A Word From the Pastor
"Living the Scriptures"
August 15, 2009

Dear Friends,

In his book, A Bucketful of Miracles, Jeff Wedge tells about a missionary who had a limited supply of printed material to share with a growing number of believers.  In an effort to make things go further, he tore up some of the biblical material so as to share at least a few verses of scripture to all who requested them.

A few days after making his first distribution a young boy came to the missionary in tears.  When asked what the problem was, the boy replied:  My dog is ruined.

When the missionary asked what had happened, the boy answered:  My dog was the bravest hunter in the village.  He would chase anything, even a lion.  But, when I took the pages you gave me about the Prince of Peace, my dog ate some of them during the night.  Now he is ruined, for he will never be fierce again. (p. 175ff)

The boy’s faith in the ability of God’s word to change lives was admirable.  Jesus warns us, however, that it takes more than simply “ingesting” the word to change our lives.  Remember what he said when the religious officials confronted him about the necessity of obeying all the ancient dietary laws if a person wanted to be spiritually fit?  Jesus replied:  It is what comes out of a person that defiles.  For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come:  fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, slander, pride, folly.  All these evil things come from within. (Mark 7:20b-23a)

In other words, while being familiar with the scriptures is important to our Christian growth, it is equally important to apply those lessons to our daily lives.  If our intentions are to use the Word in a self-serving, self-centered manner then what we say has very little meaning.  We have to be willing to act on what we know in a way that is true to whatever scripture we might be thinking of or repeating.

It does us little good to teach our children that the greatest commandment is to . . . love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27) if we seldom think of God outside of worship and spend our work days resenting, ignoring, and avoiding those who are around us. 

Simply knowing the right scriptures is a far cry from making them a living part of who we are as Children of God.  It is my prayer that as we grow in our faith, we will become living examples of God’s extravagant love for all.  May all that comes from within our hearts and souls be a blessing for others.

See You in Church,
Pastor Kathleen