Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Numbers, Chapters 23-25 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Numbers 25: 6-13: … [Righteous Anger ] … 6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
10 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, 11 “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.”
My Journal for Today: There are several discussions worthy of my blogging keyboard from the Chapters in Numbers I was led to read this morning, more specifically Chapters 23-25. There was the interesting account of the sorcerer prophet, Balaam, and the scriptural reference to the prophesy of the “star of Jacob” in Chapter 23 which was likely the prophesy which led the so-called “Wisemen” to seek out the birthplace of the Messiah.
And I could journal here about how God could (and did) decide to use a false-prophet, like Balaam, to bring God’s message or wisdom to the people of the world … or even to God’s people. I hope we all know that anyone – even a misguided sorcerer like Balaam – can be used by God to bring truth forth or call attention to God’s ways. We must be discerning in seeing what is true and what is false from a man like Balaam. That is the lesson I’ve often referred to about the Bereans (in Acts 17: 10-15), who checked out the message of the Apostle Paul by going to God’s word to see if he was teaching truth or falsehood. We hear a lot of persuasive messages by prominent people in our world; and we need to be discerning and rely on God’s word and to get counsel from wise and Godly counselors to discern God’s will and to be able to follow those who’re trying to lead us to move in Godly directions.
But though those are very pertinent and interesting studies, I want to focus on a brief segment (copied above) in Numbers 25, verses 6-13, where we read of one of God’s Priests, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, rising up in anger and slaying one of the disobedient Israelites, who had flagrantly brought a Canaanite woman into the Tent of Meetings, right before Moses’ eyes, with the sole intent of having sex with this woman in the sacred Tabernacle. And did God or the people strike down Phinehas for this angry act of retribution? No; … to the contrary, God honored Phinehas and even considered the slaying of the sinner as an atonement for the sinfulness of the Israelites, sparing them from God’s collective judgment for their general and wholesale disobedience during those times.
Today, in the commentary I often use to help guide me in my chronological read through the Bible this year, there was a good lesson about “righteous anger,” which I’d like to quote here for anyone who might be reading my devotional entry this morning. Here’s the quote from the Parson’s Commentary …
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It is clear from Phinehas’ story that some anger is proper and justified. Phinehas was angry because of his zeal for the Lord. But how can we know when our anger is appropriate and when it should be restrained? Ask these questions when you become angry: (1) Why am I angry? (2) Whose rights are being violated (mine or another’s)? (3) Is the truth (a principle of God) being violated? If only your rights are at stake, it may be wiser to keep angry feelings under control. But if the truth is at stake, anger and action is often justified, although violence and retaliation are usually the wrong way to express it (Phinehas’ case was unique!). If we are becoming more and more like God, we should be angered by sin.
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No, as it says above, striking out in anger for perceived sinful behavior by murdering sinners would not be considered the Godly way to go. But, like Phinehas, and Jesus when He cleansed the Temple, taking radical action may be called upon when sin against God becomes so much an affront to His holiness that we need to strike out against the perpetrators.
The advice given above about discerning and taking action when we’re angry is good and Godly counsel; and we need to remember that Jesus never struck out in anger to those who were attacking His personal being, … even when sinners spit on him or attacked His bodily security. No, our Lord only struck out in anger when He discerned that the world was defiling His Father’s Temple.
Is there anything in your life which is defiling God’s Temple … i.e., either your body or the Body of Christ? What about your own gluttony or maybe some addictive sin pattern like taking drugs, or obsessive gambling, or repetitively viewing p0rnography? Is there enough righteous anger in your countenance to strike out and do something about it, sending a spear through the heart of the perpetrator, as did Phinehas; … even if that perpetrator may be you, yourself.
I know right now that I stand convicted in discerning that I let my own sinful eating patterns defile God’s Temple, my body, at times; and I often see Christ’s body, the Church, being defiled by becoming an enabler of so many other Christians when the church makes it far too easy for the sin of gluttony to be magnified. Have you ever been to a church function and discerned that there were far too many gluttonous food choices than should be there to tempt Christians who’re struggling against the sin of gluttony? Were you angry enough to do something about it? Did you do something about it?
What about the plague of sin we have in our culture with the XXX sex trade proliferating with the growing cancer of internet p0rnography? Are you angry that p0rn is infiltrating our culture and destroying marriages and bringing down Christian church leaders the way we see in today’s world? Are you angry enough to do something like contacting your Representatives and demanding that our Justice Department prosecute the perpetrators of p0rn? If you struggle with your own sexual compulsions (maybe even recurring obsessions to view p0rn), are you angry enough to pick up a spear and throw it into the heart of your own sinfulness, getting help and confessing your sin to others?
All of us, who perceive flagrant sinfulness tearing apart our world or defiling God, could become an angry priest, like Phinehas to strike out in Christlike retribution against those who’re defiling Gods’ Temple or His Tabernacle. I am going to pray – right now - that we do just that!
My Prayer Today: … Lord, when we see the world defiling Your holiness, enlighten, enable, and empower us with Your sanctifying grace to be like Phinehas and take righteous action … but only when You lead us to take a stand for Your Name and to do it in Your way, inspired and modulated by Your word. Amen
Showing posts with label meekness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label meekness. Show all posts
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Friday, November 04, 2011
November 4, 2011 … Being Wise In Adversity
Blogger's Note: Back on daily posting schedule, with the 11/3 post from yesterday being delayed until posting this day (11/4). But as you'll note, God's timing was perfect in my oversight. These two devotional journal entries are perfectly paired to go together. So I hope any readers will not be discouraged and read/study them in tandem this AM. ... Sorry for bunching them together like this. wrb
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Passage of the Day: James 3: 13 … from the NIV … Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
James 3: 13 … from the NASB … Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
James 3: 13 …from the NKJV … Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
My Journal for Today: Okay, day four on James 3: 13; and I have retained all three versions of this passage above for your review and consideration again today. And in his Strength for Today devotional for this date, John MacArthur once again focuses on the quality of MEEKNESS, as we did in yesterday’s study. The two-day highlight shows to me just how important MacArthur feels this Christlike quality is to the Christian pursuit of Godly wisdom in the Christian walk.
In his entry for this date, MacArthur quotes from a commentary on the book of James by one Robert Johnstone, who wrote his treatise on James over 100 years ago; and even then, this writer recognized how contrary the attitude and witness of “meekness” was to the worldly conception of “manliness.” And today, even more obviously, we live in a world where a man’s man would be marked by independence, self assertion, and the desire for control. “Meekness” for the man of today, as well as for men in Johnstone’s day, would be labeled as weakness, a quality to be avoided.
But if we believers aspire to Christlikeness, we have to take a look at Jesus as our model of attitude. In fact, the Apostle Paul flat-out said it was our duty as Christians to develop the attitudes of Christ (see Phil. 2: 5); and if we study the life of Jesus, we see THE model of THE man’s man … a model that the worldly man would not provide for us. Jesus was not only the model of manhood for Christians, He was the GOD-MAN; and as we saw yesterday, the only two terms He used to describe Himself was as being “gentle (i.e., meek) and humble of heart” [that found in NIV Matt. 11: 29). And I also pointed out yesterday that Jesus directly blessed the attitude of meekness in His Sermon on the Mount (see Matt. 5: 5). In fact, His whole life on this earth, especially His time of ministry, was a walk of meekness and humble surrender to His Father. When Christ was led to the cross, He could have called down legions of angels to defend Him; but due to His – meekness – He spoke not a word in His defense.
So, does this mean we can never assert our strength or stand up – even in anger – in our Christian walk? Hardly. Jesus certainly demonstrated Godly anger and assertiveness when he turned over the tables in God’s Temple (see John 2: 13 – 22). And righteous anger is a topic for discussion at another time; but Jesus never would have never wanted His righteous anger, which was always exercised in support of His Father, to trump the humility and meekness He modeled the greatest portion of His life.
Christ’s meekness came from His absolute surrender to His Heavenly Father. And our meekness should be our absolute surrender to Christ. And in Luke 9: 23, which I pray you now have etched in your hearts/minds by now, Jesus spoke to His followers about how we can exercise meekness (and humility) in our Christian walk as He said, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
I have to ask myself (as you should yourselves), “Is my Christian walk one of meekness?” And if not, what do I need to do in my pursuit of Christlikeness to allow me to become a meek pursuer of Godly wisdom?
My Prayer Today: Again, Lord, I pray … help me to be like You. Amen
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Passage of the Day: James 3: 13 … from the NIV … Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
James 3: 13 … from the NASB … Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
James 3: 13 …from the NKJV … Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
My Journal for Today: Okay, day four on James 3: 13; and I have retained all three versions of this passage above for your review and consideration again today. And in his Strength for Today devotional for this date, John MacArthur once again focuses on the quality of MEEKNESS, as we did in yesterday’s study. The two-day highlight shows to me just how important MacArthur feels this Christlike quality is to the Christian pursuit of Godly wisdom in the Christian walk.
In his entry for this date, MacArthur quotes from a commentary on the book of James by one Robert Johnstone, who wrote his treatise on James over 100 years ago; and even then, this writer recognized how contrary the attitude and witness of “meekness” was to the worldly conception of “manliness.” And today, even more obviously, we live in a world where a man’s man would be marked by independence, self assertion, and the desire for control. “Meekness” for the man of today, as well as for men in Johnstone’s day, would be labeled as weakness, a quality to be avoided.
But if we believers aspire to Christlikeness, we have to take a look at Jesus as our model of attitude. In fact, the Apostle Paul flat-out said it was our duty as Christians to develop the attitudes of Christ (see Phil. 2: 5); and if we study the life of Jesus, we see THE model of THE man’s man … a model that the worldly man would not provide for us. Jesus was not only the model of manhood for Christians, He was the GOD-MAN; and as we saw yesterday, the only two terms He used to describe Himself was as being “gentle (i.e., meek) and humble of heart” [that found in NIV Matt. 11: 29). And I also pointed out yesterday that Jesus directly blessed the attitude of meekness in His Sermon on the Mount (see Matt. 5: 5). In fact, His whole life on this earth, especially His time of ministry, was a walk of meekness and humble surrender to His Father. When Christ was led to the cross, He could have called down legions of angels to defend Him; but due to His – meekness – He spoke not a word in His defense.
So, does this mean we can never assert our strength or stand up – even in anger – in our Christian walk? Hardly. Jesus certainly demonstrated Godly anger and assertiveness when he turned over the tables in God’s Temple (see John 2: 13 – 22). And righteous anger is a topic for discussion at another time; but Jesus never would have never wanted His righteous anger, which was always exercised in support of His Father, to trump the humility and meekness He modeled the greatest portion of His life.
Christ’s meekness came from His absolute surrender to His Heavenly Father. And our meekness should be our absolute surrender to Christ. And in Luke 9: 23, which I pray you now have etched in your hearts/minds by now, Jesus spoke to His followers about how we can exercise meekness (and humility) in our Christian walk as He said, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
I have to ask myself (as you should yourselves), “Is my Christian walk one of meekness?” And if not, what do I need to do in my pursuit of Christlikeness to allow me to become a meek pursuer of Godly wisdom?
My Prayer Today: Again, Lord, I pray … help me to be like You. Amen
November 3, 2011 … Manifesting a Wise Attitude
Blogger's Note: Somehow, yesterday in a moment of distraction, I got sidetracked from posting this journal entry. I most certainly completed it in my discipline of morning quiet times; but I just didn't get it posted, noting it this morning. So, on this one morning, I'll be posting yesterday's entry (11/3) and then today's
Passage of the Day: James 3: 13 … from the NIV … Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
James 3: 13 … from the NASB … Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
James 3: 13 …from the NKJV … Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
My Journal for Today: Okay, for those who’re following my devotional journal entries, we’re back for another day with the exhortation from James to find the wise among us. And we’ve seen that, according to the brother of Jesus, a wise Christian is one who behaves in a Godly manner, with actions consistent with God’s way of doing business in the world.
BUT (and this is not a small “but”), in the latter part of verse 13, we read that deeds done by the wise Christian should be those which exhibit “gentleness” or “meekness” of wisdom [see the NASB and NKJ versions above]. Having done a little study on this, I’m sharing three versions for this verse with you today because there are three different English terms used in these three translations of this Bible passage to describe the type of wisdom one should look for when observing the behavior of the Christian. The NIV is a scholarly translation; but in this instance, though I’m not a Bible scholar, I think that the NASB or the NKJV are closer in accurately interpreting the Greek meaning for what the NIV calls the “humility of wisdom.”
