Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God;That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord; that your outgoings may be in the name of the Lord; that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands unto the Most High.
When teaching or discussing these verses, we always seem to focus on the first verse--about being organized, prepared, and having a "house of God." However, on this reading, I was struck very strongly by the bolded part--that all your salutations may be in the name of the Lord.
Wow.
All my salutations.
I think that means we should be using phrases like "God bless you" or "go with God" or "thank God for ___" (meant in seriousness of course, not flippantly) and of course the glorious phrase "Praise the Lord!" I think that we sometimes get so worried about breaking the blasphemy rule that we back SO far off as to be stupid. It's actually a bit pathetic if you think about it; akin to taking the counsel to "choose your media carefully" and deciding to not have any music or movies in your home at all
SO, based on what I'm reading in scripture, I've decided that I want to start using God's name more--in appropriate situations of course. Not long ago I was telling a friend about our adventure this summer where our transmission literally imploded while we were on vacation. I told her how the van happened to still be under warranty, and we happened to be in the city with one (of only two) kia dealerships in the state; how we had to spend 3 extra days in Fairbanks, but we weren't out several thousand dollars for repairs, and we got a brand new tranny. I used the phrase "Thank God" rather than "thank goodness" (which was what I would have said before) and you know, it was so appropriate. After all, I think it's God's goodness that all those things 'just happened' so that it worked out ok. We could have broken down in the middle of nowhere. We could have lost the tranny here at home where there is no dealership for 200 miles (and what would a tow cost?! I have no idea!) It was such a blessing that it all happened where it did. And why say thanks to some vague thing like "goodness" when I can actually put the credit where it is due--with God?!
A family friend refers to "God-incidences" rather than "coincidences," and I adopted that phrase sometime ago. I've also always loved the common pagan farewell "Blessed Be." Now I'm just broadening my vocabulary a bit more.
Wow, such a great point! I've never really thought of that. You're right that we usually focus on the first part of that scripture, and kind of disregard the latter. Thanks for pointing that out! I'll definitely have to give this one some thought.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, it's great to catch up on your blog! I've missed it!