"Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me,
or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with
you." (Philippians 4:9 NIV)
"Whatever" you have learned--practice--and the God of peace will be with you.
If there is always an opposing perspective that is equally true, then
whatever people have learned from watching others, and put into practice
that is in opposition to God, there will be no peace with them.
If
others see a married couple with children, struggle through the trials
of life and yet remain faithful and committed to the relationship, they
will learn to do the same and practice what they have learned.
If
others see married couples move in and out of marriages as quickly as
they change their clothes, they will learn to do the same and practice
what they have learned.
If others see
people doing good--always doing the right thing--no matter what their
circumstances--they will learn to do the same and practice what they
have learned.
If others see people taking
advantage of others, misusing and abusing others, they will learned to
do the same and practice what they have learned.
If
others see people living their lives according to The Word, they will
learn to do the same and know peace in their lives and practice what
they have learned.
If others see people
living their lives any way they want to live, they will learn to do the
same and never know peace in their lives and practice what they have
learned.
This list could go on and on, but the bottom line is that whatever people see and hear us do, when we are the influence in their lives, that is what they will learn and practice.
Perhaps, this is why there is no peace in the land.
Not many people have seen others practice what they preach (in many
cases) and so they practice what they see and God is never in the midst
of foolishness or evil, so chaos reigns.
So, if we really want to see change in our homes, in our communities, in the nations, we must do
all according to The Word, so that all will see and hear what we do,
practice what we do and then the peace of God will reside with us and
there will be no more confusion in our midst.
I
encourage every Believer to watch what they do and say because others
are watching and what they see us do and hear what we say, they will put
into practice. It's up to us to influence living according to The Word.
Showing posts with label Practice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Practice. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Patterns Matter!
"Hold on to the pattern of wholesome teaching you learned
from me—a pattern shaped by the faith and love that you have in Christ
Jesus" (2 Timothy 1:13 NLT).
I remember when I was sewing most of my clothes--primarily because of a home economics class in which I had to learn to read a pattern--how difficult it was for me to understand the pattern. The one thing I noticed, though is when I had "repeated"using the pattern often enough, I had no problem getting the results I wanted in the clothing I wanted to wear. This was in high school--when we didn't have much money and fabric was considerably cheap. I was able to use patterns from a neighbor and learned to modify the pattern to suit my own tastes. I made jackets, pantsuits (before they were popular) skirts, dresses, belts--whatever I wanted to wear. I even learned to modify clothing by adding "lace or trimming" to lengthen a gown for someone else.
When my daughter first began school, I made her school clothes and then somewhere along the way, I stopped sewing and lost sight of how to read the patterns.
When we don't practice doing a thing--we lose sight on how to do it. Like learning a foreign language--we must practice or we lose our ability to remember it. Typing requires continual practice to maintain accuracy and speed. The same principle applies to--well, just about anything--we must practice and hold onto patterns in learning that make learning worthwhile.
If this works for learning, it will also work for teaching--anything. When we develop wholesome patterns--that work every time--we create situations in which we can be assured of the results. And this is the admonition Paul was giving to Timothy (and us)--make sure the pattern is shaped by faith and love we have in Christ Jesus.
If what we teach is not based upon the same pattern--foundation in The Word--the results will be unpredictable and this is how division in the body of Christ is created--people have forgotten to hold onto the pattern of faith and love.
Establishing patterns in life--make differences--especially when we want to achieve specific results--time after time--that glorify God!
Hold onto the patterns of wholesome teaching based upon The Word and be assured of the results that have a foundation in The Word, shaped by faith and love!
I remember when I was sewing most of my clothes--primarily because of a home economics class in which I had to learn to read a pattern--how difficult it was for me to understand the pattern. The one thing I noticed, though is when I had "repeated"using the pattern often enough, I had no problem getting the results I wanted in the clothing I wanted to wear. This was in high school--when we didn't have much money and fabric was considerably cheap. I was able to use patterns from a neighbor and learned to modify the pattern to suit my own tastes. I made jackets, pantsuits (before they were popular) skirts, dresses, belts--whatever I wanted to wear. I even learned to modify clothing by adding "lace or trimming" to lengthen a gown for someone else.
When my daughter first began school, I made her school clothes and then somewhere along the way, I stopped sewing and lost sight of how to read the patterns.
When we don't practice doing a thing--we lose sight on how to do it. Like learning a foreign language--we must practice or we lose our ability to remember it. Typing requires continual practice to maintain accuracy and speed. The same principle applies to--well, just about anything--we must practice and hold onto patterns in learning that make learning worthwhile.
If this works for learning, it will also work for teaching--anything. When we develop wholesome patterns--that work every time--we create situations in which we can be assured of the results. And this is the admonition Paul was giving to Timothy (and us)--make sure the pattern is shaped by faith and love we have in Christ Jesus.
If what we teach is not based upon the same pattern--foundation in The Word--the results will be unpredictable and this is how division in the body of Christ is created--people have forgotten to hold onto the pattern of faith and love.
Establishing patterns in life--make differences--especially when we want to achieve specific results--time after time--that glorify God!
Hold onto the patterns of wholesome teaching based upon The Word and be assured of the results that have a foundation in The Word, shaped by faith and love!
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