the power of good works

Good works is an important theme in Scripture, and a part of our lives in Jesus. They come in different boxes so to speak. It's about what we both do and don't do. It's about helping others to find Jesus and be united with us in him. And it's done out of love, love for God and for others.

Good works often help us with what ails us. I find that so in my own life. Of course I must work at maintaining my relationship with Christ in abiding. That is how we bear fruit, as John 15 tells us. God has made it so that we not only need him, but we need each other. And we need the good works that come in this, even if only a simple smile, a ready listening ear, a nonjudgemental spirit, a readiness to acknowledge an offense and repair and renew a bond with another, creativity in thinking of good things we can do for others, and with no strings attached.

Again, this is part of our life in Jesus in this world. Not something we can simply conjure up on our own. But it's something God is working in us as his handiwork, nothing less than a way of life.
How have you found this to be so in your own life, or what would you like to share about this?

Tomorrow we continue from chapter 2: "Why a Jewish Rabbi?" from Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus: How the Jewishness of Jesus Can Transform Your Faith, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg.

continuing on in Jesus

In this 1 John 2 passage, we are told that we are taught by God to abide or remain in Christ. And that if we continue in him, when he appears we won't shrink back or be ashamed at his coming (same Greek word, each of the italics).

There are so many things that hit us day by day, some hard, others not so, but maybe subtly so, to get us off track from continuing on in Jesus. But our only hope is to remain and abide in him. To be at home with him more and more. Not just by ourselves, but with others in Jesus, and not just for ourselves, or just for them, but for the world. We need to keep all of this together in our perspective, and as to what we're all about.

Continuing on in Jesus is vital for ourselves, but also for others. We need to not waver, and when we do waver, to simply endeavor to carry on in Jesus. We can be sure this will be tested time and time again, and that such testing surely won't end in this life. But we need to make such testings occasions to bind us closer in our weakness to Christ. To make us more dependent on him.

We don't know what a day may bring forth, but we want to be those who continue on in Jesus, no matter what. So that God will have his way in our lives, together, and for the world.

What might you like to add to this?

first things first

Mary attended to the Lord's word, while Martha was distracted by her busy serving. It wasn't that Martha was wrong in what she was doing, but that she was distracted. And maybe she should have stopped what she was doing to attend to the Lord and his words.

This reminds me of other things we need to put first. Of course our relationship with God through Jesus. And our relationship with others as well: our spouse, our children, our friends, our relatives.

I have to admit I like nothing, or few things more than just relaxing with a book in hand. In my own world, so to speak. That's okay, and good, as long as others are not neglected in my life, as a result.

It's a joy to see people treasure relationships. After all, Jesus pointed out that love for God, and for our neighbor is to be at the heart of our existence. How that's worked out in our lives is not some set static way for us all. But it's something we need to keep at the forefront of our minds in whatever we do, and especially as we consider our lives from day to day, and from week to week.

How do you seek to do this? Or any thoughts?

God's working

Yesterday I had a true sense of God's working in me to change me. I think this was in answer to prayer, a prayer prayed on my back, so to speak, knowing I'm weak and helpless and hopeless in and of myself.

What can be more precious than God's working in us in Jesus? This is what we need to long for by faith, and hold on to by faith, and repent when we turn back from it. Recently in looking at Andrew Murray's book, Abide in Christ, I was reminded of just how utterly dependent the branch is on the vine, which is the branch's source of life. Life and health and fruit does not depend on the branch at all, but on the vine from which it flows. Jesus, of course used that analogy to speak of the relationship he is to have with us as his disciples; he is the vine and his disciples are the branches.

Our effort, our works, the fruit we bear is to come forth from that. So I must get back to that. Abide in Jesus. Be at home in him. Make that first priority over what I do or don't do. Even over my thought life, in a sense. So that everything is dependent on that. I'm definitely a learner, or seeking to so learn, follow and grow through God's working in Jesus.

What would you like to share on this?

lament and union

Over the weekend I was thinking about lament and union with Christ. For a person like me, who has battled depression most all of my life, such considerations from Scripture as brought out by Michael Card and Andrew Murray (also here), I find helpful.

Card in his book gives us permission to acknowledge freely that not all is alright with us, and not everything is going well in this world. In fact, quite often, quite the opposite! The psalms are full of such lament, and he goes on to look at Job, David, Jeremiah, and Jesus himself.

Murray helps us see that a special life in Jesus in this world is not only possible, but within reach of every child of God. This life is not for the strong, but for the weak and sinful. Therefore it's for all of us. Of course we must first come to Jesus, but the rest promised to us is not just for the beginning, but for all of our lives in Jesus. The main passage is John 15 and from that we're encouraged to see that there is a life of abiding in Jesus in which the Father grafts each believer as a branch into the True Vine- Jesus. So that the life of Jesus, by his death and our union with him there, is available for us.

I have plenty more to learn or be reminded of- so that I can put it into practice. As Murray points out, we need to immediately put into practice, by faith, the truth in Jesus from God's word, that comes to us, regardless of our feelings, or even lack of understanding. I plan to meditate on John 15 at work. I want to know more of this abiding, in a deeper way, beyond just the basic way God has all of us his children, remaining in Jesus. To read that passage seems to make clear to me that there is more to it than just remaining in Jesus so as to be saved. There is surely a close life union with him, so that we bear much fruit.

I look forward to learning to live more in this reality while I go on lamenting over my own sin, the incompleteness of our redemption prior to the final resurrection, and life in this fallen world. How to put this all together, I don't know. I do think the lament should drive us more deeply into that union with Jesus, as we share in his sufferings and he with ours- in this world. And of course that this is not just an individual endeavors, but that we're also in this together, in Jesus in this world.

Any thoughts on this?