What Now? 9

Colossians 2:6-8

I rarely have the Lord’s Prayer as part of the Sunday service. I know this disappoints many members in the congregations, but I think it is more important that we learn to pray in our own words and pray from the heart.

The Lord’s Prayer was the first prayer I learned as a child. I remember the day I finally memorized it – probably when I was about seven years old. I knew all the words but I couldn’t tell you what any of it meant. When I hear the Lord’s Prayer being said in church I wonder every time if people know what they are saying or if they are simply speaking what they have memorized.

The letter to the believers in Colosse offers some encouragement. As believers in Christ, what are we to do? What should be our attitude? What should we guard against?

Belief in Jesus requires more than just the words declaring that we believe. If we will be truly Christian in our faith then we must live out what that means. We must make the Spirit of Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God part of who we are and how we act. All of the lessons from Jesus should be what our faith is founded upon, and these should give us the strength and ability to live out our faith.

How do we live out our faith? We do so by being merciful to others. We live out the love of God by welcoming the non-believers into a life of belief, a life where they may have a genuine connection and relationship with Jesus. We live out our faith by doing what we can to help those in need – physically, emotionally and spiritually.

A relationship with Christ means that we let the teachings of Jesus guide us and govern us in what we do. Would Jesus ignore that poor person? Would Jesus forget about the person in the hospital, the widow alone at home?

Of course he wouldn’t. So we shouldn’t either. We should take the time to be with those who need our presence and our compassion.

Our faith is all about living in love and not about memorizing prayers, mindlessly reciting responses, or singing familiar songs without paying attention to what the words mean. Our faith is about bringing others into that place where we hold our love for God and one another in common.

DAILY CHALLENGE: Can you find someone who needs you today and go to them?

TFC 1

This coming Sunday our church will be hosting the local Teens for Christ worship team. As they will be presenting the message for the congregations, our 10/2 Grow devotions this week will be more general in nature and focus.

Colossians 2:6-7

I worked with a woman who had a chronic disease that caused her pain. She got frustrated with her doctor and went to someone new, who asked if she had been taking her medicine. When she said she hadn’t, this new doctor simply sent her back to her original doctor.

The solution wasn’t to find a new doctor. And it is likely that no doctor has the cure for her ailment. What needed to happen was that she must be disciplined enough to do what she has been told to.

In this letter to the church at Colosse we have some words of encouragement. After receiving Jesus what are we to do? How are we to live in him? What should overflow in us?

Just as health issues may never go away, to the point that we need to take medication daily, so the healing of our sins is not always a one-time event. We can come to the Lord and be forgiven, but in time our old sins usually creep back into our lives and we need to be cleansed again.

And even without he sinful nature of humanity, it is so easy for many to take their faith for granted and to allow their enthusiasm for God to grow stale. After we accept Jesus and all the exciting “newness” of that salvation experience wears off we should not forget Jesus.

We must make a new commitment to him every day and find that joy that we felt when we first encountered his love. That joy and gratitude should overflow in us every day, because Jesus is with us every day.

So then, each worship service, each time with God, should be as deep and sincere as the first. God deserves nothing less.

DAILY CHALLENGE: What can remind you of your high points of zeal when your faith begins to fade?