Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Leviticus, Chapters 1-4 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Leviticus 1: 1-3 … : … [Animal Sacrifice]… 1 The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. He said, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you brings an offering to the LORD, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock. >>> 3 “‘If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you are to offer a male without defect. You must present it at the entrance to the tent of meeting so that it will be acceptable to the LORD.
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LEVITICUS 2: 1; 11-13; … : … [Grain Offering] … 1 “‘When anyone brings a grain offering to the LORD, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it …
11 “‘Every grain offering you bring to the LORD must be made without yeast, for you are not to burn any yeast or honey in a food offering presented to the LORD. 12 You may bring them to the LORD as an offering of the firstfruits, but they are not to be offered on the altar as a pleasing aroma. 13 Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.
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LEVITICUS 3: 1, 5, 6, 11, 17; … : … [Peace Offering] … 1 “‘If your offering is a fellowship offering, and you offer an animal from the herd, whether male or female, you are to present before the LORD an animal without defect. … 5 Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering that is lying on the burning wood; it is a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
6 “‘If you offer an animal from the flock as a fellowship offering to the LORD, you are to offer a male or female without defect. … 11 The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering presented to the LORD.
17 “‘This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.’”
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LEVITICUS 4: 1-3; … : … [Sin Offering] … 1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s commands — 3 “‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. … ”
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My Journal for Today: Ugh! I know. Leviticus. All those rules and regs that God puts forth in the Old Testament for His chosen people. Seems like boring reading, doesn’t it? But if you haven’t used my link above to read and study through the first four chapters of this book, at least I hope you take in what I’ve copied and pasted above to highlight the presentation, in these first chapters, of some of the sacrificial system which God set up for His followers once they had built and dedicated the Tabernacle, … the place where all these offerings would be brought for sacrifice.
And one has to be impressed with how much blood and work would be produced with over two million people, … nomad cattlemen, shepherds, and farmers, who were asked to bring their best animals and their first-fruits to the Levite Priests for various sacrifices to their God, … the God Who had established residence in their midst, … and the God Who loved them enough to set up a system whereby they could atone for their natural sinfulness and selfishness, allowing them to find redemption in this elaborate scheme of sacrifices and offerings.
AND … they probably did not recognize it in those times; but it also was giving them a picture of the perfect sacrifice Who would come in the perfect Person, the perfect Lamb of God, their promised Messiah, Who would come to BE the fulfillment of all of the sacrifices we read commanded by God to atone for the sins and spiritual enmity of God’s very fallible and sinful people. Ouch! That’s me we’re also talking about, as well!
And we see that the sacrifices demanded of God were to be the best and the most perfect the people had to offer to their God. If it were to be a bull, it was to be a PERFECT bull. If a lamb, a PERFECT lamb was offered. If it were a grain offering, no yeast would be involved and salt would be added to complete the sacrifice as a covenant sacrifice. All the offerings were to be the first and the best the people could bring to the Priests to be able to bring themselves back into a right relationship with a Holy God, Whose relationship with His chosen people demanded perfected blood or provisional sacrifice to the only One Who could redeem them from their sin.
And as New Covenant Christians, having the advantage of “the rest of the story,” as Paul Harvey used to say, we know that Jesus, The Christ, came to be our perfect sacrifice and atoning offering for the sinfulness which demanded all of these rituals and sacrifices under the Old Covenant. But are we, who’ve been covered by the blood of Jesus, off the hook when it comes to sacrifice to our God? And I harken back to the word of God through the Apostle Paul in one of my favorite, and most convicting, NT passages – Romans 12: 1-2, where we are exhorted (actually COMMANDED) to become “living sacrifices,” with the way we live being our blood sacrifice (i.e., our atoning blood flowing from the way we live) to the Holy God Who has redeemed us and atoned for our sin. God gives us, through the once-and-for-all perfect blood sacrifice of His Son, the sanctifying and enabling grace to live as first fruits and perfected blood sacrifices for God’s holiness. The question is: “Are we living as sacrifices, pleasing to our God.”
My friend, … anytime we choose to avoid sin and come away from the cross and follow what Christ demanded in Luke 9: 23, we become, under the New Covenant, what was symbolized by these commanded sacrifices in Leviticus, Chapters 1-4. So, my fellow Christian, let’s go out today and be living sacrifices for our Lord on His altar of grace with His Tabernacle being with us in our hearts, provided for by the Lamb of God.
My Prayer Today: … Oh, my LORD, may I be a sacrifice of worship in the way I live for you. Amen
Showing posts with label living sacrifice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label living sacrifice. Show all posts
Monday, February 13, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
February 11, 2012 … The Fellowship of Community Service
Exodus 36: 1-7 … : … [God’s Kingdom Work] … 1 So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded.”
2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.” 6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
My Journal for Today: Reading through the Chapters designated for my chronological reading plan this morning, I was re-stricken by the highlight passage above, especially Exodus 36, verses 4-7, where Moses had to order the people to quit giving to the project of building the tabernacle because they had more than enough, from communal effort, to complete the project which honored their God and provided for their communal worship.
God called His people, through Moses, to get this tremendous project done which would house and honor their God as they traveled together though the wilderness; and not only did the people come together to build the tabernacle, they did, by coming together, way more than was required. This reminded me of the work of God’s people, under the leadership of another of God’s called leaders, Nehemiah, when the people came together in Jerusalem to rebuild the walls, which we read about in Nehemiah, Chapters 4-6, especially note chapter/verse 6: 15), where it took a communal effort of God’s people to vigilantly, and with tremendous communal spirit, to rebuild the gates and walls of the city of God in just 52 days.
What a delicious dilemma it would be for any Pastor of a church in today’s world to call God’s flock together under his shepherding to carry out some difficult task and to see God’s people come together with way more people, treasure, talent, and time than would be necessary to carry out the task. It’s just not happening in today’s church, is it?
It is said that if only 50% of the evangelical Christian peoples would come together and tithe (i.e., give 10%) of their gross income in the USA, we wouldn’t need a welfare system in America; because that amount would way more than is needed to take care of ALL the people in need in our country. Yes, right now – in CHRISTIAN AMERICA – less than 5% of the church people tithe on their income to God’s work for His church. Certainly we’re not coming together as God’s chosen to do His kingdom work as His people did in the times of Moses or Nehemiah, are we?
I’ll leave it to you and God if this is a convicting message to anyone who might read this. We certainly need more of the Tabernacle building – wall building communal effort by God’s church people to do so much more for His glory; and that’s just a matter of His chosen ones coming together and doing what HE is calling us to do – again, …TOGETHER – to build His kingdom for His glory.
Sadly enough, … enough said!!!
My Prayer Today: … Lord, may the heart of Your church come together – in Your Name – to work TOGETHER for Your glory!! Amen
2 Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. 3 They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. 4 So all the skilled workers who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left what they were doing 5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the LORD commanded to be done.” 6 Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, 7 because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.
My Journal for Today: Reading through the Chapters designated for my chronological reading plan this morning, I was re-stricken by the highlight passage above, especially Exodus 36, verses 4-7, where Moses had to order the people to quit giving to the project of building the tabernacle because they had more than enough, from communal effort, to complete the project which honored their God and provided for their communal worship.
God called His people, through Moses, to get this tremendous project done which would house and honor their God as they traveled together though the wilderness; and not only did the people come together to build the tabernacle, they did, by coming together, way more than was required. This reminded me of the work of God’s people, under the leadership of another of God’s called leaders, Nehemiah, when the people came together in Jerusalem to rebuild the walls, which we read about in Nehemiah, Chapters 4-6, especially note chapter/verse 6: 15), where it took a communal effort of God’s people to vigilantly, and with tremendous communal spirit, to rebuild the gates and walls of the city of God in just 52 days.
What a delicious dilemma it would be for any Pastor of a church in today’s world to call God’s flock together under his shepherding to carry out some difficult task and to see God’s people come together with way more people, treasure, talent, and time than would be necessary to carry out the task. It’s just not happening in today’s church, is it?
It is said that if only 50% of the evangelical Christian peoples would come together and tithe (i.e., give 10%) of their gross income in the USA, we wouldn’t need a welfare system in America; because that amount would way more than is needed to take care of ALL the people in need in our country. Yes, right now – in CHRISTIAN AMERICA – less than 5% of the church people tithe on their income to God’s work for His church. Certainly we’re not coming together as God’s chosen to do His kingdom work as His people did in the times of Moses or Nehemiah, are we?
I’ll leave it to you and God if this is a convicting message to anyone who might read this. We certainly need more of the Tabernacle building – wall building communal effort by God’s church people to do so much more for His glory; and that’s just a matter of His chosen ones coming together and doing what HE is calling us to do – again, …TOGETHER – to build His kingdom for His glory.
Sadly enough, … enough said!!!
My Prayer Today: … Lord, may the heart of Your church come together – in Your Name – to work TOGETHER for Your glory!! Amen
Thursday, February 09, 2012
February 9, 2012 … Pondering Important Questions
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Exodus, Chapters 30-32 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Focus Passage of the Day #1: Exodus 30: 11-16 : … [Payback for God’s Atonement] … To study this passage, go to this link -
Focus Passage of the Day #2: Exodus 31: 12-17 : … [Keeping the Sabbath]
… To study this passage, go to this link -
Focus Passage of the Day #3: Exodus 32: 1-6 : … [The Golden Calf]
… To study this passage, go to this link -
My Journal for Today: I’m going to blog this morning’s devotional time a little differently than I have during my chronological read through the Bible and my journal entries thus far in 2012. To this point I’ve asked God to highlight one passage from each day’s study/meditation, blogging about that passage from a personal or teaching point of view, letting God give me something FOR ME, personally, or maybe something He, The Holy Spirit, wants me to share with others. However, today three passages, documented with links above, stood out for me; and there’s no way I could journal on all three and not overburden you, … especially given my tendency toward wordiness (i.e., my logorrhea – I hope you’re smiling right now ;>).
So, I’m simply going to ask you to read – AT LEAST – the three focus passages to which I’ve linked you above. But before you do, pray seriously and ask God, the Holy Spirit, to really give you HIS MIND and HIS WISDOM (as He promises He will in Isaiah 55: 11 and 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17 and James 1: 6-7). Ask the Lord to let one or more of these passages be a light unto your path, trusting COMPLETELY as believers in Christ are instructed to trust in His word - see Prov. 3: 5-6 and Psalm 119: 105. And then see what God’s Spirit gives you this morning. And below, I’m going to take each one of these focus passages and give you a few questions for you to ponder (I promise that’s all I’ll write!) … points upon which God’s Spirit was causing me to dwell today. And if you’re so led, maybe you might take a few moments and journal what you think God is leading you to consider. The latter is up to you; but I can promise – from experience – that if you do the latter, God will bless you with HIS ministry of enlightenment, enablement, or empowerment.
Focus Passage of the Day #1: Exodus 30: 11-16 : … [Payback for God’s Atonement]
WRB Comments: What do we owe God from our 24/7 life of worship? How do I need to live to be the “living sacrifice” of Romans 12: 1-2? Do I give enough to my church – joyfully … as instructed in 2nd Cor. 9: 6-7 - to account for my atonement and Christ’s sacrifice?
Focus Passage of the Day #2: Exodus 31: 12-17 : … [Keeping the Sabbath]
WRB Comments: Do I really keep THE SABBATH? And when I don’t, what does God say that I deserve? But what has He made provision for me from 1st John 1: 9 and Prov. 3: 5-6?
Focus Passage of the Day #3: Exodus 32: 1-6 : … [The Golden Calf]
WRB Comments: Have I built any “golden calves” in my life? If so, how can I tear them down and come back to a surrendered worship of my Yahweh, … my LORD and Savior? And again, how can I be or become the “living sacrifice “ of Romans 12: 1-2?
Well, my friends, those are some question which God has me pondering over this morning; and they are pretty serious issues, at least for me. What about you? Well, I’ll leave you and God together to deal with those questions in your life and for your worship of the God Who saved you - as He has me.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, as I pray so often, … shine the light of Your word on Your will that I may surrender and follow You as Your “doulos” (i.e., Greek for “slave”). Amen
Focus Passage of the Day #1: Exodus 30: 11-16 : … [Payback for God’s Atonement] … To study this passage, go to this link -
Focus Passage of the Day #2: Exodus 31: 12-17 : … [Keeping the Sabbath]
… To study this passage, go to this link -
Focus Passage of the Day #3: Exodus 32: 1-6 : … [The Golden Calf]
… To study this passage, go to this link -
My Journal for Today: I’m going to blog this morning’s devotional time a little differently than I have during my chronological read through the Bible and my journal entries thus far in 2012. To this point I’ve asked God to highlight one passage from each day’s study/meditation, blogging about that passage from a personal or teaching point of view, letting God give me something FOR ME, personally, or maybe something He, The Holy Spirit, wants me to share with others. However, today three passages, documented with links above, stood out for me; and there’s no way I could journal on all three and not overburden you, … especially given my tendency toward wordiness (i.e., my logorrhea – I hope you’re smiling right now ;>).
So, I’m simply going to ask you to read – AT LEAST – the three focus passages to which I’ve linked you above. But before you do, pray seriously and ask God, the Holy Spirit, to really give you HIS MIND and HIS WISDOM (as He promises He will in Isaiah 55: 11 and 2nd Timothy 3: 16-17 and James 1: 6-7). Ask the Lord to let one or more of these passages be a light unto your path, trusting COMPLETELY as believers in Christ are instructed to trust in His word - see Prov. 3: 5-6 and Psalm 119: 105. And then see what God’s Spirit gives you this morning. And below, I’m going to take each one of these focus passages and give you a few questions for you to ponder (I promise that’s all I’ll write!) … points upon which God’s Spirit was causing me to dwell today. And if you’re so led, maybe you might take a few moments and journal what you think God is leading you to consider. The latter is up to you; but I can promise – from experience – that if you do the latter, God will bless you with HIS ministry of enlightenment, enablement, or empowerment.
Focus Passage of the Day #1: Exodus 30: 11-16 : … [Payback for God’s Atonement]
WRB Comments: What do we owe God from our 24/7 life of worship? How do I need to live to be the “living sacrifice” of Romans 12: 1-2? Do I give enough to my church – joyfully … as instructed in 2nd Cor. 9: 6-7 - to account for my atonement and Christ’s sacrifice?
Focus Passage of the Day #2: Exodus 31: 12-17 : … [Keeping the Sabbath]
WRB Comments: Do I really keep THE SABBATH? And when I don’t, what does God say that I deserve? But what has He made provision for me from 1st John 1: 9 and Prov. 3: 5-6?
Focus Passage of the Day #3: Exodus 32: 1-6 : … [The Golden Calf]
WRB Comments: Have I built any “golden calves” in my life? If so, how can I tear them down and come back to a surrendered worship of my Yahweh, … my LORD and Savior? And again, how can I be or become the “living sacrifice “ of Romans 12: 1-2?
Well, my friends, those are some question which God has me pondering over this morning; and they are pretty serious issues, at least for me. What about you? Well, I’ll leave you and God together to deal with those questions in your life and for your worship of the God Who saved you - as He has me.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, as I pray so often, … shine the light of Your word on Your will that I may surrender and follow You as Your “doulos” (i.e., Greek for “slave”). Amen
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
February 7, 2012 … Building The Tabernacle
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Exodus, Chapters 25-27 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Exodus 25: 8-9, 40 … : … [God’s Place of Residence] … [Yahweh’s Instructions to Moses] … 8 “Then have them [i.e., specially selected craftsmen from God’s people] make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. … 40 See that you make them [i.e., everything in the tabernacle] according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
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Exodus 26: 31-33 … : … [Setting the Holy Place] … 31 “Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. 32 Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. 33 Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place."
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Exodus 27: 1 … : … [God’s Altar of Sacrifice and Atonement] … [More of God’s Instructions to Moses] … 1 “Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide."
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My Journal for Today: Okay, … for those who’ve taken your time to read what God (I believe) has given me to write in this blog through Exodus, admittedly the second book of Moses can get a bit tedious; but that doesn’t detract from it’s importance. For example, in the next few days I’m going to be plowing through God’s description – to Moses and to God’s people – of how they should build THE TABERNACLE, … that place where God was going to reside as God’s people journeyed to the promised land. And there was great detail in Yahweh’s description through Moses and his scribes to the craftsmen who would do the building of the Tabernacle. And this detail can seem – on the surface – as tedious and non-essential reading. But stick in there and read these chapters (linked for you as usual above); because there are several reasons for the importance of all of this description. And the commentary that I use as I read along in my chronological study this year describes these three reasons why all of this is important. Therefore, quoting from the Parsons Online Commentary, it offers the following description as to why God gave such detailed instructions for His dwelling place.
>>> “First, the high quality of the precious materials making up the Tabernacle shows God’s greatness and transcendence. >>> Second, the curtain surrounding the Most Holy Place shows God’s moral perfection as symbolized by his separation from the common and unclean. >>> Third, the portable nature of the Tabernacle shows God’s desire to be with his people as they traveled.”
Those truths are worthy enough for us to pay attention as God also gives us a physical description of the most important reason He was building this tabernacle for His dwelling; and that was as a picture of the place His Son, Jesus, … the Messiah, … would dwell one day in the hearts of believers like you and me. And in this description, which we’ll be reading about in the next chapters of Exodus, we begin to see that Yahweh, as the the Messiah, would one day dwell in the hearts of His disciples as our place of worship and sacrifice.
Think about it, fellow Christian. As Parson’s Commentary again puts it, ” When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the curtain in the Temple (which had replaced the Tabernacle) tore from top to bottom (see Mark 15:38), symbolizing our free access to God because of Jesus’ death. No longer did people have to approach God through priests and sacrifices.”
