Getting Close To Christ - Dec., '08 - Day 18

December 18, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 9 [see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: Yes, we’re back again in Phil. 2: 9 as John MacArthur continues to help me (us) appreciate the explanation of Christ’s exaltation, showing that God’s raising of The Second Person of the Trinity to reglorification was the reverse of the incarnation of Christ. Having become a babe in a manager, … having been a servant, … even a slave; and having died ignominiously on a cross, … Christ was raised from the grave, brought by God’s Spirit into Heaven, seated on God’s Throne, crowned as King of kings and Lord of lords, and established to His Royal Priesthood as Head of His Church.

He, Who was rejected, was accepted. He, Who had chosen obedience and humility to His Father, was once again given all power and authority (see Eph. 1: 22 – 33). And He, Who had been spat upon by the religious leaders of His day, became the High Priest for God’s Church and our intercessor/advocate forever.

Is this not the most glorious thing that one could ever contemplate – especially in this time of year when we’re so reminded of His incarnation? And John MacArthur closes his exposition and devotional on this date by emphasizing a point of enormous importance, doing so by quoting the Puritan, Thomas Walton, who wrote, “As sure as Christ is exalted, … so sure will He instate believers in all that glory … (see John 17: 22).”

What an incredible hope and encouragement this is, especially for those of us who’ve been lifted out of the tarpits of habitual sin and rebellion by His wondrous gift of grace. To be able to walk with Him and for Him in this life is truly the realization of the words of John Newton’s Amazing Grace (hum and sing those first bars with me), “Amazing grace … how sweet the sound … that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost; but now I’m found … was blind but now I see.”

But wondrously, it doesn’t stop there … there’s more! Stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: All praise and thanks, dear Lord, for your exalted place in glory; and a place saved for me! Amen

Getting Close To Christ - Dec., '08 - Day 17

December 17, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 9a [see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: Okay, today we’re back again in Phil. 2, with a focus on the one phrase from verse 9a, “… God exalted Him (Christ) to the highest place.” I believe John MacArthur, in Strength for Today, has taken his readers back to the theology of Christ’s exaltation so that we can gain a more complete understanding of what Christ gave up in His incarnation, life, and death on earth and what He attained in living as the God-Man.

MacArthur poses an interesting rhetorical question in today’s devotional entry, “… how could Jesus be exalted since He was (already) fully God?” However, by returning to Christ’s High Priestly prayer, we read Christ (in John 17: 5) asking His Heavenly Father to be restored to His former glory. And ultimately, as we read in today’s verse, when this actually happened, which it did in His ascension and re-coronation (as we’ve seen), Christ reacquired His former status in the union of the God-Head – but with something added!

Now, restored to His glory bound position in the Trinity and having lived out the reality of sinless humanity, the exalted Christ could – and has – become High Priest, Who can – and does – intercede and be the Advocate for God’s people (i.e., those who’ve received Him as Lord and Savior). And as our re-glorified God-Man Priest, … our Messiah, … my Lord … knows and has felt all that I am; and as my Savior-Priest, He can and does intercede for me before God, the Father, with infinite empathy, shielding my sin nature from the wrath of God and letting me wear His Robes of Righteousness to cover my rags of sin. When God, the Father, looks at me (or you if you’re saved), He doesn’t see my sin. He sees my positional purity, having been covered by the blood of the Lamb of God, His Son.

I hope you’re getting the picture of our fully restored Savior in Heaven and what He set aside to become a Man like no other man, becoming a Servant King on my (and your) behalf. But there’s more; so, as I keep saying this month, … stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: O, Lord, I praise Your Holy and Priestly Name! Amen

Getting Close To Christ - Dec., '08 - Day 16

December 16, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Hebrews 1: 1 - 14 … [see highlight passage in bold/red] 1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father"? Or again, "I will be his Father, and He will be my Son"? 6 And again, when God brings His firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship Him." 7 In speaking of the angels he says, "He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire." 8 But about the Son He says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set You above your companions by anointing You with the oil of joy." 10 He also says, "In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 11They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. 12 You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But You remain the same, and your years will never end." 13 To which of the angels did God ever say, "Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? 14 Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

