Our attitude about the Lord’s Day — and the feeling we have when we anticipate it — says a good deal about the state of our spiritual health. If we don’t find ourselves looking forward to the best day of the week, it’s time for a spiritual checkup.
There are awesome tasks to be accomplished, fearful dangers to be risked, terrible temptations to be overcome, and serious needs to be filled. There is no way that we can make it on our own, but since God is our strength, our confidence is in Him.
Even when we’re doing the Lord’s work, it is still true that we require replenishment and refreshment. Prayer is one of the activities through which we gain spiritual strength. If we don’t take time to pray, we won’t be strong spiritually.
God knew precisely the type of leadership that would contribute to the kind of strong relationship He wanted us to have in the church. Let’s be appreciative, and let’s help our children to have healthy attitudes toward leadership in God’s family.
Let’s consider the importance of a “together” attitude about our labor in the Lord — and be ready to subordinate our individual desires to the needs of the Lord’s work. In Christ, we have a goal that is greater than any of our personal concerns.
A creature in God’s image who tries to be happy by selfish means is trying something that is, in the long run, an impossibility. May we learn this week, by meditating on God and His word, that blessedness comes from pouring ourselves out for others.
God loves us and wants the very best for us. If He has ever asked us to say no to anything and yes to something else, it is only because He wants us to share the joy He has. He governs us in order to give us the life He created us to enjoy.
Even if the sign out front says the church we attend is “of Christ,” that does not make it so. Regardless of the name we wear, if we are not governed by Christ’s authority, and if we do not love Him as we should, then we have no connection to Him.
Being “example conscious” will prompt us to go the extra mile so that others see an unmistakable, unequivocal example of godliness in our lives. Let’s not deprive our friends of what may be the only godly example they have a chance to be exposed to.
Let’s meditate on the importance of obedience to God and determine that we’re going to accept the responsibility that goes along with knowing what we know about the truth. God wants us not only to know the right thing but to do the right thing.
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