… And now, dear one, because of Jesus, the living tabernacle, we can come into the Holy of Holies anytime, any place, for anything. I have the Tabernacle and the High Priest, in Person of Christ, in my heart; and I don’t need a human high priest to bring my blood sacrifice to God’s altar of grace. No, every day … every moment … becomes my living sacrifice on God’s holy altar of worship in my heart; because Jesus made the ultimate - and last - blood sacrifice on Calvary so that He could (and does) tabernacle in my heart, which is His Holy of Holies.
ISN’T THIS MAGNIFICENT!! And it certainly brings pertinence and power to the reading in Exodus of all the details of God wanting His tabernacle for His people to be so perfect and infinitely special.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, thank You for dwelling in the Tabernacle of my heart where I can become and be a living sacrifice before Your altar of grace. Amen
Exodus 25: 8-9, 40 … : … [God’s Place of Residence] … [Yahweh’s Instructions to Moses] … 8 “Then have them [i.e., specially selected craftsmen from God’s people] make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them. 9 Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. … 40 See that you make them [i.e., everything in the tabernacle] according to the pattern shown you on the mountain."
==========
Exodus 26: 31-33 … : … [Setting the Holy Place] … 31 “Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker. 32 Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases. 33 Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place."
==========
Exodus 27: 1 … : … [God’s Altar of Sacrifice and Atonement] … [More of God’s Instructions to Moses] … 1 “Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide."
==========
My Journal for Today: Okay, … for those who’ve taken your time to read what God (I believe) has given me to write in this blog through Exodus, admittedly the second book of Moses can get a bit tedious; but that doesn’t detract from it’s importance. For example, in the next few days I’m going to be plowing through God’s description – to Moses and to God’s people – of how they should build THE TABERNACLE, … that place where God was going to reside as God’s people journeyed to the promised land. And there was great detail in Yahweh’s description through Moses and his scribes to the craftsmen who would do the building of the Tabernacle. And this detail can seem – on the surface – as tedious and non-essential reading. But stick in there and read these chapters (linked for you as usual above); because there are several reasons for the importance of all of this description. And the commentary that I use as I read along in my chronological study this year describes these three reasons why all of this is important. Therefore, quoting from the Parsons Online Commentary, it offers the following description as to why God gave such detailed instructions for His dwelling place.
>>> “First, the high quality of the precious materials making up the Tabernacle shows God’s greatness and transcendence. >>> Second, the curtain surrounding the Most Holy Place shows God’s moral perfection as symbolized by his separation from the common and unclean. >>> Third, the portable nature of the Tabernacle shows God’s desire to be with his people as they traveled.”
Those truths are worthy enough for us to pay attention as God also gives us a physical description of the most important reason He was building this tabernacle for His dwelling; and that was as a picture of the place His Son, Jesus, … the Messiah, … would dwell one day in the hearts of believers like you and me. And in this description, which we’ll be reading about in the next chapters of Exodus, we begin to see that Yahweh, as the the Messiah, would one day dwell in the hearts of His disciples as our place of worship and sacrifice.
Think about it, fellow Christian. As Parson’s Commentary again puts it, ” When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the curtain in the Temple (which had replaced the Tabernacle) tore from top to bottom (see Mark 15:38), symbolizing our free access to God because of Jesus’ death. No longer did people have to approach God through priests and sacrifices.”
… And now, dear one, because of Jesus, the living tabernacle, we can come into the Holy of Holies anytime, any place, for anything. I have the Tabernacle and the High Priest, in Person of Christ, in my heart; and I don’t need a human high priest to bring my blood sacrifice to God’s altar of grace. No, every day … every moment … becomes my living sacrifice on God’s holy altar of worship in my heart; because Jesus made the ultimate - and last - blood sacrifice on Calvary so that He could (and does) tabernacle in my heart, which is His Holy of Holies.
ISN’T THIS MAGNIFICENT!! And it certainly brings pertinence and power to the reading in Exodus of all the details of God wanting His tabernacle for His people to be so perfect and infinitely special.
My Prayer Today: … Lord, thank You for dwelling in the Tabernacle of my heart where I can become and be a living sacrifice before Your altar of grace. Amen
Friday, February 03, 2012
February 3, 2012 … Living Sacrifices
Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Exodus, Chapters 13-15 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
Exodus 13: 6-9 … 51-52: … [Remembrance Through Sacrifice] ... 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.' 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. 10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.
My Journal for Today: Orthodox Jews – to this day – observe the festival of unleavened bread to remember the day God delivered them from Egypt and to have themselves set apart from other peoples as God’s chosen and delivered children. God ordered and ordained this festival to Moses, who imparted the remembrance to God’s people in the Torah, … the Book of the Law, from which I’ve take today’s focus passage from Exodus 13: 6-9.
And as I read through Chapters 13-15, in my chronological reading plan this day, I chose to focus my journal comments because the passage copied above seemed to be asking of me, “Bill, what marks your life in a regular, recurring way which remembers the New Covenant sacrifice which allowed you to be drafted into God’s people, … as an heir to God’s throne of grace?” And as I meditated on that question, which came to me through the passage above, two New Testament passages bubble up out of my consciousness.
The first is one I’d bet many of you know by heart; and it is a command directly from Jesus in John 13: 34-35, which exhorts Christians … “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
And I believe that this command from Jesus is saying to the New Covenant believer much the same thing God was saying to believers of the Old Covenant in our focus passage above; and that is … remember ME, your loving Redeemer by the way you live your lives, loving others the way I AM has loved you. And you may already be remembering the other passage, which came from the Apostle Paul from God in Romans 12: 1-2, which is probably rolling off your tongue from memory right now, saying, … I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For any reading with me today, don’t you agree that we – as believers in the same God worshipped by those in the days of Moses … and as believers in the Lord, Jesus, Our Deliverer and Redeemer – should be living our lives as festivals of remembrance, … lives which brand us as living sacrifices, showing off the love of God for us by the love we show to others, especially fellow believers? Our lives should be living witness to the God Who delivered us from the slavery of “our Egypt,” which is the bondage all mankind has to our sinful nature.
Jesus shed His blood as God’s perfect Lamb of sacrifice so that we, who declare belief in that atoning work on the cross, would be freed forever from slavery to sin; and now it’s time that we declare – by the living of our lives, sharing the love of God with others – that we are His forever.
I hope that you, who read along with me today in God’s word, are feeling the need to live more as “living sacrifices” of love. That is my prayer today. Will you join me?
My Prayer Today: … Lord, I live for You. Help my life to be a festival of remembrance to/for Your love in/through my life. Amen
Exodus 13: 6-9 … 51-52: … [Remembrance Through Sacrifice] ... 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, 'I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.' 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. 10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.
My Journal for Today: Orthodox Jews – to this day – observe the festival of unleavened bread to remember the day God delivered them from Egypt and to have themselves set apart from other peoples as God’s chosen and delivered children. God ordered and ordained this festival to Moses, who imparted the remembrance to God’s people in the Torah, … the Book of the Law, from which I’ve take today’s focus passage from Exodus 13: 6-9.
And as I read through Chapters 13-15, in my chronological reading plan this day, I chose to focus my journal comments because the passage copied above seemed to be asking of me, “Bill, what marks your life in a regular, recurring way which remembers the New Covenant sacrifice which allowed you to be drafted into God’s people, … as an heir to God’s throne of grace?” And as I meditated on that question, which came to me through the passage above, two New Testament passages bubble up out of my consciousness.
The first is one I’d bet many of you know by heart; and it is a command directly from Jesus in John 13: 34-35, which exhorts Christians … “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
And I believe that this command from Jesus is saying to the New Covenant believer much the same thing God was saying to believers of the Old Covenant in our focus passage above; and that is … remember ME, your loving Redeemer by the way you live your lives, loving others the way I AM has loved you. And you may already be remembering the other passage, which came from the Apostle Paul from God in Romans 12: 1-2, which is probably rolling off your tongue from memory right now, saying, … I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For any reading with me today, don’t you agree that we – as believers in the same God worshipped by those in the days of Moses … and as believers in the Lord, Jesus, Our Deliverer and Redeemer – should be living our lives as festivals of remembrance, … lives which brand us as living sacrifices, showing off the love of God for us by the love we show to others, especially fellow believers? Our lives should be living witness to the God Who delivered us from the slavery of “our Egypt,” which is the bondage all mankind has to our sinful nature.
Jesus shed His blood as God’s perfect Lamb of sacrifice so that we, who declare belief in that atoning work on the cross, would be freed forever from slavery to sin; and now it’s time that we declare – by the living of our lives, sharing the love of God with others – that we are His forever.
I hope that you, who read along with me today in God’s word, are feeling the need to live more as “living sacrifices” of love. That is my prayer today. Will you join me?