My Journal for Today: Today’s devotional by John MacArthur in Strength for Today, taking a departure into the first chapter from our study of Philippians 2 and moving that of Hebrews, expresses a truth that is all too absent in the world today, and is sorely wanting even among Christians; and that is a surrendered awe for the majesty of the exalted Lord, … our Savior, Jesus Christ. Certainly the so-called “secular” world shows no reverence for Christ. Rather, there is a growing disdain for even His Name to appear in our culture as we see a growing movement to have the concepts of “Christ” or “God” stripped from all public venues. And too often we find Christians trivializing our Lord with public or verbal references such as “The Man upstairs” or “the big guy in Heaven.” I even balk a bit when I hear someone pray to “Papa God,” though I know that there is some Biblical precedence for this reference in the phrase “Abba Father.”

As I read, study, and meditate on today’s text from Hebrews 1 suggested by MacArthur, I’m reminded by God’s word that Christ is the “Heir of all things” and the unique Son of God; and from Revelations 5: 1 – 7 we see that He is the “Lion of Judah” and the Radiance of God’s glory, … the One and only One Whose blood was shed as the Lamb of God so that you and I, as believers, could become Kingdom Priests to serve God as Heirs to His throne. Now is that not an image that needs to be lifted up and given lifestyle worship in our culture?

Why then do men mock Him and crucify Him socially in our culture? Why do we Christians have a tendency to humanize our Lord so much and so often. Of course, we can see how a world devised and led by Satan would be blinded to and or in antipathy of Jesus; but why do we Christians want to bring Our Lord down to human level, trivializing the exalted Name of Christ? God, the Son, was exalted and re-coronated unto His throne in Glory by God, the Father; and He has provided the way through His Spirit for our eternal glory as His heirs. The least we can do is to worship Him in the Glory and with the Name He deserves. He is our LORD!

Don’t you agree that we, as Christians, should (no, I say we “must”) elevate Christ’s image in our lives to reflect the truth of the One we serve and worship? Only by doing so with the worship of our lives, our 24/7 witness to His Name, … a worthy walk of faith, … will we reflect His radiant Light into the dark world for all to see Him in us and to be able to glorify our Father in Heaven (see and mediate on a verse that you probably have memorized, Matt. 5: 16).

I’m convicted to the bone; so I look forward to the remainder of our series to elevate the Name of Christ in my heart and mind. That’s why again I say, “Stay tuned.”

My Prayer Today: O Lord, as ever, I stand in awe and bow before Your majesty. Amen

Getting Close To Christ - Dec., '08 - Day 15

December 15, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 9a [see highlight passage in bold/red] …
5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: With the help of John MacArthur, I (we) have seen that Christ’s exaltation involved four elements; and yesterday we looked at two of them: RESURRECTION and ASCENSION. However, it was the latter two, CORONATION and INTERCESSION, which allowed believers to have freedom from the condemnation of our sin condition; and this was due to the establishment of Christ’s Heavenly Priesthood.

Both Mark 16: 19 and Ephesians 1: 20 – 22 document that upon Christ’s ascension into Heaven, He was seated at the Right Hand of God, The Father, on the Throne of Glory with all power, authority, and dominion restored to Him. And besides this re-coronation to His Throne, our Lord was given the role of our eternal High Priest to be our advocate, interceding on behalf of saved believers forever. Both Hebrews 4: 15 and 7: 25, as we read two days ago, clearly declare Christ’s Priesthood and intercession in sending His Spirit to minister to the lives of declared Christians; and that process has granted believers like me (and prayerfully, you) faith, repentance, forgiveness, and God’s grace to become completed in Christ from sanctification in our lives on this earth and glorification in the next life in Heaven. I would charge you to do a deep reading through Ephesians, Chapters 4 – 9, to get the full picture of the importance and outcome of Christ’s coronation and intercession. And having just done it, I would also charge my followers here to go back and read Christ’s wondrous prayer for His disciples in John 17: 6 – 26, His intercession having begun even before He ascended into Heaven.

