What would it be like if everyone were rooted and grounded in love?

Paul speaks of having “boldness and access with confidence by the faith” of Christ. ( Ephesians 3:12)

I really like what he's saying here. If we through faith and experiences have a perfect knowledge that Christ lives then we can with boldness and confidence bear testimony to that fact.  

He goes on to say, “That he (Christ) would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,  that ye being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length , and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)

So the more we learn the more there is to learn until we are rooted and grounded in love. If we continue in faith searching and learning we can know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge – that we are filled with all the fullness of God. What would it be like if everyone were rooted and grounded in Christ love?

Isn’t Paul's writing so beautiful that it does not need  commentary?   Go forward with faith rooted and grounded in love.

I love you because you exist

“For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  (Ephesians 2:8 – 10)

As I write this scripture the words of the hymn is running through my head. “Not of works, not of works, not of works, lest any man should boooast. It is a gift of God.”  I don’t even remember the name of the song but the words have stayed with me my entire life.

It is unconditional love or Christ-like love and not what we do that saves us. He took up on him our sins not knowing that we would accept his gift or not, and yet unless he made this sacrifice we would all be lost and unable to return to Heaven.

My grandson often says to me, “How much do you love me?”  

When he says that I know I am about to be asked to do some favor for him. Usually I will ask, “So what is it you want me to do?” But sometimes I will tell him, “How much I love you has nothing to do with it. If you want money or something that is going to cost me money it depends on how much money you want, how soon you want it, and if I think it’s something I want to spend money on. If you want me to drive you somewhere it depends on if you have parental permission, and if I have the time to spare. It has nothing to do with how much I love you. I love you because you are – because you exist. Nothing is going to change that. I might get upset. I might even yell at you, but I will always love you no matter what.”   

And so it is with Christ.  

Everyone shall bear his own burden

“Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ…But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden… For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap…And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”  (Galatians 6:2-9)

Paul goes into a lot of detail here and I have just skimmed the surface. So he’s saying Christ expects us to help one another, strengthen and uplift another, but we each are responsible for our own works. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,

My husband used to say that more damage is done by do gooders than if they had minded their own business. And we hear these stories every so often about someone who sees a scuffle and runs to help. They disable the undercover police officer who is trying to arrest the bad guy and the bad guy gets away. Or someone is whacking a child in the back trying to dislodge something the child is choking on and they try to rescue the child.

I myself have been guilty of more minor infractions. Like while feeding a stroke patient I separated out the part of the meal I didn’t like only to find out that was her favorite part. One time I decided that someone that had just returned from the hospital would enjoy someone to talk to for an hour when what they really needed was someone to clean their bathroom. I am sure that each of us have many examples of doing good that has gone wrong.

It helps to pray about things before helping someone or ask the individual what they need, but there is not time for that when you think someone is being hurt. This is probably why we also hear of people being mugged or even killed and passer bys pay no attention. It’s a difficult situation and the Spirit will guide us in making these split second decisions if we are in tune.  

Fools rush in where angels fear to tread…because they see the big picture. So help other, but pray about it first.

   

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness...

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness temperance.” (Galatians 5:22)  

If it doesn’t bring you peace and joy and all that other good stuff it is not of the Spirit or of God. Before this Paul list the works of the flesh: hatred, wrath, strife, along with adultery, fornication, idolatry and etc. And yet we do not need to be involved in idolatry or adultery or etc. to feel the effects of strife, hatred, wrath and etc. We are in the world and those things exist around us. We could not be tested and tried if they weren’t.

So what can we do about that? Reading the scriptures helps. I used to write quotes and put them on the refrigerator where I would see them when trouble hit. Keeping a prayer in your heart is another thing that helps. What I mean by that is that after you get up off your knees from praying in the morning you continue to pray in your heart.

Does strife seep in despite my armor? Sure does. Sometimes worse than others, but we work moment to moment for that peace and joy and to feel the Spirit.  

We should not fear death

A long time ago when I was a child, maybe ten or twelve, my best friend and companion in mischief died of Scarlet Fever. This was my first real experience with death. It seemed unreal to me that someone I cared about so much, someone so young would stop living. I decided to treat it as unreal, and refused to accept it. The day of the funeral came. Everyone was dressed to go except for me. When Dad inquired I finally confessed that I refused to accept the death of my friend.

He sat down next to me and among other things he explained to me that we all die. Young or old we must all die. From the moment we are born and begin to breath we begin to die. We should not fear death, he explained. If we live our lives well, in honesty and truth we will return to heaven from where we came. If we have done the best we can death can be a good thing.

That was a long time ago and I don’t remember his exact words, but they made an impression on me. As Paul explains, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10)

  

While in this mortal body things happen that are good, bad, painful, unfair, horrible, wonderful and glorious. There is a purpose for our being here and for each of us that purpose is different. The scriptures tell us that we each have different gifts that we may bring to pass the purpose of God. I didn’t take time to look up the scriptural reference but if any have questions let them search it out on their own or respond to this post and I will look it up. The point I want to make here is that there is a purpose to our lives and at some point we will return to give accounting for what we have done in this body we were given.

We need not fear neither man, nor demon if we walk in faith, believing then knowing that God lives.  If we know this then God knows us and will welcome us home when our work here is done – “For we walk by faith not by sight.”  (2 Corinthians 5:7)