| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Christian Community” Our Bible verse for today: “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23:6 (NIV) Our thought for today: “God’s goodness and love follows you” Psalm 23 is by far the best-known and best-loved of all the Psalms, and for good reason. The Psalm pictures us as much-loved sheep under the watchful care of a Good Shepherd. He cares for us; He feeds us; He makes sure we get proper rest; He leads and guides us; He rescues us; and He leaves us with a sense of being enveloped in His goodness and love to the point that it follows us all throughout this life and into eternity. We are never outside of the protective embrace of God’s goodness and love. Our awareness of that protective bubble of goodness and love that we exist in should give us a great sense of peace and security. It should chase away our fears and insecurities. It should help us to feel safe, secure, quietly confident, and content. That should be true in general, but it should be especially true during those times when we’re gathered with our church family. Where else should we feel the goodness and love of God more than in church and when we are surrounded by our brothers and sisters in Christ? In yesterday’s devotional I wrote about how it is that Christians sometimes allow their times of gathering to be contentious and stressful. That happens because we lose sight of the things that are most important and focus instead on things that shouldn’t matter much. Another reason for tension and strife in churches is when members bring their personal fears, worries, and insecurities with them into the fellowship and those things are allowed to infect the atmosphere in the fellowship. There are two ways that problem can be addressed. First, each of us individually needs to be cultivating the personal relationship with God described in Psalm 23. We all then bring that sense of being enveloped in God’s goodness and love with us into our gatherings. Second, for those who don’t already have that personal relationship and who do therefore bring their issues with them into church, once they arrive, they should be engulfed in and overwhelmed by the sense of peace, love, and security that everyone else has brought with them and which is creating a wonderful spiritual dynamic for the entire group. Psalm 23 describes the ideal relationship for God and His people. The goodness and love of God follows you all of your life, and that should be especially true in church. God bless, Pastor Jim (Join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church every Sunday at 10:00. Join us in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you are a shut-in, join us online at www.YouTube.com/oakhillbaptistcrossville) |
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