A Fog Has Lifted

I often wonder, "What on earth will I write about tomorrow?"  And I know that, if I didn't hand it all over to God and ask Him to show me, I probably wouldn't have any ideas at all.  More often than not, He uses my husband to show me.  I suppose because I have more contact with him than anyone else, who knows.  Maybe it is just because I listen to him so well..(ha ha, inside joke, he is laughing right now while he is reading this!!) But seriously that Yankee tends to be pretty in tune with the things God is trying to show Him and this week, we will call it providence that the word EDIFY has come up across his path more than once.

Websters defines edify as this:

 to instruct and improve especially in moral and religious knowledge :  uplift; also :  enlighten, inform

Out of all of those words in that definition, UPLIFT is my favorite.  And when I received one of the emails from the Yankee this week, he had found a definition that said, 

 
To spiritually/morally
 lift up...to benefit!

Photo courtesy of The Yankee! (Thanks Babe!)

 I come from the purest of layman's perspectives when I am talking about the Bible.  Not only do I not claim to be an expert, but I cringe at the thought that my Pastor, Roger, might even be reading this!!!  It is a dream of mine to begin working on a Masters in Theology sometime soon in my "spare" time..(ha ha, another huge joke there if you know me)!  But I know when something moves the Holy Spirit inside of me, and I just can't get away from this edify word! If you follow my blog, you guys are just traveling along with me as I try to learn and grow.

I have devoured every biblical passage with edify in it, but I have to look at both the King James for how it was meant to sound and The Message to break in down into plain English for me. I am a little slow like that. The Yankee, he is the smartest person I know.  He could read the King James all day long and actually GET IT.  Me, I read one passage and feel as though I was magically transported back to my "Chaucer" class in college, and, just like back then, I am left going "Huh?", so I go to The Message to try and fill in any gaps from only reading the King James version.

1 Corinthians 10:23 

All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but all things do not edify. (KJ)

1 Corinthians 10:23

The Message (MSG)

^23-24 Looking at it one way, you could say, “Anything goes. Because of God’s immense generosity and grace, we don’t have to dissect and scrutinize every action to see if it will pass muster.” But the point is not to just get by. We want to live well, but our foremost efforts should be to help others live well.

Yes, I would very likely be jumping up and down out of my seat right now were I not typing!  Read that last part again.  I put it in bold AND highlighted it because it is so important. I am so excited because we can apply this to every area of our life!  I will use marriage, because that is where my heart is.  I could just get by, and wake up every day wondering what I am going to get out of that day, but what happens when I wake up and wonder what I can do to help my husband have a great day or if he wakes up doing the same?  Life is better, that is what happens.  And maybe you aren't married, but apply this to your boyfriend or girlfriend...and maybe you aren't even in a relationship, so apply this to anyone you come across during your day and you will see that when you concentrate on helping others live well, your own day is so much better!  Better still, lets apply it as a CHURCH..do we go to church on Sunday mornings just to get by and say we went to church, or do we go to church on Sundays to truly edify Christ?  What about when we walk out of the church? Oh man, THAT is a whole other blog!

The Bible also has this to say regarding the word edify

 Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to use in edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Ephesians 4:29

The Message (MSG)

²⁹ Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.

Again, I had to bold and underline because I get excited,like a little kid, when I see that all of the answers are right in front of us, in one book, just waiting to be taken in.  Did you ever look at is as YOU having the power to minister grace to someone?  That thought had never crossed my mind, but I sure love it! 

Say only what helps, each word a gift.  Maybe it is just me, but I am SOOO guilty on this one. I don't mind tattling on myself... I get frustrated, days get long, I get too busy, I get grouchy (a lot) and each word isn't a gift at all. Just recently, we were planning a church event and I got tired and snappy and bit the head off of one of my besties, like THE person here in WV who has been there for me every single time I have called her, which is A LOT.  I felt so horrible, I vowed to never snap at anyone again, but then, of course, I am human and got grouchy again (just not with her! lol!)

There are so many more references to the word edify in the Bible.  I hope we can all take some time this week to look into and see what they all mean.  But for me, for right now, I feel like a fog has lifted as I am realizing the choice I have to lift others up, help others to live well, and offer others grace just with my words!  I love it!

Til' next time ya'll!

God Bless and Love Everyone!!!