Hi Church
As we journey through life as God’s children, it’s so easy to forget
that in order to complete our course, our walk of faith, our race, it’s best to
travel light. That’s why the
writer to the Hebrews exhorts us to “throw of everything that hinders and the
sin that so easily entangles” [Heb.12: 1b], so that we can run our own race
with perseverance. Of course, perseverance requires that awful ‘D’ word – discipline.
We’ve been talking a lot about discipline lately – in fact, for our
church, perhaps this could be called the Year of Discipline. Kevin brought a
message recently called ‘The Nine Disciplines of the Flesh’, and last Sunday I
preached about expressing your true self, which is created in the image of God.
I alluded to the fact that in order to express this true self, which we are
supposed to love and accept in the same way God loves and accepts us, we must
practise the 10th discipline of the flesh. The 10th discipline of the flesh is the discipline of rest.
Although it does sound like an oxymoron (discipline is hard work, isn’t
it?), we really do have to discipline our thoughts, emotions and will (our
soul) in order to live in the rest that Jesus has already provided for us.
Instead of being under the control of the baggage from our past, we need to
learn to bring ourselves – thoughts, emotions and will – under the control of
the Holy Spirit.
Let me encourage you to examine the baggage that you carry on a daily
basis, and apply discipline to decide to lay down the baggage from the past
that weighs you down, hindering your progress in your race. If you will
discipline yourself to keep the door of your heart open wide to Jesus, your
Great Burden Bearer, you will find yourself enjoying the rest that comes from
trusting Him to get you across that finishing line. He is the Author and the
Finisher of our faith.
In His great love,
Kevin and Marilyn
Senior Pastors
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