Religion and Spirituality

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.

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.

Unless the Lord Builds the House, or Grows the Figs

/ Bill Jones / 8 Comments

Fig Preserves

We finally found success. Sharon was able to make strawberry-fig preserves this year.

I’m not sure how long we’ve had the tree but it’s been a while. There were 2 or 3 winters that were cold enough to kill it back and it would start over. The last few years there haven’t been enough figs at one time to gather (but I did munch on them as I walked by the tree).

Fig Tree – Fruitful after all these years

Here’s the tree that finally bore the good crop this year. It’s still relatively young, so hopefully we can look forward to many more years of figs.

I guess the lesson is to be patient – continue working with your trees (or your Bible Study, or your ministries, or your prayer life, or yourself, etc.) and hope and plan for the best. And, of course, rely on God’s help, because nothing will be successful without Him.

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. Psalms 127:1 ESV

Can Weeds Reveal the Glory of God?

/ Bill Jones / 16 Comments

Volunteer Weeds

We’ve all heard the saying that a weed is any plant in the wrong place. I’ve had several plants this year in the wrong place (or at least I didn’t put them there) but I wouldn’t call them weeds. I’ve posted about all the sunflowers the birds dropped around the yard that brightened up everything wonderfully. (If you look closely you can see the bumblebee on one of them)

Volunteer Grain

I assume the plant above came from bird seed from one of the feeders in the back yard. It did quite well where it wasn’t supposed to be. And I like it there. (Good timing and contrast with the guara that’s faded for the season.)

Volunteer Vines

These vines come back each year along the fence. I never planted them there – they just showed up. I look forward now each year to them coming back. Just what the fence needed.

Joe Pye Weed

I had to put this one in since it’s called a weed – and it’s exactly where I planted it.

I do have real weeds (and quite a few of them) in the garden and flower beds by this time of the summer. They are definitely the wrong plants in the wrong places – but I’ll work on removing them along and along.

Thinking about weeds brought this Scripture to mind: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

We can be in the wrong place if we’re out of the will of God (and that’s a different blog post). But, if we’re following Him, God may choose a number of different places for us. Because He chooses them, they’re the right places. I believe we can properly expand the verse above to include not just whatever we do, but to add wherever we are.

Even if we seem to be in the wrong place, we can be like the plants above that aren’t called weeds anymore. They became welcome companions because in their beauty, they reflected the glory of God.