Last Sunday, we finished the Beth Moore Bible Study on the book of James – Mercy Triumphs. It was a sad day for those of us who had been enjoying digging deep into God’s word together – I don’t think any of us really wanted it to end. What added to that sorrow was Sunday morning’s announcement that the Lord was moving our family away from RCN, which meant this would be our last Bible Study together. We all agreed with my dear friend Amy as she said she did not want this to be one more Bible Study that she completes, puts on a shelf and then life goes back to normal. We all desire for this study to CHANGE us! If the book of James can be summed up in the two words LIVE IT, then that is what we want to do.
The next few verses of Colossians 2, which is where God has me this morning, give great counsel on what to do next – how to let the words of God change who we are and how we live our lives. Colossians 2:6-7 (NLT) – And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.
When we remain in Him, rooted and established, daily spending time in God’s presence, we will grow. There will always be a next step and more understanding to be gained as we continue to follow Him, growing stronger each day. But this growth cannot take place apart from the source, which takes me back to three of my favorite passages of my Scripture: John 15:1-17, Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17:7-8.
Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who He is – when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples – John 15:4-8 (The Message).
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit – Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT).
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers – Psalm 1:2-3 (NIV).
Which leaves us with the last note of Colossians 2:7 – “overflow with thankfulness.” This morning my coffee cups overflows with thankfulness – I choose to be thankful for God’s provision, thankful for God’s faithfulness, thankful for opportunities, thankful for friends, thankful for His Church, and thankful for the close relationship I share with Him. God is so good and we have so much to be thankful for.