Shade Tree Wisdom 6/28/09

Well, it seems to be hot all over, so let’s just accept it with thanks, it is summer, after all, and go on with life.

Today I offer a section from the letter of the Apostle Paul to the little church at Colossae. He’s writing to people who are being subjected to all kinds of new and dazzling ideas offered by false teachers. Paul says to them, “Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never get anywhere”. Then he says, “Don’t tolerate people who try to run your life, ordering you to bow and scrape, insisting that you join their obsession with angels and that you seek out visions. They’re lots of hot air, that’s all they are”.

You Colossians have been baptized, and so God brought you alive in Christ. Now,
1”if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.
2 Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ — that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
3 Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life — even though invisible to spectators — is with Christ in God. He is your life.
4 When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too — the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.”

That applies to us as well. We have been baptized, so we are “in Christ”, and as such, “love as unto Him”. We know the truth, and we live it by His grace and always under His blessing.

Yes, I know how hard that is. But the problem is summed up in a prayer by Reverend Billy Graham offered for the nation. Pastor quoted it in our newsletter, and I offer it here.

“Heavenly Father, We come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good', but that is exactly what we’ve done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reserved your values. We have exploited the poor and called it lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possession and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with pornography and profanity and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today and cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen."

GPD 6/28/09