From Pastor Lee
May 3, 2024
It’s Not a New Concept
Vickie and I purchased a house almost five years ago so that when retirement came, we would not only have a place to live in but be close to our children and grandchildren. The house was built in 1940 and is nothing large or fancy. Since we bought the home, we have slowly worked on it by renovating one of the bathrooms and adding a deck on the back of the house. In working with the deck, it seems I have more than once ended up with a splinter in my hand. Sometimes I am not aware of when nor how it happened until it begins to bother my hand. I think we can all identify with getting a splinter or a thorn stuck in our hand and then trying to retrieve it to relieve the discomfort and pain. Sometimes it is an easy task and then there are those times when I can’t get it out and just let it stay until it is somehow absorbed into my flesh. I say of that because unlike a splinter or a thorn I believe most of us, if not all of us, want to have Jesus in us. Unlike a splinter or thorn Jesus doesn’t get into us by accident nor should it be a painful or discomfort to have Him come into us. In fact, the only way to have Jesus in us is to surrender ourselves to Him. With all that is going on in our world and especially within the denomination of which our church is a part of, it seems that this idea (a biblical one) of having Jesus in us and us in Jesus is ever before me. For me, like most of you, it’s not a new concept. It is one I have come across in reading scripture. It was about two years ago that I ordered a reprint of In Christ by E. Stanley Jones. It is a daily devotional, and every reading is about being in Christ and Christ in us. Then recently, about a month ago, the Wake Up Call, a daily reading I get from Seedbed.org in my inbox every morning has been on this subject of being in Christ and Christ in us. You may be wondering where am I going with all of this “in” talk? I sense that God is speaking to me and through me as a reminder we have been called by God to be more than just in a covenant relationship with God based upon what we do or don’t do. We have through Jesus Christ, been adopted as God’s children. That is, if we truly see that our relationship with God is so much more than keeping covenant rules. That is difficult as it takes the control of our lives and our salvation from ourselves as we place it into God’s hands. That means trusting God more than we trust our own goodness and our own wisdom. As was taught in Sunday school not too long ago, we must have both truth and love. If you have truth without love, then it is incomplete. Likewise, we must love as Jesus loves us but that doesn’t let us off the hook from truth. I encourage you, as you read your Bible to look for the “in” passages. They are found in the New Testament. It was in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill…” (Matthew 5:17-20). Please take the time to read the other verses as I only quoted verse 17. What does that mean for you and me? As your pastor I have come to love all of you and am praying for you, my church family.
Love, Pastor Lee
