Selwyn asks a challenging question: “What should we do to maintain the glow of God at the centre of our soul?“
I think that there are two main issues: one, keeping our mind and heart focused on God, and keeping His commandments – that is, to love God and to love everyone else – to look after the needs of others. We demonstrate to God that we love Him when we follow His commandments. One sure way of smothering God’s fire is to allow habitual sin back into our lives. A sign that we are sliding backwards is when we start to trade in ‘good’ and ‘bad’ deeds. For example, we might say to ourselves – ‘well I might have had too much to drink last Friday night and disgraced myself but I’ll put extra money into the plate on Sunday – to make up for it’! Instead, you should address the issue of sin by seeking God’s help, honestly admitting that it was wrong, and also actively avoiding the circumstances which led to sin.
The second issue is that we fail to trust in the fact that God is constantly working for the good of those who love Him. As Selwyn states: “The Christian who sees himself or herself as maintaining the Christian life by self-effort rather than by dependence upon the all-sufficient God will fall – and fall severely. … We must recognise that the divine fire is not ours to create, but it ours to receive.”
All to often, we can start to place our trust in Christian activities, yet cease to follow Jesus. Christian activities are things like attending a Sunday church service, being a member of a bible study group, or helping a local charity. We may start to do these things out of habit and not think about our relationship with Jesus even when we are undertaking our Christian ’committments’. In a very real sense we may become so busy doing stuff, that we fail to remain attentive to what the Holy Spirit might be telling us to do.
Maintaining the glow, involves maintaining our relationship with God, by following His ways, by talking to Him, and especially by listening to Him. As a concluding thought, I liked this bit in today’s study: “It also means taking God at His Word: According to your faith will it be done to you. Once you have opened your life to Him, and all sin has been put aside, then you must believe that He is now at work in you.” Then, God’s fire will burn so brightly in you that others will be attracted by the light and ask you the reason for your faith. What do you think?
Maintaining the glow
Selwyn asks a challenging question: “What should we do to maintain the glow of God at the centre of our soul?“
I think that there are two main issues: one, keeping our mind and heart focused on God, and keeping His commandments – that is, to love God and to love everyone else – to look after the needs of others. We demonstrate to God that we love Him when we follow His commandments. One sure way of smothering God’s fire is to allow habitual sin back into our lives. A sign that we are sliding backwards is when we start to trade in ‘good’ and ‘bad’ deeds. For example, we might say to ourselves – ‘well I might have had too much to drink last Friday night and disgraced myself but I’ll put extra money into the plate on Sunday – to make up for it’! Instead, you should address the issue of sin by seeking God’s help, honestly admitting that it was wrong, and also actively avoiding the circumstances which led to sin.
The second issue is that we fail to trust in the fact that God is constantly working for the good of those who love Him. As Selwyn states: “The Christian who sees himself or herself as maintaining the Christian life by self-effort rather than by dependence upon the all-sufficient God will fall – and fall severely. … We must recognise that the divine fire is not ours to create, but it ours to receive.”
All to often, we can start to place our trust in Christian activities, yet cease to follow Jesus. Christian activities are things like attending a Sunday church service, being a member of a bible study group, or helping a local charity. We may start to do these things out of habit and not think about our relationship with Jesus even when we are undertaking our Christian ’committments’. In a very real sense we may become so busy doing stuff, that we fail to remain attentive to what the Holy Spirit might be telling us to do.
Maintaining the glow, involves maintaining our relationship with God, by following His ways, by talking to Him, and especially by listening to Him. As a concluding thought, I liked this bit in today’s study: “It also means taking God at His Word: According to your faith will it be done to you. Once you have opened your life to Him, and all sin has been put aside, then you must believe that He is now at work in you.” Then, God’s fire will burn so brightly in you that others will be attracted by the light and ask you the reason for your faith. What do you think?