My Prayer Today: … Lord, I live for You. Help my life to be a festival of remembrance to/for Your love in/through my life. Amen
Monday, January 02, 2012
January 2, 2012 … Living Sacrifice
Passage of the Day: Reading Plan Reference … Genesis, Chapter 4 – 7 … Study Scripture Reference: Genesis 4: 1-5 NIV … 1 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man." 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. … Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
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Genesis 7: 1-5 NIV … 1 The Lord then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." ,,, 5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
My Journal for Today: Day 2 of my year-through-the-Bible chronologically. I hope that some who’re reading my journal entries might have joined me in this reading plan – or maybe some other plan to read through God’s word this year. But even if you’re just following here what I’m journaling, we’ll be going through some great truth issues; because they’ll be coming directly from God’s word – for His purpose; and we know the promise of Isaiah 55: 11 (check it out!).
Today, from a vast source of scriptural meat in Genesis, Chapters 4-7, there was much one could choose to discuss; but God’s Spirit seemed to bring two passages to my consciousness, the ones I’ve selected and reprinted above, … first from the story of Cain and Abel and then from the account, later in history, when God charged Noah to save mankind. These are two biblical accounts of the results of man’s fall from grace in the Garden to have to deal with the evil effects of sin.
But both of these stories do illustrate clearly how God deals with man’s choice to either succumb to selfishness in sin or for mankind to choose righteousness, which is his “LIVING SACRIFICE” of obedience to God’s will and His way.
When we view the account of the first two siblings, Cain and Abel, we see how one, Abel, chose to give God his best, i.e., Abel’s living sacrifice, and the other chose to give a more restrained, selfish sacrifice; and we know the result of how God looked upon the two … as well as the human result of Cain killing his brother because of his jealousy.
Then there is the account of how mankind had degenerated in their sinfulness to the point that God had to cleanse the earth. And the Lord chose Noah as His vehicle of cleansing; and we read in this story how God gave His free grace to the one, Noah, who was obedient and had lived a life of LIVING SACRIFICE.
Are we getting the picture? God favors and imparts His grace upon those who CHOOSE to live their lives in obedience and worship to the Lord. God gave mankind this God-like ability of free choice; and when we exercise it, God wants to see that exercise of free-will to be a LIVING SACRIFICE to the Creator rather than the created.
Yes, we who have chosen – by our free-will – to surrender our lives to God in the living sacrifice of faith are going to get the same rewards as did Abel and Noah. But you may be saying, “Didn’t God allow Abel to be killed.” Yes, he did; but my friend, if you’re a born-again Christian, one day you’ll see Abel in heaven; and you may even see Cain … IF … he repented of his sinful act of murder and came back to God, living the rest of His life in contrite pursuit of God as a LIVING SACRIFICE.
But we’ll definitely see Noah in heaven; because his life was an exemplary one of sacrifice in righteousness for His Lord. In this regard, we all need to be asking ourselves if we’re living as the Apostle Paul charged believers to life in Romans 12: 1-2 [hope you have that one memorized]. Are we living lives of worship … i.e., “LIVING SACRIFICE,” … apart from the very human and worldly tendency to live for self rather than to live for our Savior. Jesus was THE One who came to us to redeem us from the forces which drove Adam and Eve from the garden or caused Cain to kill his brother, Abel. Jesus was God’s plan to save us from those self-driven forces which caused God to bring a flood to cleanse mankind of the evil brought into the garden by the serpent and into the hearts of mankind by their own sinful choices.
My friends, we need to take stock of how we’re living as we move into this New Year. Are we living life as a second-rate sacrifice (as we see in the life of Cain); or are we bringing our best to God in the way we live (as did Abel)? And are we living as did Noah, … lives of obedience and surrender to the will and the ways of God, rather than lives like the world around us? In other words, are we living up to what Paul wrote about in Romans 12: 1 – 2, … i.e., “… lives of LIVING SACRIFICE, … holy, … acceptable to God, which is our reasonable act of worship?”
If we are doing the latter, we’re off to a really good start in 2012. If not, … well I think it’s obvious then where we need to direct our choices.
My Prayer Today: … Oh, Lord, help me to remain true to Your will/way with a life of living sacrifice to You. Amen
=====================
Genesis 7: 1-5 NIV … 1 The Lord then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate,3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." ,,, 5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
My Journal for Today: Day 2 of my year-through-the-Bible chronologically. I hope that some who’re reading my journal entries might have joined me in this reading plan – or maybe some other plan to read through God’s word this year. But even if you’re just following here what I’m journaling, we’ll be going through some great truth issues; because they’ll be coming directly from God’s word – for His purpose; and we know the promise of Isaiah 55: 11 (check it out!).
Today, from a vast source of scriptural meat in Genesis, Chapters 4-7, there was much one could choose to discuss; but God’s Spirit seemed to bring two passages to my consciousness, the ones I’ve selected and reprinted above, … first from the story of Cain and Abel and then from the account, later in history, when God charged Noah to save mankind. These are two biblical accounts of the results of man’s fall from grace in the Garden to have to deal with the evil effects of sin.
But both of these stories do illustrate clearly how God deals with man’s choice to either succumb to selfishness in sin or for mankind to choose righteousness, which is his “LIVING SACRIFICE” of obedience to God’s will and His way.
When we view the account of the first two siblings, Cain and Abel, we see how one, Abel, chose to give God his best, i.e., Abel’s living sacrifice, and the other chose to give a more restrained, selfish sacrifice; and we know the result of how God looked upon the two … as well as the human result of Cain killing his brother because of his jealousy.
Then there is the account of how mankind had degenerated in their sinfulness to the point that God had to cleanse the earth. And the Lord chose Noah as His vehicle of cleansing; and we read in this story how God gave His free grace to the one, Noah, who was obedient and had lived a life of LIVING SACRIFICE.
Are we getting the picture? God favors and imparts His grace upon those who CHOOSE to live their lives in obedience and worship to the Lord. God gave mankind this God-like ability of free choice; and when we exercise it, God wants to see that exercise of free-will to be a LIVING SACRIFICE to the Creator rather than the created.
Yes, we who have chosen – by our free-will – to surrender our lives to God in the living sacrifice of faith are going to get the same rewards as did Abel and Noah. But you may be saying, “Didn’t God allow Abel to be killed.” Yes, he did; but my friend, if you’re a born-again Christian, one day you’ll see Abel in heaven; and you may even see Cain … IF … he repented of his sinful act of murder and came back to God, living the rest of His life in contrite pursuit of God as a LIVING SACRIFICE.
But we’ll definitely see Noah in heaven; because his life was an exemplary one of sacrifice in righteousness for His Lord. In this regard, we all need to be asking ourselves if we’re living as the Apostle Paul charged believers to life in Romans 12: 1-2 [hope you have that one memorized]. Are we living lives of worship … i.e., “LIVING SACRIFICE,” … apart from the very human and worldly tendency to live for self rather than to live for our Savior. Jesus was THE One who came to us to redeem us from the forces which drove Adam and Eve from the garden or caused Cain to kill his brother, Abel. Jesus was God’s plan to save us from those self-driven forces which caused God to bring a flood to cleanse mankind of the evil brought into the garden by the serpent and into the hearts of mankind by their own sinful choices.
My friends, we need to take stock of how we’re living as we move into this New Year. Are we living life as a second-rate sacrifice (as we see in the life of Cain); or are we bringing our best to God in the way we live (as did Abel)? And are we living as did Noah, … lives of obedience and surrender to the will and the ways of God, rather than lives like the world around us? In other words, are we living up to what Paul wrote about in Romans 12: 1 – 2, … i.e., “… lives of LIVING SACRIFICE, … holy, … acceptable to God, which is our reasonable act of worship?”
If we are doing the latter, we’re off to a really good start in 2012. If not, … well I think it’s obvious then where we need to direct our choices.
My Prayer Today: … Oh, Lord, help me to remain true to Your will/way with a life of living sacrifice to You. Amen
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
November 2, 2011 … Proving You Are Wise
Passage of the Day: James 3: 13 … 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.
My Journal for Today: Repeating [from yesterday’s entry] the same highlighted verse from God’s word for today’s entry, Jesus’ half-brother, James, was a pragmatist. If a Christian likely said to James that he had faith in Christ, James would have wanted to see that faith reflected in the behavior of that believer (be sure to read and meditate on James 2: 14 – 26 (linked for your study here in the NKJV), from which we get the oft quoted truth, "… faith without works is dead.”
James had the same feeling about faith that he had about the quality of wisdom which we’ll be reviewing/studying this month. In today’s highlight verse, James asks the up-front rhetorical question, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” And to his rhetorical question, the practical James basically says (and I paraphrase), “Show me your answer from your works.”
For James, real wisdom – Godly wisdom – should be visible in the life of a believer in Christ by good behavior and Godly deeds. This was also the premise and truth by the poetic Psalmist in Psalm 119: 33 – 40 … [read it, again in NKJV, from this link!] … that the wisdom of God’s word and truth will be reflected in the life of the one who knows and lives by that truth.
If I were to tell you that God has a formula for living a successful Christian life, would it not be a worthy goal to seek out that formula and then to live it? Well, of course it would! And that’s exactly what James is trying to impart in James 3; and what the Psalmist of Psalm 119 is sharing in his poetry. It was what Solomon tried to share with his son in Psalms 3 – 9; and it was the message of God Himself to Joshua in Joshua 1: 8.
When are we going to listen, learn, and then live by God’s prescription and formula for successful Christian living, which is being in and living in the word of God?
When one knows and truly believes God’s word and is obedient to His will through His word, that one will be driven by a surrender to God’s Spirit and will become enabled by God’s grace to live in such a way that reflects and glorifies God. And if we lived that way, don’t you think that would be visible to others? Of course, it would; and that is the transformed life of “living sacrifice” the Apostle Paul says is the life of reasonable worship and/or service which Christians will choose to live, reflecting the will of God (see Romans 12: 1 – 2). And it was the life Jesus wanted to see reflecting His Light into the world from the life of any true believer (see Matt. 5: 16) to glorify His Father.
And reviewing these truths causes me to reflect and ask, “Is my life one of living worship? … Does my life shine forth the truth of God’s word?” And I’m forced to answer – “Not enough!”
I’ll let you do your own inventory after meditating on this devotional entry?
My Prayer Today: Lord, Your word says in Ps. 119: 40, “Behold, I long for Your precepts. Revive me in Your righteousness.“ Oh Father, help me … so that this would be my life! Amen
My Journal for Today: Repeating [from yesterday’s entry] the same highlighted verse from God’s word for today’s entry, Jesus’ half-brother, James, was a pragmatist. If a Christian likely said to James that he had faith in Christ, James would have wanted to see that faith reflected in the behavior of that believer (be sure to read and meditate on James 2: 14 – 26 (linked for your study here in the NKJV), from which we get the oft quoted truth, "… faith without works is dead.”
James had the same feeling about faith that he had about the quality of wisdom which we’ll be reviewing/studying this month. In today’s highlight verse, James asks the up-front rhetorical question, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” And to his rhetorical question, the practical James basically says (and I paraphrase), “Show me your answer from your works.”
For James, real wisdom – Godly wisdom – should be visible in the life of a believer in Christ by good behavior and Godly deeds. This was also the premise and truth by the poetic Psalmist in Psalm 119: 33 – 40 … [read it, again in NKJV, from this link!] … that the wisdom of God’s word and truth will be reflected in the life of the one who knows and lives by that truth.
If I were to tell you that God has a formula for living a successful Christian life, would it not be a worthy goal to seek out that formula and then to live it? Well, of course it would! And that’s exactly what James is trying to impart in James 3; and what the Psalmist of Psalm 119 is sharing in his poetry. It was what Solomon tried to share with his son in Psalms 3 – 9; and it was the message of God Himself to Joshua in Joshua 1: 8.
When are we going to listen, learn, and then live by God’s prescription and formula for successful Christian living, which is being in and living in the word of God?
When one knows and truly believes God’s word and is obedient to His will through His word, that one will be driven by a surrender to God’s Spirit and will become enabled by God’s grace to live in such a way that reflects and glorifies God. And if we lived that way, don’t you think that would be visible to others? Of course, it would; and that is the transformed life of “living sacrifice” the Apostle Paul says is the life of reasonable worship and/or service which Christians will choose to live, reflecting the will of God (see Romans 12: 1 – 2). And it was the life Jesus wanted to see reflecting His Light into the world from the life of any true believer (see Matt. 5: 16) to glorify His Father.
And reviewing these truths causes me to reflect and ask, “Is my life one of living worship? … Does my life shine forth the truth of God’s word?” And I’m forced to answer – “Not enough!”
I’ll let you do your own inventory after meditating on this devotional entry?
My Prayer Today: Lord, Your word says in Ps. 119: 40, “Behold, I long for Your precepts. Revive me in Your righteousness.“ Oh Father, help me … so that this would be my life! Amen
Monday, October 17, 2011
October 17, 2011 … Yielding to God
Passage of the Day: Romans 6: 11 – 14 [note passage in bold/underlined] … 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. 10 The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
My Journal for Today: In this October study on sin, John MacArthur, from Strength for Today, has helped me to review the Apostle Paul’s passion for believers to “know” (see Rom. 6: 3, 6, 9) God’s truth and to “count [ourselves]” as being truly dead to sin and alive in Christ. And I have seen that we do that by our choices, as we read in today’s passage of emphasis. Paul says that this understanding and belief in the truth of Christ’s victory over sin must ultimately lead Christians to “offer” the parts of our bodies as instruments of righteousness under God’s grace. This, may remind you, as it did me, of Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12: 1 – 2, where the Apostle declared that believers become a “living sacrifice” with a life of living worship, being transformed by the renewing our or minds into Christlikeness. “Living sacrifice” is a 24/7 life of worship to our God which requires a life of choice after choice after choice, … action after action after action, which honor God with our lives.
We can also read the Apostle Peter, who echoed Paul’s teaching, as in 1st Peter 2: 11 he wrote, “Dear friends (i.e., my fellow Christians), I urge you, as aliens and strangers in this world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” And Paul, with another thought in scripture, exhorting the believers in Corinth (and therefore, by extension, you and me) that the only way to avoid sin in this way was to discipline ourselves in our beliefs, like soldiers [see 1st Cor. 9: 27], i.e., to become effective warriors, wearing God’s full armor in the spiritual battles we face daily [see another passage inspired for all believers - Eph. 6: 10 – 18].
As MacArthur puts it, we have to surrender our choices to God’s will for others to confirm that we are believers and followers of Christ. As I’ve heard other say in observing a fellow Christian’s behavior, “I can see he’s (or she’s) as Christian by the fruit on their tree.” And as MacArthur writes to us Christian believers in his devotional today, “Yield to sin and experience chastening and sorrow; (or) yield to God, and experience joy and blessing.”
Choices!! … To me that’s a no-brainer choice. But I see so many of my fellow Christian warriors being felled in battle by choices which allow our enemies (Satan and the world) to pick them off like shooting fish, … BIG fish, … in a very small barrel.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I seek Your will; and I choose Your Way !!! Shine Your light brightly on my path as You have today through Your word. Amen
My Journal for Today: In this October study on sin, John MacArthur, from Strength for Today, has helped me to review the Apostle Paul’s passion for believers to “know” (see Rom. 6: 3, 6, 9) God’s truth and to “count [ourselves]” as being truly dead to sin and alive in Christ. And I have seen that we do that by our choices, as we read in today’s passage of emphasis. Paul says that this understanding and belief in the truth of Christ’s victory over sin must ultimately lead Christians to “offer” the parts of our bodies as instruments of righteousness under God’s grace. This, may remind you, as it did me, of Paul’s exhortation in Romans 12: 1 – 2, where the Apostle declared that believers become a “living sacrifice” with a life of living worship, being transformed by the renewing our or minds into Christlikeness. “Living sacrifice” is a 24/7 life of worship to our God which requires a life of choice after choice after choice, … action after action after action, which honor God with our lives.
We can also read the Apostle Peter, who echoed Paul’s teaching, as in 1st Peter 2: 11 he wrote, “Dear friends (i.e., my fellow Christians), I urge you, as aliens and strangers in this world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” And Paul, with another thought in scripture, exhorting the believers in Corinth (and therefore, by extension, you and me) that the only way to avoid sin in this way was to discipline ourselves in our beliefs, like soldiers [see 1st Cor. 9: 27], i.e., to become effective warriors, wearing God’s full armor in the spiritual battles we face daily [see another passage inspired for all believers - Eph. 6: 10 – 18].
As MacArthur puts it, we have to surrender our choices to God’s will for others to confirm that we are believers and followers of Christ. As I’ve heard other say in observing a fellow Christian’s behavior, “I can see he’s (or she’s) as Christian by the fruit on their tree.” And as MacArthur writes to us Christian believers in his devotional today, “Yield to sin and experience chastening and sorrow; (or) yield to God, and experience joy and blessing.”
Choices!! … To me that’s a no-brainer choice. But I see so many of my fellow Christian warriors being felled in battle by choices which allow our enemies (Satan and the world) to pick them off like shooting fish, … BIG fish, … in a very small barrel.
My Prayer Today: Lord, I seek Your will; and I choose Your Way !!! Shine Your light brightly on my path as You have today through Your word. Amen
Sunday, May 22, 2011
May 22, 2011 … Entrusting All to God
Passage of the Day: 1st Peter 4: 19 … So then, those who suffer according to God's will should COMMIT themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
My Journal for Today: This is the closing “tag line” to the passage we’ve been looking at these past few days, writing in historical context to Christians who were witnessing their faith under an extreme cloud of oppression and danger, … many being burned alive because they were unwilling to deny Christ. And the Apostle Peter closes his exhortation to these committed believers by charging them to “keep on keeping on” in their faith – no matter what!
As I consider this charge in my own life, the exhortation of Paul in Romans 12: 1 comes to mind …
SCRIIPTURE: Romans 12: 1 … Therefore, I urge you, brothers [and sisters], in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.
Both Peter and Paul are encouraging fellow believers to join them (and they certainly were exemplary martyrs for the faith) in being willing to live - or die - for their Creator and Christ.
