How Symbolic is YOUR Life?
Are we bringing every thought captive to Christ? Are we doing all things in the name of our Beloved Saviour and unto his glory? In your whole life, is He truly Lord of all?
He invites us to "Abide in me". Obviously the language of continuing activity.
Did you notice that when the apostle was writing about marriage - he immediately calls it a mystery about Christ and the church?
The saints of old sang about the earth showing, symbolizing God's handiwork. And the heavens, too.
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, Deuteronomy 8: 6-10
Despite these admonitions and many others like them, there are still those who believe that a weekly "communion" would be too frequent... Whould they also believe that "praying without ceasing" would be too frequent?
Oh, allow me one more:
On that day "Holy to the Lord" will be inscribed on the bells of the horses and the cooking pots in the LORD’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Zechariah 14
So, you heard the horses bells or picked up a pot in the kitchen... Thoughts of a merciful God flashed across your mind: Jesus loves me, this I know - for the Bible tells me so!
The focus of the totality of life is worship. We must not reduce worship to once a week meetings.
This mp3 is by a person whom I cannot identify. Perhaps you have also heard it. If not, you will be in for a treat.
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- · Todd Buiten
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If I'm to be honest then I must confess that this is a difficult subject for me to talk about. It's not that I don't think symbolism is important, but I have become jaded by the way that I see many Christians use symbols to their own benefit. How many of us have seen a Christian business directory full of companies that will give us "a fair shake" because their owners attend the local congregation? Please don't get me wrong... it's fine for Christians to own and run businesses. And it's fine for them to do business with other Christians. But when a Christian holds out their own righteousness to others as a way to get customers then that seems to go against the message of the Gospel. I guess that saying that you're a sinner doesn't sell widgets.
Additionally, I was at one time involved with a group of Christians who very much advertised their Christianity as a means of evangelizing. Wanting to be a "good" Christian, I bought one of those Jesus fishes for my truck, though I never got around to putting it on. You see, before I could put it on I figured that I needed to clean up my driving a bit. I'm not very aggressive, but traffic is traffic and sometimes you have to squeeze in a bit. Anyway, after a couple of weeks I'm stressed because I'm not the model of perfection yet even though I've improved. Then one day I'm on the I-405 and I accidentally cut off a guy. I honestly did not see him. And I started to weep uncontrollably. How am I ever to put on this sticker if I'm not perfect?
My point here is that symbolism is a two-way street. When we show outward signs of being a Christian, I think that we should be asking ourselves if we are we doing it to God's glory, or are we doing it for our own benefit? In my case, I was trying to show others my own righteousness in hopes that they would want to "join the club". Instead, God used the event to remind me that my hope is not in my own righteousness but rather in Christ's. I eventually threw out the sticker.