The Greek term used in this key part of James 3: 13 is “prautes,” which is from the root word “praos,” which Jesus used to describe Himself in Matt. 11: 29, … calling Himself, “meek” or “gentle.” So, the use of “gentleness” in the NASB or “meekness” in the NKJV to describe the character of the wisdom exhibited by Christians is a better rendering [I believe] than the use of the term “humility” in the NIV.
As I just made reference, MEEKNESS is one of the only adjectives ever used by Jesus to describe Himself (again – Matt. 11: 29). And Jesus also laid His blessing on anyone who showed meekness (see His blessing in the beatitude of Matt. 5: 5). All of these scriptural references to meekness, though they may be differing Greek words, “prautes, praotes, praus, and/or praos,” all express the same root meaning; and that is to place strength under control when living out our lives. When it applies to a Christian person, he/she could be one with great inner or outer strength, but that one would definitely be one who is willing to submit that strength to self-control in the pressure of the moment. We’d call that person “cool” today, wouldn’t we? And wasn’t Jesus just the “coolest” person ever? He had all power at His disposal [being 100% God], yet He willingly released that power during His walk as a Man for the glory of His Father (see Phil. 2: 5 – 11 - linked here for your reference).
So, James is saying in today’s verse that wisdom is exhibited by the Christian who can reign in his emotions, personal power or his desire for personal control, surrendering them to God’s Spirit, and exhibiting great restraint under the pressure of the world. What about it? Are we cool (i.e., gentle, meek, or restrained) under fire? Are we what James would call “wise” believers? Are we like Jesus under pressure?
Personally, I’ve got a [LONG!] way to go [or grow] on that one!
My Prayer Today: Help me to be meek, like You, Lord. Amen
Passage of the Day: James 3: 13 … from the NIV … Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
James 3: 13 … from the NASB … Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
James 3: 13 …from the NKJV … Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
My Journal for Today: Okay, for those who’re following my devotional journal entries, we’re back for another day with the exhortation from James to find the wise among us. And we’ve seen that, according to the brother of Jesus, a wise Christian is one who behaves in a Godly manner, with actions consistent with God’s way of doing business in the world.
BUT (and this is not a small “but”), in the latter part of verse 13, we read that deeds done by the wise Christian should be those which exhibit “gentleness” or “meekness” of wisdom [see the NASB and NKJ versions above]. Having done a little study on this, I’m sharing three versions for this verse with you today because there are three different English terms used in these three translations of this Bible passage to describe the type of wisdom one should look for when observing the behavior of the Christian. The NIV is a scholarly translation; but in this instance, though I’m not a Bible scholar, I think that the NASB or the NKJV are closer in accurately interpreting the Greek meaning for what the NIV calls the “humility of wisdom.”
The Greek term used in this key part of James 3: 13 is “prautes,” which is from the root word “praos,” which Jesus used to describe Himself in Matt. 11: 29, … calling Himself, “meek” or “gentle.” So, the use of “gentleness” in the NASB or “meekness” in the NKJV to describe the character of the wisdom exhibited by Christians is a better rendering [I believe] than the use of the term “humility” in the NIV.
As I just made reference, MEEKNESS is one of the only adjectives ever used by Jesus to describe Himself (again – Matt. 11: 29). And Jesus also laid His blessing on anyone who showed meekness (see His blessing in the beatitude of Matt. 5: 5). All of these scriptural references to meekness, though they may be differing Greek words, “prautes, praotes, praus, and/or praos,” all express the same root meaning; and that is to place strength under control when living out our lives. When it applies to a Christian person, he/she could be one with great inner or outer strength, but that one would definitely be one who is willing to submit that strength to self-control in the pressure of the moment. We’d call that person “cool” today, wouldn’t we? And wasn’t Jesus just the “coolest” person ever? He had all power at His disposal [being 100% God], yet He willingly released that power during His walk as a Man for the glory of His Father (see Phil. 2: 5 – 11 - linked here for your reference).
So, James is saying in today’s verse that wisdom is exhibited by the Christian who can reign in his emotions, personal power or his desire for personal control, surrendering them to God’s Spirit, and exhibiting great restraint under the pressure of the world. What about it? Are we cool (i.e., gentle, meek, or restrained) under fire? Are we what James would call “wise” believers? Are we like Jesus under pressure?
Personally, I’ve got a [LONG!] way to go [or grow] on that one!
My Prayer Today: Help me to be meek, like You, Lord. Amen
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
June 7, 2011 … Integrity Conquers Fear
Passage of the Day: Daniel 1: 10 - 14 … 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you." 11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
My Journal for Today: John MacArthur in his Strength for Today devotional for this date uses this episode in Daniel’s continuing saga of intervention with the Babylonian officials to illustrate how boldness to act for God is one of the most important elements of Christian spiritual integrity. Today’s text shows us Daniel’s boldness to act as juxtaposed with the fear of Ashpenaz, the Babylonian official who was responsible for the fate of the Hebrew youths under Daniel’s charge.
Here was Daniel being put to the test; and, who, in faith under pressure, came up with a daring plan to give Ashpenaz a way to “save face,” still allowing Daniel and his friends to maintain their dietary laws. Daniel tapped into God’s wisdom (see a NT charge in James 1: 5 - 6); and then assertively, yet in meekness, stood in the gap for his faith, trusting that God was going to deliver His people – somehow. And in today’s passage we read that Daniel was blessed and rewarded by God with the listening favor of Ashpenaz.
This is a great example of the principle I wrote about yesterday, “First obedience, then the blessing!” Daniel, boldly – by wisely – believed that God would protect those who carry our The Lord’s will; and he set about – with humility/meekness – exercise his face, giving the Babylonian, Ashpenaz, a trial case to see if Daniel’s plan would work for the boy AND the king as well. No one says that boldness should shut down our intelligence. We should always strive to boldly witness our faith … BUT … to do so in ways that don’t attack the sensibilities of those around us if at all possible.
The Apostles Paul (see Phil. 1: 20) and John (see 1st John 3: 21 - 22) were great examples of New Testament integrity and boldness. I always love, when I’m fearful, to recall the bold declaration of Romans 8: 31, which, if truly believe, Christians should be willing to stand for Christ with boldness anytime … anyplace … and, like Daniel, under any circumstances.
SCRIPTURE: Romans 8: 31 … If God is for us, who can be against us?
However, I must admit that all too often, in my past days as a Christian, I have retreated in fear when given the opportunity to witness Christ to family or friends, especially those whom I know or suspect are lost. I’m getting stronger and bolder in my later years; however, prayerfully, I will become more like a Daniel one day. Though, in truth Daniel, in today’s highlighted verse, puts me to shame being so bold and yet only a “boy” in my comparative mind.
My Prayer Today: Lord, may I be bold today as a warrior like Daniel in Your Name. Amen
My Journal for Today: John MacArthur in his Strength for Today devotional for this date uses this episode in Daniel’s continuing saga of intervention with the Babylonian officials to illustrate how boldness to act for God is one of the most important elements of Christian spiritual integrity. Today’s text shows us Daniel’s boldness to act as juxtaposed with the fear of Ashpenaz, the Babylonian official who was responsible for the fate of the Hebrew youths under Daniel’s charge.
Here was Daniel being put to the test; and, who, in faith under pressure, came up with a daring plan to give Ashpenaz a way to “save face,” still allowing Daniel and his friends to maintain their dietary laws. Daniel tapped into God’s wisdom (see a NT charge in James 1: 5 - 6); and then assertively, yet in meekness, stood in the gap for his faith, trusting that God was going to deliver His people – somehow. And in today’s passage we read that Daniel was blessed and rewarded by God with the listening favor of Ashpenaz.
This is a great example of the principle I wrote about yesterday, “First obedience, then the blessing!” Daniel, boldly – by wisely – believed that God would protect those who carry our The Lord’s will; and he set about – with humility/meekness – exercise his face, giving the Babylonian, Ashpenaz, a trial case to see if Daniel’s plan would work for the boy AND the king as well. No one says that boldness should shut down our intelligence. We should always strive to boldly witness our faith … BUT … to do so in ways that don’t attack the sensibilities of those around us if at all possible.
The Apostles Paul (see Phil. 1: 20) and John (see 1st John 3: 21 - 22) were great examples of New Testament integrity and boldness. I always love, when I’m fearful, to recall the bold declaration of Romans 8: 31, which, if truly believe, Christians should be willing to stand for Christ with boldness anytime … anyplace … and, like Daniel, under any circumstances.
SCRIPTURE: Romans 8: 31 … If God is for us, who can be against us?
However, I must admit that all too often, in my past days as a Christian, I have retreated in fear when given the opportunity to witness Christ to family or friends, especially those whom I know or suspect are lost. I’m getting stronger and bolder in my later years; however, prayerfully, I will become more like a Daniel one day. Though, in truth Daniel, in today’s highlighted verse, puts me to shame being so bold and yet only a “boy” in my comparative mind.
My Prayer Today: Lord, may I be bold today as a warrior like Daniel in Your Name. Amen
Saturday, April 09, 2011
April 9, 2011 … Taking Up the Sword In Vain
Passage of the Day: Matthew 26: 51 - 52 - 53 … 51 With that, one of Jesus' companions [Peter] reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52 "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on My Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?”
My Journal for Today: Admit it. ... If someone struck out or attacked your best Christian friend or maybe your Pastor or mentor, most of us would be right there with Peter, picking up the “sword” to strike back in anger/revenge. We’re really no different than Peter, are we? His reaction was very human, … a knee-jerk response, … his Rabbi and friend was being arrested unjustly. And I’m sure by then Peter also realized that one of the close band of disciples, Judas, had betrayed their Master with that horrible kiss. The frustration had to have been overwhelming; but even in the heat of that moment, Jesus used it as a teachable moment; and in today’s verse of emphasis (Matt. 26: 52), we read of Jesus constraining His followers, especially Peter, and giving them a Kingdom lesson in attitude management.
Earlier in the Garden, Jesus had taught the disciples a lesson of selling their purses to buy swords (see Luke 22: 35 – 38); and apparently Peter took Jesus too literally. If you read and study that instruction, you will note that Jesus was referring to the “sword” of the Spirit, … not physical weapons … about preparing for spiritual warfare, not physical conflict. In fact the Apostle Paul later gives all believers the truth about weapons of spiritual warfare, which are not of the flesh (see 2nd Cor. 10: 3 - 4). We must remember that we don’t need to take up fleshly arms to defend God, as was done in the “Crusades.” Jesus, in today’s passage, is telling Peter, and all of us, that He could call upon legions of angels if He so desired (see also Matt. 26: 53). Paul said it aptly in Romans 8: 31, … “If God be for us, who can be against us!”
Yes, the kind of warfare that we need to wage daily as Christians is that spoken of by Paul in Ephesians 6: 10 – 13; and we must, as God instructs us, be wearing God’s full armor (Eph. 6: 13 - 18), including being able to use God’s Spirit Sword (i.e., His word) to do battle with those who will attack us as the mob came for Jesus.
