Hungering and Thirsting

HUNGERING AND THIRSTING AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS

LOST

Romans 1:16-18  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

The town we live in has one-way service roads with an interstate highway in between.  Ken and I went to the other side of the road, made a wrong turn, and got lost.  By the time the navigation system on my phone got us back to familiar scenery we had gone quite a ways off course.  What would we have done without that navigation to get us on the right track? I kept looking for landmarks but could  see nothing I recognized. Our car did not have a compass.

Life is like that. What do we use  (navigation, compass) to guide us through our lives?

Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105

I wrote in a previous post that my mother had evidently instilled in me a desire to attend worship services even as a teenager where I lived in a nearby town during the summer to work. I continued to take my boys to Sunday school and worship services as a young mother. I was religious but did not know or understand the Bible or any of the teachings. I couldn’t apply it to my life. The Bible classes and lessons from the pulpit were rhetoric or just ramblings. 

It was not until someone who had been a babysitter of my oldest son and whom I admired, knocked on my door and offered a Bible Correspondence course that I saw the truth.

John 14:6-7  Jesus said unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If  ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

I studied and could see the errors of the congregation I was attending. I was able to understand the progression of the Bible from the first book of Genesis to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the Acts of the Apostles, establishment of  Christ’s church, God’s required obedience and the Christian life.

Yes it requires obedience. But that is not a strange requirement. It is common to any organization that one chooses to belong to. Even governments require obedience to all the various laws or one must suffer the consequences. Every government and organization of man has rules, laws, traditions, ordinances that members are required to live by if they consider themselves to be a member of that particular organization. True religion, the religion of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the religion of His Son, Jesus who is the Christ is not different. Obedience is just as much of a requirement as faith.

Today, I am so thankful to the lady who babysat my son for offering the correspondence course. I sent  it back and forth by mail and when I finished the course I received a visit from the minister. I started attending that congregation and found that there was a difference in the way they worshipped. The worship service was simpler and the Bible classes and lessons from the pulpit were directed at living the Christian life and understanding the Bible more clearly. I was able to understand that the Bible was not confusing or hard to understand. I started attending on a regular basis and gained some life-long friends from that congregation. I was able to convince my skeptical husband to come with us as a family and today he is a studious scholar of the Bible. 

Living the Christian life is a process. I’m a student of Christ, continuing to read, learn, and understand this book called the Bible, fellowshipping with the saints and continuing to have a friendship with my Christian family. 

Act 17:11 Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

I like this verse because the Bureans  in Thessalonica examined the scriptures daily to see that they were being told the truth and whether their worship was pleasing to God. 

Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. 

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? 

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

That is a scary statement to me as I understand that if we are religious but not doing the will of my Father who is in heaven we are lost.  I want to hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant: “  Matthew 25:21  

Is our worship pleasing to God?
Are we studying to show thyself approved?

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2Timothy 2:15