Devotions Archive Archive: 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 Search Archive Print This Article Fertility right Sunday, December 30, 2007 Colossians 3:15-16 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts ... Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Last night I worked at replacing my own somewhat obsessive thoughts with this last phrase, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." I felt more peaceful. This morning I wondered what those words are. What comes first to my mind? Several Biblical phrases pop ... "Let not your hearts be troubled ... do not be afraid ... Lo, I am with you always." Paul doesn't say the word of Christ will dwell in me richly. I have to let it, allow it, make room for it, shut up long enough to hear it. I think of Jesus' parable (Mark 4). What kind of soil am I providing - rocky or soft, shallow or deep, barren or fertile? Frozen or thawed? Whatever time I spend reading and remembering the words of Jesus makes Jesus happen in my life. What competes in my mind for attention? • Old unfriendly words from my childhood, covered with cobwebs but still edged sharp. • My worst-case worries about tomorrow's urgent business, lifted from case files of disaster and despair. • My anger, my bitterness, my unforgiveness - flint-edged and dull. • And underneath it all, too unapproachable and slithery to get my hands on or even name out loud, there lies fear. Jesus speaks right into those strongholds, speaking to "he who must not be named" clearly and with authority. His eloquence is simple and strong. His words have the power of God behind them. He remembers who we are, and who God is, and doesn't get the two mixed up. Unlike any of my other voices, He knows eternity from first-hand experience. Jesus spoke with his disciples just before his death. Soak in some of these words. Let them do their victorious best against the other voices in your head. Let them dwell in you. Richly. "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am ... I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me ... Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it ... Because I live, you also will live ... If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him ... "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid ... I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you ... "Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends ... You do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you ... If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also ... "The prince of this world now stands condemned ... When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth ... Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy ... In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name ... I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world ... "Father, I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one. ... Protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it ... Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world." --- (excerpts from John 14-17). Your words, Lord, are more to be desired than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. "; Add      Edit    Delete