My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to be ready this day and hereafter to wage war in Your Name … and … in Your way. Amen
Sunday, March 27, 2011
March 27, 2011 … One More Enemy of Humility: Selfish Ambition
Passage of the Day: Matthew 20: 20 - 22 - [see underlined] 20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of Him. 21"What is it you want?" he asked. She said, "Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in Your kingdom." 22 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?" …"We can," they answered. My Journal for Today: The “Power Play” of James and John with their mother, which we revealed yesterday is an example of yet another enemy of Christlike humility for the human heart which is desperately wicked (as we know of from Jer. 17: 9). Salome, the mother of her “sons of thunder,” was using nothing but selfish ambition, edging for position with the One they perceived as their Messiah; and this is an interaction with Christ, from which we should learn about our own discipleship. First, this maneuver, using relationships for an insider edge, showed how impulsive and immature in their faith these first cousins of Jesus were at the time of this incident. At this stage, as Disciples, these two really didn’t have a clue about what it takes to be a leader in God’s kingdom; and that is surrender and suffering, which are both behavioral outgrowths of humility. It also reveals their pridefulness, which is just the opposite of what they would later learn it would take to become the leaders they ultimately became in God’s kingdom (i.e., humility and meekness). Had they known all of that, I’m sure they would have put the brakes on their mom intervening on their behalf and they would have trusted their Lord to help them become the servant-leader disciples they would become by following their Messiah in surrender. We now know from history and the New Testament, that James and John learned these lessons of life. James, whom we know from historical accounts, was also known of as “James, the Greater” and was the first martyred Apostle [44 AD], who was one of the prime movers in leading the peoples of Spain to the Gospel. His brother John, of course, much later penned his “Revelation” from exile on Patmos (probably some time between 68 – 95AD). But at this stage of their discipleship, as we see these biological brothers in today’s passage, both of these men needed a lot more seasoning as believers and followers of Christ to come to the place where they could become leaders in God’s kingdom. And we should take heart, or at least take pause, from this lesson in discipleship. We should be asking ourselves if we’ve grown in the faith to be in full surrender to God’s Spirit and our Lord. Are we humble and meek of attitude as charged by God through Paul in Phil. 2: 5? Are we ready to be used for God’s kingdom as followers of Christ as He commanded in Luke 9: 23? Are we ready to be an intentional servant first and an anointed leader thereafter, if God has such leadership in His plan as He most certainly did for James and John? I’ll leave that inventory for you; and I’m doing it even as I type this. But it is uplifting for me to know that two such impetuous and impulsively selfish characters such as the “sons of thunder” could become dynamically used for God’s glory when they chose and developed humility and meekness in their character. It points me in the direction of total surrender so that I might move from a focus on self to one focused on the Savior. I’m not there yet; but I pray that that is my direction. My Prayer Today: Prepare me, Lord, for what lies ahead in Your plan/purpose for me. Amen
Friday, March 25, 2011
March 25, 2011 … Practical Humility
Passage of the Day : Philippians 4: 5 - [see underlined] 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let Your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
My Journal for Today: In our look at “humility” this month, we’ve been looking at it as a reflection of Christlikeness, … Christ, … who was/is our perfect model of humility. However, in today’s passage/verse, Paul shows a shade of Christlikeness and humility which takes us deeply into the trenches of everyday life. He challenges the believer to exhibit the Christlike quality of “gentleness,” MacArthur citing exposing this quality from Phil. 4: 5 (from the NIV). That’s a quality which, like humility, runs counter to our culture, and which supports/promotes Christlike control, strength, and power. And remember Matt. 11: 29, which reveals Jesus using those two qualities, of HUMILITY (or lowliness of heart) and MEEKNESS (or gentleness), as the only two descriptive adjectives He ever used in Scripture to describe Himself.
This term, “gentleness,” in the NIV is the Greek word, “epieikes,” which is a difficult word to bring into the English translation for our Bible. One can see this difficulty of translation because of the many ways it’s translated. In the NAS, it’s having a “forebearing spirit.” The KJV has it translated “moderation;” and the NLT renders it “considerate.” Yet, in today’s NIV version it’s translated “gentleness” and in others it could be “meekness.” Obviously, English speaking Bible Scholars have had a challenge in finding an accurate and generic translation for this Greek concept, “epieikes.”
From what I can get from commentaries and John MacArthur’s devotional, Strength for Today, “epieikes” seems to convey the idea, for the Christian, of consideration of the feelings of others, drawing the strength to do that from God’s grace. Another angle would be having a patience or forbearance in the context of a believer having been mistreated or maligned unjustly, which was certainly modeled by Jesus during His Passion and crucifixion; as it was certainly modeled by 1st Century Christians under the tyranny of Nero standing in faith and meekness as they were tortured for that very faith. Christ manifested God’s grace ALWAYS, even unto death for our sins – certainly not for His sins - (see Rom. 5: 6 – 11 - linked here). Therefore, according to Paul, speaking on this one attribute, “epieikes,” we, as His followers, should strive as much as we can to be forbearing in love and consideration of the feelings of others; … yes, even when we’re unjustly attacked.
Our world and culture, however, certainly do not preach or value “epieikes” as a life quality to display openly in our socio-political choices. We are touted today to demand our “rights,” based on our individual feelings. That’s the existentialism of the post-modern 21st century, where “if it feels good, do it [!]” is the battle cry. Also there is almost an “anti-epieikes” mantra to become #1 at the expense of the feelings of anyone who might stand in the way. Control, … CONTROL, … CONTROL!!
So, how must we be like our Lord in the sense of “epieikes?” Well, to set ourselves in the right – and righteous – direction we have to ask ourselves as Christians …
• Am I holding any grudges or bitterness in my heart?
• Do I lash out with selfish anger when attacked or maligned?
• Am I a light of Christlike “epieikes” in a darkened world self-driven situational ethics?
If we cannot give an unqualified “NO” to the first two, and a hearty “YES” to that last question, we need TO DECIDE to fulfill Christ’s mandate of Matt. 5: 16 (and I would hope that you have that one memorized – but here it is below) …
SCRIPTURE: [Jesus from Matt. 5: 16] “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
And paramount in those “good deeds” ought to be an attitude and lifestyle if “epieikes.”
My Prayer Today: Lord, cut away all that is not Christlike “epieikes” from my being; and help me to shine Your light of meekness or gentleness into the world through my choices this very day. Amen
My Journal for Today: In our look at “humility” this month, we’ve been looking at it as a reflection of Christlikeness, … Christ, … who was/is our perfect model of humility. However, in today’s passage/verse, Paul shows a shade of Christlikeness and humility which takes us deeply into the trenches of everyday life. He challenges the believer to exhibit the Christlike quality of “gentleness,” MacArthur citing exposing this quality from Phil. 4: 5 (from the NIV). That’s a quality which, like humility, runs counter to our culture, and which supports/promotes Christlike control, strength, and power. And remember Matt. 11: 29, which reveals Jesus using those two qualities, of HUMILITY (or lowliness of heart) and MEEKNESS (or gentleness), as the only two descriptive adjectives He ever used in Scripture to describe Himself.
This term, “gentleness,” in the NIV is the Greek word, “epieikes,” which is a difficult word to bring into the English translation for our Bible. One can see this difficulty of translation because of the many ways it’s translated. In the NAS, it’s having a “forebearing spirit.” The KJV has it translated “moderation;” and the NLT renders it “considerate.” Yet, in today’s NIV version it’s translated “gentleness” and in others it could be “meekness.” Obviously, English speaking Bible Scholars have had a challenge in finding an accurate and generic translation for this Greek concept, “epieikes.”
From what I can get from commentaries and John MacArthur’s devotional, Strength for Today, “epieikes” seems to convey the idea, for the Christian, of consideration of the feelings of others, drawing the strength to do that from God’s grace. Another angle would be having a patience or forbearance in the context of a believer having been mistreated or maligned unjustly, which was certainly modeled by Jesus during His Passion and crucifixion; as it was certainly modeled by 1st Century Christians under the tyranny of Nero standing in faith and meekness as they were tortured for that very faith. Christ manifested God’s grace ALWAYS, even unto death for our sins – certainly not for His sins - (see Rom. 5: 6 – 11 - linked here). Therefore, according to Paul, speaking on this one attribute, “epieikes,” we, as His followers, should strive as much as we can to be forbearing in love and consideration of the feelings of others; … yes, even when we’re unjustly attacked.
Our world and culture, however, certainly do not preach or value “epieikes” as a life quality to display openly in our socio-political choices. We are touted today to demand our “rights,” based on our individual feelings. That’s the existentialism of the post-modern 21st century, where “if it feels good, do it [!]” is the battle cry. Also there is almost an “anti-epieikes” mantra to become #1 at the expense of the feelings of anyone who might stand in the way. Control, … CONTROL, … CONTROL!!
So, how must we be like our Lord in the sense of “epieikes?” Well, to set ourselves in the right – and righteous – direction we have to ask ourselves as Christians …
• Am I holding any grudges or bitterness in my heart?
• Do I lash out with selfish anger when attacked or maligned?
• Am I a light of Christlike “epieikes” in a darkened world self-driven situational ethics?
If we cannot give an unqualified “NO” to the first two, and a hearty “YES” to that last question, we need TO DECIDE to fulfill Christ’s mandate of Matt. 5: 16 (and I would hope that you have that one memorized – but here it is below) …
SCRIPTURE: [Jesus from Matt. 5: 16] “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
And paramount in those “good deeds” ought to be an attitude and lifestyle if “epieikes.”
My Prayer Today: Lord, cut away all that is not Christlike “epieikes” from my being; and help me to shine Your light of meekness or gentleness into the world through my choices this very day. Amen
Friday, January 21, 2011
January 21, 2011 … Biblical Patience
Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 1, 2 [see bold/underlined portion] – As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
My Journal for Today: Yes, if you’ve been following what I’ve journaled into this January, we’re still in Eph. 4: 1 - 2 and learning about the qualities necessary to live lives “worthy” of our calling as Christians; and today the focus (see bold/underlined text above) is on “PATIENCE.” And as I write this, I wince a bit with conviction because this is one of the Spirit-given fruit that all Christians have been given by the Holy Spirit upon conversion (see Gal. 5: 22, 23). I wince, however, because patience is one Spiritual fruit that is not well matured in my life; and I believe it’s, more generally, in short supply in our 21st century world. I’m sure you’d agree that we live in a MacDonald’s mentality world. “Faster is better” is the anti-patience value in our culture!
The Greek term for patience, “macrothumia,” is also translated “long suffering” or “long tempered” in various versions of Scripture. It was, and it is now, a quality that the Apostle Paul was teaching as absolutely necessary if one was to exhibit Christlike meekness [i.e., gentleness]. And John MacArthur in his exposition about this attitude wrote that Christ certainly modeled three aspects of “macrothumia” during his walk/ministry on earth.
First, the patient or long-suffering Christian never gives in. And in scripture we certainly have a model for this in the long-suffering of Abraham as mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments (see Genesis 12, Romans 4: 20, and Hebrews 6: 15). Sure, Abraham had lapses, like the business involving Haggar; but all-in-all, old Abe stuck in there waiting for God’s promises to unfold. I’m afraid, all-too-often, I find myself not willing to wait when I’ve prayed, and God’s response seems to be … “Wait!” But I’m growing; and prayerfully one day I can have a long -suffering spirit that will have the “patience of Job” as I seek for and live out God’s purposes for my life.
Secondly, patient Christians are able to cope with difficult people. This is the “long tempered” translation for “macrothumia;” and in this aspect of this fruit of the Spirit, I would say that I do better. I’ve learned, in my dealings with people over the years, that flaring back with reactive anger NEVER HELPS when I’m confronted by hurting or angry people. We can read; and I think I’ve learned God’s prescription for reactive anger in both Old and New Testaments …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 15: 1 … A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Thessalonians 5: 14 … And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
It’s always been interesting to me that I can do better controlling myself in reaction to out-of-control people than I can when I’m in out-of-control circumstances. I seldom ever lose “my cool” when I’m handling angry people; but put me in a parking lot after a football game, when I’m at the mercy of hundreds of cars trying to get home, and I become the personification of anti-macrothumia. Yes, more growth is needed for this Christian when it comes to situational patience; and maybe I can learn to apply some of that “cool” I have with people in Memphis, TN, traffic – someday!
Finally, attempting to grow in patience (i.e., “macrothumia”) the patient Christian is able to accept God’s plan for EVERYTHING. You probably know the verse, but Romans 8: 28 is worthwhile quoting here …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Rom. 8: 28 … And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been [the] called according to his purpose.
Therefore, the Christian who truly believes and lives out the consequences of this truth will be filled with Christlike “macrothumia.” How many of us believe, in our head, that God is in control; but when we’re confronted by the tests, trials, temptations, and/or tribulations, how many of us really operate as if we believe Romans 8: 28? – or 1st Cor. 10: 13, for that matter …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1Cor. 10: 13 … No temptation [also translated … “trial, test, or tribulation”] has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
How many of us get in this “here-and-now” mentality when we’re being tested by trying circumstances or extremely trying people? If it were an adolescent who couldn’t wait for what they wanted in the here and now, we’d label them as impatient and immature. Or maybe we even have a “temper tantrum,” as would a toddler not getting what he/she wants. But what about the adult Christian who cries out to God for what he wants in the here-and-now? Yes, you’re right; … we are immature Christians at times, aren’t we? And we let our impatience rob the joy that can even be found when we trust God and pass our cares onto the One who can carry our burdens for us (see 1st Peter 5: 7 and Matt. 11: 28 - 30 and you go and look those passages up if you don’t know them).
