7-20-2014

      Good Morning All, 

        John 14:26; “But the Helper; the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you.”

    As we are still with the high school kids at the cabin, everyone seems to be having fun when we get to the cabin.  Getting to the cabin has been interesting.  It even got to the point where someone said that “they came and moved the cabin.” Well that really didn’t happen but it did seem that way.  We drove down this road, up this road and then down this road; it had to be right there but it wasn’t.

    Part of the problem is that the roads are marked but it is a beautifully wooded area; so some of the road sings are hidden behind a tree.  The roads aren’t all perpendicular or parallel like they are on the flat ground.  So instead of turning, we “veer” left or right.  So it requires a lot of vigilance.  We have to look closely at the road signs as we go.  Each trip in or out must be carefully observed or else we take a path that looks right, it “feels” like the right path but it doesn’t take long before we are not where we want to be; someone moved the cabin.

    This is an example of why diligence is so important for us as Christians as well.  We are on a journey of life.  The Bible often describes life as a path or a walk or a journey.  Yet this walk of life is filled with pitfalls.  The devil tries to confuse us and to cause us to either have too much confidence in our knowledge or too little confidence in our faith.  We often have heard someone “quote” Scriptures only to find that, at best, it has been misquoted or may not even be in the Bible.  Sometimes, we have known what is right but we just weren’t sure enough to trust it.

    In both cases, the answer is to listen to God, listen to the Spirit as he speaks to us and he speaks to us through Scriptures.  It is through the reading and study of Scriptures that the Spirit reminds us of what Jesus says to us.  “Come to me for rest” (Matt. 11:28); “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34); “let your light shine” (Matt. 5:16); “do not fear, only believe” (Mark 5:36); “God did not send his son into the world to condemn it but to save it” (John 3:17).  Jesus speaks to us with words of comfort, with words of forgiveness, with words of hope.

    Yet it is important that we are diligent and continually pay attention.  The devil and the world with twist what Jesus says in order to confuse you.  This is why we are encouraged to every day read the Scriptures, think about what it says to our life, pray for God’s help and direction and then finally we are to live as Christ encourages us to live.  Yet even in this diligence, we can take a wrong turn or miss a sign because we aren’t watching as closely as we should.  Perhaps we don’t agree or fully understand what the church is teaching so we stay away from the church.  We end up missing out of the fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Perhaps we let others tell us what the Bible “really says” without carefully listening to what all of Scriptures says.  It is important to be diligent because it is through listening to the Spirit, through God’s Word, that we have hope.

Father of mercy, in you we have hope.  Help us to keep a sharp eye and an open ear to your Word.  Guide us on our journey so that we may please you and live the life which you desire us to live.  Be with those who are lost and missing your signs. Lead them back to the path of your righteousness.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret