One Family

I've been reading Paul's letters to churches the last couple of months. When I got to Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, I found that I was staying in chapter 3 for a while.

I've read this passage many times and in that familiarity I've often moved quite quickly through it. This time when I got to Ephesians 3, I slowed down. I read the chapter out loud a few times. And noticed some incredible things I've missed before in it.

Before you read the rest of this post, I want to encourage you to read Ephesians 3. In your Bible, or follow this link to it. Read it out loud and listen to the words if you can.

The things I noticed as I read are the topic of the next few posts here.

What I noticed when I read this isn't anything that hasn't been there all day long, but it is something God used to speak so clearly to me.



Paul begins this chapter talking about how God has now included the Gentiles along with the Jews in His way of salvation. He talks about how it is through the work of Christ on the cross that all are brought together in one family.

I've often struggled with getting through the first part of this chapter because it didn't seem to be the really important part of it all. But this time as I read the chapter all as one, I realized that these verses set the foundation for the rest of the chapter.

It is because we have been brought together as one family through Christ that anything that follows makes sense.

It was a radical shift in thinking for the day that Jews and Gentiles were both a part of God's chosen and holy people. That's one reason why Paul takes the time to focus on this. He knew that for his original audience it was important to begin here.

God showed me why it was important for me to begin here to as I carefully read each word this time. The starting place for everything that follows in this chapter is this understanding that we are one body as Christ followers. Christ's work brings us all together as one big family.

And within that big family, we have smaller groups that we in close relationship with. This forms the foundation of what Paul says in the rest of the chapter. And it's an important foundation, because we weren't meant to live this life as followers of Christ alone.

It's also because we're living in a community with one another that we can begin to understand other things we find in Scripture. They just wouldn't make sense if we lived this life alone.

Is Discipline Enough?

Pleasure . . .

We spend much of our life seeking it.

We'll spend our money and give our time easily toward those things that bring us pleasure.

We were made for it.

We look for pleasure in all kinds of things and people.

But do we look for pleasure in our relationship with God? Are there times we really enjoy in our walk with God?

Or is it all about discipline? All about the things you have to do?

If it's all about discipline, you won't last long at anything - much less anything in your walk with God. Discipline is often the place we start, and as I wrote in a recent post, it is a way to create space for God to work in our lives.

But if it never moves beyond discipline - beyond that thing you do because you should - it won't last. You may be able to sustain it for days, weeks, months, or even years in some cases, but eventually discipline will fail.

That's where pleasure comes in. We seek it in many areas of our lives, but often not in our walk with God. But our walk with God is a place where we have to learn to find pleasure.

As King David says in Psalm 37:4, we need to "take delight in the Lord." That doesn't sound lie something that comes with discipline alone to me. It sounds like something more.

God wants us to find pleasure in what comes from His, In Psalm 16, David writes this:

"You make known to me the path of life;
          you fill me with joy in your presence,
          with eternal pleasures at your right hand."
                     (Psalm 16:11)

David seemed pretty sure that pleasure was something God desired for him to have. And that same God wants us find our pleasure in our relationship with Him as well.

If we look at David's life we see a man who struggled with sin and who made some big mistakes, yet he continued to seek God. David learned to find pleasure in God - in his relationship with God. It is possible.

So, how do we find pleasure in God?

David's life shows us that we seek God to find it. We cry out to God in and every situation - the good and the bad. The book of Osalms is filled with examples of David doing this.

And we ask God to show us how to find pleasure in our relationship with Him. God answers prayers, so if we ask Him, He will show us.

Often the way to finding pleasure in our relationship with God begins with discipline. Discipline is good and necessary, but it must move beyond that for it to last.

Doubt in Writing

I don't often write about writing on here. That's not really the purpose behind this blog, but every once in a while the discussion in a writing group I'm part of prompts me to post something about writing here. Lately we've been discussing doubt and overcoming it in regards to our writing in that group. This post stems from that discussion.

It's inevitable that when you have somewhere you write for regularly, you will experience doubts.

Doubt that you anyone will actually care about what you write.

Doubt that people will actually read what you write.

Doubt that are any good at writing.

Doubt that you have anything of value to say.

Doubt that anyone would notice if you just simply disappeared.

And those doubts come even when you know you are supposed to write. Even when you can't not write. No writer, no matter why they write, is immune to doubt.

The difference between those who keep writing despite the doubt and those who give up at the first sign of doubt is what we do with the doubt. We have a choice when they come.

We can decide that the doubt means we weren't cut out to be a writer. And then we stop writing. Keeping our words and what we have to say inside forevermore.

Or we can choose to allow the doubt to push us to write more. We can take it as a sign that what we have to say is important. If it wasn't important, we wouldn't be worried about saying it.

 Sometimes, as writers we have things we feel like we need to say, but something is keeping us from being able to write them. And that something is doubt. I know I've had those times.

One of the clearest examples I have to share came a little over a year ago. I had something pressing I felt I should write, but every time I sat down tow rite it, I couldn't get any words onto the page. My doubt that I was actually the person to write it and share it kept the words from coming - kept me from writing anything at all, even other things. Ultimately, the doubt was fear of what others would think if I wrote it.

I finally got to the point where I knew I had to just write it. I went to my favourite writing place and sat down. I didn't worry about getting the words right. That can always be fixed later. I just started writing, as it came. It didn't make much sense at first, that came the more I wrote.

I've learned that sometimes when we're feeling doubt as a writer, we just need to sit down and write whatever we can. When we start, it may not make any sense at al. The important this is just to start writing. Leave the editing for later.

Once I finally got it written, I shared it and it has become my most popular blog post. To me, that's a sign that it definitely mattered that I wrote it. If it hadn't mattered if I wrote it, no one would have read it and I wouldn't have struggled to write it.

Doubt as a writer doesn't have to stop you from writing. It can be what pushes you to keep writing, because if you're supposed to write it's because what you have to say matters.