Tuesday, October 12, 2010
BIBLE IN A YEAR: Proverbs 12-14 & 2 Corinthians 7
THANKFUL SUBMISSION – Submission to the Church
John 15:4 (NIV); “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
1 Timothy 6:11-12 (NIV); “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”
If we want to be persons of submission and obedience, full of humility and free from pride, we need to stay connected to the Vine, to Christ. If we neglect our personal and intentional time spent with Christ, we will become detached from the vine and our work for Christ will lose its fruitfulness. Pride will creep in quickly because will cease to give glory to God for the things that we see and do.
In order to submit to the church as the body of Christ, we need to continue to pursue an intimate relationship with Jesus on our own time. Without this we will be of little help to the church. Paul tells Timothy to PURSUE righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. We cannot pursue these things without pursuing Christ Himself, who is the giver of these things. We need to know Him as our life-Giver and our Sustainer. A branch that has fallen on the ground ceases to grow, it is dead. We too will be spiritually dead if we allow ourselves to disconnect from Christ.
PRAYER & MEDITATION
1. Meditate on the verses above. Ask the Holy Spirit to convict you of things that you need to confess. Thank Him for the life He gives you and ask Him how you can do what these passages call you to do.
2. How do you want to grow in your devotional life? Do you want to know God’s love? Do you want to understand a specific theme in Scripture? Do you want to grow in prayer or Bible reading? Spend time in prayer, telling Jesus what you desire and asking Him where He wants to take you. Ask Him to show you what you need to do to get on the same page as Him. Thank Him for what He will do!
