There is a show I like to watch now and then called, “Love It or List It”. It is about families who are thinking about relocating because their home doesn’t meet their needs. It is then that the two individuals who host the show assume their roles. One who takes the list of “needs” and with a prescribed budget, seeks to make the families present home meet those needs by remodeling it. The other guest ventures out to find them another home that seeks to meet those same needs and beyond. When it comes to buying various products, “advertisers carefully craft messages to turn wants into perceived needs” says Dyanne Weiss. I will be honest; I fall prey to this very thing and the proof is in the various cooking items I have at home. There is always that next great need.
This path I am on regarding meditation is challenging me to examine what I understand to be my “needs” for this spiritual journey called Christianity. In a world that seeks to try and convince me what I need in life to be happy, content, purposed and the list can go on, God’s word gently whispers in my ear. What is God saying?
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…
1st Peter 1:2-3a
The NCV says, “Jesus has the power of God, by which he has given us everything we need to live and to serve God” (v3) This word life is pretty amazing, for it speaks of life real and genuine; a life active and vigorous, devoted to God. Through the wonderful work of Jesus, He has given us all that is needed to have a life that matters. Jesus promised during His ministry saying, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Think about this verse for just a moment, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). Okay, I emphasized it. But did you hear what it says to those who are in Christ? So, I ask myself, “Does my life reflect an awareness of this reality?”
Well, there is more still. For through Christ we “have all things that pertain to…godliness.” Once again, the meaning of this words is powerful. Thayer’s defines it as reverence, respect, piety towards God. Through the knowledge of Christ and the teaching of the God’s word, those in Christ can learn of and thus conduct themselves in a way the reflects faith in Christ. You may recall in Anthony’s lesson last week that we are exhorted to “lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1st Timothy 2:2). We are to “exercise yourself toward godliness” (1st Timothy 4:7). How? Through seeking all that God has given us, which is all we really need.
I think of the words of Jesus found in Matthew 4:4. They are words often quoted and as such, we can pass over them, when what we should do, is meditate on them. As Jesus responds to Satan’s attempt to dissuade Him from His purpose, He says, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Where do we learn about the amazing gift of Jesus Christ? Where do we find the hope that is above the struggles of this life? Where do we find what it means to revere God?
God has truly given us all that we need for our spiritual journey home. Thank You Lord for providing it to us. Help us Lord to do our very best to grasp that You have given us everything we could possible need. May we hunger and thirst after You and feed on Your word daily.
Dennis
Biddeford Church of Christ 