Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Leviticus, Chapters 19-21 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Leviticus 19: 9-10; … 18 : … [Priestly Preparation for Atonement] … 9 "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.” >>> … 18 [After a series of specific laws from God to be followed by His chosen ones] … “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”
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Matthew 22: 34-40; … 18 : … [Christ on the Legacy of Love] … 34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” >>> 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [Deut. 6: 5] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ [Lev. 19: 18] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
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John 13: 34-35 : … [Again, Christ on Our Legacy as Christians]… [Jesus] … 34 “A new command I give you: ‘Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.’ 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
My Journal for Today: Today, God’s word jumped out at me from Leviticus 19 in my chronological reading plan, especially the passage I copied above from verses 9-10 and verse 18. It immediately reminded me of those passages in the New Testament where Jesus was challenged by the Pharisees and Sadducees to declare the greatest of God’s Law. And without hesitation, Jesus gave His Law of Love to the people, letting God’s people know exactly how they were to live and how this living would be a legacy of loving.
And that is the message we all need to contemplate, internalize, and live on a 24/7 basis. It is God’s commandment to a legacy of love for all of His children; and it comes right from the Old Covenant, fulfilled by Christ in the New Covenant. And in today’s passage in Leviticus, God, through Moses, even gave His chosen ones a word picture of how they (and we) should live their (our) lives. Note the instruction of Leviticus 19: 9-10 where God commanded how the people were to glean the harvest from the promised land, … but leaving the left-over fruit which was on the field from the harvest, as well as the fruit from the edges of the fields … so that those who were not as capable could come behind the workers and be able thrive from the gleanings of the fields.
And that was what – in essence – Jesus was saying to His attackers and followers in Matt. 22 and John 13 above. He was saying that we, as Christians, ought to be showing so much of God’s love to God’s people and all whose lives we touch that those who come after us will have plenty of God’s left-over love upon which they can thrive.
Have you ever asked yourself, “What is my legacy of God’s love?” What am I leaving in the fields for those who come after me? Am I living with such an abundance of God’s love that all who know me can thrive on the leavings of God’s love from harvest of living in my life?
If you were to write in a word – or at most, a short phrase – on a 3X5 card what others can – or will – glean from your legacy of God’s love in your life, … what would you write? In my attempt to declare my legacy of God’s love in a word, I think I would write “ALOGOSPHOBIA” on my card, which is a word I made up to describe my obsessive-compulsive fear of not having God’s word in my life.
Before I was a Christian, I was driven by a fear of not having love and physical affection imparted to me by others; and that fear drove me to try to pursue God’s love in all the wrong places, mostly through the selfish pursuit of sexual pleasures. But when Christ came into my life and I sampled His fruit of love through His word, I couldn’t (and still can’t) get enough of it. And I began to see that God’s Spirit had replanted a new compulsion in my life and that is the obsessive drive to go deep into God’s word. That’s why I’m here this morning, digging into God’s truth and trying to find the fruit of His love; … and that’s where I get my LOVE FIX every day from God. AND, my friend, I will pray below that those who come after me will find and develop the same drive to find God’s love in their lives through His word.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, my others, especially my family, catch the love-bug from Your word, and take enough from the fields I harvest from You through Your truth to be able to live their lives with Your love. Amen
Showing posts with label legacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legacy. Show all posts
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
2010 – October 12 – How Shall We Be Remembered?
Study from God’s Word… Nehemiah, Chapters 11 – 13 (especially the latter passages) … Passage for Reflection: Nehemiah 13: 22 … NIV Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to Your great love.
My Journal for Today: When one reads what was chronicled by Nehemiah (probably by a scribe or maybe even Ezra), Chapter 13 reads somewhat like a eulogy. In this last chapter of the historical book by his name, Nehemiah has written about a number of failures by God’s people, which he discovers after he had returned to Susa and had been released by Artaxerxes to go back, possibly permanently, to Jerusalem to be the permanent governor. And when Nehemiah returns, to his chagrin, he discovers that the people, in the time he had been gone (we don’t know how long) had desecrated the Temple, began intermarrying with the non-Jewish peoples again, and were not observing the Sabbath properly. And in a historical picture of the Messiah, Who would come to cleanse the Temple some centuries later, Nehemiah was enraged and struck out against God’s chosen people with righteous anger.
And apparently identifying with the heart weakness of these people, in today’s highlight passage in Neh. 13: 22, we read of Nehemiah praying to God for the Lord to have mercy on him, remembering what he had done to cleanse the Temple and set the people on a path which could/would honor God. I can almost read Nehemiah’s mind, possibly remembering the words of Jeremiah, who had come before him with the prophetic description of the deception in any man’s heart (see Jer. 17: 9). I can imagine Nehemiah, returning to Jerusalem again to see the Temple desecration and the worship of idols again, and saying to himself, something like, “There, but for the grace of God, go I;” and then taking righteous action to cleanse the Temple and drive the people to follow God’s law.
