spirit and truth

where is God's word in our life? for most, it is on the self behind the fake flowers we got a few years ago at a yard sale for 10 cents. but really, where is God's word in our life? if, as followers, we claim to be walking in the light of Christ - i ask again, where is God's word in our life? now, i have to be honest and say that this is kind of a "trick question" - because, in reality [for those who follow Christ] God's word can only be in one place - our hearts. let's be honest, that is the only place it can do any good. sitting behind cheap flowers is not a good place :)

so, i believe the best place for God's word to be is in our hearts, unfortunately too many of us have it stuck useless places, like in our heads. God's word bouncing around in our heads has little impact on others, and it has little impact on us. I believe we need to move it from our heads to our hearts; "flush it" if you will to get it down into our hearts - that means we need to live, practice and walk in the light of God's word - this my friends is the hard part :) but we have to remember that if we are truly following Christ, we are changed people - made new in Christ and seeking to live more "christlike" every day. for that to happen, i think we need to keep in mind three important realities.

first, forgiveness - this is one of the hardest. but we are called to forgive, so we should strive to forgive others who have harmed us - and as a new friend shared with me last night, while we forgive we also need to remember that there are consequences to all our actions. but forgiveness is a very important part of our walk in faith - it is a very important part of knowing God's word is in our hearts - because it is when we forgive we are most "christlike" in our actions towards others.

second, love - yup, we are to love - love the ugly, the homeless, the hurting, the messy and the broken - it is hard and messy but we are truly called to love others - so lets love. it is easy to love the cute and cuddly - but we are called to love everyone

third, help - this may seem silly, but we should help others and make sure they have enough in their lives. if we are blessed with much, we should help others in need - if we are blessed with little, we should also help others in need. there is a great tradition in the middle east that says, "when it is time to eat, go to the house on the right and if they do not have enough food invite them to your house and share a common meal." think what would happen if we did the same thing.

you see, i have been thinking about what it means to "worship in spirit and in truth" for a while, and i tend to think it is living a life the way Christ lived his life - forgiving, loving, helping and giving to others. when we do that, when we reach the reality that we can walk closer to God by putting His word in our hearts we become better followers, better people, better friends, better lovers, better wives, better husbands and mostly better people - we see the value of those we love and care for and we accept them for who they are - we open our hearts to God and God works in us to change.

as for me, i seek to walk closer to God and keep his word in my heart - how about you?