August 19, 2002
This week is Daily Vacation Bible School week at our church in cooperation with several area churches. It is to be an intergenerational experience. Our theme is "Walking with Jesus." Our walk begins by concentrating on his "Growing Up." Then moving to "What Owns You," "What Shall I Do" and concludes with "What Can I Do."
In pondering these themes I began to wonder if we ever can totally "grow up." Jesus is said to have "increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. " To increase in wisdom is a life long pursuit. If we quit we retrograde. And wisdom is more than mere knowledge wisdom gets into the meaning and application of that knowledge. But at the same time wisdom cannot increase without an increase in knowledge.
To increase in stature means more to me than simply to grow taller or to get older but to do the kind of things that make people understand that what you think, feel and act makes sense even if it is not totally understood by all who see you and know you.
Such an increase in stature both publicly and in our quiet meditative secret moments, helps us increase in favor, certainly of God who is with us under both circumstances.
However, pleasing God does not always increase our favor with man. It is hard to increase our favor with man when we take God’s requirement non-violently to be peacemakers between men and the tone of the day is to make war to make this peace.
If we believe that "the Christian God desires the welfare of all men everywhere, that his love is boundless in extent and individual in application" it’s hard to say I love you so I will destroy you. We pray that God will help all of us to increase in wisdom and stature and in favor of God even if this puts us in favor of only a minority of men.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH
201 Oak St.
Mauston, WI 53948-1333 608-8474555
Past Weeks Thoughts: