Study from God’s Word… Nehemiah, Chapters 11 – 13 (especially the latter passages) … Passage for Reflection: Nehemiah 13: 22 … NIV Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to Your great love.
My Journal for Today: When one reads what was chronicled by Nehemiah (probably by a scribe or maybe even Ezra), Chapter 13 reads somewhat like a eulogy. In this last chapter of the historical book by his name, Nehemiah has written about a number of failures by God’s people, which he discovers after he had returned to Susa and had been released by Artaxerxes to go back, possibly permanently, to Jerusalem to be the permanent governor. And when Nehemiah returns, to his chagrin, he discovers that the people, in the time he had been gone (we don’t know how long) had desecrated the Temple, began intermarrying with the non-Jewish peoples again, and were not observing the Sabbath properly. And in a historical picture of the Messiah, Who would come to cleanse the Temple some centuries later, Nehemiah was enraged and struck out against God’s chosen people with righteous anger.
And apparently identifying with the heart weakness of these people, in today’s highlight passage in Neh. 13: 22, we read of Nehemiah praying to God for the Lord to have mercy on him, remembering what he had done to cleanse the Temple and set the people on a path which could/would honor God. I can almost read Nehemiah’s mind, possibly remembering the words of Jeremiah, who had come before him with the prophetic description of the deception in any man’s heart (see Jer. 17: 9). I can imagine Nehemiah, returning to Jerusalem again to see the Temple desecration and the worship of idols again, and saying to himself, something like, “There, but for the grace of God, go I;” and then taking righteous action to cleanse the Temple and drive the people to follow God’s law.
And yes that would be the “M.O.” of our Messiah as well, who would come into His Father’s house centuries later to see similar desecration and idol worship, grieving at the hearts of God’s people, and then overthrowing the Temple tables and dispelling wickedness from His Father’s House.
How about you and me, if you’re reading with me here? Do we see desecration in the Temple of our own hearts; and are we angry enough – with a righteous anger toward our sinfulness – to strike out and cleanse our own hearts and rid our own lives of idol worship as well as become more vigilant about guarding the walls of our hearts – i.e., God’s Temple – against the onslaught of evil in our world?
Will we be eulogized when we go to be with Jesus, by someone saying, “This man was driven, Lord, to honor You and to maintain the Temple of his heart pure to honor You and shine a light for all to see Your glory.” That, most certainly, is something I would want said at my home-going. I pray that it will.
What about you? What do you want said to God and to the world as your life is honored when God brings you home?
My Prayer for Today: Lord, may my life be a pure worship for Your glory. Amen
Showing posts with label eulogy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eulogy. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Saturday, May 09, 2009
2009 – Day 128.May 09 – Our Epitaph
2009 – Day 128.May 09 – Our Epitaph
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 31: 1 – 13 … Linked to 1st Samuel 31 for your study …
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll poses a thought provoking question after one reads today’s passage about the passing of Saul and his sons in 1st Samuel 31. He asks the rhetorical question, “What words will be used in the eulogy to sum up your life?”
In today’s passage we read of the tragic demise of a man who could have been, as Swindoll points out, David’s role model and mentor; and yet, as we’ve been studying these past days, Saul ignominiously pursued Israel’s anointed one to try to kill him. And then today, we read how he took his own life to avoid being killed by uncircumcised pagans. What a sad legacy!
And as I pondered Swindoll’s question about my potential eulogy, I thought about what might have been said at my funeral had it taken place over 30 years go when I didn’t know Christ as my Savior, … when, as some Southerner might say, “He was as lost as a ball in high weeds!” And at that time, because of the politeness at funerals, no one probably would have likely spoken the truth that I had denied my daughters a lot of my presence and parenting as a father because of my brain being consumed in a bondage to pornography. My wife would have likely been thinking, but probably would not have said the truth, … that I had abandoned her emotionally and physically as a husband.
But God mercifully and gracefully reached into my sin-dead life; and He broke me to a place where I could, and did, receive Him as my Lord and Savior. And now over 25 years after I have become my Lord’s disciple, I would hope that someone would say, should I go home to be with the Lord, “Bill was a devoted Christian husband to Elly since 1983 when he gave his life to Christ.” And I hope that someone would say, “The Berry Patch, as they call their family, has two strong Christian daughters, their two devoted Christian husbands, and five Christian grandkids, all of whom are thriving in the example set by Bill, who was a Christian who led his family to the Lord.” And then I pray that someone might recount how I was called into the Ministry and became an Ordained Christian Minister, who was affectionately nicknamed “Elder Berry,” and who was called to found and lead a Christian ministry, BattlePlan Ministry, to help Christians walk free from habitual sexual sin and into a fruitful walk of freedom in Christ.
