Polished Cornerstones: She is a Woman Committed to Her Church

With our family’s church embroiled in a potentially divisive situation [see earlier post] I recently pulled out my copy of Polished Cornerstones written by Pam Forster (1997, Doorposts) so that the girls and I could work on trait #28: A Woman Committed to Her Church.

I have chosen a handful of the various projects presented and over the next several posts I am going to share what my daughters and I are doing together and learning as we explore commitment to our church. The first assignment is to explore God’s Word in 13 verses or passages of Scripture.

My favorite Bible destination http://www.biblestudytools.com/ offers study tools, ease of comparing translations, and for the overachiever, ready access to Strong’s Numbers and other online study tools to dig deep into God’s Word.

The Assignment

1. Read the 13 verses (see below).
2. Choose one, copy into your journal, and begin to memorize it.
3. Read the verse in several translations; click “Compare translations” where it appears below the verse in the online Bible.
4. Understand the verse in context; click ‘read in context’ to review the verses appearing before and after it with the original verse highlighted.
5. Now rewrite the verse in your own words. What does it mean?
6. Record a specific way in which you can change your actions or attitudes based on the teaching of the passage or verse.
7. Repeat this procedure of each of the verses until the list is completed.

The Verses (Choose 1):
Psalm 26:8 I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells.

Psalm 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 35:18 I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise you.

Psalm 84:2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Psalm 111:1 Praise the LORD. I will extol the LORD with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

Psalm 119:63 I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts.

Psalm 122:1 I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."

Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Romans 12:4-5 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Hebrews 13:7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.