The term “commit” in all caps above in the NIV version of 1st Pet. 4: 19 is the Greek term, “paratithemi,” which can also be translated “entrust” (as it is, for example, in the NASB version). MacArthur, in his Strength for Today devotional for this date, points out that this is a Greek banking term; and therefore, these Apostles are saying that our acts of faith, what Paul referred to as “living sacrifice,” in Rom. 12: 1 [e.g., doing good in the face of trials], are faith deposits, placed in the safest of all “banks,” … in the Name of none other than God Almighty. Acts of faith, therefore, done in sacrifice in Christ’s Name and for His glory, are deposits which will be banked for eternity by God; and I believe God will honor them with His interest, which will be crowns in heaven.
So, in the face of trials, even ones like those of the Roman Christians being burned, where it becomes very tempting to cut and run, as did Christ’s Disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, we must be willing to ask ourselves whether our faith has matured to the point that we truly believe and are “living sacrifices” to the truth of Romans 8: 28 or 12: 1. And yes, as declared by God through Paul in 2nd Cor. 12: 9, we are weak; but if we believe in Christ and receive His grace, enabling us to prevail, as also promised in 1st Cor. 10: 13, we will be overcomers as was Christ, Himself (see also John 16:33).
My Prayer Today: Lord, may this life, mine, be a living sacrifice in Your Name. Amen
My Journal for Today: This is the closing “tag line” to the passage we’ve been looking at these past few days, writing in historical context to Christians who were witnessing their faith under an extreme cloud of oppression and danger, … many being burned alive because they were unwilling to deny Christ. And the Apostle Peter closes his exhortation to these committed believers by charging them to “keep on keeping on” in their faith – no matter what!
As I consider this charge in my own life, the exhortation of Paul in Romans 12: 1 comes to mind …
SCRIIPTURE: Romans 12: 1 … Therefore, I urge you, brothers [and sisters], in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.
Both Peter and Paul are encouraging fellow believers to join them (and they certainly were exemplary martyrs for the faith) in being willing to live - or die - for their Creator and Christ.
The term “commit” in all caps above in the NIV version of 1st Pet. 4: 19 is the Greek term, “paratithemi,” which can also be translated “entrust” (as it is, for example, in the NASB version). MacArthur, in his Strength for Today devotional for this date, points out that this is a Greek banking term; and therefore, these Apostles are saying that our acts of faith, what Paul referred to as “living sacrifice,” in Rom. 12: 1 [e.g., doing good in the face of trials], are faith deposits, placed in the safest of all “banks,” … in the Name of none other than God Almighty. Acts of faith, therefore, done in sacrifice in Christ’s Name and for His glory, are deposits which will be banked for eternity by God; and I believe God will honor them with His interest, which will be crowns in heaven.
So, in the face of trials, even ones like those of the Roman Christians being burned, where it becomes very tempting to cut and run, as did Christ’s Disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, we must be willing to ask ourselves whether our faith has matured to the point that we truly believe and are “living sacrifices” to the truth of Romans 8: 28 or 12: 1. And yes, as declared by God through Paul in 2nd Cor. 12: 9, we are weak; but if we believe in Christ and receive His grace, enabling us to prevail, as also promised in 1st Cor. 10: 13, we will be overcomers as was Christ, Himself (see also John 16:33).
My Prayer Today: Lord, may this life, mine, be a living sacrifice in Your Name. Amen
Friday, February 18, 2011
February 18, 2011 … God’s Sacrificial Love
Passage of the Day: John 3: 16 … For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
My Journal for Today: In John MacArthur’s exposition of God’s character this month in Strength for Today, he has been looking at God’s character of love in the past few days. Yesterday we saw that Godly love is unconditional, yet confrontational (as to our sin). Today, in this very familiar verse spoken by Jesus, which you probably know by heart, we see that God’s love is sacrificial.
In the Old Testament, we read from Isaiah’s prophesy about the Messiah, how our Lord would carry the grief of the world as He sacrificed for all mankind (see Is. 53: 4 [linked]). And the Apostle Paul carried this theme of sacrificial love into his teachings about how we, as Christians, must live and love for others before self (see Gal. 6: 2), thereby fulfilling God’s law of love.
SCRIPTURE: Galatians 6: 2 … Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Every time I read this verse I’m convicted about how lacking in sacrifice my love for others is offered at times and how conditional it can become with my expectations for recompense as I offer to help others. Praise God for His mercy in the face of my self-driven “love!”
Sacrificial love, of course, was always the teaching of Jesus; and He modeled it so convincingly and perfectly for all mankind. He commanded ALL His disciples, not just the original twelve, to love one another, even including our enemies (see Luke 6: 35). And His command of love becomes infinitely tougher when He said to believers that we’re to expect nothing in return. However, in the greatest sacrifice of all, for anyone who receives the free-offering of God’s cross-bearing love, God is willing to give nothing less than the greatest reward of all … Heaven.
Is that not the deal of a lifetime?
I believe that those who really “get this” and demonstrate lives of “living sacrifice” (as Paul wrote about in Rom 12: 1); … to these, I believe, God will bestowed the greatest rewards in Heaven. As Jesus taught, the least shall be the greatest [Matt. 23: 11-12]. So, I’ve got a long way to go when it comes to my love quotient … to choose to be humbled as a servant as I show God’s love to others … prayerfully more today than yesterday and even more tomorrow than today.
My Prayer Today: And so, I pray, Lord that You help me grow in Your love as I choose to love others before self. Amen
My Journal for Today: In John MacArthur’s exposition of God’s character this month in Strength for Today, he has been looking at God’s character of love in the past few days. Yesterday we saw that Godly love is unconditional, yet confrontational (as to our sin). Today, in this very familiar verse spoken by Jesus, which you probably know by heart, we see that God’s love is sacrificial.
In the Old Testament, we read from Isaiah’s prophesy about the Messiah, how our Lord would carry the grief of the world as He sacrificed for all mankind (see Is. 53: 4 [linked]). And the Apostle Paul carried this theme of sacrificial love into his teachings about how we, as Christians, must live and love for others before self (see Gal. 6: 2), thereby fulfilling God’s law of love.
SCRIPTURE: Galatians 6: 2 … Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
Every time I read this verse I’m convicted about how lacking in sacrifice my love for others is offered at times and how conditional it can become with my expectations for recompense as I offer to help others. Praise God for His mercy in the face of my self-driven “love!”
Sacrificial love, of course, was always the teaching of Jesus; and He modeled it so convincingly and perfectly for all mankind. He commanded ALL His disciples, not just the original twelve, to love one another, even including our enemies (see Luke 6: 35). And His command of love becomes infinitely tougher when He said to believers that we’re to expect nothing in return. However, in the greatest sacrifice of all, for anyone who receives the free-offering of God’s cross-bearing love, God is willing to give nothing less than the greatest reward of all … Heaven.
Is that not the deal of a lifetime?
I believe that those who really “get this” and demonstrate lives of “living sacrifice” (as Paul wrote about in Rom 12: 1); … to these, I believe, God will bestowed the greatest rewards in Heaven. As Jesus taught, the least shall be the greatest [Matt. 23: 11-12]. So, I’ve got a long way to go when it comes to my love quotient … to choose to be humbled as a servant as I show God’s love to others … prayerfully more today than yesterday and even more tomorrow than today.
My Prayer Today: And so, I pray, Lord that You help me grow in Your love as I choose to love others before self. Amen
Friday, February 04, 2011
February 4, 2011 … God is One
Passage of the Day: Deut. 6: 4 – 5 … 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
My Journal for Today: God’s word declares it in today’s passage found in both the Old and New Testaments as well as in God’s Law (see Exodus: 20: 3) … that “…you shall have no other gods before Me (the one true God, Jehovah)!” The Old Testament is replete with God’s warnings to His people to this effect; and yet repeatedly they ignored their God, becoming recalcitrant, disobedient, and even outright defiant. And then came Jesus with the New Covenant, which likely confused most Jews, as this man who performed miracles claimed to be God in the flesh, yet telling the people they must worship the one and only true God in heaven (see Mark 12: 29-30 – NIV) …
SCRIPTURE: Mark 12: 29-30 - "The most important one [command]," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
And then when Jesus stated [e.g., in John 10:30], “I and the Father are One …;” many Jews, especially the Pharisees, felt that He had stepped over the line into blasphemy. They had been taught, by tradition from God’s Law, that there was only ONE God; and He was “Jehovah,” the un-namable, unspeakable Sprit-God. And when they could not grasp their Messiah in the humanity and person of Jesus, they could not abide His claims of deity.
But now that we, in this age of grace, have seen God’s plan unfold in the Person of Christ and we have God’s word canonized for our edification, we must see, as Paul taught in 1Cor. 8: 4 - 6 (below), that when we worship God, the Father, in the Personhood of His Son, Jesus Christ, we do, by God’s grace, imparted by God, the Holy Spirit, worship the One True God just as God commanded Israel in today’s verse.
