Three Simple Rules #3: “Stay in Love with God”

Paul sums up this third rule with elegance:

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord,
continue to live your lives in him,
rooted and built up in him
and established in the faith,
just as you were taught,
abounding in thanksgiving.”
(Colossians 2:6-7)

All our life comes from the fact that God has first loved us.

Everything else is response.  We live out of gratitude and thanksgiving.  We have nothing to give except what God has given us.

In as much as we have received our Lord Jesus Christ, and with joy and expectation, we then continue each and every day, living our life out in the Lord.

Joan Chittister wrote:
”All we have in life is life.
Things – the cars, the houses, the educations, the jobs, the money
– come and go, turn to dust between our fingers, change and disappear.…
the secret of life …
is that it must be developed from the inside out.”.

And so, the two must go together.  Our inner spiritual life must have a way of expressing itself out in the world.  Our outer, “helping others” life, must be

nourished and supported by a strong inner spiritual life.

And so we attend to the Spiritual Disciplines (the “Ordinances” as John Wesley would say…), to develop “Holy Habits” that strengthen and guide us throughout our lives:
            Worship
            The Lord’s Prayer
            Searching the Scriptures (For Wisdom)
            Bible Study (for knowledge)
            Fasting  (of all kinds)
            Prayer  (Private and Family Prayer)

And to those we add others we have found to be profoundly powerful:
            Labyrinth Walking
            Feeding and providing housing for the Homeless
            Contemplative Prayer
            Music
            Etc.

We do all these things in response to the question that Jesus asked of Peter and of us:
                        “Do you love me?”

   “Holy Living will not be discovered, achieved, continued, and sustained without staying in love with God.”
                               Ruben Job “Three Simple Rules”  pg. 58

And we are challenged to say “YES” to that love each and every day, each and every minute.

Are you ready to “do good” and change your life?

Can you catch yourself doing better at “doing good” each and every day?

How have you lived closer to God this day?
…this week?

                             How goes it with your soul?

                                    Grace and Peace, Pastor Terry

Comments

[Terry]

Hi Hillary,
Sorry this took so long to get a response. For some reason, I didn't get the note that you had written.

Your point is well taken. The Lord's Supper could easily have been there instead (and in addition to) the Lord's Prayer. I was trying to list some ideas about "holy habits." I know that the list can get pretty long.

Any others you want to add?

Terry

[Hillary Chrisley]

Thank you Terry for your soundings... I just wanted to see if in the listing of Holy Habits you may have meant the Lord's Supper instead of the Lord's Prayer - or is there a theological bent I am missing?!
:-)
Hillary