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An Elder Note of Encouragement
To Christ’s followers at Elgin Evangelical Free Church,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I pray that this note finds you joyful and well, but most of all, that it finds you hopeful in Christ and desiring a deeper relationship with our Father and submitting to the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
As I was considering what to write, a question came to my mind; how do we show our love for Christ? “By obeying His commands” is the unequivocal answer from God’s Word to this question. How then can we obey His commands unless we know them? We cannot. This knowledge should lead us to seek to know what His commands are for us. How can we know them? We can know them by studying God’s Word, the Bible. This study cannot simply be academic though. I am convinced that we must hunger and thirst to know God’s Word in order for His commands to work their way into our hearts that we might obey them, with the help of the Holy Spirit. Only in obedience can we truly show our love and gratitude to Christ for our unearned favor and salvation freely given on the cross!
What then can we do to hunger and thirst for God’s Word, as Peter aptly compares to infants desiring pure spiritual milk in 1 Peter 2:2? First, we must carve out, set aside and protect consistent and regular time to be in the Word. Next, we must remove the obstacles that prevent us from connecting deeply with our Heavenly Father. These obstacles often include the distractions of this busy world, but more importantly, the sin that easily trips us up and hinders the closeness of our relationship with God. We must each search our souls with the Spirit’s help to root out sin, to confess it and repent and only then will we be ready to commune with God, to drink the pure spiritual milk and eat the pure spiritual food of God’s life-giving Word. Once we have tasted the deliciousness of it, as children of God (infants in the words of Peter) our hunger and thirst for the Word will grow.
As Pastor John shared in his sermon this past Sunday, Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.”
My prayer for myself and for all of you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is that we will each hunger and thirst for the Word of God and through it, understand what is required of us, to live it out, that we might show our love for Christ and all that He has done!
I urge you all, as the Spirit leads you, to reach out to your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ with words of encouragement and to spur one another on to deeper obedience and good works done in Christ.
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:19-22
“Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16
Sincerely, your brother in Christ,
Mike Swanson