How is everyone doing? School started for me last week so it got super busy!
Praise and thank God for such a wonderful ESSC last weekend in Sac! I am especially grateful for the perfect timing of it all. It was the last weekend of summer before school starts so work is not too crazy (yet) as there are few students on campus this week, so I was able to get the day off on Friday and attend the whole day of ESSC. Since classes also have not started, it was a blessing to spend this quiet time with God free of distraction. I feel spiritually refreshed - feeling better about the upcoming school year and uncertain future plans and refueled with strength and motivation!
It felt like God was speaking to me directly through each sermon, testimony, hymn and choir presentation. God is truly so gracious. I am beginning to understand more and more all of the things God has done and continues to do for me - especially the still, small voice, food and water, and the power to pray. Reflecting on the grace upon grace received this weekend, I was reminded of a conversation I had with a sister a couple years ago (God reminded me of it in prayer because my actual memory sucks).
God does great things as we take each little step towards Him - He doesn’t just meet you halfway, He comes all the way to you. He wraps His hands around your heart and stays there until the heart warms up from being stone cold and start to beat again. With the analogy of pride as internal bleeding, God could really let us go on like that since He has already given us so much, more than we ever deserve. The pride would continue and we wouldn’t even know about it. God can let us go on like that, and one day it will kill us. But He doesn't.
Even though we are just one out of billions of people, God cares whether or not we will be saved, whether or not we have the right motivation to serve, for He loves us to the end of eternity. Everything that happens to us: yesterday, today, five years ago, even tomorrow, He cares about. All our struggles, our pride, our pain, He cares about them all. He cares whether or not we bear His image and whether we will be saved. Not being saved hurts God the most.
From studying the parable of the sower this weekend, I was reminded that the four circumstances teach us many valuable lessons to better our servitude and adjust our heart of worship. From the seeds that lingered by the wayside, we know that we must truly listen whenever we hear the word of God through sermons and our personal Bible reading. Without genuine listening, how can we expect to be able to respond and bear fruit? From the seeds that landed in the rocky places, we are reminded that even if you have rooted yourself, this doesn't mean that you will always have root and bear good fruit, inspiring us to never stop reflecting and examining ourselves lest we fall. From the seeds that fell on thorny ground, we are prompted to ponder: Is there something in our lives that we love more than God? If there is, we serve God with no strength. To overcome weariness in servitude, we must stop and change our mindset; what can we sacrifice so that we will have more time for God? (For me, it would be less time watching Youtube among other time-wasters). Lastly, from the seeds sown on good ground, we realize that even though many serve God, not everyone bears fruit. Many different people in the Bible have prayed, offered sacrifices, and other things that seemed like it was done for God, but God was not pleased. Thus, we must learn to be after God's heart and follow His will in all that we do, from our prayers to our work for Him.
A few other highlights:
-The most powerful servitude is one that comes from a heart of gratitude.
-A good foundation and high elevation is essential in times of flood.
-Knowing the existence of God starts with your mind, then your words, then your heart, and through your actions. The actions you take are most important, declaring whether your knowledge of God is true and genuine.
-Do we really put Lord Jesus first in our life? It is only when we have God in mind for every move we make can we truly express our heartfelt thanksgiving and praise, walk worthy of our calling, and not take God's grace for granted.
There really are so many things I can do better for Christ. May we continue to press onward!
Thanks for sharing Ruth! Especially this section you shared really stood out to me:
ReplyDelete"From the seeds that fell on thorny ground, we are prompted to ponder: Is there something in our lives that we love more than God? If there is, we serve God with no strength. To overcome weariness in servitude, we must stop and change our mindset; what can we sacrifice so that we will have more time for God? (For me, it would be less time watching Youtube among other time-wasters)."
I can not only really relate on the youtube part, but also overcoming weariness in servitude. It's something that I personally think that we think is a benign side effect of just being tired and having tons of holy work to do. I personally believe that feeling weariness in servitude is a much bigger problem, and if we aren't serving with joy then we need to reflect. Sometimes we haven't felt that joy in servitude so we may be numb to it- but in Malachi 1, which we read in family service last week- we studied how the Israelites felt like God's sacrifice were such a weariness, but they still did it as they were commanded to. And likewise for us today we may do what is our duty to do, but God truly cares about whether we feel like it's a blessing to serve. Which also reminds me of a piece we're singing for the centennial!
https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/media-player.jsp?&type=audio&productID=10454050
Sorry for my disjointed comments, but haha I really enjoyed reading this and hope we can continue sharing these valuable teachings we've learned :)