In fact, it's kind of like this TV show I watched where a bunch of women were going to one of those wedding dress sales. Everybody's running around this warehouse-looking place piling up random dresses in their arms, hanging the hangers from various orifices on their bodies as they force their way through the mire of other shoppers to the dressing rooms, because this is a race! Every woman for herself! Someone else might get the gown you want! There isn't time to use discernment to choose the perfect gown- grab everything you see, and hopefully there's something good in the pile.
That's what really holy Christians do with scripture, too. Can you imagine spending the rest of your life following your spouse around, and when they say "my favorite scripture is Romans 8:38." And you just meekly mumble "me too." Sheesh.
One way to cement your claim over certain scripture is by quoting it in public. That's why I spout off scripture everywhere I go. You never know when you'll sow a seed into some downtrodden person's life. And people will think you're crazy smart AND holy (that, my friend, is what we in the religious circle call "win-win"). Plus, the next time they hear some poor sap having to read the scripture from an actual Bible, they'll be thinking of me. "Hey, isn't this Elizabeth's scripture? She's got it memorized."
Well, Trevor got Ephesians, James and Galatians in the custody agreement. I got Philippians, Romans, and Colossians every other weekend. And Isaiah. He's not even allowed to touch Isaiah. I'm pretty sure I won in that deal, but I am going to have to swallow my pride and borrow Ephesians for a while. I don't think Trevor will mind. Especially since he preached from Philippians chapter two on Sunday without even clearing it with me.
I was reading Ephesians three (I was allowed to because it was for a Bible study. That's right, Bible study. Not cell group, lyfe unit, or any other trendy gathering nouns. Just a good, old fashioned Bible study.)and the words just started leaping out of the page to me. It was like Roma Downey's "Touched by an Angel" light shown around me- one of those "choir of angels singing" moments.
No seriously though, I believe that God will illuminate scripture and speak to our hearts through His Word during various seasons of our lives. Trevor and I have been praying about the vision of our church, and this scripture stood out to me:
When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,
the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.
I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.
And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.
And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:14-19
Ahh!!! So much good stuff here, I could do a five week sermon series on it. Perhaps I will. It's fantastic.
You see, Paul knows a little something about living a life full with the goodness and power of God. I've been thinking a lot on nominal Christianity lately. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a "salvation based on works" anti-grace person. I am overwhelmed by God's grace and extremely thankful for his wondrous mercy. Yet, we're selling ourselves short if we stay in that first position of salvation. Salvation is miraculous, it's beautiful- but God calls us deeper. God cries out to us through His Word to venture on in our journey of faith, to grow deep roots in his love. To be empowered by the Holy Spirit! Yet, a lot of us are happy to be saved enough to keep the heat off.
A life empowered by the Holy Spirit is a full life. Allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us created fantastic results! The next verse (verse 20) says it perfectly:
Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.
May we experience the fullness of life that is in Christ Jesus! We won't regret the decision. When we offer ourselves completely to God, He can do mighty things! Let us be brave enough to grasp hold of this truth, jump in with both feet, and live with complete abandon for the causes he's put in our hearts. What might God accomplish through us then?
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