Tuesday Morning Investment

“I’m convinced God has me lead our Ladies’ Bible study session just so He can teach me the truths from that lesson He knows  I need to learn."

I made the remark to my husband, stating aloud what I have thought time and time again.

How valuable and life-changing (mine!) the purposeful time of study that our Tuesday Ladies’ Bible study continues to be in my own love for and walk with God.  Over the years the close scrutiny of God’s Word that is required in a teacher (or a serious student) has borne rich fruit in my soul.  It has not often been convenient, the study time rarely compelling nor easy, but it has nudged me forward  with steady, rewarding increments in my walk with God to my own joy.

May I share a few morsels of treasure that have been mined just from this week’s chapter, Hebrews 13? This chapter follows the writer’s main premise of the superiority of Christ over the Old Covenant, and here he outlines in bullet point fashion a listing of practical exhortations.

(I’ve saved the most personally convicting for the final point.)

Theology is Practical. “Verses 1-6 demonstrate that true Christian commitment involves living out commitment to Christ in the nitty gritty of daily living. Beds and bankrolls cannot be separated from theology. This is where the reality of our relationship of God is manifested. The dusty and crowded sidewalks, the kitchen tables, the lunchrooms and lounges, are the places where we must ‘confess his name’ and ‘do good…and share with others’ if we are to live authentically as believers. We must live out these principles in daily practice (Guthrie, NIV Application Commentary, p 446)”.

In such areas of marriage and money the worlds of the spirit and the street meet. Such meeting places become dance floors on which we move to the music of his will or a stage of games on which we play at Christianity with dichomotized, hypocritical hearts. Everyday.  Everyday. God wants us and wants us to want him in the nitty-gritty wonder, the plan and exalted dance of everyday life

(Guthrie, p 450). 

Money and Possessions. “He who has God and everything has no more that He who has God alone” (C.S. Lewis).  Money is rightly seen as a means to meeting needs (yours and another’s) rather than a driving motivation or preoccupation of life. Such a person is content with what God has given.

Sex in Marriage.  A healthy sexual relationship within marriage gives a platform for truth’s proclamation to the world and a joyful dance of worship before God. In marriage fidelity and pleasure we shout against the inevitability of marital breakup and adultery proclaimed by the godless. Our healthy marriages trumpet the redemption of people from self-centeredness and destructive, immoral life patterns. The bed becomes a mini-church in which the two covenant members sacrificially and ecstatically meet another’s needs and offer their bodies a living sacrifices in worship before God (Guthrie, 450, emphasis mine).”  Just as in all relationships, this is neither simple or easy.  But because of God it is possible.

New Testament Sacrifices.  Verses 15-16 command two ongoing sacrifices: praise and good works.  Here the writer of Hebrews emphasizes “the truth of the Gospel is proclaimed in a thousand varied voices…In the common practices of financial management, date nights, cleaning dirty faces and dirty bottoms, integrity at work, care for the burdened or oppressed, and hospitality, God finds pleasure, for these are worthy sacrifices when presented on an altar made holy by the blood of Christ (Guthrie, p 448 emphasis mine).”

Spiritual Leaders.  Here lies my strongest personal application and conviction:
“Members of the church should reflect on the effects of their responses on the church’s leadership. Does their relationship with you facilitate the difficult work of your church leaders…or hinder it? Are you a source of emotional refreshment  or emotional  fatigue? Does the pastor leave you with a song on his lips or a groan in the heart?  Are you characterized by thankfulness to God, or are you a grumbler, constantly finding fault with people and processes in the church? Are you engaged in meeting the needs of others in the church on a weekly basis (Guthrie, p 452).”

Ouch.

Tuesday morning treasure.
Thank you, God, for the faithful training, discipline and encouragement of your Word… which is life!
(And the Tuesday morning ladies whose presence and interest push me where I’d likely never go on my own.)