Proper 24 / Pentecost 22 / OT 29
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you.
-- 1 Thessalonians 1:4
What if it is true that you have been chosen by God? We know the stories of Israel having been the chosen people, and we read the story of the disciples being chosen by Jesus. It did not mean for either that their lives were free from mistakes and more than a share of suffering. It did mean that there was a power working in their lives that was from beyond them. A message came to them and through them that was not of their own making. Paul spoke of that message as "not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit...." This power working through us does not overpower us but does enable us to be good news. It sounds forth from us in ways that are convicting in the lives of others. Paul said of the Thessalonians that their deeds of faith rippled out from their congregation in a way that was so convincing that it proclaimed itself. The theme of the church's internal ministry is the equipping of the saints, those called out of the world into the church, so that they might go back out into the world and proclaim the gospel. It is often the fruit of the Spirit that is the most effective witness. To be chosen by God is less a reason for arrogance than amazement. We are the same people and yet utterly different.
-- 1 Thessalonians 1:4
What if it is true that you have been chosen by God? We know the stories of Israel having been the chosen people, and we read the story of the disciples being chosen by Jesus. It did not mean for either that their lives were free from mistakes and more than a share of suffering. It did mean that there was a power working in their lives that was from beyond them. A message came to them and through them that was not of their own making. Paul spoke of that message as "not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit...." This power working through us does not overpower us but does enable us to be good news. It sounds forth from us in ways that are convicting in the lives of others. Paul said of the Thessalonians that their deeds of faith rippled out from their congregation in a way that was so convincing that it proclaimed itself. The theme of the church's internal ministry is the equipping of the saints, those called out of the world into the church, so that they might go back out into the world and proclaim the gospel. It is often the fruit of the Spirit that is the most effective witness. To be chosen by God is less a reason for arrogance than amazement. We are the same people and yet utterly different.
