The Rest of the Story

Please welcome Ceele Spidel to the Cafe! She's serving up the devotional today!

My 10 year old son decided last year that during his reading time he was only going to read the Bible. I thought that sounded a little unusual, but wanted to encourage him in His spiritual life, so I told him to go for it. I mean, what could go wrong?

A few minutes later he yelled across the house, “Mom, what’s rape?” When I told my husband about it that evening, he decided that for now our son should read selections of Scripture approved by us, or a book of Bible stories when on his own.

Recently my son paused while reading in The Young Folk’s Bible by Josephine Pollard, looked up at me and said, “They really leave a lot of details out of these stories and I’m not so comfortable with that.” I told him he could go to his Bible for the rest of the story.

I’ve been thinking about that same thing in regards to our Christian walk, lately.

I love Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV) “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” But this is just the beginning, not the end of our walk with God.

The rest of the story is in verse 10. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Too often we are tempted to rest in Christ’s work and neglect the work that He has designed for us to do.

Can I do it on my own?

Absolutely not, but I can do it! I can do nothing good without Him, but “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) One of the ways He strengthens me is through the study of His Word. I am made complete and “thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17b NKJV) through the study and application of the Bible.

Heavenly Father, let me not neglect so great a salvation! Teach me, correct me, and instruct me through Your Word so that I can better live for You.

In Him,

Ceele

Ceele is a stay at home homeschool mom to five fabulous kids. She has a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Sciences/Cancer Biology and has taught at the college and graduate level. Her and her husband adopted what they thought was their last child, but God blessed them with another blessing last October. She lives in Amarillo, Texas with her husband who pastors a small church.