Passage of the Day: Galatians 6: 1 … Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.
My Journal for Today: This month John MacArthur’s devotional, Strength for Today, has been helping me focus on our relationship as Christians with the Holy Spirit, …learning more as to walking, praying, and living “in the Spirit.” Well, now we get down into the trenches with this walk; and as today’s verse implies, having a relationship with God’s Spirit expresses itself with a daunting degree of spiritual responsibility and the need for Spirit-supplied courage … i.e., to reach out to other Christians who are not walking worthily in Christlikeness (as is also the subject of Ephesians 4: 1 – 2) and to help them to be restored in the faith.
To the Galatians, and to the church at large, the Apostle Paul in today’s passage was exhorting Christians to reach out to a wayward brother or sister in Christ, … one who is discerned to be walking outside of God’s way in sin. And all Christians know that this admonition may be one of the toughest responsibilities of a believer … to confront, with the love of God, a fellow believer, who has given in to an obvious pattern of sinfulness, … and to help restore the entangled believer, drawing him/her from fleshliness into fruitfulness in Christ. How many times do we Christians shirk our responsibility from Gal. 6: 1, cringing in fear or enabling the sinfulness with our own sins of omission or fearfulness? In fact, in today’s culture of “tolerance” it has become politically incorrect to be a “Galatians 6: 1” Christian, especially discerning and labeling anyone as a “sinner.”
However, I feel this charge and challenge acutely because Paul’s exhortation in today’s highlight verse is one of the heartbeat scriptural truths which drives Battle Plan Ministry [BPM - linked], the ministry I was called, and led by God’s Spirit, to found and lead. BPM is here for surrendered and/or broken disciples of Christ, reaching out to help pull these wounded warriors out of the tar pits of sexual sin into which they have become immersed or entangled. However, at times I admit that I have shirked my “Gal. 6: 1 duty” because of fears of failure or confrontation.
But at the same time, I strongly feel that any fruit-bearing Christian, especially those who have matured in their faith, knowing what it’s like to walk in Spirit-led fruitfulness (see Gal. 5: 22 – 23), should do all we can to help restore any carnal Christian, who has become mired in the entanglements of the flesh (see Gal. 5: 19 – 21). And so, I’m especially convicted by today’s reminder of my Christian responsibility to do more in this area of discipleship.
It is also my firm belief – and experience – that any true Christian disciple, who reaches out to help a flesh-driven Christian under the conviction of God’s Spirit of the truth involving today’s verse, will be bolstered by the power of the same Spirit of God to help that Christian move toward a more worthy walk in Christ. Certainly that is driving me in BPM as I post this entry on this date; and I would predict that this may be the conviction of others who read this.
If you are reading this, you may know someone who’s into some stronghold of sin and maybe they’ve even admitted that they hate that bondage. Perhaps you know of someone who declares that he/she is “gay” and even though that one hates their own same-sex attractions, they may feel that they were “born that way” and wondering why God made them that way. If you’ve encountered someone like that, how are you helping them to be restored to an abiding relationship with Christ?
Maybe you know of a Christian who smokes and hates the habit; or perhaps you know of a Christian friend who frequents gambling establishments for entertainment, even admitting that they know that these behaviors are sinful. Well, my friend, what are you doing to help them come out from under a life of living in denial and bring them back to a truth-bearing relationship with Christ?
I’m sure we all can do more to be witnesses in the Spirit for Christ under this admonition from God in Galatians 6: 1. But what will we do from here forward to live up to this Spirit-led exhortation.
My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to reach out to help others to be restored in You. Amen
Showing posts with label tolerance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tolerance. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Thursday, November 04, 2010
2010 – November 4 –Judging with Humility
Study from God’s Word… John, Chapter 7: 2 – 8: 11 … Passage for Reflection: John 8: 6-8 … NIV But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
My Journal for Today: This story, i.e., the one in today’s highlight text, is a perplexing one, isn’t it? Rereading it today and studying it in the past, questions arise for me, like … Why did the accusing mob of Pharisees bring only an adulteress before Jesus in an attempt to trap Him; … why was the man involved not brought to Jesus also? And … what did Jesus write in the ground, which apparently had a deep impact on the Pharisees, who bolted quietly and left the scene of their accusations?
It would sure help me to be able to have the answers to these questions; but like many things in the Bible, it’s not what we don’t know or understand from Scripture that convicts us or directs us, it’s what is clearly written and understood that most often gives us the most convicting and directing application for our lives.
