One Lord, One Body, Together!

As a detail person, I sometimes cannot see the big picture or form an overview. Because of this, I really appreciate those who can make clear outlines, particularly outlines of a Bible book. The outline of Acts is fascinating because it follows the words of Jesus in the first chapter as He stressed the people and their mission to their world . . .

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

The book I’m using for devotional prompts is called “Exploring the New Testament” and this is the outline the author gives for Acts. The main headings are the primary locations where the Christians would go, and the secondary headings name the main people God put to work in each location.

Acts 1:1–11		Introduction: Apostles commissioned
1:12–8:3		The Gospel in Jerusalem
	1:12–5:42	Peter’s ministry
	6:1–8:3	Stephen’s ministry
8:4–11:18		The Gospel in Samaria and Judea
	8:4–40	Philip’s ministry
	9:1–31	Saul’s ministry begins
	9:32–11:18	Peter’s ministry concludes
11:19–21:14		The Gospel in the uttermost parts
	11:19–12:25	Barnabas’ ministry
	13:1–21:14	Paul’s ministry
	13:1–14:28	First journey
	15:1–35	The Jerusalem Council
	15:36–18:22	Second journey
	18:23–21:14	Third journey
21:15–28:29		The Gospel in Caesarea and Rome
	21:15–23:10	Paul taken prisoner in Jerusalem
	23:11–26:32	Paul as a prisoner in Caesarea
	27:1–28:29	Paul as a prisoner in Rome
28:30, 31		Conclusion—Apostolic commission fulfilled

This orderly outline excites me. It tells me that the God I worship is orderly. What I see in this world is often not. In fact, it can be very messy and disorganized. Maybe this is because I tend to look at the details, but whatever the reason, I am glad that my view of a mess is incomplete. The Bible does say:

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace . . .  (1 Corinthians 14:33) (and therefore)

 . . . all things should be done decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:40)

This has many applications. As a follower of an orderly God who is remaking me into the image of Jesus Christ, my life should be orderly too. Think desk, kitchen cupboards, book shelves, etc. So also should my schedule —  do the priorities first, then the next thing and the next thing . . . rather than being distracted and all over the place without accomplishing anything.

Chaos and disarray have no place in the life and work of the church either. God is not the author of confusion. If we are listening to Him and following Him, then our worship services, times of prayer, and all ministries will be orderly. Some might have different views of what that means, but we will agree that it does not mean confusion.

One stumbling block for some is the idea that if everyone follows the Holy Spirit, the result will be a messy and noisy group of people each doing something different. This totally misses the point. The Holy Spirit is one Person, not a diverse group. If we follow Him, we will also be in harmony and united even with our different gifts and perspectives.

It comes out in group prayer. I’m often thinking that I should pray for a certain person or a burden but before I open my mouth, another person in the group prays exactly what I was thinking! That is the work of the Holy Spirit. He gives us the burden and motivates our responses; we are together when our thoughts come from Him.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, learning to hear Your voice is wonderful. Realizing that others hear the same thoughts is even more exciting. You live in Your people. You put the same burdens and ideas in our hearts. We are not robots, but able to respond in different ways even as we agree on what You are saying to us. This shows up in the outline of Acts and continues to show up in Your Body of believers two thousand years later. Thank You for giving us unity in our diversity and the ability to know and follow Your will — together!

Decently and in order

Numbers 33:1–49, 1 Corinthians 15:12–34, Psalm 28:1–9

Having moved twenty-nine times, I often feel as if I’ve spent a major portion of life sorting and filing. I’ve some attention-deficit symptoms and my workspaces can become very messy, but I don’t do well if they stay that way too long. Because my mind is so easily distracted, life is easier when my stuff in order and easy to find, and my schedule is tackled in an orderly manner rather than doing things the way my mind operates— haphazardly and chaotic.