Whatever anyone would say in my eulogy besides the above, which underlines my life in Christ, would be icing on the cake which has become my life. But as you have read of king Saul’s life in 1st Samuel and from my witness above, have you asked yourself what one might say in your eulogy down the road of life, … after you’ve had some time to let God’s Spirit be used in and through your life to give glory to God? I shudder to think what my eulogy could have been like or would have been like from those years before I was given the opportunity to turn my life around with God’s grace enabling and empowering me to do so.
My dear one, … if you’ve given your life to Christ (see Romans 12: 1 – 2), then you now have the same power in you to live fruitfully for Christ which was the power that raised our Savior from the grave. Even if you were just saved yesterday, you could begin tomorrow to intentionally and purposefully shine Christ’s Spirit-empowered light into a very dark world, letting others see Christ giving you that light for God’s glory (see Matthew 5: 16). And one day, whenever you go home to be with your Lord, someone might give a eulogy of purpose and Christian power, which would be a testimony of glory for Your God.
And that is my prayer today for all of us … that we leave a eulogy of purpose and fruitfulness which trumpets the glory of God for all to hear.
My Prayer for Today: And my powerful Holy Spirit, let Your Light shine through my life for all to see You, precious Savior, and so that my eulogy will glorify You, my Father in Heaven. Amen
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 31: 1 – 13 … Linked to 1st Samuel 31 for your study …
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll poses a thought provoking question after one reads today’s passage about the passing of Saul and his sons in 1st Samuel 31. He asks the rhetorical question, “What words will be used in the eulogy to sum up your life?”
In today’s passage we read of the tragic demise of a man who could have been, as Swindoll points out, David’s role model and mentor; and yet, as we’ve been studying these past days, Saul ignominiously pursued Israel’s anointed one to try to kill him. And then today, we read how he took his own life to avoid being killed by uncircumcised pagans. What a sad legacy!
And as I pondered Swindoll’s question about my potential eulogy, I thought about what might have been said at my funeral had it taken place over 30 years go when I didn’t know Christ as my Savior, … when, as some Southerner might say, “He was as lost as a ball in high weeds!” And at that time, because of the politeness at funerals, no one probably would have likely spoken the truth that I had denied my daughters a lot of my presence and parenting as a father because of my brain being consumed in a bondage to pornography. My wife would have likely been thinking, but probably would not have said the truth, … that I had abandoned her emotionally and physically as a husband.
But God mercifully and gracefully reached into my sin-dead life; and He broke me to a place where I could, and did, receive Him as my Lord and Savior. And now over 25 years after I have become my Lord’s disciple, I would hope that someone would say, should I go home to be with the Lord, “Bill was a devoted Christian husband to Elly since 1983 when he gave his life to Christ.” And I hope that someone would say, “The Berry Patch, as they call their family, has two strong Christian daughters, their two devoted Christian husbands, and five Christian grandkids, all of whom are thriving in the example set by Bill, who was a Christian who led his family to the Lord.” And then I pray that someone might recount how I was called into the Ministry and became an Ordained Christian Minister, who was affectionately nicknamed “Elder Berry,” and who was called to found and lead a Christian ministry, BattlePlan Ministry, to help Christians walk free from habitual sexual sin and into a fruitful walk of freedom in Christ.
Whatever anyone would say in my eulogy besides the above, which underlines my life in Christ, would be icing on the cake which has become my life. But as you have read of king Saul’s life in 1st Samuel and from my witness above, have you asked yourself what one might say in your eulogy down the road of life, … after you’ve had some time to let God’s Spirit be used in and through your life to give glory to God? I shudder to think what my eulogy could have been like or would have been like from those years before I was given the opportunity to turn my life around with God’s grace enabling and empowering me to do so.
My dear one, … if you’ve given your life to Christ (see Romans 12: 1 – 2), then you now have the same power in you to live fruitfully for Christ which was the power that raised our Savior from the grave. Even if you were just saved yesterday, you could begin tomorrow to intentionally and purposefully shine Christ’s Spirit-empowered light into a very dark world, letting others see Christ giving you that light for God’s glory (see Matthew 5: 16). And one day, whenever you go home to be with your Lord, someone might give a eulogy of purpose and Christian power, which would be a testimony of glory for Your God.
And that is my prayer today for all of us … that we leave a eulogy of purpose and fruitfulness which trumpets the glory of God for all to hear.
My Prayer for Today: And my powerful Holy Spirit, let Your Light shine through my life for all to see You, precious Savior, and so that my eulogy will glorify You, my Father in Heaven. Amen
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