Rebecca M

Our church is very sympathetic. The people are extremely unselfish and carry one another's burdens. I'm sure our church could benefit from a more hamonious atmoshpere...giving up what one wants for the benefit of all. "Purpose driven, not preference driven." To advance our church in this area, we can work toward our missions without complaint or concern for how the minor details are carried out that don't have an impact on the greater good.

The sin of treating a spouse wrongly separates us from God and therefore hinders our communication with Him in prayer.

In both cases, the sin against your spouse separates you from God, therefore hindering your prayers.

Inner beauty, or personal growth, requires consistent effort as does anything worth cultivating. Bible studies and biblically based books are wonderful tools to stay on track with the values and characteristics of inner beauty. Prayer is also necessary in this pursuit. Character is developed through experiences God gives us - the more we communicate with God during those experiences, the more we develop godly characteristics. True character is important to God because it cannot be corrupted...just as Jesus wasn't tempted by Satan. I believe that a godly woman who continues to develop her inner beauty and who marries a discerning and righteous man will not just "hang on to him", but make the marriage very positive, loving, and fulfilling for both of them.

I think all people, not just women, should make an effort to be physically healthy, neat, and clean. Excellence in one area of life transfers into others and so does sloppiness. Our bodies are a temple and an example. We should strive for that example to be appropriate as a display of our devotion to Christ. When we put too much emphasis on our looks and when the goal is to call attention to ourselves, we lose focus on Christ. I think the goal of the effort reveals the correct balance. When it becomes all about oneself, it's gone too far.

Submission is difficult because we are taught that leading is better than following and making your own rules is okay as opposed to obedience. Our actions have more power than our words, so words must be chosen carefully and in love when speaking up if we don't agree or could improve upon something. Submission is wrong when it leads to sin, causes others to fall, or comes between you and God.

Sin still has power over us because we have free choice and we are fallible. Also, Satan can try to tempt us. We are to die to sin and replace that negative activity with living for righteousness. When we live in Christ and practice the disciplines, we can live out dying to sin. Live for righteousness means focusing on all that is good and of God. It doesn't include fear, negativity, gossip, and unclean living. Those are not of God.

It means the promise of the Bible is true...that He knew me before I was formed. What an awesome and humbling concept!

Without the sinlessness and purity of Jesus, we wouldn't have the example to follow that we do. It's especially helpful to see how Jesus reacted when he was tempted. It also shows that his crucifixion was purely for our sins since he had none and allows Christ to mediate between us and God. I never thought about our sinds being poured into his soul. I can't imagine how horrible that would have been for him...expecially since he was sinless. He probably stood this corruption because he knew it was a part of his Father's plan and that was part of his purpose to fulfill it! He trusted God and submitted himselft to the Lord's will.

Obviously Christ suffered physically with the brutal force used by his tormentors. He also suffered mentally because of the evil accusations they hurled. He didn't even retaliate or try to defend himself. He suffered spiritually when he asked why God had forsaken him.

Being a Christian these days in this land is so much more "convenient" than in other times in history and in other places. Sometimes the lack of persecution can make us soft and apathetic. When a confrontation arises, it's hard not to tell the person off and go gossip to others about how awful what they did was. Jesus' example will help me hold my tongue and resist retaliation.

According to this passage, Christians are to be more aware of God's presence and honoring Him than reacting to injustices at work. So we don't react as a result. No, complaining isn't part of what that would look like. We're to do all things joyfully, as if we're doing them for the Lord. I now have a wonderful job where I'm my own boss, but in the past, I would react not by responding outwardly, but by looking for other options for employment.

It is God's will that we do everything as if we are doing it for him. Christians should be so radically different than everyone else that others take notice, such as not reacting to a harsh employer the way most would. I believe mediocrity dishonors God...like not doing our best.

Jesus modeled the quiet submission we are to emulate. This allows others to respect the name of the Lord. If we become rebellious, it becomes a mockery.

Our good deeds are a form of "marketing" for God's kingdom. It brings more attention to the Lord and His ways and hopefully leads others toward that path. This marketing is actually the glorification of God as in extoling His ways by our good works. Blending in may cause others to stumble. They see a "Christian" doing XYZ and that leaves a bad taste in their mouth because we are supposed to be better examples for Christ.

That conforming to the sinful ways of the world should be against our inclination because we are not of this world. This helps us because we will avoid much pain (war against our souls) in life by making positive decisions rather than weak and sinful ones.