Dr. Smith, the editor of my study Bible this year and the author of The Daily Bible Devotional, from which I am influenced to write these daily journal entries, reports that what Jesus said to the Pharisees during this scenario is often extracted, out of context, when prideful believers are accusing others of being judgmental. How often have many a Christian, noting unforgiveness in others, have thought, at least privately if not publicly, what our Lord said to the Pharisee that day. Jesus, with the adulteress in front of Him and all the people that day, looking at the Pharisees, said, ”Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And in this age of cultural hyper-tolerance you may have even heard non-Christians use that biblical phrase to justify their reported non-judgmental attitudes. The “tolerance crowd” in our world today would want us to not judge anyone from the standpoint of our Christian held values. Because if we, who hold Jesus up as our Savior and the Bible as our standard for life, are right, those who claim “tolerance must rule” are looking into a mirror of truth and seeing themselves as being far from one who can cast that first stone. And isn’t it interesting that those who so loudly preach TOLERANCE these days are so rabidly intolerant when it comes to Christianity.
Whatever Jesus wrote in the dirt that day must’ve been a mirror for those who wanted to have Jesus join with them in stoning the sinner caught in adultery. And when Jesus spoke his revealing exhortation to the Pharisees about casting the first stone, as well as them seeing what The Messiah wrote in the sand, it caused them to walk away in apparent personal guilt and deep condemnation.
So, what do you and I take away from this story. And maybe Dr. Smith’s closing question for the day is one upon which we all should meditate. He writes … ”Am I privately as outraged at my own moral failure as I am publicly outraged at the sins of others?” If you’ve been reading here with me this year, you’ve no doubt read me write an old adage on several occasions; and it’s one which Dr. Smith repeats today: When we point a finger of blame at someone else, three fingers from our own hand are pointing right back at our own accusing self.
And with that, I guess I need write no more today.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to right myself before I ever reach out to help others be right in Your eyes. Amen
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
My Journal for Today: This story, i.e., the one in today’s highlight text, is a perplexing one, isn’t it? Rereading it today and studying it in the past, questions arise for me, like … Why did the accusing mob of Pharisees bring only an adulteress before Jesus in an attempt to trap Him; … why was the man involved not brought to Jesus also? And … what did Jesus write in the ground, which apparently had a deep impact on the Pharisees, who bolted quietly and left the scene of their accusations?
It would sure help me to be able to have the answers to these questions; but like many things in the Bible, it’s not what we don’t know or understand from Scripture that convicts us or directs us, it’s what is clearly written and understood that most often gives us the most convicting and directing application for our lives.
Dr. Smith, the editor of my study Bible this year and the author of The Daily Bible Devotional, from which I am influenced to write these daily journal entries, reports that what Jesus said to the Pharisees during this scenario is often extracted, out of context, when prideful believers are accusing others of being judgmental. How often have many a Christian, noting unforgiveness in others, have thought, at least privately if not publicly, what our Lord said to the Pharisee that day. Jesus, with the adulteress in front of Him and all the people that day, looking at the Pharisees, said, ”Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And in this age of cultural hyper-tolerance you may have even heard non-Christians use that biblical phrase to justify their reported non-judgmental attitudes. The “tolerance crowd” in our world today would want us to not judge anyone from the standpoint of our Christian held values. Because if we, who hold Jesus up as our Savior and the Bible as our standard for life, are right, those who claim “tolerance must rule” are looking into a mirror of truth and seeing themselves as being far from one who can cast that first stone. And isn’t it interesting that those who so loudly preach TOLERANCE these days are so rabidly intolerant when it comes to Christianity.
Whatever Jesus wrote in the dirt that day must’ve been a mirror for those who wanted to have Jesus join with them in stoning the sinner caught in adultery. And when Jesus spoke his revealing exhortation to the Pharisees about casting the first stone, as well as them seeing what The Messiah wrote in the sand, it caused them to walk away in apparent personal guilt and deep condemnation.
So, what do you and I take away from this story. And maybe Dr. Smith’s closing question for the day is one upon which we all should meditate. He writes … ”Am I privately as outraged at my own moral failure as I am publicly outraged at the sins of others?” If you’ve been reading here with me this year, you’ve no doubt read me write an old adage on several occasions; and it’s one which Dr. Smith repeats today: When we point a finger of blame at someone else, three fingers from our own hand are pointing right back at our own accusing self.
And with that, I guess I need write no more today.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, help me to right myself before I ever reach out to help others be right in Your eyes. Amen
Thursday, July 08, 2010
2010 – July 8 – Pledging Undivided Allegiance
Study from God’s Word… 2nd Kings, Chapters 17 - 18 … Passage for Reflection: 2nd Kings 17: 32-33, 41 … NIV 32 They [the foreign inhabitants in God’s promised lands when Israel taken captive by Assyria] worshiped the LORD, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests in the shrines at the high places. 33 They worshiped the LORD, but they also served their own gods in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought. … 41 Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols. To this day their children and grandchildren continue to do as their fathers did.
