NEWK-IT! too! 3-26-09 Psalm 121
Subject: NEWK-IT! too! 3-26-09 Psalm 121
Send date: 2009-03-29 12:05:33
Issue #: 5
Content:
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1 Greetings IN Christ, 3-29-09

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Psalm 121


Living IN Christ means living in a relationship with him.  He keeps us in him in an intimate relationship with himself - in his very body and his life is alive and living in our hearts.  While he is busy keeping us and pursuing us through his word for an intimate relationship, we are busy???  We are so busy being keepers, we may not know how to be kept by God.  He is the keeper, we are called to be his kept.

God designed marriage to mirror his relationship to us and us to him in the vocation of being keepers and being kept. Those who's marriages mirror God's relationship with us live in passionate, loving, intimate relationships with their spouses. They understand what God desires in his relationship with his people.  Mutual compassion, communication, working toward the same goals, gentleness and kindness fill those marriages and their lives are fulfilled and blessed.  Additionally, others are blessed through those marriages, since they witness God's grace and mercy in their lives and boldly share their "secret" to a fulfilling marriage with those around them. 

So often, as life happens, marriage partners find themselves being the keepers of so many things, that they have a hard time keeping each other.  We are spread so thin, that being truly known and kept by our spouse might only be a fleeting wish or a rare occurrence.  Once upon a time the dream of keeping and being kept seemed possible, but now. . . Just as people look wrongly at their relationship with God as though it were just one more thing on the list, so people view their marriages.  Our marriages are our life, the context from which all other life takes place.

Our vocation in marriage is to hold, to support, to love, to cherish and to keep.  Our vocation in marriage is to allow ourselves to be held, to be supported, to be loved, to be cherished, to be kept.  When we live outside that vocation, that calling everything in life goes awry.  God created and ordained marriage giving us the vocation, the specific purpose of being keepers and being kept. 

As we continue to grow in love for our spouse and as we continue to grow in our love for God we grow in our understanding of what it means to be kept.  Within the context of more fully understanding what it means to be kept, then, we can be better keepers of all the things in life for which we hold responsibility.  Our relationship with God must be full and intimate - one of being kept. Our relationship with our spouse must be full and intimate - one of being kept and keeping.  To learn to be kept by God is a process and to learn to be kept by our spouse is a process - neither can take place at a distance, they must take place intimately. 

If your marriage is healthy, please reach out to those around you who's marriages don't reflect God's design of keeping and being kept in love.  If your marriage isn't healthy, please find a mentor who will help guide you and teach you how to keep and be kept.  Cry out to The Keeper with prayers for yourself and your marriage. 

May God grant us courage to honestly look at our ways of being kept by God and by our spouse.  May God grant us boldness to proclaim God's magnificent mercy at keeping us.  May the peace that passes understanding guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Blessings IN Christ, Cindy


Cindy Steinbeck Newkirk 
Steinbeck Vineyards & Winery
5940 Union Rd. Paso Robles, CA. 93446
805.238.1854 (o) 805.674.1909 (c)

 

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