Take Home Some Thoughts

I attend a small fellowship on Friday nights and in the past year we have covered several topics and/or biblical passages that have concluded with some very substantive take-home certitudes. I thought that I would attempt to distil some of them down into a single-sentence utterance that would become ingrained within our minds for spiritual nourishment for the rest of our days. Yes, I think that they are that important!

We started off in the book of Hebrews and two thoughts surfaced there. Concerning our privilege of entering into the Most Holy Place, the author concludes with this encouragement: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confessions. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. (4:14-16) The conclusion was this: If we can draw near with confidence, then we can be confident that whenever we come to Him in prayer, we are heard. Every word that we speak He hears. However innocent and innocuous that statement may seem to you, at least to me, it enormously increases my faith in my prayer life. He hears every word that I speak!

Later in the book, the author exhorts us with this: Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. (11:23-25) To those of us who believe that we are approaching the very close of the age and that our faith will be severely tested, we cannot isolate ourselves, but more than ever, as we see the day drawing near, we need to assemble together and to encourage one another.

After Hebrews, we reviewed Phillip Keller’s wonderful book on the shepherding of his flock of sheep (and the typology of their being a type of the Church) A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 (Zondervan, 1970). So many absolutes surface from this book, but the one that I found to be the most current was found in the analogy of the pasture that the sheep nourished in. The group’s conclusion concerning our feeding habits distilled down to this: To whatever degree that we nourish in the pasture of the Good Shepherd, to that degree we bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23); to whatever degree we nourish in the pasture of the hireling (i.e., the things of the world), to that degree we bear the fruit of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21). So the single-sentence utterance takes the form of a question: In whose pasture do we nourish? Do we nourish on the things of the Spirit, or do we nourish on the things of the flesh? (John 10:11-13)

Currently we are studying in the book of James. The author says this: Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (1:2-4) Verse 12 words it this way: Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. (See earlier post) So often we miss the life-changing aspects of Scripture. We are meant to undergo internal change within ourselves. This process is time-centered, is fruit-bearing, and forges our personality that will endure throughout the ages. What I find to be most encouraging and life sustaining through our various trials is summed up by this thought embedded within the passage: knowing that the testing of our faith - produces…!

Well, this effort was really selfish. I really generated this article with our fellowship group in mind, but I thought that I would share it with you as well.

When we come into His presence, we are heard.

As the current world conditions worsen, and those who hate the Church are more emboldened to act, we need to assemble together and to encourage one another.

In our walk through this life, our growth process is constantly being generated. Is it our tendency to feed and so nourish our spirit, or is it our tendency to feed and so nourish our flesh? We need to reflect on that question: In whose pasture do we nourish?

Finally, as we participate in that wonderful experience of being tested, let us be comforted by this thought: We are to know that the testing of our faith - produces.

Let’s dwell on these things.