by Tracey McMahan
On January 15th, Pastor Todd started us on a journey of 40 Days of Transformation. It’s been a journey of challenges, conviction, blessing, and change. I guess that pretty much sums up what transformation has looked like for me.
Day 18 found us reading Luke 10:25-28. This passage holds a particular word that has been at work in me.
And a lawyer stood up and put [Jesus] to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this and you will live."
Previously, when I’ve read these verses, I’ve continued on to the well-loved story of the good Samaritan. But on that day I couldn’t get past verse 28. It arrested me. It stopped me in my tracks. And it piqued my curiosity: "Do this and you will live."
What could Jesus have possibly meant when He used the word "live" in this way? Webster’s online dictionary offered 9 definitions for the word live. The first was very simplistic: to be alive. Surely Jesus meant more than merely "one who drew breath and had a heartbeat."
Definition number 8 was a bit more intriguing: to have a life rich in experience. I wondered, was that definition more in line with what Jesus meant?
The Amplified Bible read this way: "Do this and you will enjoy active, blessed, endless life in the kingdom of God." Ah, I was getting closer.
Digging a little deeper I discovered treasure buried in the original Greek word zao. In the context of this verse live means not only to have eternal life, but also to be admitted to the bliss and privileges of the Redeemer’s kingdom.
Putting it all together, I now read that if I will but love my great Lord and God with everything I’m about – my heart, my soul, my strength and my mind – and if I will extend this same depth of love to everyone around me, I will have a richness of life that is active, blessed and endless, eternal, blissful and privileged not only here on earth, but forever in the kingdom of my God and my Redeemer.
Now that’s a WAW, would you agree?
"Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks.” Luke 12:36
ReplyDeleteIn Day 22 of the 40 day study the question was asked from Luke 12:35-59, What does the idea of “being on the alert” mean to modern day believers?
A word study of “waiting for”gave these insights:
“To await with confidence and patience, strained expectancy, eager longing, Expecting with outstretched hand, Vigilant, watching, alert, dressed for action, going about serving, doing the will of the Master as one waits.
But when I read this definition from Vine’s it hit a particular chord in me and I thought it really answered the question of what being alert meant for modern day believers.
Here’s what it said...
The stretching forth of the head indicating an "expectation" of something from a certain place, abstraction from anything else that might engage the attention, and absorption in the object expected "till the fulfillment is realized" (Alford).— Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.
So what does being alert look like for me?
1. Abstraction from anything else that might engage the attention...whew...I can’t even begin to count how many unworthy things (not too mention worthy things) compete for my attention every day and how much I need the Lord to help me focus on Him first and then allow Him to prioritize the rest of it in the order He see’s fit. But the best reason to allow Him to abstract me from distractions is so I am in a place to do #2....
2. Absorption in the object expected......sweet sweet absoption in Christ...when I am there life is at its fullest and by default I am alert. So I have to make that a priority until....
3. Till the fulfillment is realized .....till I see Him face to face.
Psalm 19:4 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and Redeemer.”
ReplyDeleteI chose to look into the word meditation. Wow! The conviction was overpowering! I literally sat in my office with heart racing, tears welling up, and body shaking. Here is what I found: concentration, deep thought, quiet time, reflection, rumination, self examination, scrutiny, study, analysis, long hard look, investigation, sifting, dissection, interrogation.
Although, I studied all of the words listed above, two of them stuck out to me.
I thought about my Grandmother’s sifter that she used for flour and how even things would get caught in the screen as you turned the crank. What would be caught in the screen of my heart? What things do I not even realize are there (or maybe don’t want to realize are there)….
And then to dissect my heart!! I’ve dissected quite a few animals in school. First of all, the smell is disgusting. Yep, when you dissect my heart…there is gonna be a foul odor when you slice into those not so nice parts. The other problem with dissecting, is that you look at every single area and go over it with great detail.
I want His heart and I want my heart to look just like His! The dissection and sifting of my heart are painful, but like John 15:2 says “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
Amanda and Tracey....those are some great posts. I love what I am learning through what you share. Thanks for taking the time to dig and then let me/us glean the jewels along with you!
ReplyDeleteTrudy