Free to Sing

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“I have on my table a violin string,” wrote Ranidranath Tagore.

“It is free to move in any direction I like. If I twist one end it responds; it is free. But it is not free to sing. So I take it and fix it into my violin. I bind it and when it is bound, it is free for the first time to sing.”

Our society believes freedom is to be free from all restrictions and boundaries.

But what if we were created and made to be bound? Bound to God, bound to righteousness, bound to holiness, bound to make a difference in the lives of others, etc.

Freedom from all restrictions and boundaries is chaos. Worse yet, such freedom prevents us from becoming what we were created to be.

Freedom – the freedom to be what we were created to be – is found in being closely bound to our Creator.

His name is Jesus.

Do you know him? Receive Jesus as LORD and Savior.

Taking Captive Every Thought to Make it Obedient to Christ

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“…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5b).

Long before a sin is committed, that sin has been entertained, dreamed about, fantasized, planned, imagined in our thoughts.

When you see a beautiful woman, a handsome man, a beautiful car or motorcycle you can’t help but notice the beauty. Thoughts happen. There’s nothing wrong with that.

It’s what we do after the original thought that is the problem. When we allow inappropriate thoughts to dwell, that’s on us.

Thankfully, most of us don’t go around committing the sins we think about. What we struggle with is our thoughts.

I find Paul’s admonition and challenge encouraging and helpful. Paul tells the Corinthian church, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

  • Demolish
    • The Greek word for “demolish” means to “take down,” “pull down,” “overthrow”
    • Demolish what? Demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God
    • Something other than the truth of God has set itself up as the authority and the standard of truth in our lives. We are called to demolish, take down, pull down, and overthrow anything that goes against the knowledge of God
  • Take captive
    • The Greek word for “take captive” means to subdue, subject
    • What are we to take captive?
  • Every thought
    • We are to take captive every thought. The good, the bad, the ugly. All…all..every thought
  • For what reason?
    • To make it obedient to Christ!

 

I love this!

  • We have the word of God to tell us what God’s will is
  • We have been given the authority, the responsibility to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ

Imagine taking every thought captive in order to make it obedient to Christ! Wow!

You Don’t Have to Like Everyone in Order to Be a Great Church

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You don’t have to like everyone in order to be a great church.

It’s quite likely there are people in church who get on your nerves. And you can be sure there are many for whom you grate their nerves.

If there is a gathering of people in your church, there will be times you are absolutely flabbergasted because of their support for President Trump or because of the way they can’t stand President Trump, because of their views on gun rights, view of the homeless, etc.

And when you see or hear such people speak, you can’t help but think to yourself, “I could never be friends with such people.”

Did you know that’s actually a good thing?

Let me clarify.

It’s not a good thing if that’s where you stop – divisions, clicks, disunity based on interests and loyalties. That’s what everyone else does.

It is absolutely a good thing that there are a diversity of people and views present in the church. God put them there! God placed a diverse people in the church so that the church can show the world that people can disagree on issues and still absolutely care for, love, honor, and respect one another. Few other human organizations are able to pull this off. But this is exactly what the church is called to do and be.

The reason why the church can move beyond human loyalties is because our commitment to follow Jesus trumps all other loyalties.

Jesus is Lord!

You don’t have to agree nor support people’s views and opinions. But we are absolutely called to respect, honor, love, and care for all people.

Why? Because, Jesus is Lord!