06.27.2007

Hello everyone-

My apologies for more or less skipping last week’s Weekly. I’m still trying to recover from being so busy the past month and a half! But things have been going well and God has been teaching me a lot of different things and stretching me all at once.
I’ve been reading and studying through Ephesians the past few weeks, and yesterday I finished up Round One of going through the letter. There is much to be shared about what’s there in Ephesians, but one thing in particular has been on my mind as I’ve been going through it: Church. As most of you know if you’ve been reading my Weekly’s over the years, I tend to have an emphasis on Christian community and how important it is to be an active part of a local church body. I recently joined membership with a local church here in Philadelphia, something I’d been hungering for ever since I moved here in January. I bring up church here because frustrations with the church and “organized religion” have fallen on my ears more than once over the past few months.
On the one hand, we know that just going to church isn’t what makes someone a Christian. What makes an individual a Christian is their love and personal relationship with the Savior, Jesus Christ. If you don’t have that, it doesn’t matter how often you go to church. But on the other hand, there is a lot of bitterness in people towards churches because there sometimes can be hurting, gossip and slander, cliques, judgementalism, legalism, and --my goodness, so many things that I’m pained to mention. I’ve met so many people that develop a hard heart against churches because of these things. So they avoid church.

The thing of it is, though, is that the church is made up of people who are putting themselves before others; people who might be legalistic; people who take advantage of God’s grace; people just like you and people just like you and me. My pastor recently had a sermon about this very thing, and the problem with the church is that the church is full of sinners. However, it is this very Church that Christ has chosen to be His Bride. And, to quote my pastor, “she’s beat up, got some tears and stains on her dress; she’s imperfect.” While we are tempted to point out all the faults in the church (which is so easy, believe me), I think we have to remember that it’s full of people that are just as messed up as I am who need Christ just as much as I do. I am to have grace, forgiveness, and a loving heart towards the church.
Now you might be wondering how this connects to what I’ve been studying in Ephesians… Check this action out:
Paul talks about how the church is made up of Gentiles and Jews, two peoples who normally didn’t associate with one another. In talking about this, he says how Christ broke down the dividing wall between the two peoples, and that they are to be reconciled to one another. Later, he says this in Ephesians 4:1-3, “I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Each one of us are called to be Christ-carriers, peacemakers, and people who “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, bitterness and slander, along with every form of malice.” And are called to, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” [Eph 4:31,32] Paul is talking directly to people who didn’t get along before, people in the church. If we’ve got an issue with the church, this cycle of love and forgiveness has got to start somewhere, and it might as well start with me and you as Christ works in us.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne

06.13.2007

“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” --- Colossians 1:10-14

Hello friends,
Wow, it’s been quite a while since I wrote you last. Much has been happening over the past month, and there’s only more craziness going to happen as the summer progresses. I was out at training for one week; doing work-related travel the next week; packing after that; and just this past weekend I moved into my new apartment and have been trying to settle in. Things have been very hectic, but the Lord has taught me so much through all of it.
One neglected area that God pointed out was that I wasn’t putting a priority on spending time with the Lord and delving into His Word. Oh, I’d been reading I assure you; I was going through 2 Kings actually. However, my attitude about reading wasn’t right. I had been reading with this weight looming over my shoulder that said I had to hurry so I could get the day’s tasks done. So I’d read some, maybe think about it a little, maybe pray a little too, and then hastily get to working on whatever it was that I thought I needed to get done. Truth of the matter is that this basically says to God, “I can’t pay attention to you because I’m busy,” and that what I need to get done (again, whatever that was) is more important than God…
The other attitude that had a hold on me was one that said I couldn’t invest time on myself and my relationship with God because I needed to be focusing on other people and their needs and doing stuff for them (or in preparation of doing stuff for them). The error here is that if I’m not filling myself and investing into my relationship with the Father, then I cannot possibly pour out onto others. Eventually I’m going to start pulling from a dry well.

Which is kind of what started happening as I was getting frustrated, annoyed, and a little despairing about how effective I was at doing the ministry I’m doing… how effective I was at being a Christian witness. I was beginning to lose focus.

Ever feel like that?

I think that sometimes it’s good for all of us to get a kick in the gut like I did about how I was investing in my relationship with God. I know that the Lord is faithful, even when I am not, and He will continue to work in my life… but He still deserves the priority. In the Bible it says that we are to always be praying, always to be putting our petitions and requests at the throne of the God of Glory. We’re supposed to be in continually communication. If you’re having a hard time wrapping your mind around why we should do this: 1. Don’t worry, we all have a hard time with it; and 2. Think about it as if you were developing a romantic relationship. You want to spend time with your significant other, right? You want to talk to them, right? You want to know as much as you can from them and about them, right? I know I do… and how much more ought we to do these things with our Creator.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” --- Ephesians 1:17-23

In love and in Christ,
Your sister,
Yvonne