Well, I’m doing better with regard to “macrothumia” in my later years; but I’m afraid I’ve still got some training to go to build my worthiness when it comes to patience. But also, I do know that God will deal with me in His time and His way, until I’m a more patient, more Christlike Christian. See Phil. 1: 6 “… being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to accept life as a crucible to burn off the dross of impatience which dwells in my soul … to mature my fruit of patience to be sweet like Yours. Amen
My Journal for Today: Yes, if you’ve been following what I’ve journaled into this January, we’re still in Eph. 4: 1 - 2 and learning about the qualities necessary to live lives “worthy” of our calling as Christians; and today the focus (see bold/underlined text above) is on “PATIENCE.” And as I write this, I wince a bit with conviction because this is one of the Spirit-given fruit that all Christians have been given by the Holy Spirit upon conversion (see Gal. 5: 22, 23). I wince, however, because patience is one Spiritual fruit that is not well matured in my life; and I believe it’s, more generally, in short supply in our 21st century world. I’m sure you’d agree that we live in a MacDonald’s mentality world. “Faster is better” is the anti-patience value in our culture!
The Greek term for patience, “macrothumia,” is also translated “long suffering” or “long tempered” in various versions of Scripture. It was, and it is now, a quality that the Apostle Paul was teaching as absolutely necessary if one was to exhibit Christlike meekness [i.e., gentleness]. And John MacArthur in his exposition about this attitude wrote that Christ certainly modeled three aspects of “macrothumia” during his walk/ministry on earth.
First, the patient or long-suffering Christian never gives in. And in scripture we certainly have a model for this in the long-suffering of Abraham as mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments (see Genesis 12, Romans 4: 20, and Hebrews 6: 15). Sure, Abraham had lapses, like the business involving Haggar; but all-in-all, old Abe stuck in there waiting for God’s promises to unfold. I’m afraid, all-too-often, I find myself not willing to wait when I’ve prayed, and God’s response seems to be … “Wait!” But I’m growing; and prayerfully one day I can have a long -suffering spirit that will have the “patience of Job” as I seek for and live out God’s purposes for my life.
Secondly, patient Christians are able to cope with difficult people. This is the “long tempered” translation for “macrothumia;” and in this aspect of this fruit of the Spirit, I would say that I do better. I’ve learned, in my dealings with people over the years, that flaring back with reactive anger NEVER HELPS when I’m confronted by hurting or angry people. We can read; and I think I’ve learned God’s prescription for reactive anger in both Old and New Testaments …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Proverbs 15: 1 … A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Thessalonians 5: 14 … And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
It’s always been interesting to me that I can do better controlling myself in reaction to out-of-control people than I can when I’m in out-of-control circumstances. I seldom ever lose “my cool” when I’m handling angry people; but put me in a parking lot after a football game, when I’m at the mercy of hundreds of cars trying to get home, and I become the personification of anti-macrothumia. Yes, more growth is needed for this Christian when it comes to situational patience; and maybe I can learn to apply some of that “cool” I have with people in Memphis, TN, traffic – someday!
Finally, attempting to grow in patience (i.e., “macrothumia”) the patient Christian is able to accept God’s plan for EVERYTHING. You probably know the verse, but Romans 8: 28 is worthwhile quoting here …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Rom. 8: 28 … And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been [the] called according to his purpose.
Therefore, the Christian who truly believes and lives out the consequences of this truth will be filled with Christlike “macrothumia.” How many of us believe, in our head, that God is in control; but when we’re confronted by the tests, trials, temptations, and/or tribulations, how many of us really operate as if we believe Romans 8: 28? – or 1st Cor. 10: 13, for that matter …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1Cor. 10: 13 … No temptation [also translated … “trial, test, or tribulation”] has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
How many of us get in this “here-and-now” mentality when we’re being tested by trying circumstances or extremely trying people? If it were an adolescent who couldn’t wait for what they wanted in the here and now, we’d label them as impatient and immature. Or maybe we even have a “temper tantrum,” as would a toddler not getting what he/she wants. But what about the adult Christian who cries out to God for what he wants in the here-and-now? Yes, you’re right; … we are immature Christians at times, aren’t we? And we let our impatience rob the joy that can even be found when we trust God and pass our cares onto the One who can carry our burdens for us (see 1st Peter 5: 7 and Matt. 11: 28 - 30 and you go and look those passages up if you don’t know them).
Well, I’m doing better with regard to “macrothumia” in my later years; but I’m afraid I’ve still got some training to go to build my worthiness when it comes to patience. But also, I do know that God will deal with me in His time and His way, until I’m a more patient, more Christlike Christian. See Phil. 1: 6 “… being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to accept life as a crucible to burn off the dross of impatience which dwells in my soul … to mature my fruit of patience to be sweet like Yours. Amen
Thursday, January 20, 2011
January 20, 2011 … Am I Gentle?
Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 1, 2 – [see focus in underlined/bold portion] As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
My Journal for Today: Okay, … John MacArthur, in his devotional, Strength for Today, is driving home a point about humility and meekness (or gentleness) with all this redundancy highlighting Eph. 4: 1 – 2. I accept the point that we, who call ourselves “Christian” and, according to the mandate of Phil. 1: 5 toward Christlikeness, must be aspiring to the attitudes and character qualities of Jesus, especially those He ascribed to Himself (again see Matt. 11: 29). However, the pragmatic question arises, “How do I know if I have the humility and gentleness that Christ exhibited so that I can be worthy of His calling on my life as a disciple of Christ?” Well, MacArthur asks several diagnostic or self inventory questions to help us do just that. And they are these …
# 1: Am I self controlled when confronted or challenged; or am I immediately defensive, especially when accused of being wrong? In other words, as spoken of in Prov. 16: 32, does God rule my spirit?
>>> SCRIPTURE: Prov. 16: 32 … Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
# 2: Does my anger arise at the right times and for the right things? In other words, do I get angry ONLY when God is dishonored just as Jesus was our model of righteous anger? [If you have them stored somewhere, note my discussion of the last two days – Jan. 18, 19 – or go to those dates in Strength for Today.
3: Am I a peacemaker at heart? In other words, do I have a drive to seek peace in the midst of discord and strife as exhorted by Paul in Eph. 4: 3 [the verse right after our target text for today]? …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Eph. 4: 3 … Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
# 4: Do I exhibit Christlike peace when I’m confronting sinners or the unsaved? We see this when we read Gal. 6: 1 and 1st Peter 3: 15 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Gal. 6: 1 … Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Pet. 3: 15 … But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, …
If I could give an unqualified “YES” to these questions, then MacArthur would say that the fruit of meekness or gentleness (in the spirit of humility) is being reflected in my life, much in the same way that it was described by Paul in 1st Timothy 3: 2 , … from the qualities Paul listed for Christian leaders …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Tim. 3: 2 … Now the overseer [elder, pastor, bishop, teacher, etc.] must be above reproach, …, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, …
MacArthur writes, “Remember that …‘a gentle and quiet spirit … is precious in the sight of God’ … [quoted from 1st Peter 3: 4] which should be the attitude and demeanor to which we (as Christians) continually aspire.” And, when I review these self-inventory questions, as I wrote in journal entries past, I’ve got some growing to do in Christlikeness!
What about you?
My Prayer Today: Again, Lord, … it is my sincere desire, … to be gentle like You! Amen
My Journal for Today: Okay, … John MacArthur, in his devotional, Strength for Today, is driving home a point about humility and meekness (or gentleness) with all this redundancy highlighting Eph. 4: 1 – 2. I accept the point that we, who call ourselves “Christian” and, according to the mandate of Phil. 1: 5 toward Christlikeness, must be aspiring to the attitudes and character qualities of Jesus, especially those He ascribed to Himself (again see Matt. 11: 29). However, the pragmatic question arises, “How do I know if I have the humility and gentleness that Christ exhibited so that I can be worthy of His calling on my life as a disciple of Christ?” Well, MacArthur asks several diagnostic or self inventory questions to help us do just that. And they are these …
# 1: Am I self controlled when confronted or challenged; or am I immediately defensive, especially when accused of being wrong? In other words, as spoken of in Prov. 16: 32, does God rule my spirit?
>>> SCRIPTURE: Prov. 16: 32 … Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
# 2: Does my anger arise at the right times and for the right things? In other words, do I get angry ONLY when God is dishonored just as Jesus was our model of righteous anger? [If you have them stored somewhere, note my discussion of the last two days – Jan. 18, 19 – or go to those dates in Strength for Today.
3: Am I a peacemaker at heart? In other words, do I have a drive to seek peace in the midst of discord and strife as exhorted by Paul in Eph. 4: 3 [the verse right after our target text for today]? …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Eph. 4: 3 … Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
# 4: Do I exhibit Christlike peace when I’m confronting sinners or the unsaved? We see this when we read Gal. 6: 1 and 1st Peter 3: 15 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Gal. 6: 1 … Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Pet. 3: 15 … But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, …
If I could give an unqualified “YES” to these questions, then MacArthur would say that the fruit of meekness or gentleness (in the spirit of humility) is being reflected in my life, much in the same way that it was described by Paul in 1st Timothy 3: 2 , … from the qualities Paul listed for Christian leaders …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Tim. 3: 2 … Now the overseer [elder, pastor, bishop, teacher, etc.] must be above reproach, …, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, …
MacArthur writes, “Remember that …‘a gentle and quiet spirit … is precious in the sight of God’ … [quoted from 1st Peter 3: 4] which should be the attitude and demeanor to which we (as Christians) continually aspire.” And, when I review these self-inventory questions, as I wrote in journal entries past, I’ve got some growing to do in Christlikeness!
What about you?
My Prayer Today: Again, Lord, … it is my sincere desire, … to be gentle like You! Amen
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
January 19, 2011 … Christ’s Gentle Example
Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 1, 2 – [see focus in underlined/bold portion] As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
My Journal for Today: When John MacArthur compiled his devotional for this date in Strength for Today, he spent another full day dwelling on Christ’s meekness as a role model of attitude which all Christians must emulate; and along with humility, they are the baseline attitudes to live a life worthy of being a “Christian,” which we started off the year studying in Eph. 4: 1. And if you go to my journal blogs for the last two days, I looked at the cultural pitfall of “meekness” as this character trait would be if exercised in our world today. It would be the round peg in a square hole. Meekness simply doesn’t seem to fit into the attitude mindset of today’s post-modern world.
However, and it deserves repeating and further discussion, if Christ saw Himself as meek [Matt. 11: 29] in His humiliation of setting aside His glory as God to become a man [Phil. 2: 6 – 7], then we, as Paul charges in Phil. 2: 5, must emulate Him as our role model of meekness. As Jesus walked this earth, he embodied “strength under control,” which is the operational definition of meekness. And his righteous anger, as we pointed to yesterday, didn’t appear when he, Himself, was attacked verbally or physically. Only when Jesus perceived that His Heavenly Father was being vilified by man’s sinfulness did Jesus raise His righteous anger to a level of taking angry action like cleansing the temple [again see Matt. 21: 12 - 13].
The image of Jesus dying on the cross, quietly, yet assertively, forgiving those who crucified Him, is the personifying image of meekness; and it’s one we can bring to bear as we live our lives to be like Him. If you’re reading this, I don’t know your track record as a Christian in the area of meekness; but I can say, with certainty, that I’ve got a long way to go to be able to walk in the Holy shoes my Lord, Jesus, when it comes to this character quality of meekness, … or relative to humility for that matter. I need prayer and more intentional discipline to allow God to mature His grace-given fruit of love, gentleness, kindness, and patience in my soul so that my responses when I’m confronted or challenged will be more like my Savior’s meekness.
Yes, there must be some growing for me to walk truly worthy of my Lord in meekness.
My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to be a kinder and gentler Christian, … molded in Your Image. Amen
My Journal for Today: When John MacArthur compiled his devotional for this date in Strength for Today, he spent another full day dwelling on Christ’s meekness as a role model of attitude which all Christians must emulate; and along with humility, they are the baseline attitudes to live a life worthy of being a “Christian,” which we started off the year studying in Eph. 4: 1. And if you go to my journal blogs for the last two days, I looked at the cultural pitfall of “meekness” as this character trait would be if exercised in our world today. It would be the round peg in a square hole. Meekness simply doesn’t seem to fit into the attitude mindset of today’s post-modern world.