SCRIPTURE: 1st Cor. 8: 4-6 - 4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
And in our worship, we cannot let any worldly, fleshly, or spiritual idols separate us from becoming a living sacrifice to our God, the One and only God. (see Romans 12: 1-2 - linked here for your study/meditation)
My Prayer Today: Lord God, may my life be a worship to You and You only! Amen
My Journal for Today: God’s word declares it in today’s passage found in both the Old and New Testaments as well as in God’s Law (see Exodus: 20: 3) … that “…you shall have no other gods before Me (the one true God, Jehovah)!” The Old Testament is replete with God’s warnings to His people to this effect; and yet repeatedly they ignored their God, becoming recalcitrant, disobedient, and even outright defiant. And then came Jesus with the New Covenant, which likely confused most Jews, as this man who performed miracles claimed to be God in the flesh, yet telling the people they must worship the one and only true God in heaven (see Mark 12: 29-30 – NIV) …
SCRIPTURE: Mark 12: 29-30 - "The most important one [command]," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'
And then when Jesus stated [e.g., in John 10:30], “I and the Father are One …;” many Jews, especially the Pharisees, felt that He had stepped over the line into blasphemy. They had been taught, by tradition from God’s Law, that there was only ONE God; and He was “Jehovah,” the un-namable, unspeakable Sprit-God. And when they could not grasp their Messiah in the humanity and person of Jesus, they could not abide His claims of deity.
But now that we, in this age of grace, have seen God’s plan unfold in the Person of Christ and we have God’s word canonized for our edification, we must see, as Paul taught in 1Cor. 8: 4 - 6 (below), that when we worship God, the Father, in the Personhood of His Son, Jesus Christ, we do, by God’s grace, imparted by God, the Holy Spirit, worship the One True God just as God commanded Israel in today’s verse.
SCRIPTURE: 1st Cor. 8: 4-6 - 4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many "gods" and many "lords"), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
And in our worship, we cannot let any worldly, fleshly, or spiritual idols separate us from becoming a living sacrifice to our God, the One and only God. (see Romans 12: 1-2 - linked here for your study/meditation)
My Prayer Today: Lord God, may my life be a worship to You and You only! Amen
Friday, December 10, 2010
2010 – December 10 – Laying Down A Life
Study from God’s Word… Acts, Chapters 20 – 21 … Passage for Reflection: Acts 21: 13 … NIV [Fearing for Paul’s life if he were to go to Jerusalem, his travel companions in Caesarea exhorted Paul to refrain from going there, lest he be bound over to the Romans and killed.] 13 Then Paul answered, “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 14 When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”
My Journal for Today: Do you remember what Jesus said to His followers about being His disciple (quoted in Luke 9:23)? Quoting in the NIV: Then He said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Paul certainly was not have been on that hillside in Capernaum when Jesus declared what it took to be His disciple; but reading today’s highlight text, shows that he was willing to follow Christ wherever the Spirit of God would lead him, … yes, even unto death, following in the Spirit-led footsteps of His Lord, Who had walked that path to Jerusalem Himself.
What about it, my fellow Christian? Are we signed up, calling ourselves “Christian,” to deny even our own lives if that’s what His direction calls from us as His disciples? Sure, if we – somehow – knew that we had to die for someone dear to us, maybe a spouse, our kids, or maybe even a dear friend, I would bet that we’d do it if we knew that we could jump in front of a bullet and take it instead of our love one. That’s what Secret Service agents are willing to do for our President; but if you knew that tomorrow could possibly be your end on this earth for following your Lord, would you walk that walk of discipleship?
There are many examples in the Bible of that type of faith. There was Daniel and his three young friends in the Old Testament; … there’s Phillip, the first recorded martyr in the New Testament; and as history would record, ten of the original twelve inner-core Disciples died a martyr’s death, as did the Apostle Paul, late in his missionary journeys. These were followers of The Lord who were willing to follow Him anywhere and everywhere He would lead, even if they knew it might be their death.
And I would expect that many of us, reading what I write here, would say, “Yes, if the circumstances presented themselves in my life, I would do what Paul did and follow Jesus even unto death.” But, what about the challenging question posed by F. LaGard Smith in his devotional for today? He writes: ”If I think I’d be willing to DIE for my faith, were I actually put to the test, am I equally committed to the even greater challenge of truly LIVING for my faith?”
And knowing God’s challenge to us by God, through Paul’s exhortation to believers in Romans 12: 1-2 [linked here], I’m convicted and committed to live up that challenge. What about you?
My Prayer for Today: I want to be a LIVING SACRIFICE for You, my Lord. Help me; lead me; empower me. Amen
My Journal for Today: Do you remember what Jesus said to His followers about being His disciple (quoted in Luke 9:23)? Quoting in the NIV: Then He said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Paul certainly was not have been on that hillside in Capernaum when Jesus declared what it took to be His disciple; but reading today’s highlight text, shows that he was willing to follow Christ wherever the Spirit of God would lead him, … yes, even unto death, following in the Spirit-led footsteps of His Lord, Who had walked that path to Jerusalem Himself.
What about it, my fellow Christian? Are we signed up, calling ourselves “Christian,” to deny even our own lives if that’s what His direction calls from us as His disciples? Sure, if we – somehow – knew that we had to die for someone dear to us, maybe a spouse, our kids, or maybe even a dear friend, I would bet that we’d do it if we knew that we could jump in front of a bullet and take it instead of our love one. That’s what Secret Service agents are willing to do for our President; but if you knew that tomorrow could possibly be your end on this earth for following your Lord, would you walk that walk of discipleship?
There are many examples in the Bible of that type of faith. There was Daniel and his three young friends in the Old Testament; … there’s Phillip, the first recorded martyr in the New Testament; and as history would record, ten of the original twelve inner-core Disciples died a martyr’s death, as did the Apostle Paul, late in his missionary journeys. These were followers of The Lord who were willing to follow Him anywhere and everywhere He would lead, even if they knew it might be their death.
And I would expect that many of us, reading what I write here, would say, “Yes, if the circumstances presented themselves in my life, I would do what Paul did and follow Jesus even unto death.” But, what about the challenging question posed by F. LaGard Smith in his devotional for today? He writes: ”If I think I’d be willing to DIE for my faith, were I actually put to the test, am I equally committed to the even greater challenge of truly LIVING for my faith?”
And knowing God’s challenge to us by God, through Paul’s exhortation to believers in Romans 12: 1-2 [linked here], I’m convicted and committed to live up that challenge. What about you?
My Prayer for Today: I want to be a LIVING SACRIFICE for You, my Lord. Help me; lead me; empower me. Amen
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
2010 – November 23 – Radical Transformation
Study from God’s Word… Acts, Chapters 8 & 9, Luke writing of the entrance of Saul, who became the Apostle Paul … Passage for Reflection: Acts 9: 3 – 4 … NIV 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
My Journal for Today: The description of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9 has wrought an descriptive phrase in both Christian and secular expression, which we know of as “the Damascus road experience.” It refers to someone having a radical transformation of character, generally from something evil or malevolent to one who is obviously good for the world in some way. And for most Christians it means going, radically and dramatically, from sinner to saint.
I had one of those “Damascus road experiences” on April 13, 1983; and it would take too long to write about it here; but the experience and my sense of brokenness and change that day led me from being a self-absorbed, sin-driven atheist to what I’ve become, … an Elder in my church and an ordained Minister of the Gospel. My wife says that I went from a selfish sex addict to a compulsive Savior addict. She likes the latter better! ;>)
Only God could have wrought such a radical transformation. So, when I read about Saul becoming Paul, I have great empathy and understanding for the life transforming story of this persecutor of Christians who became the powerful protector of the Gospel of Christ.
But perhaps you have not had a “Damascus Road Experience;” and maybe you wonder if it takes such an experience to move from sinner to saint and become a born-again believer … a true Christian in every sense of your being. But, my friend, I hope you realize that it doesn’t take a vision of The Christ or some blindness to seeing episode in your life to be a transformed and born-again Christian. No, you may be one whose transformation began early in your life and you were much more slowly and steadily re-shaped to conform to Christ’s image.
My Pastor, in the church where we served as co-Elders, truly believes he was “saved” when he was five years old; and his growth in faith was slow and had some radical ups-and-downs. But in his case, and maybe yours, there was a transformation and maturing of the fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5: 22-23), which has led to fruitfulness in his called ministry.
