Living Carefully
“Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today” – Deuteronomy 8:1
This morning while reading Scripture, I had one of those times when I intended to read an entire chapter, but couldn’t get out of the first verse. In fact, I didn’t even finish the first verse. All I saw was, Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today. And what struck me hard was the word “today.”
Yes, I know that this chapter is referring to all the commands that God gave the children of Israel. However, there are still those commands that God is giving me for today which apply only for today.
I’ve often found that God will bring a sense to my spirit that something significant is going to happen and I need to be ready for it. Sometimes, He indicates that I need to be ready to encourage someone. And sure enough, He will bring someone across my path that needs just such a word.
When I was in Bible College, one of the key phrases that flowed from the mouths of those studying for the ministry was, “I just want to know God’s will for my life.” This is a fair and noble goal, to be sure, an ambition worthy of both princes and paupers alike. But in the twenty something years since my graduation, I’ve come to see that finding God’s will is both simple and profound, and like most things about God, it comes at a price.
Up until recently, I never had a need or an opportunity to apply these verses to my life. However, since I have been an unemployed minister for a while, I am starting to read Scripture differently, because I am starting to doubt my own resources.
I was sitting in church the other day when the pastor read this verse from John. Naturally, I respected his sermon by immediately tuning him out and writing my own notes. As most of you know, there are usually two sermons we hear on Sunday—the one the pastor preaches, and the one we preach to ourselves on the way home. For my own rude reasons, I didn’t even wait to get into the car before I was preaching to myself.
I like the word “meditation.” Although some Christians are truly scared to meditate – thinking it is something done by cultic Eastern religions while forgetting that Judaism and Christianity ARE Eastern religions! – Scripture is full of injunctions to meditate upon the Word and Law of God.
I saw a former member of my church yesterday. It has been about a year since she and her husband moved to another state to pursue their careers, and the church really missed them and their family.
If you’ve been involved in Christianity for more that two weeks, you’ve probably sat around the dinner table with other Christians and prayed before you ate. This is a good practice, for reminds us that God is the source of all the good things in our life. However, I think our practice of praying before a meal can become nothing more than a religious habit, especially when we are in the presence of other Christians. To be honest, the only time I ever pray over a meal is when I’m with someone else. Otherwise, I just jump right in and eat.
Thinking Out Loud 