Simple, yet Saturated

This morning, in our family devotions, we memorized 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, which was in Pastor's sermon on Sunday. "Test everything. Hold on to what is good. Avoid every kind of evil." Those imperative commands seem rather simple when stated...straight forward- to the point. But, even though it is a simple passage to memorize- it is saturated with truth! We ran out of time discussing the implications behind each of these commands (and my husband even started pulling out the Greek!) One of the parts in our discussion that intrigued me the most was when my husband mentioned what the Greek New Testament said about verse 22. In the Greek it reads, "From the appearance of every kind of evil avoid/abstain." Did you catch that?! Avoid even the APPEARANCE of evil...Paul is warning us to not even play with fire- don't even go near it! It reminded me of the verse, Ephesians 5:3, "But among you there must not be even a HINT of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people." Not even a HINT! Through Paul, God is warning us to steer clear of anything that is not good...anything that doesn't fall under the Philippians 4:8 list- true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. Good passage to chew and digest, huh?! Lord, we pray- help us to test everything. Hold on to what is good. And, to avoid every kind and every appearance of evil. In the powerful Name of Jesus, Amen.

Humbled by Steadfast Love

Have you ever been humbled? I'm not necessarily talking about the kind of humility that comes after a spell of selfish pride. But, the kind of humility that is a result of grasping how much God loves you. Recently, my family and I went back to my hometown of 20 years to visit relatives and dear friends at my home church. We had a fabulous time of food, fellowship, food, fun, food, and (did I mention there was food?). It was wonderful to see folks come out to celebrate my new marriage and show their overwhelming support. That was just it...it was overwhelming...in such an amazing, God-kind of way. There were people from my home church, who were well into their nineties that made a point to come and see my family and I. I grew up in this church for 20 years, from the nursery to the college and career class. And every passing year of my childhood, I would smile and hug the adults of my church...yet, I oftentimes (to my disadvantage) failed to truly get to know them...to hear their stories...to learn from their wisdom. During this last trip, however, I had the chance to talk with two amazing women from my church...two women that I saw every single Sunday since I was 3 years old...two women that faithfully served in our church...two women who have prayed for me since I was a little girl...two women that appeared to be "behind the scenes" in my life, but were actually apart of the "great cloud of witnesses" in my personal walk with the Lord. God humbled me as I heard some of their life stories for the very first time- their stories of faith, their pursuit of God, their perseverance through hardship, and their genuine love for Jesus. To think that all of those years had past and I had never took the time to really KNOW them. And, to think that these women had been faithfully praying for me, caring for me, and loving me. I was truly humbled by God's amazing grace...channeled through these precious saints and daughters of the King.
Lord, may I have such an impact on the next generation...continue to humble me with Your love.