And yes that would be the “M.O.” of our Messiah as well, who would come into His Father’s house centuries later to see similar desecration and idol worship, grieving at the hearts of God’s people, and then overthrowing the Temple tables and dispelling wickedness from His Father’s House.
How about you and me, if you’re reading with me here? Do we see desecration in the Temple of our own hearts; and are we angry enough – with a righteous anger toward our sinfulness – to strike out and cleanse our own hearts and rid our own lives of idol worship as well as become more vigilant about guarding the walls of our hearts – i.e., God’s Temple – against the onslaught of evil in our world?
Will we be eulogized when we go to be with Jesus, by someone saying, “This man was driven, Lord, to honor You and to maintain the Temple of his heart pure to honor You and shine a light for all to see Your glory.” That, most certainly, is something I would want said at my home-going. I pray that it will.
What about you? What do you want said to God and to the world as your life is honored when God brings you home?
My Prayer for Today: Lord, may my life be a pure worship for Your glory. Amen
My Journal for Today: When one reads what was chronicled by Nehemiah (probably by a scribe or maybe even Ezra), Chapter 13 reads somewhat like a eulogy. In this last chapter of the historical book by his name, Nehemiah has written about a number of failures by God’s people, which he discovers after he had returned to Susa and had been released by Artaxerxes to go back, possibly permanently, to Jerusalem to be the permanent governor. And when Nehemiah returns, to his chagrin, he discovers that the people, in the time he had been gone (we don’t know how long) had desecrated the Temple, began intermarrying with the non-Jewish peoples again, and were not observing the Sabbath properly. And in a historical picture of the Messiah, Who would come to cleanse the Temple some centuries later, Nehemiah was enraged and struck out against God’s chosen people with righteous anger.
And apparently identifying with the heart weakness of these people, in today’s highlight passage in Neh. 13: 22, we read of Nehemiah praying to God for the Lord to have mercy on him, remembering what he had done to cleanse the Temple and set the people on a path which could/would honor God. I can almost read Nehemiah’s mind, possibly remembering the words of Jeremiah, who had come before him with the prophetic description of the deception in any man’s heart (see Jer. 17: 9). I can imagine Nehemiah, returning to Jerusalem again to see the Temple desecration and the worship of idols again, and saying to himself, something like, “There, but for the grace of God, go I;” and then taking righteous action to cleanse the Temple and drive the people to follow God’s law.
And yes that would be the “M.O.” of our Messiah as well, who would come into His Father’s house centuries later to see similar desecration and idol worship, grieving at the hearts of God’s people, and then overthrowing the Temple tables and dispelling wickedness from His Father’s House.
How about you and me, if you’re reading with me here? Do we see desecration in the Temple of our own hearts; and are we angry enough – with a righteous anger toward our sinfulness – to strike out and cleanse our own hearts and rid our own lives of idol worship as well as become more vigilant about guarding the walls of our hearts – i.e., God’s Temple – against the onslaught of evil in our world?
Will we be eulogized when we go to be with Jesus, by someone saying, “This man was driven, Lord, to honor You and to maintain the Temple of his heart pure to honor You and shine a light for all to see Your glory.” That, most certainly, is something I would want said at my home-going. I pray that it will.
What about you? What do you want said to God and to the world as your life is honored when God brings you home?
My Prayer for Today: Lord, may my life be a pure worship for Your glory. Amen
Monday, May 25, 2009
2009 – Day 144.May 25 – A Legacy
2009 – Day 144.May 25 – A Legacy
Passage of the Day: 1st Chronicles 29: 10 – 13 … Link for entire Chapter 29 for passage study in context ...
My Journal for Today: Well, today we close out our study in the life of David; and we read of the close of his life and the legacy he passed on to his people, … God’s chosen ones. And to punctuate his life, our focus passage today is a prayer, which emphasizes praise, which was probably David’s greatest legacy, … that he would humbly and openly praise His God and the people’s Lord in spite of all the foibles and failures in his life; and we have definitely written about those in these past few weeks.
David’s life has taught all believers a number of lessons about life, those lessons becoming our legacy by letting God’s word, which has chronicled David’s life, teach us how we should or should not live. As Chuck Swindoll puts it in his devotional for today:
”What lessons can we learn from such a man? We learn hope, in spite of his humanity. We learn courage, even in the midst of his own fear. We learn encouragement and praise in the songs that grew out of his hours of despair. We learn forgiveness in his dark moments of sin. And we learn the value of serving the purpose of God in our own generation, even though all our dreams may not be fulfilled.”