Today I noticed that God kept an orderly record of His dealing with His people. I like that. When He delivered them from bondage in Egypt, He sent them along their way in an orderly manner and kept track of when and where they travelled. This is just a short part of that record:

“These are the stages of the people of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt by their companies under the leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage, by command of the Lord, and these are their stages according to their starting places. They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them. On their gods also the Lord executed judgments. So the people of Israel set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth. And they set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge of the wilderness . . . . And Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the command of the Lord and died there, in the fortieth year after the people of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, on the first day of the fifth month.” (Numbers 33:1-6; 38)

If nothing else, these careful records show us that God takes note of such things, even as He governs these events. He cares that things are done in a certain way.

The NT reading is about the resurrection, and this again speaks of order: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:22–26)

God likely doesn’t keep a check list with each item in priority order (like I do) but everything comes out just the way He planned it. We sing that our God is an awesome God, yet it would be totally appropriate to add these lines to that song (perhaps with some tweaking by an actual songwriter) . . .

Our God is an organized God,

He reigns with plans from above

With wisdom logic and love

Our God is an organized God

I am the most organized-on-the-outside, disorganized-on-the-inside person that I know. For that reason, I rejoice that, “The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed.” (Psalm 28:8) The more scrambled I am, the greater my need to trust Him to keep my life in order. I am fully convinced that He is willing and perfectly capable of making sense of the messes that I make.

Disciplined Life > Disciplined Mind

In his book, The Disciplined Life, Richard Shelley Taylor writes, “Disciplined character belongs to the person who achieves balance by bringing all his faculties and powers under control. . . . He resolutely faces his duty. He is governed by a sense of responsibility. He has inward resources and personal reserves which are the wonder of weaker souls. He brings adversity under tribute, and compels it to serve him.”

I once thought that in order to act right, I must first think right. However, I’m now perceiving that right thinking sometimes requires outward discipline. That is, if I make myself keep a tidy house, my mind is less cluttered. (Believe me, it only makes sense when you try it.)

My devotional theme is self-discipline. From a person who totally relates to Gabor Maté’s book, A Scattered Mind, I’ve wondered if a disciplined mind was even possible. However, the older I get, the less able I am to manage jumbled thoughts. Simplicity is becoming more important. As I work to keep my spaces tidier and less packed with more stuff than I need, I’m starting to see the connection between that outward order and the inner order of a disciplined mind.

My husband is too. He went to work for a few hours yesterday (a national holiday) to clean up his email. He said that doing this job made him feel as if his mind was lighter, less burdened.

In Taylor’s quote, he stresses that all faculties and powers need to be brought under control. This is not easy. Before sitting down to my Bible, I read something that reminded me how all that I have is God’s and that I need to continually give all back to Him, rededicating all the powers of my mind and body, all my possessions and influence to His service. This reading included asking God to speak in my words and think in my thoughts.

My Bible verse is about being pressing on too. It tells me to be earnest and determined to please God. It is about wanting His approval, a Greek word that means an approval based on what remains after I am tested.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God. . . . (2 Timothy 2:15)

Yesterday was a test (like every day is a test), but I didn’t use my time or energy in a way that was fruitful. Looking back, I had the mentality that just because it was a holiday, I let my self-discipline go on vacation too. Poor excuse. Self-discipline is a fruit of the Spirit. If I am filled with Him, it will be so natural that it just happens. Instead of being diligent, I was more occupied with goofing off. I know that taking a break and getting some rest might have been on His agenda for me, but I didn’t seek His will for the day and didn’t feel His approval at the end of it. The leftovers of yesterday’s test were meager indeed.

Another thing that I am learning is to be more sympathetic toward those senior Christians that I’ve criticized for “retiring” from spiritual life and growth and drifting into a worldly attitude, mostly one of complaining about their aches and pains. Being diligent is hard work. After years of it, the temptations to quit are greater, not less. As I’ve heard said, aging is not for sissies.

Yet even as I get older, God continues to call me to diligence. In the context of 2 Timothy, this is about studying His Word, but I know this call also fits the context of daily life and of pressing on toward the upward call of being like Jesus. He said, “Not my will but Thine be done” and wants me to be of the same mind.

Today that boils down to a very simple application. I need to tackle the tasks God has put before me and not allow myself to slack off unless He tells me to.