However, and it deserves repeating and further discussion, if Christ saw Himself as meek [Matt. 11: 29] in His humiliation of setting aside His glory as God to become a man [Phil. 2: 6 – 7], then we, as Paul charges in Phil. 2: 5, must emulate Him as our role model of meekness. As Jesus walked this earth, he embodied “strength under control,” which is the operational definition of meekness. And his righteous anger, as we pointed to yesterday, didn’t appear when he, Himself, was attacked verbally or physically. Only when Jesus perceived that His Heavenly Father was being vilified by man’s sinfulness did Jesus raise His righteous anger to a level of taking angry action like cleansing the temple [again see Matt. 21: 12 - 13].
The image of Jesus dying on the cross, quietly, yet assertively, forgiving those who crucified Him, is the personifying image of meekness; and it’s one we can bring to bear as we live our lives to be like Him. If you’re reading this, I don’t know your track record as a Christian in the area of meekness; but I can say, with certainty, that I’ve got a long way to go to be able to walk in the Holy shoes my Lord, Jesus, when it comes to this character quality of meekness, … or relative to humility for that matter. I need prayer and more intentional discipline to allow God to mature His grace-given fruit of love, gentleness, kindness, and patience in my soul so that my responses when I’m confronted or challenged will be more like my Savior’s meekness.
Yes, there must be some growing for me to walk truly worthy of my Lord in meekness.
My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to be a kinder and gentler Christian, … molded in Your Image. Amen
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
January 18, 2011 … Righteous Anger
Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: a … [See underlined and bold as highlighted verse] – As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
My Journal for Today: If you followed my journal entry yesterday about “meekness,” you may have asked, “Does this mean that a Christian can never have, nor express anger? … To this you might say, “What about Jesus when He cleansed the temple (see this link, Matt. 21: 12-13)? He sure seemed angry there.”
And this certainly raises a salient point. Scripture certainly does give some license for a certain type of anger. Paul, in this same chapter of Ephesians (see 4: 26), wrote, “Be angry and yet do not sin.” So, even though we are challenged to hold the same attitudes of humility and meekness as did Christ (again see Phil. 2: 5 and Matt. 11: 29), we, as Christians, are given an outlet for so-called “righteous anger,” … the type of anger we feel when we see ungodly injustices and practices [i.e., “sin”] in our world. And that was modeled by Jesus when He cleansed the Temple of what the religious leaders had sanctioned in Jesus’ Father’s Temple (likely for monetary gain).
You will note that Jesus never got angry at those who expressed anger or hostility to Him, personally. No, Jesus only became angry when He perceived that others were perpetrating injustice or sin in the face of His Heavenly Father. He cleansed the temple because of what the people had done to deface His Father’s House. He struck back verbally at the Pharisees because of their hypocrisy toward God’s Law, His Father’s Law of Love. And likewise the humble and meek Christian can – and should – feel and express righteous anger when ungodliness prevails in our midst. However, there are always things we CAN DO in humility/meekness to express our righteous anger toward sinfulness.
I get absolutely and utterly livid when I see the propagation, promotion, proliferation, and profiteering involving sexual sin in our culture, especially since it had such a negative impact on my life, through my sinful choices in the past. Most certainly that anger, which emanates from my discernment of unrighteousness, motivates me to action. But my action is not to strike out at those who are the victims of the cultural scourge of hypersexuality, blaming them for their sin. No, my anger drives me to surrender to God and use the power of God’s Spirit, first in my own life to be pure and sober of heart, and then to use my testimony of victory and my God-given gifts to minister to those who seek to be free of the tarpits of sexual sin that surround us today in our world.
As John MacArthur points out in Strength for Today, God’s people must submit their (our) emotions to God’s Spirit, allowing HIM to control our energies and/or strengths, which may involve becoming angry and then taking action … but only at things which anger God and not our own egos. Remember, meekness is strength under control; and when we yield our righteous anger to the LORD, surrendered in humility to God’s grace, He can use HIS strength under HIS control, through our actions, to glorify Himself. As MacArthur puts it, “Under God’s control, anger reacts when it ought to react, for the right reasons, and for the right amount of time.” And this type of righteous anger will never hold grudges because it will always be under the control of God’s perfect love (see 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13).
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to have only anger directed and focused under Your conviction and direction, allowing me to be an agent of righteousness and Your love. Amen
My Journal for Today: If you followed my journal entry yesterday about “meekness,” you may have asked, “Does this mean that a Christian can never have, nor express anger? … To this you might say, “What about Jesus when He cleansed the temple (see this link, Matt. 21: 12-13)? He sure seemed angry there.”
And this certainly raises a salient point. Scripture certainly does give some license for a certain type of anger. Paul, in this same chapter of Ephesians (see 4: 26), wrote, “Be angry and yet do not sin.” So, even though we are challenged to hold the same attitudes of humility and meekness as did Christ (again see Phil. 2: 5 and Matt. 11: 29), we, as Christians, are given an outlet for so-called “righteous anger,” … the type of anger we feel when we see ungodly injustices and practices [i.e., “sin”] in our world. And that was modeled by Jesus when He cleansed the Temple of what the religious leaders had sanctioned in Jesus’ Father’s Temple (likely for monetary gain).
You will note that Jesus never got angry at those who expressed anger or hostility to Him, personally. No, Jesus only became angry when He perceived that others were perpetrating injustice or sin in the face of His Heavenly Father. He cleansed the temple because of what the people had done to deface His Father’s House. He struck back verbally at the Pharisees because of their hypocrisy toward God’s Law, His Father’s Law of Love. And likewise the humble and meek Christian can – and should – feel and express righteous anger when ungodliness prevails in our midst. However, there are always things we CAN DO in humility/meekness to express our righteous anger toward sinfulness.
I get absolutely and utterly livid when I see the propagation, promotion, proliferation, and profiteering involving sexual sin in our culture, especially since it had such a negative impact on my life, through my sinful choices in the past. Most certainly that anger, which emanates from my discernment of unrighteousness, motivates me to action. But my action is not to strike out at those who are the victims of the cultural scourge of hypersexuality, blaming them for their sin. No, my anger drives me to surrender to God and use the power of God’s Spirit, first in my own life to be pure and sober of heart, and then to use my testimony of victory and my God-given gifts to minister to those who seek to be free of the tarpits of sexual sin that surround us today in our world.
As John MacArthur points out in Strength for Today, God’s people must submit their (our) emotions to God’s Spirit, allowing HIM to control our energies and/or strengths, which may involve becoming angry and then taking action … but only at things which anger God and not our own egos. Remember, meekness is strength under control; and when we yield our righteous anger to the LORD, surrendered in humility to God’s grace, He can use HIS strength under HIS control, through our actions, to glorify Himself. As MacArthur puts it, “Under God’s control, anger reacts when it ought to react, for the right reasons, and for the right amount of time.” And this type of righteous anger will never hold grudges because it will always be under the control of God’s perfect love (see 1st Corinthians, Chapter 13).
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to have only anger directed and focused under Your conviction and direction, allowing me to be an agent of righteousness and Your love. Amen
Monday, January 17, 2011
January 17, 2011 … Gentleness (“Meekness”): Power Under Control
Passage of the Day: Ephesians 4: 2a … [See underlined and bold as highlighted verse] – As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
My Journal for Today: We return to the passage from Eph. 4: 1-2, the passage which launched us into this new year and our January devotions in John MacArthur’s Strength For Today. On Jan. 9, I covered one of the two attitude qualities Paul cited as necessary for the Christians to walk worthy in Christlikeness; and that was HUMILITY. Now today, we focus on the second of those two, MEEKNESS. By the way, in other translations, the concept of “meekness” is translated “gentleness” or “gentle” (see example in the NASB above).
Once again we remember that meekness and humility, are the only two character qualities that Christ used to describe Himself (see Matt. 11: 29). So, when one desires to be like Christ, these should be the two attitudes we focus on – first and foremost - to fulfill what Paul charged us to do in Phil. 2: 5…
>>> SCRIPTURE: Phil. 2: 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: …
So, having covered the quality of “humility” on 1/9, let’s now focus on “meekness.”
In our world, unfortunately the term “meek” is equated with “weak;” and that is far from the quality of meekness biblically. The Greek term for meekness, “praos,” accurately means strength under control; and Jesus was certainly the model of that. All of Phil. 2: 6-11 describes our Lord emptying Himself of the glory and majesty of the Godhead to become a humble man by His choice, which is the embodiment of the strength under control in meekness. The word pictures used by “praos,” from the Greek were either bringing a wild animal, like a horse, under the control of a master or a powerful medicine being used to soothe pain.
In our culture, our self-centeredness is often a quality that leads one to use personal strength or power to control others. Here, we see that “meekness” is controlling one’s strength in order to be humble and helpful to others. This is a fruit of God’s Spirit (see Gal. 5: 22 - 23) that God can use to help calm others or to bring order in the midst of chaos. Meekness (or “gentleness”) is not “wimpiness.” It’s the tamed lion licking the face of its trainer. It’s human power being brought under the control of The Master, our Lord, Jesus. When human reactions like anger or revenge are submitted to Christ, such meekness is rewarded with the peace of God (see Phil. 4: 6, 7). Meekness could be a medicine that soothes the savage pain of a hurting world. But we’ve got to be willing to humbly surrender our humanity to God’s Spirit in order to allow God’s enabling grace to develop the meekness that can produce God’s peace in our world.
How about you? Is “meekness” a word that could be used to describe your attitude of Christlikeness; or do you, as I do, have a way to go in developing a habit of meekness?
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to walk worthy of Your Name in meekness. Amen
My Journal for Today: We return to the passage from Eph. 4: 1-2, the passage which launched us into this new year and our January devotions in John MacArthur’s Strength For Today. On Jan. 9, I covered one of the two attitude qualities Paul cited as necessary for the Christians to walk worthy in Christlikeness; and that was HUMILITY. Now today, we focus on the second of those two, MEEKNESS. By the way, in other translations, the concept of “meekness” is translated “gentleness” or “gentle” (see example in the NASB above).
Once again we remember that meekness and humility, are the only two character qualities that Christ used to describe Himself (see Matt. 11: 29). So, when one desires to be like Christ, these should be the two attitudes we focus on – first and foremost - to fulfill what Paul charged us to do in Phil. 2: 5…
>>> SCRIPTURE: Phil. 2: 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: …
So, having covered the quality of “humility” on 1/9, let’s now focus on “meekness.”
In our world, unfortunately the term “meek” is equated with “weak;” and that is far from the quality of meekness biblically. The Greek term for meekness, “praos,” accurately means strength under control; and Jesus was certainly the model of that. All of Phil. 2: 6-11 describes our Lord emptying Himself of the glory and majesty of the Godhead to become a humble man by His choice, which is the embodiment of the strength under control in meekness. The word pictures used by “praos,” from the Greek were either bringing a wild animal, like a horse, under the control of a master or a powerful medicine being used to soothe pain.
In our culture, our self-centeredness is often a quality that leads one to use personal strength or power to control others. Here, we see that “meekness” is controlling one’s strength in order to be humble and helpful to others. This is a fruit of God’s Spirit (see Gal. 5: 22 - 23) that God can use to help calm others or to bring order in the midst of chaos. Meekness (or “gentleness”) is not “wimpiness.” It’s the tamed lion licking the face of its trainer. It’s human power being brought under the control of The Master, our Lord, Jesus. When human reactions like anger or revenge are submitted to Christ, such meekness is rewarded with the peace of God (see Phil. 4: 6, 7). Meekness could be a medicine that soothes the savage pain of a hurting world. But we’ve got to be willing to humbly surrender our humanity to God’s Spirit in order to allow God’s enabling grace to develop the meekness that can produce God’s peace in our world.
How about you? Is “meekness” a word that could be used to describe your attitude of Christlikeness; or do you, as I do, have a way to go in developing a habit of meekness?
My Prayer Today: Lord, help me to walk worthy of Your Name in meekness. Amen
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
2010 – April 13 – Open to God’s Discipline
Study from God’s Word… 2nd Samuel 14: 25 – 33; 2nd Sam. 15: 1 – 37; 2nd Sam. 16: 1 – 14; Psalm 3 … Passage for Reflection: 2nd Samuel 16: 11-12 … NIV 11 David then said to Abishai and all his officials, "My son, who is of my own flesh, is trying to take my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite! Leave him [Shimei, a man from Saul’s clan, who cursed David for taking the throne from Saul years before – called David “A man of blood”] alone; let him curse, for the LORD has told him to. 12 It may be that the LORD will see my distress and repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today."
