Living in the Spirit

October 14, 2022

Scripture Reading:

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully. –2 Timothy 4:1-5

I was writing a piece on reducing poverty in the USA recently when I was struck by the fact that what needed to happen to reduce poverty was not some great mystery, but it did require a lot of hard work and dedication to implement. It particularly required working together with others to find common ground toward attaining the common good and right now our nation is caught up in stubborn diversity of thought and purpose.

I am not allergic to all kinds of hard work, but I do remember disliking work in the garden on our farm. My mother and sister actually thought it was fun. Instead of digging in and getting the job done, I was always finding distractions. My mom finally gave up on my becoming a gardener. By the time I was ten I was left at the house with a list of chores that I did not mind doing and cooking which I enjoyed. I learned from that experience that we are not called to do everything, but we are called to do something and endowed with skills and talents to complement our calling. It may, however, require us to venture into areas that were not originally on our radar.

That said, we can find ourselves looking in all the wrong places trying to find what is right for us. I chose to base these devotions on the lectionary scriptures because that forces me to read most of the Bible over a three-year period, even the parts I do not like. Thomas Jefferson solved this problem by cutting out the verses with which he disagreed.  Indeed, that is accumulating teachers to suit our own desires. We also tend to intermingle with people like us. Branching out into the whole beloved community may surprise us when we discover new ways of loving God which results in learning to love all our neighbors which might result in our learning to love ourselves better.

Prayer: Lord, as we grow in spirit and in truth help us to find and hone new skills and talents to serve you more nearly. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.