The Bond

"The Holy Spirit is the bond of love in the Trinity and the bond of love in the Church." – Augustine

We understand that what Augustine meant was that the Holy Spirit acts as the glue (bond) in the body of Christ. When we come together as God's people, there is a commonality of 'love', which is given to us by the Holy Spirit. As we should have a unified purpose (to love God and others), the Spirit works in each of us to drive us to this goal. Sometimes we need to be nudged and reminded of our role in this process.

Ephesians 4:3 - "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace."

In the King James Version is says: "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Thought: This bond of peace is not just something that God brings to the relationship - we also need to 'make every effort' to make sure that the bond actually works.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Save us from ...

I have been loving reading through an old prayer book by William Barclay. Many of his prayers are inspirational and insightful, despite the language being a little dated. Here is another prayer, which I feel may be helpful for many of us:

"Save us from,
The unteachable spirit which will not learn;
The ungrateful spirit which never says thanks;
The unhappy spirit which is filled with complaints and discontent.

Save us from,
The disobliging spirit which grudges any help it has to give;
The discourteous spirit which never thinks of the feelings of anyone else;
The disobedient spirit which will take nothing but its own way..."

I suppose we could add a few others to this list too. What would you add if you were writing this prayer?

Save us from .........

Ephesians 4:23 - Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

The destructive nature of Anger

We live in an angry world. People are angry with each other over a myriad of issues, but in the end, a lot of our anger ends up being self-destructive. Read these interesting words from Frederick Buechner on how anger destroys us in the end.

 

"Of the 7 deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savour to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you." - Frederick Buechner

What do you think about this?

Ephesians 4: 26 - "In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry."

Living in grace

D3LM3

You don't have to be a Pastor!

You don't have to be a Pastor to serve Christ! There are many people who feel that the way to respond to God's calling on your life is to become a Pastor - and this couldn't be further from the truth. God has need of his disciples in every avenue and community in the world. God needs people to serve him in schools, hospitals, police stations, commercial enterprises, prisons, old age homes, grocery stores, banks, taxi ranks, shopping malls, gyms, and so on.

Of course, there are some people who are called to serve Christ in the church, to equip the saints for service and to encourage the body of Christ - but this is not everyones calling. Perhaps we should stop worrying about what other people are called to do and ask God to reveal what he NEEDS us to do for him.

Ephesians 4:16 - "He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love."

·         “Each of us can reach out with Jesus in our own ways, through our vocations.” – Scot McKnight 

Living in Grace

D3LM3