Cornerstone

Mark 4:10-13 (11)

A man born in the city decided to move to the country and start a chicken farm. He bought 200 baby chicks and a farmhouse with some land around it. The chickens all quickly died. He bought 200 more baby chicks. Again, they all died. Puzzled and distressed, the man wrote to the county agricultural agent and described his problem. He concluded his letter, “I want very much to be a successful chicken farmer. Therefore, can you tell me: Have I been planting the chicks too close together or too deep?” Whereupon the county agent wrote back and said, “I can’t answer your question until you send me a soil sample.”*

The disciples seemed to be about that dense sometimes. Sometimes I am as well. And yet I take great satisfaction in reading that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor 2:14) Because of my relationship with Jesus Christ I now have a greater insight into the meaning of God’s Word. There are some passages of Scripture that we will still struggle with until we develop more in Christian growth. But as Mark Twain once said, “Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand. The Scripture which troubles me most is the Scripture I do understand.” It is essential that we accept and work with what we DO know as we are developing a greater understanding of the Word.

*Adapted James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 211.

Dr. Gayle Woods

Col 2:6-12 (7)

To be complete in Christ means that we are settled in our Christian experience, we are supported in our endeavor to develop in character, our faith in God is strengthened, we are learning the precepts of Scripture, and we overflow with thanksgiving to our Lord.

Leighton Ford, once said, (Leadership, Vol. 4, no. 1) “God loves us the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way.” We have not always been complete in Christ, and the paradox is that even when we are complete in Christ we are not complete. The Christian life must be maintained. Our feet must not moved from the Rock on which they stand, the development of Christian character must ever continue, our faith must constantly be reinforced, the Scriptures are never total absorbed in their entirety, and unfortunately our thanks is often slow in being manifested. Our Christian life must be maintained and unless it continually grows it cannot be maintained.

Something we must continually remember is that it is not all our work. We are not making ourselves Christians. We are involved in the process of Gods handiwork but the job is not entirely up to us. J Sidlow Baxter expressed it like this:

What God chooses, He cleanses.

What God cleanses, He molds.

What God molds, He fills.

What God fills, He uses.

Dr. Gayle Woods