Dear Fellow Children of God,
We had an interesting exercise in Bible Class last
Sunday. In our Sunday Bible class entitled
“Discovering God’s Vision for your life: You and Your Spiritual Gifts” we were asked, “Name 5 people you admire, and
list 3-4 characteristics about these people you admire.” The people we named could be people we know,
people from the past, even fictional people.
The lists were quite revealing.
Who do you
admire? My list of the people I admire includes
my wife, my dad, my childhood pastor, one of our St. John members, and even a
fictional pastor character, Father Tim. So,
who would be on your list? What is it
you admire about them? Perhaps an equally
important question is, ‘How have these people blessed your life and your faith?’ You see, in many ways we have been taught,
loved, and strengthened by those in our lives.
We have learned to trust God and love others through those who love and
trust Him. As Christians we stand on the
shoulders of those who have come before us.
There is another way to consider this question. Sunday is the first Sunday in the month of
November. This is the Sunday often
celebrated as “All Saints Sunday,” a time of remembering the faithful who went
before us. So, thinking of those in your
life who have gone to heaven, who has most influenced you, and how? My list of these people looks different than
the other list. This list includes a
grandfather and an uncle, a pastor, and even Martin Luther.
The book of Hebrews points to blessings of faith we have
received from those who came before us, and how those blessings impact our life
of living as a child of God. Chapter 12
begins, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let
us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and
let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” We have been blessed when others
trusted God’s love and showed love, even when they may have been facing the
trials and pains of life. Their examples
help us to live and persevere in faith.
The best help for faithfulness to God and perseverance in
love comes from Jesus Himself. Hebrews
12 continues, “2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who
for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down
at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such
opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
We know that we have been blessed by others’ lives of
faith. We want to be a blessing to
others around us, whether family or friends or neighbors. But, we are weak and do grow weary. That’s
when the grace and forgiveness of Jesus and His promise of eternal life give us
strength to keep living for our Lord. He
forgives our failure. He loved us
through His suffering. Jesus promises
eternal life to all who persevere in faith.
As All Saints Day approaches it is good to remember those
whose faith and lives have blessed us. Who
would you like to bless and encourage in faith?
As we look to Jesus, and the example of others, we can persevere, and we
pray that we may be a faithful witness to others.
A Child of God, Personally
blessed by the faithful example of many other Christians,,
Pastor Jonathan
P.S. This modern
song asks God’s help so that our lives are a blessing to those who follow
us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zesV09UAytk
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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ I am
sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and
friends whose e-mails I have. (I am always adding new names of friends
and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first
time.) However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me
know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message. . . Or, if
you know someone who would like to receive one of these e-mails, please send me
their e-mail address.
******
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