My Journal for Today: When we receive criticism, how do we react? And if we are in a position of power and someone of lesser power levels strong criticism at us, what would be our default reaction? Well, I suspect that most of us, yours truly included, would be tempted to have the critic immediately belittled or put down in some way.
But not King David in this scenario we read about today. Here we have a man, still angry at David for assuming the kingship from Saul, coming out of the crowd as David travels, throwing rocks and dirt at the King (yes, literal rocks and dirt) and yelling for all to hear that David is a “man of blood.” And though David could have silenced this critic, even having his head cut off; David shows a character trait which our Lord, Jesus, described in Himself as well; and that is MEEKNESS.
Humility and meekness are the only two character traits Jesus ever voiced as describing Whom He was (see Matt. 11: 29 -linked); and in this scenario we see both of these traits in David. And in many respects this is one telling scenario which gives us a clue as to why God described David as a “man after God’s own heart.” Meekness is power kept under harness; … it is power under control. And that’s what we see David exhibiting as this man cursed him and even threw stones at him.
At sometime in our lives, it is likely that we’re going to have someone “throwing stones and dirt” at us, … possibly leveling criticism and maybe even slander our way. How will we react? Will we want to immediately take the critic out of the picture, especially if we have the power to do it? Or will we exercise Christ-like, or even David like, meekness? Will we, as David did, first listen to the critic, especially trying our best to see if there’s any validity to the criticism? That’s what David did when he heard this man, Shimei, vociferously coming against him, even throwing dirt at the King. David even reasoned that perhaps God was in this event, telling David to remain humble and to seek God’s favor. And that’s what David ended up doing as he fled from his own son, Absalom, who had also been politicking and trying to become the King of Israel. David shows remarkable – yes, Christlike – humility and meekness here; and so should we when our enemies come after us with barbs and criticism.
My Prayer for Today: LORD, help me to be like You when I’m criticized. Amen
My Journal for Today: When we receive criticism, how do we react? And if we are in a position of power and someone of lesser power levels strong criticism at us, what would be our default reaction? Well, I suspect that most of us, yours truly included, would be tempted to have the critic immediately belittled or put down in some way.
But not King David in this scenario we read about today. Here we have a man, still angry at David for assuming the kingship from Saul, coming out of the crowd as David travels, throwing rocks and dirt at the King (yes, literal rocks and dirt) and yelling for all to hear that David is a “man of blood.” And though David could have silenced this critic, even having his head cut off; David shows a character trait which our Lord, Jesus, described in Himself as well; and that is MEEKNESS.
Humility and meekness are the only two character traits Jesus ever voiced as describing Whom He was (see Matt. 11: 29 -linked); and in this scenario we see both of these traits in David. And in many respects this is one telling scenario which gives us a clue as to why God described David as a “man after God’s own heart.” Meekness is power kept under harness; … it is power under control. And that’s what we see David exhibiting as this man cursed him and even threw stones at him.
At sometime in our lives, it is likely that we’re going to have someone “throwing stones and dirt” at us, … possibly leveling criticism and maybe even slander our way. How will we react? Will we want to immediately take the critic out of the picture, especially if we have the power to do it? Or will we exercise Christ-like, or even David like, meekness? Will we, as David did, first listen to the critic, especially trying our best to see if there’s any validity to the criticism? That’s what David did when he heard this man, Shimei, vociferously coming against him, even throwing dirt at the King. David even reasoned that perhaps God was in this event, telling David to remain humble and to seek God’s favor. And that’s what David ended up doing as he fled from his own son, Absalom, who had also been politicking and trying to become the King of Israel. David shows remarkable – yes, Christlike – humility and meekness here; and so should we when our enemies come after us with barbs and criticism.
My Prayer for Today: LORD, help me to be like You when I’m criticized. Amen
Sunday, December 27, 2009
2009 – Day 360.Dec 27 – Sad Day
Passage for Study: 1st Samuel 10 – 11 … 1st Sam. 10 – 11 linked for study …
My Journal for Today: Well, … the Hebrew people got what they wanted, … a regal and proud warrior, a physically good looking man, and a charismatic leader. And they ushered him in as their king, giving over to him the allegiance and worship which had been due to God Himself. It seemed as if this was the crowning glory of Israel. It seemed that this man, Saul, was the one to bring Israel together and result in the change and glory that they had once had when Moses led them out of Egypt and Joshua consolidated the Hebrew nations, taking them into the Promised Land.
In 1st Samuel 10 – 11, it would seem that Israel had ushered in the glory days; but from God’s perspective, this was one of Israel’s saddest seasons. And as we know when we read ahead in God’s word, we can read of how God, Who had allowed His Spirit to be on Saul for a season in giving the people a king and the kind of king they desired, would retract His Spirit, and allow Saul’s sin nature to come to the surface, which led to chaos, confusion, and consuming degradation. Because of Saul’s impatience, rebellion, jealousy, and all-consuming pride, Saul, as Swindoll points out, “… shriveled into a twisted, maniacal, pathetic figure. … No one (in those days) could see it; … but slowly and ever so surely [evil] polluted the waters of [Saul’s] mind and soiled his soul.”
As Swindoll closes his devotional entry for today, he speculates on what the prime qualities of leadership are which you’d look for if you were trying to elevate someone to become the CEO of your company; and the prime one he pointed to was MODESTY, which I believe evolves out of a combination HUMILITY and MEEKNESS. These qualities in a leader are the only character adjectives Jesus ever used (in the NT) to describe Himself (see Matthew 11: 29 in the AMP version); and so, our God incarnate, has given us, by self proclamation and example, the prime qualities we should look for when vote for our leaders. And one must ask himself/herself, “Have we done so these days, when, in looking for change, we voted for a President who promised he would bring change to our land. He’s physically good looking; and he’s charismatic. He seems to promise that America can lead the world into a new realm of glory.
However, do we now have that leader, one who has the modesty, humility, and meekness which are Christlike and will be able to bring us the protection and leadership which brought America into prominence in the past? Or have we elected a pride-driven leader who is consumed with power and will not allow God’s Spirit to lead him to follow the only source of power Who can bring our land back to the grace we once knew which glorified God and God alone? I’ll let you speculate and answer that question for yourself.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, forgive us for where we have taken this land. And I implore Your mercy in this season of change, which, if we continue on this course, will bring Your wrath of separation from us. I know You, by your promises of Deut. 31: 6 and Hebrews 13: 5, won’t abandon Your remnant, Lord; so we pray patiently, as You’ve instructed in 2nd Chron. 7: 14, for Your healing to come to our land. Amen
My Journal for Today: Well, … the Hebrew people got what they wanted, … a regal and proud warrior, a physically good looking man, and a charismatic leader. And they ushered him in as their king, giving over to him the allegiance and worship which had been due to God Himself. It seemed as if this was the crowning glory of Israel. It seemed that this man, Saul, was the one to bring Israel together and result in the change and glory that they had once had when Moses led them out of Egypt and Joshua consolidated the Hebrew nations, taking them into the Promised Land.
In 1st Samuel 10 – 11, it would seem that Israel had ushered in the glory days; but from God’s perspective, this was one of Israel’s saddest seasons. And as we know when we read ahead in God’s word, we can read of how God, Who had allowed His Spirit to be on Saul for a season in giving the people a king and the kind of king they desired, would retract His Spirit, and allow Saul’s sin nature to come to the surface, which led to chaos, confusion, and consuming degradation. Because of Saul’s impatience, rebellion, jealousy, and all-consuming pride, Saul, as Swindoll points out, “… shriveled into a twisted, maniacal, pathetic figure. … No one (in those days) could see it; … but slowly and ever so surely [evil] polluted the waters of [Saul’s] mind and soiled his soul.”
As Swindoll closes his devotional entry for today, he speculates on what the prime qualities of leadership are which you’d look for if you were trying to elevate someone to become the CEO of your company; and the prime one he pointed to was MODESTY, which I believe evolves out of a combination HUMILITY and MEEKNESS. These qualities in a leader are the only character adjectives Jesus ever used (in the NT) to describe Himself (see Matthew 11: 29 in the AMP version); and so, our God incarnate, has given us, by self proclamation and example, the prime qualities we should look for when vote for our leaders. And one must ask himself/herself, “Have we done so these days, when, in looking for change, we voted for a President who promised he would bring change to our land. He’s physically good looking; and he’s charismatic. He seems to promise that America can lead the world into a new realm of glory.
However, do we now have that leader, one who has the modesty, humility, and meekness which are Christlike and will be able to bring us the protection and leadership which brought America into prominence in the past? Or have we elected a pride-driven leader who is consumed with power and will not allow God’s Spirit to lead him to follow the only source of power Who can bring our land back to the grace we once knew which glorified God and God alone? I’ll let you speculate and answer that question for yourself.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, forgive us for where we have taken this land. And I implore Your mercy in this season of change, which, if we continue on this course, will bring Your wrath of separation from us. I know You, by your promises of Deut. 31: 6 and Hebrews 13: 5, won’t abandon Your remnant, Lord; so we pray patiently, as You’ve instructed in 2nd Chron. 7: 14, for Your healing to come to our land. Amen
Thursday, November 26, 2009
2009 – Day 329.Nov 26 – Sensitive Leaders
Passage for Study: Acts 17: 1 - 9 … Acts 17 linked for study …
2nd Passage for Study: 1st Thes. 2: 1 - 12 … 1st Thes. 2 linked for study …
My Journal for Today: If you were with me yesterday, I wrote - with Chuck Swindoll’s guidance - of the quality of vulnerability (marked by integrity, honesty, and approachable openness). Today, primarily from the passage in 1st Thes. 2: 7 - 9, as Paul focused on his and his fellow leader’s approach to preaching the Gospel and leading new Christians in that area of Greece. He even used the word picture of a mother nursing her babies to describe how he tried to lead the Thessalonians with gentleness, patience, and kindness.
The Greek word, “epios,” used by Paul for “kindness” in leadership in this passage is one Swindoll compares to two other Greek concepts in Paul’s discussion of the fruit of the Spirit (in Gal. 5: 22-23). These are the fruit of “kindness” (Greek - chrestotes) and “meekness” (Greek - prautes), which I believe are both combined when leaders need to have the quality of leadership Paul was trying to illustrate by the word picture of a mother nursing her babes.
What Swindoll is trying to teach here to those who’ve been cast into a role of leadership in their lives, perhaps in some work site or maybe in a church, is that leaders need to be strong with determination (covered a few days ago in my devotionals); but they also need to exercise that determination with sensitivity. And it’s that sensitivity which must utilize the fruit of the spirit which we call “kindness” (or gentleness) as well as “meekness” (or strength under control).
As I write this, I’m in Colorado with my wife, visiting our daughter who has a new baby boy, our first male grandchild. And so this word picture of sensitivity and gentleness Paul uses to describe his leadership, which we read in 2nd Thess. 2: 7, is clearly on display for me as our daughter and my wife do all that is necessary to meet the needs of that little baby boy, also taking into account the needs of our other two granddaughters, who vie for their attention with a new little boy in the home. It is masterful to see my wife and daughter relinquish their superiority of age and strength to be the pictures of meekness, kindness, and sensitivity depicted by Paul in his church leadership of these new baby Christians.
I could go on with this; but let me close by saying that any leadership stength must be tempered by heavy doses of sensitivity and kindness if that leader is to help shape the growth of new or developing disciples of Christ. Yesterday, I gave witness to the vulnerability of my Pastor, who is also growing into the role of meekness and kindness which he is going to need to lead our large church into the future. If you’re in a position of church or ministry leadership, as am I, I pray that we all can lead by determined vision, but also with the senstivitiy of a mother who is willing to yield her own power to the needs of her babies. May we lead with direction but with gentleness and patience as well.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I need more of the qualities described herein in leading others to become more like You. Help me be strong, but gentle, dear Lord. Help me to be like You. Amen
2nd Passage for Study: 1st Thes. 2: 1 - 12 … 1st Thes. 2 linked for study …
My Journal for Today: If you were with me yesterday, I wrote - with Chuck Swindoll’s guidance - of the quality of vulnerability (marked by integrity, honesty, and approachable openness). Today, primarily from the passage in 1st Thes. 2: 7 - 9, as Paul focused on his and his fellow leader’s approach to preaching the Gospel and leading new Christians in that area of Greece. He even used the word picture of a mother nursing her babies to describe how he tried to lead the Thessalonians with gentleness, patience, and kindness.
