Have you ever had one of those "God moments" where you just KNOW that God is speaking to you through His beautiful creation? Maybe there is something going on in your life or something He is revealing to you and He puts something in your path (a rainbow, for example) to show you He is listening and He cares for you. Not only does He show that He cares for you, but it is one of those things where you just know He put that rainbow in the sky on that particular day just for you.
Well, I had one of those "God moments" today. This is so cool!
We are members of a local church who are some of the sweetest people I've ever met! We are truly a family. As we were studying together today after we all had our weekly dinner together, one of the things we discussed was Romans chapter 11. Myles and I, and Chrysinda and I, have been discussing this past week what exactly this means.
The entire chapter is so great, but read this passage about how the branches are grafted on. We concluded that the point of the illustration is not about salvation, but instead it is about not boasting about being God's chosen. Whether Jewish, Gentile or Messianic Jew, we are all of ONE PLANT if we are all in Christ, and we all have the same roots, Jesus the Christ, or Yeshua the Messiah (His name in Hebrew)! Galatians even tells us that we, as followers of Christ, have become offspring of Abraham and heirs of the promise!
You've got to read this first before you see the pictures! No cheating!
Now, as I was driving down the road, I passed several Redbud trees along the way. They are all so pretty with their deep purple blossoms! There were also a lot of pear trees with the white blossoms. They were all so beautiful.
Suddenly one of them in particular caught my eye. I did a double take and a triple take. Nah, it couldn't be.
I drove back by it later just to get a better look at it. I was further away this time since I was driving on the other side of the road, so I thought maybe I just couldn't see it well enough.
I wish I'd stopped and taken a closer look, but thanks to Chrysinda who lives nearby, she was able to capture some pictures for me! CHECK THIS OUT!!!!
Well, I had one of those "God moments" today. This is so cool!
We are members of a local church who are some of the sweetest people I've ever met! We are truly a family. As we were studying together today after we all had our weekly dinner together, one of the things we discussed was Romans chapter 11. Myles and I, and Chrysinda and I, have been discussing this past week what exactly this means.
The entire chapter is so great, but read this passage about how the branches are grafted on. We concluded that the point of the illustration is not about salvation, but instead it is about not boasting about being God's chosen. Whether Jewish, Gentile or Messianic Jew, we are all of ONE PLANT if we are all in Christ, and we all have the same roots, Jesus the Christ, or Yeshua the Messiah (His name in Hebrew)! Galatians even tells us that we, as followers of Christ, have become offspring of Abraham and heirs of the promise!
You've got to read this first before you see the pictures! No cheating!
Now, as I was driving down the road, I passed several Redbud trees along the way. They are all so pretty with their deep purple blossoms! There were also a lot of pear trees with the white blossoms. They were all so beautiful.
Suddenly one of them in particular caught my eye. I did a double take and a triple take. Nah, it couldn't be.
I drove back by it later just to get a better look at it. I was further away this time since I was driving on the other side of the road, so I thought maybe I just couldn't see it well enough.
I wish I'd stopped and taken a closer look, but thanks to Chrysinda who lives nearby, she was able to capture some pictures for me! CHECK THIS OUT!!!!
See it? There was one branch with white blossoms on a purple blossom Redbud tree!!!!! Click on these images to enlarge. I really wish you could see it in person!
Ahh..grafted in. How neat.
ReplyDeleteWhere are you going to church? Are you going to Rosh Pinah?
I LOVE this! Thanks for filling us in on your thoughts...I was raised Baptist and then we went to an Independent Christian Church and NOW I am the only one of us that is Baptist. My mom and sister are Presbyterian and my youngest sister has converted to Catholicism. I once had an older church-member say (in a way that sounded like we were burying my sister), "So how are you with that?" My response? "If that is how she feels she can best worship God, more power to her!" Our church recently did some missions with a nearby church of another denomination and we even held services together - I LOVED it! Now if only others would catch on! God is so GOOD!
ReplyDeleteWell, I wasn't really referring to the different denominational beliefs, but I do wish there were no denominations to begin with! Unfortunately so many people have watered down God's holy word and made it fit their own beliefs and convictions and have made it more appealing to the lost, so there is much division even among true believers. And I think that is partly what the passage is talking about.....not thinking yourself better than someone else who is also a true believer, but more specifically not thinking that we (Gentiles) are better than the natural born Jews. As long as we agree on the main doctrines about salvation and the Trinity, etc. then we are all of the same tree. We are all TRUE followers of Christ! :)
ReplyDeleteChristy, I emailed you off list about where we attend. :) I just didn't want to put specifics on my blog. I love it! I do want to visit RP....still haven't had a good opportunity too.
ReplyDelete