Seeing everything in life as an opportunity to worship God!
In a very interesting exchange between Peter and Jesus, Jesus looks at Peter and tells Satan to get behind Him. I find this to be problematic because Peter is a person, a follower of Jesus, a man who declares Jesus to be the Messiah just 4 verses before Jesus calls him Satan! Let’s take a look … Read more
To be rash with our words is to be hasty in expressing them, to not give much thought to what we say and how we say it, to be afraid and terrified or anxious as we express them is another element of its use too. Pretty much I take it as speaking and doing things without giving it much thought.
I love being around someone who is patient and careful with their words! I usually will tend to listen more intently to what they have to say when they do speak because I know that they are choosing their words carefully. That is wisdom! To think through our responses, to listen to the other persons perspective, or the whole issue before offering up counsel, is so important and creates security for the other people involved.
This is a reference to Christ’s teachings, the Gospel message, and/or the Bible as a whole. “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly”, I believe this to be a call to allow the Word of God to be the most evident influence in the dish of your life! When we do allow this to influence everything about us, we will inevitably be a much more “tasty” treat for others to be around. The smell and taste of your life will begin to show forth fruits such as the ingredients that we have been discussing for the past several posts, such as; a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiving, etc. (I have been using a clothing analogy in previous points, but think of all of those virtues as ingredients to the dish of your life). This kind of a life is certainly a sweet smelling offering to the Lord and to the people around us!
This is a reference to Christ’s teachings, the Gospel message, and/or the Bible as a whole. “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly”, I believe this to be a call to allow the Word of God to be the most evident influence in the dish of your life! When we do allow this to influence everything about us, we will inevitably be a much more “tasty” treat for others to be around. The smell and taste of your life will begin to show forth fruits such as the ingredients that we have been discussing for the past several posts, such as; a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiving, etc. (I have been using a clothing analogy in previous points, but think of all of those virtues as ingredients to the dish of your life). This kind of a life is certainly a sweet smelling offering to the Lord and to the people around us!
It is important to note that when the Bible tells us to clothe ourselves with something, it is because we do not already have it on! We are not naturally clothed with humility or kindness, mercy or gentleness, or patience. Instead, we must daily choose to put these characteristics “on” every morning by calling upon the Holy Spirit in recognition of the reality that without Him we will not be walking in these attributes! We must not try to “dress ourselves” with articles of our own choosing (e.g. judgement, rudeness, pride, bitterness, selfishness, etc.), but we must choose to put on the articles God has instructed us to wear.
“Live as free people” is what the verse says above, and I believe it is profound! We all have the freedom to say anything that we want – at any time (As Americans anyways). That can be very bad, or that can be very good! In the negative sense, the Bible says that we have the power of death in our tongue (Proverbs 18:21). That is very scary and it should make us think twice before we speak! The very words we speak can and will shape our lives, the tone of the conversations, the disposition of the people around us, and so-on. Using the freedom we have to do evil (e.g. gossip, slander, dishonor, etc.) is never going to bring about anything good and profitable, so let’s not do that. On the contrary, in the verse referenced above it says that the power of life is in the tongue as well (Proverbs 18:21). This is where the “slaves to God” comes into play. Choosing to speak good and noble things instead of letting any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths (Ephesians 4:29), we are speaking life and encouragement into people’s lives as opposed to death and anxiety.