According to the WORD
Dear Friends,
You might not know that we are about to celebrate a significant anniversary. On October 31
st
we will celebrate the 500
th
Anniversary of the Reformation. One of the ideas that has historically been attached to the Reformation is the statement “We are reformed and always being reformed
according to the Word of God
.” Many people leave out the last part of this sentence when citing this quote. We are shaped as a people by the Holy Spirit
according to our understanding of God’s Word
.
So how is that going for you?
I don’t know how much time you spend talking about the Sunday school lesson or the sermon or in personal or family devotion at home. My question to you is, “How do we allow the Word of God to help shape us and our families? Are we open to teachings about faithfulness to God? Are we open to understanding God’s priorities for our lives? Are we open to having our character shaped by the reading of the Bible? Are we open to how our response to personal, community, and global issues might be shaped by scripture? Maybe we can be more intentional about opening ourselves and our family to being shaped and re-formed as we read scripture.
What if we wrote scripture on our children’s bathroom mirrors? What if we sent them text reminders of God’s love? What if we slipped scripture encouragement into their lunch bags? What if we read a Bible story together at the table or before bed? What if we talked about what we heard in church? What if we asked each other, “How does God want to shape us through our understanding of this story?”
One last thing –
Jesus Christ is the
living Word
. It is in the journey with Jesus that our lives are most faithfully shaped to live out God’s will and purpose. That is something worth practicing and worth teaching. So encourage one another to do just that…according to the WORD.
To God be the Glory!
Robert
P.S. Join us for Lib’s Retirement Celebration this Sunday after the 11 a.m. worship service in the Congregation House!
