We Are the House!

We want to make sure we do not lose our focus . . . we are looking this year into the joys and the challenges of solitude, for those who have more time alone than they want and for those who never have quite enough.

“Lectio Divina,” our Divine Reading, is an important factor as we make a cloister of the solitude in our lives.

Whether we allow ourselves fifteen minutes or two hours in the Word of God, let us enjoy His Nearness while we are there!  THAT is our devotion, here in Cor Unum. 

Let us determine, for a proper and a happy emphasis, whether we read for minutes or for hours, let’s not read alone in 2013!  God is with us!

In Luke, chapter 19, we see that the effects of salvation are CHANGE, happy change, a joy in setting things right and of generosity of heart … and pocketbook.  Jesus DOES THAT to us: He opens our hearts, and our hands open, too.  May we never fear to put our calendars and our wallets in His hands, and to good purpose and great benefit, because . . .

Such great honor came to those servants who put what they were given into the Lord’s work.  Resources, yes, but also ability, effort, focus, and integrity.  These three servants . . . none of them pocketed their “minas.”  The unworthy servant knew it had to go back where it came from; that is something we forget sometimes!  Oh, for hearts to spend what we’ve been given, all of it, to live out our prayers – “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven!”  We will need wisdom – it is available, James, chapter one – and we will need to trust the goodness of God.  That is always a very good plan!

The Pharisees heard the horrible rebuke, “You did not recognize the time of your visitation.”  Jesus came; they crucified Him.   We are told in the book of Hebrews, strongly admonished, not to neglect this great salvation that has come to us (2:3.)  Jesus isn’t our visitor . . . we live in the house that HE IS!  Lord God, we pray that this truth will sustain us and support us and change us, continually. 

Jesus named the Father’s house, and we are that place, housed in His Son, a House of Prayer.  We see in this very passage that this House must not become a den of thieves, and our thievery could be as serious as that of taking what we have been given and hiding it away.  Neither must we live to keep our righteousness shiny and on display, but without bearing any fruit!  Oh, my!  Welcome to the practice of “Lectio Divina” … reading God’s Word at His right hand, touching His heart, as He touches ours day by day.  (Colossians 3:1, 2)

photo courtesy of Cor Unum Abbey