christian living

Delight Yourself in the Lord!

/ Bill Jones / 2 Comments

Butterfly Net Whimsy

Sometimes you just go with the flow (sorry for the cliche’). I received an email last week that had this metal butterfly net and butterflies on a clearance sale. I couldn’t pass it up. Now it’s a bit of whimsy in the garden.

You might say it’s delightful!

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalms 37:4

This is definitely a verse that requires both parts be considered – If you delight in the Lord, your desires will be what He delights in.

The Fragrance of Christ

/ Bill Jones / 4 Comments

Four O’clocks

“But, thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.” 2 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

The picture above shows the four o’clocks growing by our back steps. The flowers open in the late afternoon and give off a wonderful fragrance. It’s not overpowering, just a subtle aroma that permeates the area.

You can stand near the bush and not notice it outright. But, after a minute or two, you begin to sense there’s something nice close by. Something that makes you want to hang around awhile and enjoy the presence.

The verse above tells us God uses us to spread the fragrance of the knowledge of Jesus everywhere. To do that, we don’t need to be overpowering. We should look for opportunities to tell others about Jesus, but we can also spread His fragrance without doing that.

I think the best way to spread the fragrance of Christ is to show His love in all we do and say. Those around us should sense there’s something nice close by (Christ’s Spirit) and want to hang around and enjoy His presence in us.

New Kittens, New Camera

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One of the new kittens

Our old camera took its last picture last week – not sure what happened to it, but we went ahead and bought a new one. Here’s one of the first pictures we took with it.

We also have 5 new kittens with us – that makes 11 cats at the moment so we’re looking to give some away. More about that at a later date.

“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” Romans 1:20 ESV

I didn’t choose that verse to imply God is cute, but He sure knows how to create it.

The Bible as a Change Agent

/ Bill Jones / 26 Comments
Bible Study 2

Bible Study 2 (Photo credit: DrGBB)

This is my contribution to the ChristianWriters.com blog chain for September. Our theme for the month is “change”. Check out others on the respective days shown in the right hand column.

Several years ago when our Church was without a Pastor, I had the opportunity (by necessity) to do some lay-speaking. I entitled one message “The Bible as a Change Agent”. When thinking about this month’s theme, it came to mind, so here’s the blog-length gist of that message.

11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,

12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14 NKJV

The grace of God that brings salvation is alive in Jesus Christ, our Lord. That salvation is the first and most important change in a believer’s life. It occurs when a non-believer is born again by receiving the Holy Spirit and a saving faith in Jesus Christ, and is converted.

However, salvation isn’t the final change that should happen in us. In verse 12, we move into everyday life in “the present age”. First, it says we are taught. How are we taught? God has chosen the working of the Holy Spirit through His Word as the principle means we learn by.

What are we taught? The remainder of verse 12 describes the continual change that should be happening within us and in the way we live. It’s talking about the progressive changes that should be happening as we become more obedient to God’s Word, and, as we better understand what is required of us through God’s Word.

Verse 13 speaks of some of our motivation to want to change. We are to look to the return of our Lord and rejoice in the fact that we will be with Him in Heaven.

Verse 14 then speaks of Christ’s motivation and purpose for changing us. He is purifying us into His own special people (the KJV says “peculiar people”, which means different from the world around us). And, He desires that so much that He gave Himself for us.

As God’s children, we have been changed when we were reborn with the Holy Spirit. We were made new creations. And, as we move forward in our Christian walk, we are called to continue to change – as the verse in Titus says – to be purified and be a special/peculiar people. And, the Word of God, thru the working of the Holy Spirit, is the primary instrument that God uses in bringing about that change.

I’d like to challenge us that each time we come into the sanctuary our prayer would be like Paul’s on the road to Damascus – “Lord what would you have me to do?” and also “Lord what would you have me to learn?” – and pray that when we go back out the doors, we would walk out a changed person.

A challenge that every time we go into a Bible Study class that we would ask the same thing of God and desire to walk out of that class a changed person. A challenge that every time we open our Bible – we would ask the same thing of God and desire that when we close it, we would be a changed person.

But, let’s always focus on our reason for that – it’s not to be a “better” person, although that will result from this. Our motivation is that Jesus has given Himself for us – so that we are changed and can stand before God without condemnation, and with the Holy Spirit’s power and guidance, and God’s Holy Word we can continue to change in this present age, to become more like our Lord Jesus every day.