The Greek word, “epios,” used by Paul for “kindness” in leadership in this passage is one Swindoll compares to two other Greek concepts in Paul’s discussion of the fruit of the Spirit (in Gal. 5: 22-23). These are the fruit of “kindness” (Greek - chrestotes) and “meekness” (Greek - prautes), which I believe are both combined when leaders need to have the quality of leadership Paul was trying to illustrate by the word picture of a mother nursing her babes.
What Swindoll is trying to teach here to those who’ve been cast into a role of leadership in their lives, perhaps in some work site or maybe in a church, is that leaders need to be strong with determination (covered a few days ago in my devotionals); but they also need to exercise that determination with sensitivity. And it’s that sensitivity which must utilize the fruit of the spirit which we call “kindness” (or gentleness) as well as “meekness” (or strength under control).
As I write this, I’m in Colorado with my wife, visiting our daughter who has a new baby boy, our first male grandchild. And so this word picture of sensitivity and gentleness Paul uses to describe his leadership, which we read in 2nd Thess. 2: 7, is clearly on display for me as our daughter and my wife do all that is necessary to meet the needs of that little baby boy, also taking into account the needs of our other two granddaughters, who vie for their attention with a new little boy in the home. It is masterful to see my wife and daughter relinquish their superiority of age and strength to be the pictures of meekness, kindness, and sensitivity depicted by Paul in his church leadership of these new baby Christians.
I could go on with this; but let me close by saying that any leadership stength must be tempered by heavy doses of sensitivity and kindness if that leader is to help shape the growth of new or developing disciples of Christ. Yesterday, I gave witness to the vulnerability of my Pastor, who is also growing into the role of meekness and kindness which he is going to need to lead our large church into the future. If you’re in a position of church or ministry leadership, as am I, I pray that we all can lead by determined vision, but also with the senstivitiy of a mother who is willing to yield her own power to the needs of her babies. May we lead with direction but with gentleness and patience as well.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I need more of the qualities described herein in leading others to become more like You. Help me be strong, but gentle, dear Lord. Help me to be like You. Amen
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
2009 – Day 188.July 8 – Modesty and Authenticity
2009 – Day 188.July 8 – Modesty and Authenticity
Passage of the Day: Esther 2: 12 – 14; … 20 … 12 Before a girl's turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. 13 And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. 14 In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name. … 20 But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai's instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.
My Journal for Today: Well, in today’s story segment about our heroine, Esther, our devotional shepherd, Chuck Swindoll emphasizes two character traits which Esther exhibited which are models of our own desire to be more like our Lord.
First, Esther was modest [or meekness]. Here she was being pampered and prepared for the King, somehow chosen from thousands of women in the Persian kingdom to go before King Xerxes and see if she had the “stuff of a queen.” And the pampering of the candidates went on for a full year. Yet in the end when Esther was paraded before the King, she had a different attitude than the other candidates. The latter candidates wanted desperately to win; but Esther remained true to her self and to her heritage and she exhibited the power under control which is modesty or meekness.
She had been raised by Mordecai to be a daughter of the covenant and to quietly trust in the only God to whom she would serve. Yes, she honored the wishes and requests of the earthly king; but her primary modesty came from a quiet confidence in the covenant of God. And though, at Mordecai’s instruction, she didn’t tout it, Esther had been raised to be a daughter of THE KING of kings; and she would remain true to that in spite of all the temptations of worldly externals.
Secondly, Esther was the real-deal, … authentic to the core of her being; and therefore exuding humility. She knew her God would watch over her; and she was the only candidate for the role of Queen who didn’t aspire to be queen. She was already, in her own mind, a child of the real KING. And it was that confidence and authenticity which is likely the very quality, implanted into Esther by God, to which King Xerxes responded and ultimately selected her to be his Queen.
In this little study I see two Christlike qualities on display in Esther. First was her modesty (which could also be described as meekness: i.e., power under control); and the second was authenticity (which could also be described as the self-confidence which comes from true humility). And I’ve learned from past study and experience that these qualities are the only two attitude qualities Christ ever used to describe Himself.
Check it out in Matt. 11: 29 - linked in context here, when Jesus was instructing His followers to come to Him when they were burdened. He said, [and I paraphrase], “I am humble and meek.” And this, my dear one is the picture presented by Esther as she was to be paraded before the King of Persia.
So, the question arises by this study, “Am I modest and authentic?” Or the parallel question as to my Christlikeness would be, “Am I meek and humble?” I will have to answer to that, being in accountability before God; and likewise you will have to answer those questions if, you, as a Christian, aspire to be like Christ. God’s word commands us to have an attitude like Christ (see Phil. 2: 5 - linked); and I must say that I’ve got some growing to do to be like our young heroine, Esther, or most certainly to be like my Lord, and Savior, Jesus.
My Prayer for Today: Help me grow, Lord, to be like Esther and to ultimately be like You. Amen
Passage of the Day: Esther 2: 12 – 14; … 20 … 12 Before a girl's turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics. 13 And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. 14 In the evening she would go there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name. … 20 But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai's instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.
My Journal for Today: Well, in today’s story segment about our heroine, Esther, our devotional shepherd, Chuck Swindoll emphasizes two character traits which Esther exhibited which are models of our own desire to be more like our Lord.
First, Esther was modest [or meekness]. Here she was being pampered and prepared for the King, somehow chosen from thousands of women in the Persian kingdom to go before King Xerxes and see if she had the “stuff of a queen.” And the pampering of the candidates went on for a full year. Yet in the end when Esther was paraded before the King, she had a different attitude than the other candidates. The latter candidates wanted desperately to win; but Esther remained true to her self and to her heritage and she exhibited the power under control which is modesty or meekness.
She had been raised by Mordecai to be a daughter of the covenant and to quietly trust in the only God to whom she would serve. Yes, she honored the wishes and requests of the earthly king; but her primary modesty came from a quiet confidence in the covenant of God. And though, at Mordecai’s instruction, she didn’t tout it, Esther had been raised to be a daughter of THE KING of kings; and she would remain true to that in spite of all the temptations of worldly externals.
Secondly, Esther was the real-deal, … authentic to the core of her being; and therefore exuding humility. She knew her God would watch over her; and she was the only candidate for the role of Queen who didn’t aspire to be queen. She was already, in her own mind, a child of the real KING. And it was that confidence and authenticity which is likely the very quality, implanted into Esther by God, to which King Xerxes responded and ultimately selected her to be his Queen.
In this little study I see two Christlike qualities on display in Esther. First was her modesty (which could also be described as meekness: i.e., power under control); and the second was authenticity (which could also be described as the self-confidence which comes from true humility). And I’ve learned from past study and experience that these qualities are the only two attitude qualities Christ ever used to describe Himself.
Check it out in Matt. 11: 29 - linked in context here, when Jesus was instructing His followers to come to Him when they were burdened. He said, [and I paraphrase], “I am humble and meek.” And this, my dear one is the picture presented by Esther as she was to be paraded before the King of Persia.
So, the question arises by this study, “Am I modest and authentic?” Or the parallel question as to my Christlikeness would be, “Am I meek and humble?” I will have to answer to that, being in accountability before God; and likewise you will have to answer those questions if, you, as a Christian, aspire to be like Christ. God’s word commands us to have an attitude like Christ (see Phil. 2: 5 - linked); and I must say that I’ve got some growing to do to be like our young heroine, Esther, or most certainly to be like my Lord, and Savior, Jesus.
My Prayer for Today: Help me grow, Lord, to be like Esther and to ultimately be like You. Amen
Monday, March 09, 2009
2009 – Day 67.Mar. 9 – Leave Of Absence
2009 – Day 67.Mar. 9 – Leave Of Absence
Passage of the Day: Exodus 4: 18 … 18 So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
My Journal for Today: I’m glad that Swindoll highlights this transitional passage in Moses’ life, which shows a lot about how Moses’ character had developed out there in the desert.
Here we are. Moses had just been hanging out with God Himself in the form of a burning bush; and God has recruited the shepherd to be His agent of redemption for God’s people, the Jews in Egypt. And Moses now knows that he will carry a staff which can become a snake; and he will be crying out, in God’s Name, to Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” … But does Moses take all that to Jethro, the man who had become his adopted daddy?
No, in meekness and humility and respect, he simply goes to the man who had entrusted his flocks to Moses for 40 years and quietly asks if he may be released to go down and see about the status of his brethren, the Jews, in Egypt. And Swindoll points out that this shows a lot about both the man Moses had become and the God, Who was calling Moses out to be the savior of God’s people.
Here we see what Moses had become in 40 years, … a GENTLEman, … a humble man, … both qualities we know are primary facets of the character of our Savior. By the way, they are the only two descriptive qualities Jesus ever used to describe Himself (you can check that out in Matt. 11: 29). So, he goes to Jethro in gentleness and humility; and he doesn’t bowl him over with a wild story, something like, “Dad, you’re not going to believe what I just saw. I was in the presence of The God of our father, Abraham, in a burning bush up there on the mountain. And God says I’m going down to Egypt and lead my people out of there! So, I’m out of here tomorrow. Sorry!”
No, God doesn’t demand his believers, especially those whom He calls into leadership, to be flashy and flaunt the power of God within. God only asks us to be available, to be humble, and to follow where He would lead. In fact, God will honor the kind of humility and meekness exhibited by Moses in today’s highlight passage from God’s word by pouring mercy and grace into these Christlike qualities. Scripture says it in many places in the Bible that God pours His grace into humility; but He cannot do so to those who are filled with puffed-up pride. (Check it out in Prov. 3: 34, James 4: 6, and 1st Peter 5: 5-6)
And so, we see God’s man, exhibiting God’s love and patience and a servant’s heart as he goes to the Midianite Prince and asks for a leave of absence to go to Egypt. And God, in His love and mercy and grace had prepared the heart of Moses’ adopted dad to give Moses the release he sought to go down and do business for God in Egypt. This is certainly an attitude lesson for us all. Patience and gentleness and humility should always be our M.O., rather than puffed-up pride and power-driven ego.
God simply says [from that verse I refer to so often in Luke 9: 23), “Deny yourself and follow Me.” And that’s exactly what Moses did.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I have Your power in me; but all You ask me to be is Your feet, when You say, “Go!” Amen
Passage of the Day: Exodus 4: 18 … 18 So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
My Journal for Today: I’m glad that Swindoll highlights this transitional passage in Moses’ life, which shows a lot about how Moses’ character had developed out there in the desert.
Here we are. Moses had just been hanging out with God Himself in the form of a burning bush; and God has recruited the shepherd to be His agent of redemption for God’s people, the Jews in Egypt. And Moses now knows that he will carry a staff which can become a snake; and he will be crying out, in God’s Name, to Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” … But does Moses take all that to Jethro, the man who had become his adopted daddy?
No, in meekness and humility and respect, he simply goes to the man who had entrusted his flocks to Moses for 40 years and quietly asks if he may be released to go down and see about the status of his brethren, the Jews, in Egypt. And Swindoll points out that this shows a lot about both the man Moses had become and the God, Who was calling Moses out to be the savior of God’s people.
Here we see what Moses had become in 40 years, … a GENTLEman, … a humble man, … both qualities we know are primary facets of the character of our Savior. By the way, they are the only two descriptive qualities Jesus ever used to describe Himself (you can check that out in Matt. 11: 29). So, he goes to Jethro in gentleness and humility; and he doesn’t bowl him over with a wild story, something like, “Dad, you’re not going to believe what I just saw. I was in the presence of The God of our father, Abraham, in a burning bush up there on the mountain. And God says I’m going down to Egypt and lead my people out of there! So, I’m out of here tomorrow. Sorry!”
