Post by Admin on Jan 23, 2020 7:14:58 GMT
This week’s topic was how to be contagiously calm, referring to the use of “evident gentleness” in Philippians 4:5, which was defined as being steady and mature. In the video which we watched before discussion, Max Lucado used two stories to illustrate the benefits of calm and the method to achieve the calm. One was an enactment of a businessman, stressed from a long trip and a series of irritants, lashing out at a new employee. Through this story we could empathize with his peevishness, then also with the guilt he came to feel as he calmed down and considered how displaying his irritation made no improvement in any way, and instead hurt others. Max’s other illustration was the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, which launches with the disciples unable to satisfy the direction of the Lord to feed the crowd, with their paltry supply of food and money; this to illustrate the easy error we make of forgetting the Lord is always near, and certainly the typical omission of asking Him for help. The latter topic arose during discussion as well. Why are we so readily prevented from reaching out to God to help us? Among the reasons were our ego (“I don’t need help, I can do it”) and our concern that our needs are so unimportant that we shouldn’t bother God with them. The latter is exactly counter to the Lord’s teaching that we should be like little children, unconcerned with the smallness of our needs, and instead so dependent on God that we bring everything to Him. We also talked about the fact that the Lord has provided us gifts through Holy Spirit to accomplish His will – although we didn’t explore these ideas more deeply, there is much to contemplate regarding the relationship we need to have with the Lord so that we feel Him and commune with Him and proceed with daily life powered by His gifts.
The first Bible verses we read once we adjourned to discussion were from Exodus, when God tells Moses that He will free Israel, and is sending Moses to inform Pharaoh. Moses’ reaction reveals his fears of his own inadequacy and the danger to his life. There in a nutshell: he reacted in self-defense with his self-concern at the center of his thoughts. The Lord was not sending Moses to free the Israelites. The Lord was already going to do it, and it was as good as done, with Moses just the messenger. The Lord had to clarify that to Moses, “I will be with you, and it will be done.” The Lord likely wants to clarify that to us time and again, even as He expects good works and transformative behavior: “I am in control, and I am right here with you.”
The final idea or question to contemplate from tonight’s discussion is what Biblical promises and assurances can we point to (perhaps posting a key verse on the refrigerator, or in our calendar, or as a pop-up note on our phones) that can help us respond calmly when trouble comes our way, to dissuade our anxious reaction.
The first Bible verses we read once we adjourned to discussion were from Exodus, when God tells Moses that He will free Israel, and is sending Moses to inform Pharaoh. Moses’ reaction reveals his fears of his own inadequacy and the danger to his life. There in a nutshell: he reacted in self-defense with his self-concern at the center of his thoughts. The Lord was not sending Moses to free the Israelites. The Lord was already going to do it, and it was as good as done, with Moses just the messenger. The Lord had to clarify that to Moses, “I will be with you, and it will be done.” The Lord likely wants to clarify that to us time and again, even as He expects good works and transformative behavior: “I am in control, and I am right here with you.”
The final idea or question to contemplate from tonight’s discussion is what Biblical promises and assurances can we point to (perhaps posting a key verse on the refrigerator, or in our calendar, or as a pop-up note on our phones) that can help us respond calmly when trouble comes our way, to dissuade our anxious reaction.