Some of you know that I love the hammer dulcimer. Some friends of mine, the Williams’, let me borrow one for a while and after trying to play it I have an even greater appreciation for the masters of the instrument. It’s easy to make yourself sound good on the dulcimer, but to play an actual piece right takes some talent!
Anyway, I came across this video and thought I’d share it.
Enjoy, and praise God for His good works!
As I’ve read through the Scriptures over the years I found myself comparing Bible characters, both good and bad, to other people. I’d commonly read a passage, and tell myself “This is how I should react when dealing with these kinds of people.”
But as I grow in my walk with Christ, I’m coming to see myself represented by the characters instead. I’m realizing more and more truth about my own participation in the fall, my own inabilities, and my own heart. And I’m coming to realize more and more that God is the one responsible for all the good that I’ve done, not me. And in turn I have a fuller appreciation for the good He has in fact done through me and in me. I have a deeper reverence and love for He who is able to work so mightily in fallen man.
Today, for the first time, I saw myself as the woman at the well specifically in the passage from John 4:39-42…
From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
Though I wish I could say that my influence for Christ has been as great as this woman’s, I cannot. But I can see yet another picture of my role in the Kingdom of God. Jesus spoke to this woman, and she was affectly so deeply that she passionately spoke to her people about Him and what He did in her life. She spoke in a way that touched the people so much that they came to have a belief in Christ. Then the people met Christ directly, and they came to a belief in Him because of what He Himself did in their own lives. All these things happened in a matter of only days.
Her role is the role that all Christians are called to. If a person has truly given their all to Christ then they have come to recognize, in a limited yet overwhelming sense, that God has deeply affected their own life. And they have something immense to share.
I mentioned in the post before this one that one of my favorite passages is in the verses just before our text here. It’s where Jesus says that His food is to do the will of the Father. The specific case of the Father’s will is seen in the context we are now considering.
Spreading the gospel was His food. It is our food. Though we have other duties in regard to His will that are just as important, we cannot therefore forget this ministry of reconciliation. It is something that gives our soul necessary nourishment. We need this.
When we consider how much people need Him, how can we remain silent?
When we honestly consider How great He truly is, how can we not shout it from the mountaintops?
Writing for Christ! 