Fender Jazz Bass®

In my continued study of I Thessalonians 5:18 this morning, I took a peek at the paraphrase found in Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English.  After talking about being “happy in your faith at all times.  Never stop praying,” and being “thankful, whatever the circumstances,” it says that “If you follow this advice you will be working out the will of God expressed to you in Christ Jesus.”

After reading that, I got to thinking about the term “the will of God expressed… in Christ Jesus.”  According to Strong’s, the word “will” is defined as something that should be our “active choice” of God’s “purpose” for us.  Phillips says that God’s will or purpose, which should be our active choice that determines our activities in our daily lives, is “expressed” to us in or through Christ Jesus.  2 Corinthians 4:4 and Colossians 1:15 concur with this statement.  Hebrews 1:3 declares that Jesus is the “express image of His person.” (KJV)

It gets even more interesting when you consider that the Greek meaning for the term “express image” speaks of something or someone that is an “exact copy” of something or someone else as well as “the tool or person engraving something or someone.” (Strong’s)

Back in the mid 1990’s when our oldest son was expanding his musical abilities, he expressed the desire to have a bass guitar.  He had been playing a borrowed bass for the praise and worship team at church and was thinking about joining a Christian band.  My wife and I were overjoyed at his musical prowess and encouraged him in this goal.  As the holiday season grew near, we began to press him a little about the exact model he wanted.  His first choice was a Fender Jazz Bass®, but since he was fairly certain that we couldn’t afford one at the time, he told us that he wanted a Squire® Jazz Bass.

The Squire model is Fender’s less expensive brand.  It is basically an exact replica of the top of the line Fender models.  I would imagine that it is more of a mass produced and less hand tooled model.  But you’d have to admit, that when you put the two side by side, it was difficult to see any visible differences!  So, my wife and I saved up our pennies and were able to purchase him his first guitar!  Well, I must say that he played that bass for years in a number of different venues and still has it today.  In his high school years he was finally able to purchase an actual Fender Stratocaster® when he became the lead singer and rhythm guitar player for a popular local Christian band.  Today he owns several “name brand” guitars including a vintage Gibson SG electric and a Dean acoustic guitar.

I got the idea this morning of how Jesus is not only an exact replica of our Father God, sort of like Josh’s Squire, but that He is also the one who is able to mold and shape us into the image of the Father as well!  In Ephesians 3:19 the Apostle Paul prays that we will come to know the love of Christ so that we can come into the fullness of God. (God’s Word ©)  So, I guess that God made it to be pretty simple for us.  In order to know God’s will and become more and more like Him, all we have to do is get to know and obey Jesus.  The more we know Him, the more we will become a copy of the Father in the way and manner in which we live and reach out to others in our individual worlds!

Always rejoicing, staying in an attitude of prayer and always finding something to be thankful for all keep us focused on Jesus.  They are the methodology that will place us in the position to know, respond to and work out His will in our daily lives!  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”