Abbey wrote a blog about something that the Lord showed her through Scripture and then affirmed her through stories of my time in Malawi. I love that the Lord can teach us the same lessons through each other even when we are half a world apart. Here’s her blog:
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“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Colossians 3:16
I came across this verse the morning of January 1st, and it resonated with me specifically because of the first part of the verse: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly…” I decided that it would be my “theme verse” for this next year for lack of a better term.
There are a couple definitions for dwell in the Webster dictionary:
1. Dwell – to live as a resident (i.e. the town in which he dwelled for a period of time)
2. Dwell – to keep the attention directed – usually used with on or upon (i.e. she always dwelled on this matter)
If we replace “dwell” in this verse with these definitions, it would be “Let the message of Christ [live as a resident] among you” or “Let yourself keep the attention directed on the message of Christ.”
Paul emphasizes his point by also adding the word “richly” to the sentence. In other words, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you [entirely]…” Golly, this sentence is both powerful and convicting – just to do everything with the message of Christ being entirely in me. It really got me thinking about my life and how I portray myself to others. It also made me think about my heart and if Jesus is truly the one motivating me to do the things I do. Basically, I started asking myself, “Is the message of Christ living in me so much so that it motivates me to move, act, and speak more lovingly and to glorify God entirely?” “Does the message of Christ really dwell among me fully?”
On January 5th, just 4 days after God had revealed this verse to me in a new way, Chelsea posted a picture of her washing the feet of young girls in Malawi.
For those of you who may not know about the significance of washing someone’s feet, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples. In John 13: 3-5 it states, “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” Jesus realized what He was called to do on earth, and when He came to terms with it, the first thing He did was wash feet just as a servant would do. Later, Peter, one of his disciples, questioned why Jesus would be washing their feet. He most likely thought it should be the other way around. Jesus later stated, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”
Not only did the picture of her washing feet make be incredibly proud, but the picture of her and her ukulele in front of a group of people in Malawi made me just as proud if not more so. I think this is what has surprised me the most about Chelsea’s journey so far on the World Race. Being her twin sister, not a lot that she has done in the past has ever really caught me by surprise simply because I know her so well. But her ability to pick up an instrument that she started playing a few months before she left for the race and singing and playing in front of her peers is not something that neither I nor she ever pictured herself doing. That is simply what I love about the Lord; sometimes He calls us to do things that only He can take the credit for.
What I appreciate the most about these two examples that we have seen from Chelsea so far on the race is that she is a living, breathing picture to me of my theme verse for the year. God has called her to this, and it is so clear, even to those of us back in the States, that the message of Christ is most definitely living among her richly and deeply. It is the sole purpose for why she is doing what she is doing. It is what has motivated her to sacrifice her earthly comforts and norms and rely on the comfort of the message of Christ. And it is what has motivated her to “teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in [her heart.]” Therefore, whenever I am needing inspiration for what I am called to do, I’ll think of my theme verse and my twin sister across the world holding a ukulele in her hands while singing praises to Jesus, for the message of Christ dwells among her richly.