But you may ask, “Well, does one have to be transformed into a Minister, an Elder, a Missionary or be called to lead some Christian ministry to see the transformation of conversion and growth in Christian discipleship?” And the answer to that one is also a resounding “NO!” What it takes was described in a powerful biblical nutshell by the same Saul, who became Paul, in Romans 12: 1 – 2; and let me embolden that passage in italics for you – though I hope you know it from memory:
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
One, like me who is wordy, could write or teach on that passage for weeks; and some have. But it all boils down to being transformed into a state of mind, as a Christian, of “living sacrifice;” and doing all we can intentionally to allow God to reshape us into His image, avoiding being transformed into the world’s image. If you have done that, …no matter how dramatically or slowly it has taken you, you are becoming the Christian God intends for you to be. It is the completion process Paul also wrote about in Philippians 1: 6, where God authored, … He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
But if you’re reading this and have doubts about your salvation or the conversion/transformation from non-Christian to one who is truly born-again, go read and study the letter from another great Apostle in the epistle we know of as 1st John. That whole letter was written to Christians to help them KNOW, beyond any doubt, that they are saved and “born-again” as Christians [see the purpose statement of the letter from John to the church in 1st John 5: 13 - linked here. Studying that letter will help you seal your status as a Christian and you can move on to be reshaped in Christ’s image.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, make over – completely – into Your image. Amen
My Journal for Today: The description of Saul’s conversion in Acts 9 has wrought an descriptive phrase in both Christian and secular expression, which we know of as “the Damascus road experience.” It refers to someone having a radical transformation of character, generally from something evil or malevolent to one who is obviously good for the world in some way. And for most Christians it means going, radically and dramatically, from sinner to saint.
I had one of those “Damascus road experiences” on April 13, 1983; and it would take too long to write about it here; but the experience and my sense of brokenness and change that day led me from being a self-absorbed, sin-driven atheist to what I’ve become, … an Elder in my church and an ordained Minister of the Gospel. My wife says that I went from a selfish sex addict to a compulsive Savior addict. She likes the latter better! ;>)
Only God could have wrought such a radical transformation. So, when I read about Saul becoming Paul, I have great empathy and understanding for the life transforming story of this persecutor of Christians who became the powerful protector of the Gospel of Christ.
But perhaps you have not had a “Damascus Road Experience;” and maybe you wonder if it takes such an experience to move from sinner to saint and become a born-again believer … a true Christian in every sense of your being. But, my friend, I hope you realize that it doesn’t take a vision of The Christ or some blindness to seeing episode in your life to be a transformed and born-again Christian. No, you may be one whose transformation began early in your life and you were much more slowly and steadily re-shaped to conform to Christ’s image.
My Pastor, in the church where we served as co-Elders, truly believes he was “saved” when he was five years old; and his growth in faith was slow and had some radical ups-and-downs. But in his case, and maybe yours, there was a transformation and maturing of the fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5: 22-23), which has led to fruitfulness in his called ministry.
But you may ask, “Well, does one have to be transformed into a Minister, an Elder, a Missionary or be called to lead some Christian ministry to see the transformation of conversion and growth in Christian discipleship?” And the answer to that one is also a resounding “NO!” What it takes was described in a powerful biblical nutshell by the same Saul, who became Paul, in Romans 12: 1 – 2; and let me embolden that passage in italics for you – though I hope you know it from memory:
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
One, like me who is wordy, could write or teach on that passage for weeks; and some have. But it all boils down to being transformed into a state of mind, as a Christian, of “living sacrifice;” and doing all we can intentionally to allow God to reshape us into His image, avoiding being transformed into the world’s image. If you have done that, …no matter how dramatically or slowly it has taken you, you are becoming the Christian God intends for you to be. It is the completion process Paul also wrote about in Philippians 1: 6, where God authored, … He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
But if you’re reading this and have doubts about your salvation or the conversion/transformation from non-Christian to one who is truly born-again, go read and study the letter from another great Apostle in the epistle we know of as 1st John. That whole letter was written to Christians to help them KNOW, beyond any doubt, that they are saved and “born-again” as Christians [see the purpose statement of the letter from John to the church in 1st John 5: 13 - linked here. Studying that letter will help you seal your status as a Christian and you can move on to be reshaped in Christ’s image.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, make over – completely – into Your image. Amen
Saturday, November 06, 2010
2010 – November 6 – The Imperfect Hostess
Study from God’s Word… Luke 9: 51-56 [Matt 19: 1,2 – Mark 10:1]; Luke 17: 11-19; Luke 10: 1-16 [Matt 11: 20-24]; Luke 10: 17-20; Luke 10: 21-24 [Matt 11: 25-27]; Matt 11: 28-30; Luke 10: 25-37; Luke 10: 38-42: Luke 11: 1-13; John 10: 22-42 … Passage for Reflection: Luke 10: 41-42 … NIV 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
My Journal for Today: If you were to go back and study the passages Dr. Smith has edited/extracted for chronological study from the New Testament, listed today above, as I have, you’ll see that Jesus was on His way inexorably to Jerusalem, encountering people, friends and strangers, along the way and trying to do all He could to declare and show His identification as The Messiah, The Christ, … the Son of God. But as in today’s highlight story, many people, even dear friends like Martha in the house of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, too often let their religious traditions and beliefs stand in the way of total surrender and worship of THE CHRIST.
We see in this scenario from today’s text that Martha’s sister, Mary, somehow got it and was in total surrender and worship to her Lord, even to the point of neglecting what would be considered traditions of hospitality in that middle eastern culture of the day. Martha, on the other hand, was hindered by her need to be “traditional,” even though she had a head-belief that this man, her friend, was THE Messiah.
What Dr. Smith, my devotional shepherd, is trying to illustrate today comes out in what he calls a “worrying question,” which is stated today to challenge those of us reading his devotional. He writes, ”In what subtle ways does my view of religion affect my view of everyday activities?” And I might go further, in self analysis, to ask myself [and any reading here], ”How do I let my social agenda and habits get in the way of being in total surrender and 24/7 worship of my Savior and Lord?”
Do I look down upon someone who might be sitting in the spot in my church pew where I normally sit; or do I worship my Lord by welcoming the person and getting to know them to let the light of Christ shine through me? >>> Do I scowl when I see someone dressing in what I consider inappropriate attire when I see them enter our church sanctuary on Sunday morning? >>> Am I prideful when I put my tithe and offering envelope in the offering plate, wanting others to see me do it. Am I there on Sunday morning as a Mary or a Martha?
What Jesus wanted the people to recognize as He was taking the route the Father led Him upon, on the way to the Cross, was for the people to see Him and to believe in Him to the point of making their lives what Paul later wrote about in Romans 12: 1. You know it [I hope] …
==============
• Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
==============
When Jesus entered the house of Lazarus, Mary, the one sister was there, at Jesus’ feet, with the type of “living sacrifice” to which the Apostle Paul would later exhort all believers to have; but Martha wasn’t quite there yet.
I think we all need to determine if our lifestyle of worship is characterized by Mary or Martha. We may be believers at the head level; but is our life truly a living sacrifice at the heart level, shining the light of Christ, by the way we live as worship to the One who went to the Cross – as a total living sacrifice – that we might have eternal life?
My Prayer for Today: Lord, may my life be my worship to You. Amen
My Journal for Today: If you were to go back and study the passages Dr. Smith has edited/extracted for chronological study from the New Testament, listed today above, as I have, you’ll see that Jesus was on His way inexorably to Jerusalem, encountering people, friends and strangers, along the way and trying to do all He could to declare and show His identification as The Messiah, The Christ, … the Son of God. But as in today’s highlight story, many people, even dear friends like Martha in the house of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, too often let their religious traditions and beliefs stand in the way of total surrender and worship of THE CHRIST.
We see in this scenario from today’s text that Martha’s sister, Mary, somehow got it and was in total surrender and worship to her Lord, even to the point of neglecting what would be considered traditions of hospitality in that middle eastern culture of the day. Martha, on the other hand, was hindered by her need to be “traditional,” even though she had a head-belief that this man, her friend, was THE Messiah.
What Dr. Smith, my devotional shepherd, is trying to illustrate today comes out in what he calls a “worrying question,” which is stated today to challenge those of us reading his devotional. He writes, ”In what subtle ways does my view of religion affect my view of everyday activities?” And I might go further, in self analysis, to ask myself [and any reading here], ”How do I let my social agenda and habits get in the way of being in total surrender and 24/7 worship of my Savior and Lord?”
Do I look down upon someone who might be sitting in the spot in my church pew where I normally sit; or do I worship my Lord by welcoming the person and getting to know them to let the light of Christ shine through me? >>> Do I scowl when I see someone dressing in what I consider inappropriate attire when I see them enter our church sanctuary on Sunday morning? >>> Am I prideful when I put my tithe and offering envelope in the offering plate, wanting others to see me do it. Am I there on Sunday morning as a Mary or a Martha?
What Jesus wanted the people to recognize as He was taking the route the Father led Him upon, on the way to the Cross, was for the people to see Him and to believe in Him to the point of making their lives what Paul later wrote about in Romans 12: 1. You know it [I hope] …
==============
• Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
==============
When Jesus entered the house of Lazarus, Mary, the one sister was there, at Jesus’ feet, with the type of “living sacrifice” to which the Apostle Paul would later exhort all believers to have; but Martha wasn’t quite there yet.
I think we all need to determine if our lifestyle of worship is characterized by Mary or Martha. We may be believers at the head level; but is our life truly a living sacrifice at the heart level, shining the light of Christ, by the way we live as worship to the One who went to the Cross – as a total living sacrifice – that we might have eternal life?
My Prayer for Today: Lord, may my life be my worship to You. Amen
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