Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

-

Worship: Celebration of the Faith of the People of God.

Mathews Thomas
St. Peter's MTC, Bhopal, India.

12 On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”


How do we express our identity in this world? How do we respond when people ask, who are you? We express by what we do as I am a nurse or doctor, or an engineer or a teacher or a social worker etc. But our identity should not be based on by what we do.Our identity should be based on who we are. Our identity should be that I am a child of God. If we say yes, being a child of God is my identity, then just ponder are we known as people of God? Does the world recognise us as such? If not let's try to do some soul searching with the help of the scriptures.

We have received our identity as a child of God from God. For those who believe God, He gave the right to be a child of God (John 1:12)No matter how lifeless we are, how messed up our life is, God joins us in that living river (Ezekiel 47:8-9).For some time we may keep aside our professional abilities and our capabilities but never can we forget that we are a child of God.

This identity that we received is through faith in the love of God for us.(1John3:1) Shall we just ponder on this faith that gives us the identity of who we are. Faith in God gives us the identity of being the child of God. Faith has a component apart from believing in His name.

Of course faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see and that is how Hebrews chapter 11 starts but as we dig in further in that chapter we find that our forefathers were commended for expressing their faith through actions. Thus we can say that faith is our response to what God has done for us. God showed us the extent of His love by what His son  Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary. The agony of Jesus at the garden of Gethsemane expresses His love for us.

How do we respond to this love is the expression of our faith. This expression of our faith is not limited to our Sunday worship or cottage prayer meetings. How do we go about in our daily chores of life, how do we react under stressful conditions, do we reflect our faith and form our worship to God? Thus worship is a lifestyle-a celebration of our faith.

Therefore the apostle Paul while writing to Galatians says 'what counts is faith expressed in love'. So as we live in this world let us identify ourselves as a child of God, a people of God and make our daily actions a response to God's love for us.May this mode of lifestyle be our spiritual act of worship a celebration of our faith. Then we will be fruitful (Ezekiel 47:12)

PRAYER

Lord, help us to identify ourselves as Your child in this world and express our faith through acts of kindness and love. Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Faith is man's positive response to God's action.

Popular posts from this blog

Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

-
  Constant, patient and welcoming love of God   St. Luke 15: 11-32  V.21: And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ The parable of the ‘Prodigal son’ is one of the most frequently quoted parables that Jesus told His disciples. The parable contains the rich mine of human virtues and emotions. This parable is lived and re-lived in progressing civilizations from time immemorial and continuing. It brings out in vivid detail the pathetic depth of human sinfulness and the glorious heights of God’s forgiveness.      As a story of human nature, fathers are generally merciful to their children in any circumstance. They are very protective and are eager to provide for and secure the lives of their offspring. Jesus is telling this parable to underscore the superlative love of God to His children. The nature of such love is reiterated by Jesus in Matthew 7:11. Humankind wh...
Read more

Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

-
Revelation for Liberation Acts 27:18-26 Sherine Thomas Long Island MTC, NY 20  When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. “After winter comes the summer.  After night comes the dawn.  And after every storm, there comes clear open skies” so said a Scottish clergyman from the 1600s. It’s been said, that hope can sometimes be the most dangerous weapon.  However, it’s sometimes the hardest weapon to carry when you’re living with the loss of a loved one, something that almost feels like a terrible nightmare that’ll never go away.  It’s a weapon difficult to carry when day in and day out no one seems to hear or see those tears that are shed or silent cries that are made during a heartfelt prayer. It’s a weapon difficult to carry as you see your loved one lying on that hospital bed.  It’s a weapon difficult to carry as you search and seek out answers to tel...
Read more

Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

-
PRIESTHOOD: THE ANOINTED MINISTRY Exodus 40:12-16 Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting... wash them with water. Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest (Exodus 40: 12-13). Priesthood among the people of God was a divine command and initiation. God wanted some people to be separated for the special ministry among his people. God appointed Aaron and his descendants to take up this kind of ministry among the people of God. Priests are always separated and appointed as channels that connect God with his people. All throughout the history of Israel, priests played an important role in connecting people with God and to lead and guide them in the statutes of God. But there are incidents in the Bible where the priests failed in their duties and that led the people to go away from God. So the priests have a special and significant ministry to perform in this world among his people. Two important things...
Read more