And I join Swindoll to thank God for inspiring and teaching us from the life of this shepherd boy warrior turned failing king, who ultimately showed the world the power and value which comes from humility and surrender to God. From David’s life, as Swindoll also writes, we can declare, ”… thank You, Father, for using us though we are weak, forgiving us when we fail, and loving us through all the Sauls and Goliaths and Jonathans and Abigails and Bathshebas and Absaloms and Joabs and Solomons of our lives. Thank you for showing us that we can be people like David … people of passion and destiny.”
And to that I would humbly add that I thank God for sharing David’s life with us so that we can realize that we, in spite of all of our foibles, faults, and failures, can become PEOPLE AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART!
My Prayer for Today: Thank You, Lord, for the life lessons You have imparted into the life of any believer who might see them from David’s pursuit of Your heart. Amen
And a Post Script of devotion: Tomorrow we move on to another life study into the a man Swindoll refers to as … Elijah, A Man of Heroism and Humility
Passage of the Day: 1st Chronicles 29: 10 – 13 … Link for entire Chapter 29 for passage study in context ...
My Journal for Today: Well, today we close out our study in the life of David; and we read of the close of his life and the legacy he passed on to his people, … God’s chosen ones. And to punctuate his life, our focus passage today is a prayer, which emphasizes praise, which was probably David’s greatest legacy, … that he would humbly and openly praise His God and the people’s Lord in spite of all the foibles and failures in his life; and we have definitely written about those in these past few weeks.
David’s life has taught all believers a number of lessons about life, those lessons becoming our legacy by letting God’s word, which has chronicled David’s life, teach us how we should or should not live. As Chuck Swindoll puts it in his devotional for today:
”What lessons can we learn from such a man? We learn hope, in spite of his humanity. We learn courage, even in the midst of his own fear. We learn encouragement and praise in the songs that grew out of his hours of despair. We learn forgiveness in his dark moments of sin. And we learn the value of serving the purpose of God in our own generation, even though all our dreams may not be fulfilled.”
And I join Swindoll to thank God for inspiring and teaching us from the life of this shepherd boy warrior turned failing king, who ultimately showed the world the power and value which comes from humility and surrender to God. From David’s life, as Swindoll also writes, we can declare, ”… thank You, Father, for using us though we are weak, forgiving us when we fail, and loving us through all the Sauls and Goliaths and Jonathans and Abigails and Bathshebas and Absaloms and Joabs and Solomons of our lives. Thank you for showing us that we can be people like David … people of passion and destiny.”
And to that I would humbly add that I thank God for sharing David’s life with us so that we can realize that we, in spite of all of our foibles, faults, and failures, can become PEOPLE AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART!
My Prayer for Today: Thank You, Lord, for the life lessons You have imparted into the life of any believer who might see them from David’s pursuit of Your heart. Amen
And a Post Script of devotion: Tomorrow we move on to another life study into the a man Swindoll refers to as … Elijah, A Man of Heroism and Humility
Saturday, May 09, 2009
2009 – Day 128.May 09 – Our Epitaph
2009 – Day 128.May 09 – Our Epitaph
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 31: 1 – 13 … Linked to 1st Samuel 31 for your study …
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll poses a thought provoking question after one reads today’s passage about the passing of Saul and his sons in 1st Samuel 31. He asks the rhetorical question, “What words will be used in the eulogy to sum up your life?”
In today’s passage we read of the tragic demise of a man who could have been, as Swindoll points out, David’s role model and mentor; and yet, as we’ve been studying these past days, Saul ignominiously pursued Israel’s anointed one to try to kill him. And then today, we read how he took his own life to avoid being killed by uncircumcised pagans. What a sad legacy!
And as I pondered Swindoll’s question about my potential eulogy, I thought about what might have been said at my funeral had it taken place over 30 years go when I didn’t know Christ as my Savior, … when, as some Southerner might say, “He was as lost as a ball in high weeds!” And at that time, because of the politeness at funerals, no one probably would have likely spoken the truth that I had denied my daughters a lot of my presence and parenting as a father because of my brain being consumed in a bondage to pornography. My wife would have likely been thinking, but probably would not have said the truth, … that I had abandoned her emotionally and physically as a husband.
But God mercifully and gracefully reached into my sin-dead life; and He broke me to a place where I could, and did, receive Him as my Lord and Savior. And now over 25 years after I have become my Lord’s disciple, I would hope that someone would say, should I go home to be with the Lord, “Bill was a devoted Christian husband to Elly since 1983 when he gave his life to Christ.” And I hope that someone would say, “The Berry Patch, as they call their family, has two strong Christian daughters, their two devoted Christian husbands, and five Christian grandkids, all of whom are thriving in the example set by Bill, who was a Christian who led his family to the Lord.” And then I pray that someone might recount how I was called into the Ministry and became an Ordained Christian Minister, who was affectionately nicknamed “Elder Berry,” and who was called to found and lead a Christian ministry, BattlePlan Ministry, to help Christians walk free from habitual sexual sin and into a fruitful walk of freedom in Christ.