No, God doesn’t demand his believers, especially those whom He calls into leadership, to be flashy and flaunt the power of God within. God only asks us to be available, to be humble, and to follow where He would lead. In fact, God will honor the kind of humility and meekness exhibited by Moses in today’s highlight passage from God’s word by pouring mercy and grace into these Christlike qualities. Scripture says it in many places in the Bible that God pours His grace into humility; but He cannot do so to those who are filled with puffed-up pride. (Check it out in Prov. 3: 34, James 4: 6, and 1st Peter 5: 5-6)
And so, we see God’s man, exhibiting God’s love and patience and a servant’s heart as he goes to the Midianite Prince and asks for a leave of absence to go to Egypt. And God, in His love and mercy and grace had prepared the heart of Moses’ adopted dad to give Moses the release he sought to go down and do business for God in Egypt. This is certainly an attitude lesson for us all. Patience and gentleness and humility should always be our M.O., rather than puffed-up pride and power-driven ego.
God simply says [from that verse I refer to so often in Luke 9: 23), “Deny yourself and follow Me.” And that’s exactly what Moses did.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I have Your power in me; but all You ask me to be is Your feet, when You say, “Go!” Amen
Friday, February 27, 2009
2009 – Day 57.Feb.27 – Living In Obscurity
2009 – Day 57.Feb.27 – Living In Obscurity
Passage of the Day: Exodus 2: 16 – 25 … Linked to passage for study …
My Journal for Today: Today’s passage of emphasis, very much the same as the last few days, speaks to me loudly and personally. For many years of my life I had a schizoid drive in my life. One side had me compulsively pursuing pleasure; and the other was a drive to be recognized and affirmed by the worldly “important” people in my life. The former drove me to hide my pleasure seeking self; and the latter drove me to be lauded, and seen as a big shot in my worldly career choice. Somehow, I imagine that Moses had similar human drives.
He was a pretender to the Kingship of Egypt, driven to be seen as the #1 son of Pharaoh and all that comes with that image; and he must’ve also had this God-driven self which wondered who he really was, the latter ultimately leading to his discovery of his Jewish heritage.
Well, in today’s passage, he had been led, by God’s leading I believe, into the Midianite wilderness, and he chose to receive the graceful offer of a priestly shepherd to dwell in this strange land … and even to become a Bedouin shepherd, perhaps one of the lowliest career choices as viewed by Egyptian royalty. Yes, it took God’s engineered plan to break Moses of his desire for prominence and to be shaped in humility for the greatness and leadership which would follow. Moses had to learn to have a servant’s heart for him to become God’s leader/deliver.
How about you; can you identify with Moses’ desires and his drives here; and are you willing to be shaped in obscurity for what God has for you in this life? Obscurity, in God’s economy and design, is not a bad thing; and it may by God’s plan, having given you a gift or gifts that are perfectly compatible for obscure service in His kingdom, to have you live out your entire life behind the scenes. If you’re in a church you probably know of absolutely essential servants who do their thing in the background, … barely noticed, but always there to do things which often put others in the limelight; … but you can see that the things these obscure servants do are used for God’s purposes and His glory.
Yet, there are times when obscurity, as in Moses’ situation, is used to sharpen or shape the Christian’s gifts for His glory. A season of brokenness and obscurity is often necessary for the Christlike attitudes of meekness and humility to be fashioned in one’s soul. This was Moses, who undoubtedly had Spirit-given gifts of leadership and spiritual discernment, likely even prophetic, visionary gifts. But he didn’t have those qualities of a servant, including humility, which would be necessary for him to be used for God’s glory later. So, he was led into obscurity for God to fashion the man He could use to deliver His people from bondage.
I don’t know your gift set. I most certainly don’t know what God has as His plan for your life. But if you’re in an obscure place in this life and world; and you’d rather be more recognized and rewarded for what you do every day for God’s glory, take heart. Maybe God has you in the wilderness, shaping you for His future plan for your life. But if, in your obscurity, you are perfectly happy to be the obscure servant, using your gifts, perhaps mercy, service, or anonymous giving, then God may have you exactly where He can and will use you for His glory. Realize that your obscurity may be, or is, EXACTLY where God wants you to be right now or for your life.
My heart (see Jer. 17: 9, link provided) has always sought recognition and affirmation from the world; and God has had to shape me to recognize that I don’t have to lead a big, national, or worldwide ministry to be used by Him for His glory. I now realize God, the Father, shaped and certainly used God, the Son, Who came into contact with very few people in His earthly witness and ministry. But Jesus’ impact shaped a world; and I have had to learn that all I need to do is witness and serve the ones God puts in my life, with God’s Spirit to give me power (see Acts 1: 8 with this link), and I will be used in humility and meekness for my God’s glory.
Oh, may I set aside pride and the desire for recognition and just move forward in obscurity to serve my Lord.
My Prayer for Today: That is my kingdom prayer this day, Lord; and that is enough for any day in my life. Amen
Passage of the Day: Exodus 2: 16 – 25 … Linked to passage for study …
My Journal for Today: Today’s passage of emphasis, very much the same as the last few days, speaks to me loudly and personally. For many years of my life I had a schizoid drive in my life. One side had me compulsively pursuing pleasure; and the other was a drive to be recognized and affirmed by the worldly “important” people in my life. The former drove me to hide my pleasure seeking self; and the latter drove me to be lauded, and seen as a big shot in my worldly career choice. Somehow, I imagine that Moses had similar human drives.
He was a pretender to the Kingship of Egypt, driven to be seen as the #1 son of Pharaoh and all that comes with that image; and he must’ve also had this God-driven self which wondered who he really was, the latter ultimately leading to his discovery of his Jewish heritage.
Well, in today’s passage, he had been led, by God’s leading I believe, into the Midianite wilderness, and he chose to receive the graceful offer of a priestly shepherd to dwell in this strange land … and even to become a Bedouin shepherd, perhaps one of the lowliest career choices as viewed by Egyptian royalty. Yes, it took God’s engineered plan to break Moses of his desire for prominence and to be shaped in humility for the greatness and leadership which would follow. Moses had to learn to have a servant’s heart for him to become God’s leader/deliver.
How about you; can you identify with Moses’ desires and his drives here; and are you willing to be shaped in obscurity for what God has for you in this life? Obscurity, in God’s economy and design, is not a bad thing; and it may by God’s plan, having given you a gift or gifts that are perfectly compatible for obscure service in His kingdom, to have you live out your entire life behind the scenes. If you’re in a church you probably know of absolutely essential servants who do their thing in the background, … barely noticed, but always there to do things which often put others in the limelight; … but you can see that the things these obscure servants do are used for God’s purposes and His glory.
Yet, there are times when obscurity, as in Moses’ situation, is used to sharpen or shape the Christian’s gifts for His glory. A season of brokenness and obscurity is often necessary for the Christlike attitudes of meekness and humility to be fashioned in one’s soul. This was Moses, who undoubtedly had Spirit-given gifts of leadership and spiritual discernment, likely even prophetic, visionary gifts. But he didn’t have those qualities of a servant, including humility, which would be necessary for him to be used for God’s glory later. So, he was led into obscurity for God to fashion the man He could use to deliver His people from bondage.
I don’t know your gift set. I most certainly don’t know what God has as His plan for your life. But if you’re in an obscure place in this life and world; and you’d rather be more recognized and rewarded for what you do every day for God’s glory, take heart. Maybe God has you in the wilderness, shaping you for His future plan for your life. But if, in your obscurity, you are perfectly happy to be the obscure servant, using your gifts, perhaps mercy, service, or anonymous giving, then God may have you exactly where He can and will use you for His glory. Realize that your obscurity may be, or is, EXACTLY where God wants you to be right now or for your life.
My heart (see Jer. 17: 9, link provided) has always sought recognition and affirmation from the world; and God has had to shape me to recognize that I don’t have to lead a big, national, or worldwide ministry to be used by Him for His glory. I now realize God, the Father, shaped and certainly used God, the Son, Who came into contact with very few people in His earthly witness and ministry. But Jesus’ impact shaped a world; and I have had to learn that all I need to do is witness and serve the ones God puts in my life, with God’s Spirit to give me power (see Acts 1: 8 with this link), and I will be used in humility and meekness for my God’s glory.
Oh, may I set aside pride and the desire for recognition and just move forward in obscurity to serve my Lord.
My Prayer for Today: That is my kingdom prayer this day, Lord; and that is enough for any day in my life. Amen
Sunday, February 08, 2009
2009 - Day 38- Testing Integrity
February 8, 2009 … Swindoll’s Topic for Today: The Test of Integrity
Passage of the Day: Genesis 47: 18 – 23 … Please go to this link …
My Journal for Today: Today we see another example of one of the best models of personal integrity in all of Scripture, save Jesus, of course. That’s why Joseph is a pre-incarnate picture of Christ from the Old Covenant. Earlier we read of Joseph’s sexual integrity and purity as he resisted the temptation of Potiphar’s wife. We saw his personal integrity shining through when he had the opportunity for revenge on his brothers, but forgave them instead. And in today’s passage we read of Joseph in the personal place of power to take advantage of others who were desperate for food; and from this test of character, Joseph’s Christlike integrity comes shining through.
Yesterday we read about how Joseph used a lot of innovative planning and helped the people physically during this immense crisis of famine in the land. And in that more inclusive passage, we can also read (from our verses today) how Joseph helped the people maintain their dignity as the famine got worse, giving them access to food by allowing the people to sell their land for food, and providing them with Pharaoh’s protection by strategically moving them into cities all over Egypt.
Joseph not only used his Spirit-given (I believe) gifting, showing his administrative prowess with these moves; but he showed God-like love for the people, as well as Christlike integrity in not taking advantage of others when he had the power and opportunity to do so. I agree with Swindoll that Joseph was the perfect example of the Biblical adage from Christ’s instruction: “To whom much is given, much is required.” [see Luke 12: 48]
Chuck Swindoll’s words as he closes his devotional for today are very telling, and maybe convicting, as he teaches on integrity (as it was exemplified by Joseph). Swindoll writes, ”Integrity keeps your eyes on your own paper during the test. Integrity makes you record and submit only true figures on your expense account. Integrity keeps your personal life pure and straight. Integrity restrains us from taking unfair advantage of others.”
It would behoove us all to allow viewing the life of Joseph to be a faith test as exhorted by God’s word in 2nd Cor. 13: 5; and to aspire to become like this man of God, Joseph, who had become transformed into a Godly shining light of integrity.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, heavenly Father, try me to shape my character to have integrity like Joseph, or better yet like You. Amen
Passage of the Day: Genesis 47: 18 – 23 … Please go to this link …
My Journal for Today: Today we see another example of one of the best models of personal integrity in all of Scripture, save Jesus, of course. That’s why Joseph is a pre-incarnate picture of Christ from the Old Covenant. Earlier we read of Joseph’s sexual integrity and purity as he resisted the temptation of Potiphar’s wife. We saw his personal integrity shining through when he had the opportunity for revenge on his brothers, but forgave them instead. And in today’s passage we read of Joseph in the personal place of power to take advantage of others who were desperate for food; and from this test of character, Joseph’s Christlike integrity comes shining through.
Yesterday we read about how Joseph used a lot of innovative planning and helped the people physically during this immense crisis of famine in the land. And in that more inclusive passage, we can also read (from our verses today) how Joseph helped the people maintain their dignity as the famine got worse, giving them access to food by allowing the people to sell their land for food, and providing them with Pharaoh’s protection by strategically moving them into cities all over Egypt.
Joseph not only used his Spirit-given (I believe) gifting, showing his administrative prowess with these moves; but he showed God-like love for the people, as well as Christlike integrity in not taking advantage of others when he had the power and opportunity to do so. I agree with Swindoll that Joseph was the perfect example of the Biblical adage from Christ’s instruction: “To whom much is given, much is required.” [see Luke 12: 48]
Chuck Swindoll’s words as he closes his devotional for today are very telling, and maybe convicting, as he teaches on integrity (as it was exemplified by Joseph). Swindoll writes, ”Integrity keeps your eyes on your own paper during the test. Integrity makes you record and submit only true figures on your expense account. Integrity keeps your personal life pure and straight. Integrity restrains us from taking unfair advantage of others.”
It would behoove us all to allow viewing the life of Joseph to be a faith test as exhorted by God’s word in 2nd Cor. 13: 5; and to aspire to become like this man of God, Joseph, who had become transformed into a Godly shining light of integrity.
My Prayer for Today: Oh, heavenly Father, try me to shape my character to have integrity like Joseph, or better yet like You. Amen
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