Our attitude should be one of having a sense of family, of belonging, and of worth to be a part of such an esteemed people. Our actions should be to treat others with love, loyalty, and respect as members of the same royal family.

In the way that would glorify Him the most...not ourselves. I have wondered if this means constantly saying "praise God" or if that just draws attention to our own desire to be seen as self-righteous. I guess it would depend upon internal motives. I think praising Him both silently and publicly shows our true desire to thank him for all that he is and does....and to give him the credit, not ourselves. Sometimes I can feel it in my gut if I haven't glorified him in a situation, and then I have the chance to correct it.

The priest serves from a "It's not about me" perspective versus acting so God will bless him/her. It inspires me to consciously make sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to the Lord and that will help further his kingdom and my relationship with him.

Luckily, thanks to a good upbringing with praise and positive reinforcement, there have been few times when I felt of little worth. One time would definitely be during some awkward adolescent years, but that was beneficial in the end because I think it made me a more empathetic person. Another time that comes to mind is when I allowed continued contact with someone who treated me as though I didn't have much worth. Ending that was the beginning of recovering from those feelings, praise the Lord. This scripture says my/our worth is valuable enough to merit the ultimate sacrifice from Christ...more precious than any earthly commodity. I'm not sure I can comprehend that much love from God. It's overwhelming. As far as the long term value of financial assets, like it was said in the study, you can't take it with you. I think we all have to be alert not to attach the worth of a person (including ourselves) to those worldly assets. I didn't think I did that at all until my car was in the shop and I had to drive a REAL junker around our little town. I felt different in it and that worried me! How much value was I putting in driving a car that wasn't all banged up??? I hope that my true long term investments are the seeds I sow into others and the encouragement I give them. I need to do better at serving more in the little ways that can help the kingdom of God and building a stronger personal relationship with the Lord. The reasons these are my long term investments are that my family is so precious to me and therefore I sow a lot into them. And my work allows me to encourage others on a daily basis in a Christian environment.

Amen! I have definitely experienced God's plan being revealed long after something I considered a heartache, and yet it turned out to be such a blessing! His timing is perfect.

Criticism is never received well for the reasons you all have listed and also because the person doing the criticizing is never perfect either. It leads to a response something like, "How dare he/she?!" But as Christians we should expect and welcome God's judgement as both he and his decisions are perfect. With his love and the crucifixion of his son comes expectations for obedient living, similar to parents' expectations of their children as members of the family. Final judgement will precede the afterlife and therefore is very connected with the Good News - that because of Christ, we don't have to perish but can have eternal life. Because our citizenship is in heaven and we are held to those standards, without judgement we would not know how much we were "good and faithful servants" for Christ. We need to have a day of reckoning to be held accountable. Then our citizenship in heaven means something.

Holiness is set apart from the world, doing all you do in and for Christ, and observing morally pure standards. On my own, I'm not holy. God has helped me improve over the years. My desire is to be open to his guidance so I can continue to grow in this area. I believe obedience is a key component of holiness. If God sets the standard and we choose to disobey it, that separates us from him, defying the definition of holiness. The opposite is also true. My biggest struggle with holiness is to remember to do all things for him. Sometimes I just do my work for me or for the results I need. I need my daily time with him to keep me on track with living life for his purpose, not my own.

We should take the second coming of Christ seriously because he paid so dearly for our salvation. It should inspire hope because many of the justices we hope to see on earth will happen at that time. We let God know we are being vigilant in waiting for him by exercising sobriety and self control. We can actually forget that Christ will be returning and just start to focus on our earthly needs....some people not worrying about their faith until late in life when they think they might be close to death. All the time not realizing that Christ could come long before we're close to death. Our life loses it's purpose when we do that and becomes too self-centered.

The basis of Christian joy according to this passage is believing without seeing....faith! Human emotions can divert Christian joy because they are not always based on what is pure and true. Sometimes we get addicted to a "feeling" and don't realize that commitment to our belief will provide us with everlasting joy that can be "felt" or not. I feel that too much dependence on emotion confuses us. We try to make sense of something that could just be hormones...seriously! The pursuit of happiness for most people is not in line with the "goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls"; I'm sure most goals in the world are related to more material things and less to our salvation. It's so beautifully refreshing to think of the pursuit of happiness to be linked purely to our faith in the Lord and in our salvation. It's convicting that I haven't had that exact thought before. The genuine article of joy does not ebb and flow with feelings or emotions. It is nearly constant in all circumstances...good and bad. It proves itself as genuine because in some negative circumstances, you realize that it can only come from the Lord.