Wednesday, October 13, 2010
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Proverbs 15-17 & 2 Corinthians 8
THANKFUL SUBMISSION – Submission to the Church
SCRIPTURE READING
Jeremiah 2:13 (NIV); “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”
People are yearning for acceptance and that need for love will trump everything else. Of course, God is the great Lover, and until we find Him, all other lovers will not satisfy. As the verse above points out, people seek life, but they end up “finding” it outside of God and anything outside of God is not true life.
This is why friendship and Christian community is actually so important – when people outside of the church see true love and community within the church, they will desire it. Many other world religions go beyond the inward affection to the outward devotion. This is not to say that their outward acts (praying at specific times, for instance) are pharisaical (religious conduct without any regard to the spirit). They truly believe that outward devotion is important, and it works! People see their commitment and want it. People see their hospitality and camaraderie and acceptance and are drawn to it. The church in the West has become as smitten with materialism and individualism as the secular world and this must stop if we want to win people cross-culturally for Christ.
PRAYER & MEDITATION
1. Meditate on the verse and confess how you have tried to fulfill your longings with things other than God.2. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you need to be more welcoming and hospitable within your group of Christian friends?
3. How have you and your Christian friends created exclusivity within your community because of others’ age, race, gender, appearance or personality?
4. Are you willing to allow God to use you as a catalyst for change within your group of friends? If so, then tell Him and ask Him for a strategy as to how you can include people more.
5. Do you need a group of friends within the body? Tell Jesus your desires and ask Him to lead you to the people that He wants you to meet and befriend.