Whatever anyone would say in my eulogy besides the above, which underlines my life in Christ, would be icing on the cake which has become my life. But as you have read of king Saul’s life in 1st Samuel and from my witness above, have you asked yourself what one might say in your eulogy down the road of life, … after you’ve had some time to let God’s Spirit be used in and through your life to give glory to God? I shudder to think what my eulogy could have been like or would have been like from those years before I was given the opportunity to turn my life around with God’s grace enabling and empowering me to do so.
My dear one, … if you’ve given your life to Christ (see Romans 12: 1 – 2), then you now have the same power in you to live fruitfully for Christ which was the power that raised our Savior from the grave. Even if you were just saved yesterday, you could begin tomorrow to intentionally and purposefully shine Christ’s Spirit-empowered light into a very dark world, letting others see Christ giving you that light for God’s glory (see Matthew 5: 16). And one day, whenever you go home to be with your Lord, someone might give a eulogy of purpose and Christian power, which would be a testimony of glory for Your God.
And that is my prayer today for all of us … that we leave a eulogy of purpose and fruitfulness which trumpets the glory of God for all to hear.
My Prayer for Today: And my powerful Holy Spirit, let Your Light shine through my life for all to see You, precious Savior, and so that my eulogy will glorify You, my Father in Heaven. Amen
Passage of the Day: 1st Samuel 31: 1 – 13 … Linked to 1st Samuel 31 for your study …
My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll poses a thought provoking question after one reads today’s passage about the passing of Saul and his sons in 1st Samuel 31. He asks the rhetorical question, “What words will be used in the eulogy to sum up your life?”
In today’s passage we read of the tragic demise of a man who could have been, as Swindoll points out, David’s role model and mentor; and yet, as we’ve been studying these past days, Saul ignominiously pursued Israel’s anointed one to try to kill him. And then today, we read how he took his own life to avoid being killed by uncircumcised pagans. What a sad legacy!
And as I pondered Swindoll’s question about my potential eulogy, I thought about what might have been said at my funeral had it taken place over 30 years go when I didn’t know Christ as my Savior, … when, as some Southerner might say, “He was as lost as a ball in high weeds!” And at that time, because of the politeness at funerals, no one probably would have likely spoken the truth that I had denied my daughters a lot of my presence and parenting as a father because of my brain being consumed in a bondage to pornography. My wife would have likely been thinking, but probably would not have said the truth, … that I had abandoned her emotionally and physically as a husband.
But God mercifully and gracefully reached into my sin-dead life; and He broke me to a place where I could, and did, receive Him as my Lord and Savior. And now over 25 years after I have become my Lord’s disciple, I would hope that someone would say, should I go home to be with the Lord, “Bill was a devoted Christian husband to Elly since 1983 when he gave his life to Christ.” And I hope that someone would say, “The Berry Patch, as they call their family, has two strong Christian daughters, their two devoted Christian husbands, and five Christian grandkids, all of whom are thriving in the example set by Bill, who was a Christian who led his family to the Lord.” And then I pray that someone might recount how I was called into the Ministry and became an Ordained Christian Minister, who was affectionately nicknamed “Elder Berry,” and who was called to found and lead a Christian ministry, BattlePlan Ministry, to help Christians walk free from habitual sexual sin and into a fruitful walk of freedom in Christ.
Whatever anyone would say in my eulogy besides the above, which underlines my life in Christ, would be icing on the cake which has become my life. But as you have read of king Saul’s life in 1st Samuel and from my witness above, have you asked yourself what one might say in your eulogy down the road of life, … after you’ve had some time to let God’s Spirit be used in and through your life to give glory to God? I shudder to think what my eulogy could have been like or would have been like from those years before I was given the opportunity to turn my life around with God’s grace enabling and empowering me to do so.
My dear one, … if you’ve given your life to Christ (see Romans 12: 1 – 2), then you now have the same power in you to live fruitfully for Christ which was the power that raised our Savior from the grave. Even if you were just saved yesterday, you could begin tomorrow to intentionally and purposefully shine Christ’s Spirit-empowered light into a very dark world, letting others see Christ giving you that light for God’s glory (see Matthew 5: 16). And one day, whenever you go home to be with your Lord, someone might give a eulogy of purpose and Christian power, which would be a testimony of glory for Your God.
And that is my prayer today for all of us … that we leave a eulogy of purpose and fruitfulness which trumpets the glory of God for all to hear.
My Prayer for Today: And my powerful Holy Spirit, let Your Light shine through my life for all to see You, precious Savior, and so that my eulogy will glorify You, my Father in Heaven. Amen
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