Interior Decorating

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June 16, 2002 - Galatians 6.6-10

Helga and I going out I do not remember the exact occasion. What I do remember is that she looked at me and kindly said, "Are you really going out dressed like that?" I may have used this before, but it reveals what it is like to be married to an interior decorator.

  1. "Are you going out looking like that?"
    1. This is a great question for each of us to consider.
    2. "Are you going out looking like that?" It is not clothes that we are talking about.
    3. An interior decorator is able to analyze and suggest ways in which your room or home may realize its full potential to provide beauty and comfort.
    4. We can think of process of interior decoration in terms of color, texture, and shapes.
    5. These all have direct application to our personal interior lives.
  2. Color my world with imagination and enthusiasm.
    1. Imagination is very important to our understanding of God and what it is that God is seeking to provide us.
    2. Enthusiasm: Without enthusiasm, one cannot maintain a growing relationship with God
  3. Shape my world with talents and abilities.
    1. Interior decoration requires talent.
    2. Interior decoration requires the development of our skills.
  4. Texture my world with values which create hope, joy and love.
    1. The values market is like a huge supermarket.
    2. Our values ought to become the basis of the basics of Christianity: Hope, Faith, Love, Joy
    3. Values and abilities create the confident skills that are needed to meet the situations and the circumstances of life.
  5. We are all interior decorators.
    1. We are not decorating living spaces, but ourselves and our children.
    2. The decoration is of the mind, the spirit, the heart.
    3. The results are to be seen in the totality of the life of the child and the adult.
      1. In one's attitudes
      2. In one's speech
      3. In one's manners
      4. In one's activities
  6. There is the way of LOVE!
    1. We approach it with the thought of the Apostle Paul.

6Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.7Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. 8If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. 10So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. (Galatians 6:6-10 NRSVA)

    1. Let us work for the good all, especially for those of the family of faith.
    2. We are to teach and share in what is taught.
    3. What is it that we are to teach and share?
      1. Teach patience
      2. Teach kindness
      3. Teach respect and humility
      4. Teach contentment and acceptance
      5. Teach sorrow for wrongdoing
      6. Teach rejoicing for truth
      7. Teach endurance regardless.
      8. Teach activeness.
      9. Teach the necessity of recognizing that all this is from God.
      10. Without God there are no morals.
      11. Without God there are no ethics.
      12. Without God there is only darkness and destruction.
    4. If we truly learn to love then we will learn how to become an individual who is maturing in life.
    5. Mature people have the ability to live morally, ethically, lovingly and enthusiastically.
  1. Remember we are all interior decorators.
    1. We are not working with paint or wall paper, draperies or carpeting, furniture or cabinetry.
    2. We are working on the minds and lives of the young and old.

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