Wouldn't it be wonderful to be a child again? Imagine . . . Jesus as your childhood friend . . . your Bestie . . . your BFF . . . sitting by His side . . . not a care in the world . . . no inhibitions . . . no fear of saying the wrong thing . . . listening to Him . . . LAUGHING with Him . . . talking with him . . . telling Him about your day . . . your secrets . . . your hurts . . . never being judged or disapproved of . . . imagine . . . being a child again . . . sitting next to Jesus . . . Can you? Will you?
and welcomed us into the living room
through the doorway of Jesus Christ.
That is the good news of the Gospel.
The way has been made.
The price has been paid.
All we need to do is come."
Like the hungry young man on the ship who didn't realize that the cost of food was included in the price of his passage - we need to realize that our price has also been paid . . . if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, the price has been paid for us . . . for you . . . for me. PRAISE GOD FOR HIS MERCY.
How exciting!!! Every day we are invited to go off to a quiet place (our very own Drawing Room) with our Lord, open our Bible, read the riches found therein and let the Truths unfold - building our relationship with Jesus. THEN . . . in due time . . . do we . . . like Munger . . . let the pressure of responsibilities shorten our time with Him . . . until eventually we pass by the Drawing Room altogether . . . missing a day now and then - even two days or more at a time?
BUT, as you pass that Drawing Room . . . with the door ajar . . . if you peer in . . . you will see the fire in the fireplace . . . and Jesus . . . sitting there, waiting patiently. If you ask Him "Have you been here all these mornings?" He will reply, "I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you." He is faithful to us, in spite of our unfaithfulness. He said to Munger, "The trouble with you is this: you have been thinking of the quiet time, of the Bible study and prayer time, as a factor in your own spiritual progress, but you have forgotten that this hour means something to Me also."
Once you start looking at this time with the Lord differently you will see it not as a ritual, but as a relationship. Like any relationship - it doesn't "just happen" - it must be enhanced, nurtured and loved. Why would it be any different with our precious Lord??? PRAISE GOD for His love and mercy.
I love this thought provided by the author "if Mary hadn't chosen to take time out of her busy Martha-run schedule to sit at Jesus' feet, the whole encounter wouldn't have happened." I had not thought about that - some of us still defending Martha (and ME being the ring leader!!!) failed to see that we would have lost this teaching moment without Mary's choice. We would have missed the message that Mary chose what is better . . . the better part . . . Joanna says, "The Better Part is not out there somewhere, it is inside us . . . where Christ dwells by His Holy Spirit . . . no one can take it away from us, but we can choose to ignore it."
What a beautiful picture . . . Jesus knocking at our door - He does not barge in uninvited. Notice there is no latch on His side of the door (that had escaped me!) . . . He stands there waiting . . . waiting for us to open the door . . . it can ONLY be opened from the inside . . . our side. FIRST, we must let Him in . . . THEN we can invite Him into our Drawing Room . . . but let's NOT let Him sit there all alone waiting for us each day . . . join Him, talk with Him, show Him how much He is loved.
- REMINDER . . . NO CLASS ON 9/7/2015 which is the date for Labor Day.
- Begin your "random acts of kindness" from your "Make a Plan" on page 58 in your work book.
- Read Chapter 6 in your book
- Answer week 6 study questions in your workbook
- Ask yourself HCIDWJDIIDKWHD? (How can I do what Jesus did if I don't know what He did?) . . . by staying in The Word until we meet again.