Moving On - Kindred Spirits

Matthew 11
28 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

I am about to retire, moving to Texas.  And I have been giving some thought to both my future and my past. This is a time to look not only forward but also to look back. It is time to move on, and it is also a time to look back and to say some goodbyes.

As part of looking forward to a new future, planning for a life that will be so different, I have given some consideration to my experience at  the little Baptist church I've been going to these past four years.

I found, in this church, a loving people that were right with each other and right with God, a people working for the good of the community and for the glory of God.  I found a Pastor with a wonderful, inspired message, based on the Bible, ably leading his flock.  In this church, I did find some spiritual peace, some little bit of rest on my walk in His path, in His Spirit. This was a good church to find one's salvation.

But, sad to say, I found no kindred spirits in this church. There was never much to say.  I guess I was just passing through. It's just a fact, an odd, sad fact of my life.

If you give life, in its deepest sense, some thought, God's essential message in the Bible is not about church, universal or local.  God's essential message in the Bible is not about the rapture, or speaking in tongues or election or evangelism. In the end, you only have your Bible and the holy message that God left for you.  In the end, it is just you and your God.

Thankfully, for some of us, he is a gracious, loving God.

Isaiah 2
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths....

Amen

Moving On

Matthew 19
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

I'm taking a break. I'm getting old, feeling my age, and I'm about to retire.  It's time to think, to pray. What am I going to do for the next few years, or at least 'til God takes me home. New directions. Setting a new course. Hopefully serving the glory of God. And, somehow, I sense that this blog is coming to an end.

Final note. It seems to me, when you make big changes in your life, when you think about your future, what you are to do, what you should be doing with your life, the above passage is good to consider.

Need For New Macedonian Church

2 Corinthians 8
1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;
2 how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.
3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
4 praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.

The events of the day and daily Bible study, do not mix well, for me anyway.  Daily Bible study, I think, is a refuge, quality time between a sinner and his savior.  And that is the focus of this blog.  It time to get away from the news of the day, the politics, the murder, the mayhem.

Be that as it may, I came across this sad news item the other day. It is from New York Newsday, August 21, 2011:

Large numbers of less-educated white Americans are abandoning religion, a new study says. Since the 1970s, religious service attendance has declined among all white Americans, but the rate of decline among those without college degrees has been more than twice that of college graduates, according to the researchers. The study, which was to be presented Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association ( ASA ) in Las Vegas, focused on whites because religiosity among blacks and Hispanics is less affected by education and income, the researchers said.

Part of the problem may be that churches, above and beyond their valid, wonderful, soul-saving spiritual purposes, may function as clubs with members pay their dues during each service. My guess: the group discussed in the above article - less educated white Americans - just may not be able to comfortably, spiritually, and financially participate in churches.

After giving this issue some thought, I think it is maybe more important than I initially thought.  But I can't even begin to imagine how church members and those who might want to go to church might approach this issue. 

The Will Of God

Joel 2
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

As my faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ grows, the more I try to live a righteous life, the more I love my church, the more I love my fellow Christians, the more I pity the lost.

And, as my faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ grows....the less inclined I am to share my deepest thoughts on the will and the ways and the working of God it this cruel, evil world.

The argument would waste my strength....

The Works And Will And Way Of God

Ecclesiastes 3
11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

This passage is about our God, whose works and will and ways are unfathomable.

More From Ecclesiastes 3
13 ....every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.

It is acceptable, in God's sight, to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

But, we must be careful. There is a thin deadly line between humbly enjoying the fruits of your labor and abject iniquity. A very thin line.

More From Ecclesiastes 3
12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

Question. Is the use of the phrase "works and will and ways" a copy write violation?

Finally From Ecclesiastes 3
14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.