How Does It Feel to Walk With Jesus?

John Kenneth MacKenzie (25 August 1850 – 1 April 1888) was an English medical missionary to China. I’m sure he encountered many difficulties that could have discouraged him. Yet, in this quote, I can see that walking with Jesus kept his attitude positive.

“My position has come to this, Am I living near my Savior?; then I am as happy as the day is long, and as light-hearted as a child. It may be that I have plenty of annoyances, but they don’t trouble me when His presence is with me. Am I downcast and worried?: then I am away from God.”

Jesus and Me

Since my husband retired last month, we have been visiting churches in our area, allowing the new interim pastor of St. Paul’s some time to settle in. Last week we went to church with a good friend and they sang a song I’d never heard before. It seemed to go with the monthly theme, so I decided to share it with our readers. Let me know what you think!

For more music about Jesus see these posts:

Victory in Jesus

Jesus Loves Me

I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb

Jonathan Edwards on Walking With God

” In all your course, walk with God and follow Christ as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of Christ’s hand, keeping your eye on the mark of the wounds on his hands and side, whence came the blood that cleanses you from sin and hiding your nakedness under the skirt of the white shining robe of his righteousness.”

Jonathan Edwards

For more about Jonathan Edwards see:

Heaven is a World of Love by Jonathan Edwards — Book Review

The Holy Spirit and Prayer #2

Who were (are?) the Puritans?

Strangers in a Strange Land

I’ve started a lectio divina reading of 1 Peter. If that’s unfamiliar to you, it means reading a chapter or a short portion of the Scripture daily in a slow, meditative way, letting yourself see what phrase or verse stands out. Maybe because the theme this month deals with walking and traveling, what stood out for me in the first chapter is this:

“… live your life as strangers here in reverent fear.” 1 Peter 1:17 (NIV)

In the English Standard version, it’s stated this way:

“Conduct yourself with fear throughout the time of your exile.” 1 Peter 1:17(ESV)

What does it mean to live as a stranger or an exile?

The first thing that comes to my mind is, as a stranger, you aren’t too attached to the things around you. You don’t want to accumulate too much, because you won’t be here forever. Who wants a bunch of junk you just have to pack up and move, or leave behind? That is certainly a scriptural theme, as we are told in Matthew:

¹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-24

That brings another thought to mind: as strangers we are always yearning to get home. We’re not entirely comfortable in this place — maybe we don’t speak the same language, or wear the same clothes, or eat the same food. We just don’t blend in. In fact, as Christians, we don’t want to blend in. We need to remember who we are and to whom we belong (that’s the reverent fear part).

So today, after my reading, I’m asking myself:

*How important to me are my “things”? After all, they are only temporary.

*Can the people I meet everyday tell I am a Christian? Or do I look and behave exact like everyone else? If so, I’m fooling myself about the depth of my faith.

*Am I looking forward to “the life of the world to come’? Or am I really devoted to the here and now?

*Am I “afraid” of the right things? Do I have a reverent fear of God and a desire to be holy, or am I really just afraid to die?

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

I can walk with Jesus or walk with the world. I can’t do both.

For more about conforming to the world see these posts:

Pilgrim or Tourist?

Am I Habituating?

Do You Have a Saintly Worldview?

Walking Toward Heaven

My husband and I recently watched a television series about the life of singer Aretha Franklin. She began her career singing gospel songs in her father’s church. Later in life her gospel album entitled Amazing Grace (this was a live album recorded over two days in January 1972, at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in South Los Angeles.) included the song, Climbing Higher Mountains. It reminded me that our walk with Jesus has a destination which is our true home — heaven.

For more gospel music see these posts:

Oh Happy Day

Just a Little Talk With Jesus

This Little Light of Mine

Evangelicalism: What It Was, What It Is, Can It Survive?

One way to deepen our walk with Jesus is to learn about Him and His body, the Church. Starting in September, my husband, a retired pastor, will be teaching a continuing education class at Shepherd University. Here’s his class description:

I couldn’t tell you how many news articles and other publications I’ve seen in the last thirty years or so that refer to people called “evangelicals.” The problem I often see in these references is the lack of definition in the way people, especially the news media, use that word. Just what makes someone an evangelical? How does that fit in with the historical definition of the word? When and why did people who call themselves evangelicals become one of the many groups seeking to impact American politics?

We will begin our search for answers to these questions by looking at the history of evangelicalism beginning 500 years ago and continuing up to today. We will assess the relationship of evangelicalism to such hot topics as race, gender, national culture, national politics and the Christian Church in America.

A few years ago someone said the only common thread he could find among evangelicals was that they were people who liked Billy Graham. Well, I think there’s a lot more there and it would help us all if we could actually come to understand the way this group of Americans think, act and worship. The good, the bad and the less than handsome parts of this American religious phenomenon affects us all in one way or another.

If you are interested in taking this class follow the link below. It will be available on the campus, but also through Zoom.

https://www.shepherd.edu/lifelonglearning

For more about evangelicalism see:

Billy Graham on Hope

Film Review — The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel

Stott on the Christian Life by Tim Chester –Book Review

Walking Like Christ

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.” 1 Peter 2:21

The longer we walk with Christ, the more like Him we become. This quote by George Hodges (1856-1919), and American Episcopal theologian expresses it well:

“Evidently, in order to be a manifestation of Christ, we must in some way be like Him. He is a Christian who follows Christ, who measures all things by the standard of His approbation, who would not willingly say a word which he would not like to have Christ hear, nor do an act which he would not like to have Christ see. He is a Christian who tries to be the kind of neighbor Christ would be, and who asks himself in all the alternatives of his business life, and his social life, and his personal life, what would the Master do in this case? The best Christian is he who most reminds the people with whom he lives of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who never reminds anybody of the Lord Jesus Christ is not a Christian at all.

“Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.” 1 John 2:6

For more about imitating Christ see these posts:

Leaders Who Imitate Christ

Practicing Brotherly Love

Keep in Step with the Spirit

A Walk of Faith–the Labyrinth

A labyrinth is an ancient symbol which represents our journey through life. The most famous labyrinth is the thirteenth-century labyrinth in the Chartres Cathedral in France, which originated in the Middle Ages and served as a substitute for going on pil­grimage to Jerusalem when the Crusades prevented people from traveling there. Labyrinths have been widely used as tools for meditation and prayer. You can also use walking the labyrinth as a ritual to welcome someone into a group, say good-bye to someone who is moving, celebrate a special occasion, or remember someone who has died.

The labyrinth is not a maze since there is only one path. You cannot get lost. It leads you on a circuitous route to the center and back out again. You can walk the labyrinth alone, or with others. You can walk in a slow, solemn manner, or joyously. Children often run through the labyrinth.

I’ve personally walked labyrinths a number of times and have found it to be a calming, meditative experience. It slows me down. It gives me the time and space to reflect on my life and the way God has led me through a variety of experiences. When you walk with a friend, you will find that sometimes you are moving along together, and other times you move away from one another — just like life! Even when you feel you are alone, you aren’t! Others are on the same journey, just in another place. Once I walked with a boisterous family I didn’t know. At first, I was irritated and found their noisy comments distracting; then I realized how like real daily life that is, too — we have to learn to stay focused amidst the many things that pull us away from listening for God. Every time you walk, you will have a different experience.

If you would like to find a labyrinth near you and give it a try, follow this link:

World-Wide Labyrinth Locator – Welcome

For more about labyrinths see:

Sensible Shoes by Sharon Garlough Brown — Book Review

And Then There are Pilgrimages …..

Walking with Him — Quote #2

In all your course, walk with God and follow Christ as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of Christ’s hand, keeping your eye on the mark of the wounds on his hands and side, whence came the blood that cleanses you from sin and hiding your nakedness under the skirt of the white shining robe of his righteousness.

Jonathan Edwards

For more about Jonathan Edwards see:

Heaven is a World of Love by Jonathan Edwards — Book Review

The Holy Spirit and Prayer #2

Walking Together

My husband recently retired after 17 years as the pastor of St. Paul’s Free Lutheran Church in Leitersburg, Maryland. At his retirement dinner, his younger sister, one of our members, spoke about what his ministry had meant to her. She said that since Terry is 16 years older than she is, they really didn’t grow up together. It was only as a church member that she really got to know him. In fact, she said, after those years of being in church together, Terry is now the sibling she feels closest to.

That got me to thinking about this verse in Proverbs:

“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin,
    but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

When we are walking with Christ, we are also walking with a whole new group of people who become our brothers and sisters in the faith. We have a common goal; we come together weekly (and often more); we share, through prayer requests, our hopes and concerns; we grieve and celebrate together. We do indeed, often become closer to these “adopted” siblings than our biological family.

What a blessing to know that:

“… you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22

You’re never walking alone!

For more about the household of God see:

Submit to One Another?

Being a Family Blessing

Living as a Family with One Another