The Well Church OKC

Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

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Materialism, greed, selfishness, a lack of contentment - all are signs of a heart that is aligned with our world. For the most part, we have what we need and far more so in most cases. Contentment, generosity, gratitude - these are a sign we are aligned with the heart of Christ. This has been a very good reminder for me to spend an extended time thinking about and practicing this work.

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Gratitude is the will of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus was thankful. He gave thanks publicly, and it is certain that he did so privately as well. Why would the Son of God have to give thanks? After all, He was responsible for every good thing. As with much that he did, it was to set the example for His followers. It was the right thing to do. If for no other reason than the fact that Jesus did it, we should practice gratitude. Let’s consider the specific ways that are present in Scripture that show us the example of Christ in giving thanks.

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We have been practicing the discipline of gratitude for the past few weeks. Sometimes, we are painfully aware that we have not exercised these muscles. We struggle a little bit to come up with things we are truly grateful for. Isn’t that amazing. Some of the most blessed people on the planet and we have to work hard to truly be grateful. It is a spiritual discipline, however, and the more often we practice it, the more these muscles grow.

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When we are truly grateful, it means that we are working from a place of honesty and vulnerability. True gratitude is the opposite of self, recognizing something or someone for blessings in our lives. These good things are due to no effort on our part for which we can take credit or feel a sense of self-accomplishment. They have been done on our behalf by another. This is humbling.

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We’ve been speaking, for some weeks, about the rules of the game. This has been the consideration of God’s law an its essential nature in our lives if we wish to live to the fullest. Our world has largely swallowed the lure of living according to one’s own heart, rather than aligning to the heart of the One who made us. This has, and will always, create chaos and situations which lead inevitably to destruction of the beautiful things He has given.

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I am never really sure if things are truly getting worse, or if I am just growing in my awareness of the situations mankind are prone to put ourselves into. I am uncertain as to whether or not we are declining as a society or if we are in the very typical cycles of sin and depravity we have been in since the beginning. The opinions of this are probably typically divided among the young and older, and probably have been for ever…

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Marriage is the voluntary sexual and public social union of one man and one woman, from different families. This union is patterned upon the union of God with his people who are his bride, Christ with his church. Intrinsic to this union is God’s calling to lifelong exclusive sexual faithfulness.

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As we have been exploring for a number of weeks, now, our God has established very clear rules to how we are to conduct our human lives. These have been in place since the beginning, unwavering and consistent. These guide-rails have kept humanity from going completely out of control, maintaining the lives, families and cultures of mankind.

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When we break the rules, there are consequences. This is a very clear cause and effect relationship. If, then. It is clear that we can apply this to understanding how our God has arranged and ordered the world we are to live within. Our lives have been given us to live within clear boundaries, with clear expectations for how we are to choose to live.

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