Saturday, March 7, 2015

Words of Life



A few years back, I tried asking one of my children to give up watching T.V. with me
for Lent

I don't think she got it.


By the time Easter came, she was just glad it was over. Still, I wanted our family to be a little slice of the church. To do Lent together as we do life together. 


Then by the grace of God, the idea came to me. What if, this year, we all gave up something that really needs to be given up and add something we all know we need to add.









We all have something in common, living in a house of strong personalities. We raise our voices a little too much. Add to that strong emotions and a loud voice becomes yelling.


Something subtracted, something added...hmmm...


How about subtracting the yelling and adding the praying for self and for the one(s) trying our patience. 


Words are powerful. They can build up or tear down.




We need each other's words. The good ones. The true ones. The holy ones.

"1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." (John 1:1-2)


God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the mysterious Trinity, worked together in perfect unity to build up our world before filling it with life.



"1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was 
hovering over the waters.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light." (Genesis 1:1-3) 

In the beginning, the holy hovering words of God shot out across the world. Creating. Shedding Light. Giving Life.



Words build up, stone by stone, line by line, precept by precept.

Christ isn’t expecting churches, whether in your home or under a steeple, to be perfect. 


He alone is perfect.


Yet, He offers us grace. Because He took the nails for us, His blood washes away our sin. 


When we believe, the ever-grabbing-for-more part of us, loosens its grip on its little stake in life and turns to grasp the nail-marked hand of the One who ever-loves-us-eternally. 


We can lean on Him because we need His help. We must come to Him in weakness and rely on His strength to free us from words that hurt to speak words that heal.





May we be grace-carriers. Broken, yet bright beacons of His shining glory, loving and serving the ones He came to save.


This is how we glorify and lift up Christ. And speak words of light, love, and grace. 



"Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is 
the Son of God." 
(1 John 5:5)




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