My Journal for Today: When I read Dr. Smith’s explanation and devotional entry today about how the alien inhabitants of Israel’s lands practiced religion when they were taken captive by Assyria, I couldn’t help but think about how America has become, since its founding as a “Christian Nation,” a land of hybrid faiths. And many countries in Europe, which 100 years ago would have been seen historically and demographically labeled as predominantly Christian nations have knuckled under to the cries of “tolerance,” becoming bastardized into many forms of religions; … or they are being consumed slowly by Islamic beliefs where there is NO tolerance of other faith practices.
Today the hyper-tolerance movement is sweeping the USA; and those advocating “tolerance” of faith have become tolerant of all religions, … save one, … Christianity. And there is also the spread of hybrid religious beliefs and practices, being perpetrated by new age gurus like the famous – or infamous – Oprah. And even among faith practices which are labeled as “christian,” the infusion of new ageism as well as practices from far-Eastern faiths is reshaping the face of Christianity. And the “tolerance movement” is also pressuring so-called “christian” denominations to accept sinful social practices such as homosexuality; and we see what used to be mainline Christian groups, such as the Church of England or the Presbyterian Church in the USA denomination discussing the Ordination of declared gay church leaders as well as pushing to include “gay marriage” in their sacraments.
And when one reads what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1: 18 – 32 [linked here], one can’t help but feel that God must be on the edge of allowing America to reap the same fate as did Israel in the times of Prophets like Isaiah. My dear friends, we cannot allow or tolerate idolatry or totally non-Christian religious practices to infuse our Church culture in the name of “tolerance;” because if we do, God’s wrath of abandonment is most surely to be the result as it was in the days of God’s people, which is documented where I’m reading now in 2nd Kings. Oh how we need to pray for God’s mercy [see 2nd Chron. 7: 14] and for His protection over the remnant of believers here in American, … those who stand firm in belief and worship strongly the one true God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, spare those of us who stand for You. Protect us from Your own abandonment if our prayers are not enough to shield our country from Your wrath. We know that You will never forsake us; but we’ve seen that You can or will turn us – as a people – over to Your enemies to show a culture or people just how serious You are about obedience to Your covenant. Help us, Lord. Amen
My Journal for Today: When I read Dr. Smith’s explanation and devotional entry today about how the alien inhabitants of Israel’s lands practiced religion when they were taken captive by Assyria, I couldn’t help but think about how America has become, since its founding as a “Christian Nation,” a land of hybrid faiths. And many countries in Europe, which 100 years ago would have been seen historically and demographically labeled as predominantly Christian nations have knuckled under to the cries of “tolerance,” becoming bastardized into many forms of religions; … or they are being consumed slowly by Islamic beliefs where there is NO tolerance of other faith practices.
Today the hyper-tolerance movement is sweeping the USA; and those advocating “tolerance” of faith have become tolerant of all religions, … save one, … Christianity. And there is also the spread of hybrid religious beliefs and practices, being perpetrated by new age gurus like the famous – or infamous – Oprah. And even among faith practices which are labeled as “christian,” the infusion of new ageism as well as practices from far-Eastern faiths is reshaping the face of Christianity. And the “tolerance movement” is also pressuring so-called “christian” denominations to accept sinful social practices such as homosexuality; and we see what used to be mainline Christian groups, such as the Church of England or the Presbyterian Church in the USA denomination discussing the Ordination of declared gay church leaders as well as pushing to include “gay marriage” in their sacraments.
And when one reads what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1: 18 – 32 [linked here], one can’t help but feel that God must be on the edge of allowing America to reap the same fate as did Israel in the times of Prophets like Isaiah. My dear friends, we cannot allow or tolerate idolatry or totally non-Christian religious practices to infuse our Church culture in the name of “tolerance;” because if we do, God’s wrath of abandonment is most surely to be the result as it was in the days of God’s people, which is documented where I’m reading now in 2nd Kings. Oh how we need to pray for God’s mercy [see 2nd Chron. 7: 14] and for His protection over the remnant of believers here in American, … those who stand firm in belief and worship strongly the one true God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, spare those of us who stand for You. Protect us from Your own abandonment if our prayers are not enough to shield our country from Your wrath. We know that You will never forsake us; but we’ve seen that You can or will turn us – as a people – over to Your enemies to show a culture or people just how serious You are about obedience to Your covenant. Help us, Lord. Amen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
