a way is not by accident, since
this community springs ever anew from the word of proclamation, and continues
to find its goal and fulfillment in the Lord’s Supper. All Christian community
exists between word and sacrament. It begins and ends in worship. It awaits the
final banquet with the Lord in the kingdom of God. A community with such an
origin and such a goal is a perfect community, in which even the material
things and goods of this life are assigned their proper priority. Here a
perfect community is established freely, joyfully, and by the power of the Holy
Spirit, a community in which “there was not a needy person,” in which
possessions were distributed “as any had need,” and in which “no one claimed
private ownership of any possessions.” The fact that this practice was
commonplace reveals the community’s complete freedom, a freedom grounded in the
gospel, and which requires no coercion. They were indeed “of one heart and
soul.”[30]
This young
church-community was visible to all and, strangely enough, had “the goodwill of
all the people” (Acts 2:47). Was this fact due to the blindness of the people
of Israel, who no longer perceived the cross of Jesus as the foundation of this
perfect communal bond? Or was it perhaps an anticipation of the day in which
all the world shall honor God’s people? Was it an expression of God’s
loving-kindness which, particularly in times of growth, serious struggle, or
separation between believers and their enemies, will surround the
church-community with ordinary human goodwill and concern for what happens to
it? Or was it simply that the church found favor with those who had cried
“Hosanna” but not “crucify him”?[32] “And day by day the Lord added
to their number those who were being saved.” This visible church-community
whose reality fully extends to all areas of life [Lebensgemeinschaft] invades
the world and snatches its children. The daily growth of the church-community
demonstrates the power of the Lord who dwells in its midst.
The first disciples
are inseparable from their Lord: wherever he is, there they must also be, and
wherever they will be, there their Lord will also be until the end of time.
Whatever the disciples do, they do it within the communal bond of the community
of Jesus and as its members. Even the most secular act now takes place within
the bounds of the church-community. This then is valid for the body of Christ:
where one member is, there is also the whole body, and where the body is, there
is also the member. There is no area of life where the member would be allowed
or would even want to be separated from the body. Wherever one member happens
to be, whatever one member happens to do, it always takes place “within the
body,” within the church-community, “in Christ.” Life as a whole is taken up
“into Christ.” Whether weak or strong, Christians are in Christ (Phil. 4:13; 2
Cor. 13:4). They work and toil or they rejoice “in the Lord” (Rom. 16:9, 12; 1
Cor. 15:58; Phil. 4:4); they speak and admonish in Christ (2 Cor. 2:17; Phil.
2:1), they show hospitality in Christ (Rom. 16:2), they marry in Christ (1 Cor.
7:39), they are imprisoned in the Lord (Phil. 1:13, 23), they are slaves in
Christ (1 Cor. 7:22). The whole breadth of human relationships among Christians
is encompassed by Christ, by the church-community.
The full life in Christ,
in the church-community, is granted to every Christian through being baptized
into the body of Christ. It is a terrible distortion of the New Testament view
to reduce the gift of baptism to the right to participate in the sermon and the
Lord’s Supper, that is, in the means of grace, and in addition, perhaps, to the
right to hold office and to share in the ministries of the church-community.
Rather, any baptized person receives an unrestricted privilege to participate
in all areas of the communal life of the members of the body of Christ. To
allow other baptized Christians to participate in worship but to refuse to have
community with them in everyday life, and to abuse them and treat them with
contempt, is to become guilty against the body of Christ itself. To acknowledge
that other baptized Christians have received the gifts of salvation, and then
to deny them the provisions necessary for this earthly life, or to leave them
knowingly in affliction and distress, is to make a mockery of the gift of salvation
and to behave like a liar. When the Holy Spirit has spoken, but we still
continue to listen to the voice of our race, our nature, or our sympathies and
antipathies, we are profaning the sacrament. Baptism into the body of Christ
changes not only a person’s personal status with regard to salvation, but also
their relationships throughout all of life.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the
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at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship,
ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 232–235.
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