The House You're Building

        Orient  John 15:1-17 Christ continues his teaching to the disciples before His arrest as they walk from the Upper Room to the Garden of Gethsemane.  In this well-known section, Jesus uses an analogy from horticulture to explain the benefits to staying close to God.  He returns to previous themes connecting love for Him with obedience to Him.     Introduction A funny thing to ask people about is household chores.  Some people love laundry while others hate it.  I personally would rather clean a toilet than mop the floor.  There is really no apparent rhyme or reason to placing our weekly chores on a scale of enjoyment.  For me, one of my least favorite responsibilities is yard work.  Ironically, I live on 5 acres and the previous owners had spent lots of time curating a meticulous landscape surrounding the house.  Though a beauty to behold, it is a lot of work! T...

  [ 24] Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. [25] Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [26] If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. John 12:24-26   When I first became a Christian, I was intrigued by the concept of idolatry.  I had been to enough Sunday school classes with flannel board pictures to know that worshiping idols, a prohibition by God in the moral law [1] ,  had to do with gold statues.  In my childlike faith I never imagined that I was in fact breaking this same commandment—I didn’t bow down to precious metal objects! I was surprised to learn that I was in fact worshiping idols because they aren’t only concrete item.  An idol is anything you worship, honor, or eleva...

How often do you think about your patterns and habits?     Is it only when something is going wrong or like many, do you become contemplative around the transition to a new year?     I’ve been thinking about my lifestyle for about 3 months now, so though December is winding down, and January is quickly approaching, the words I share with you aren’t a new thought in my mind.  Yet before God highlighted this passage as I was reading, I couldn’t quite put into words the cause of my disquiet:    You have sown much, and harvested little.  You eat, but you never have enough; you drink but you never have your fill.  You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm.  And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes. Haggai 1:6 (ESV)   In a word, I’ve been weary.  At Christmas, the hymn [1]  tells us “the weary world rejoices” which sounds fantastic except I’m not rejoicing—I’m just tired. ...