And how can a Christian meditate on that John 17 prayer, what is really THE LORD’S PRAYER, and not come away in wonder at the Savior, Who was about to go to the Cross on our behalf, praying this prayer for His Father’s children? In the prayer, in John 17: 5, we read Jesus imploring His Father, “…Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” And that is what our focus on this day has been, … Christ’s re-glorification and re-coronation into His eternal Priesthood.

Oh glory upon glory, our High Priest lives and ever moves to intercede for His subjects; and I pray that you, as I am, are one of those subjects. And tomorrow we leave Phil. 2 for a day to delve into another wondrous passage about Christ’s glory. Stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: O Lord, all I can say from my meditation today is HALLELUJAH and Amen !!!

A Berry Patch Chrismas Greeting

To any who read here, above you see why we in the Berry Patch feel so blessed in this Advent Season. These four are our Berry Blessings; ... and first above are the Colorado Cuties, ... the littlest, Alexandra, now a terrific two year old (or "terrible" when caught mostly being herself); and sister, Amanda, who is five, going on fifteen. Next are our local Cordova Cuties, Sydney and Brooklyn, with their friend, Frosty. Brookie is always on stage; and Syd was born to mother her little sister.

They are special, special, special; and no two grandparents could feel more blessed by God than Elly and I could or would at this time of year. So, we pray that you are having wonderful family times, relishing what we all have in the family of God.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ... and ... HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

And much love from Bill and Elly

Getting Close To Christ - Dec., '08 - Day 14

December 14, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 9 [see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: If you’ve been following this month as I dwell with John MacArthur on the subject of Christology, and even more specifically on Christ’s character of humility, it may seem like MacArthur and I are lingering with redundancy on certain elements of the Apostle Paul’s passage in Phil. 2. Well, this may be so; but I can see that MacArthur is doing so because of the importance of the subject matter – and that is CHRIST.

Here we are again, looking at Christ’s exaltation after His death, resurrection, and ascension into Heaven; and I must admit that if Strength for Today not lingered on this subject, I would not likely have seen how important and wonderful this matter of Christ being exalted is to our knowing our Lord. Yesterday MacArthur mentioned – in passing – four components of Christ’s exaltation that we need to understand: resurrection, ascension, coronation, and intercession. Today our author/shepherd elaborates on the first two of these; and the first is RESURRECTION.

In Acts 13: 32 – 39 [be sure to read this!], we read Dr. Luke’s account of Paul preaching to the Jews (and some Gentiles present) in a Synagogue in Antioch. There Paul gave the people a history lesson, preaching the good news of Christ being the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies, Christ having been raised from the dead to save God’s people from their sin. In this passage in Acts, Paul’s preaching quoted from Ps. 2: 7, Is. 55: 3, and especially from Ps. 16: 10 [best to see NASB version] where David had prophesied that The Messiah would never decay in the ground [a prophesy of Christ’s resurrection]. And MacArthur emphasizes this wondrous lesson where he writes, “Christ’s death and resurrection provided forgiveness and freedom from sin, the law, and death.” And we Christians, especially in these days of commercialized Christmases, need to take time to dwell on this gift of amazing grace to all mankind. And we need to recognize that without the truth of the resurrection, Christianity falls into nothingness.

Next we read from Acts 1: 9 – 11 and 2: 33 an exposition of the second component of Christ’s exaltation, … His ASCENSION, where our Messiah and Savior was lifted up to sit at the Right Hand of God, The Father, on His Throne of Glory in Heaven. And my beloved, we need to dwell on this! We will be exalted as well; but not until we live out this Spirit-enabled life as Christ’s witnesses (see Act. 1: 8) and we are either resurrected after our death or we are transported to Glory when Christ comes again. And I don’t think I’ll ever be able to wrap my finite mind around this latter truth … that God would think so much of ME that He would humble Himself as a man, walk on earth displaying His deity, die in humiliation on a cross, be resurrected by God’s Spirit, ascend to Heaven, be re-coronated by God, the Father, into His former Glory, and now to intercede for ME in Heaven. No, I may not completely grasp these truths; but I believe them as THE GOSPEL truth!

And tomorrow we’ll go into more of Christ’s exaltation … so, (yes), stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: And with Your charge, Lord, to witness in Your name, I go forth. Amen

Getting Close To Christ - Dec., '08 - Day 13

December 13, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 9 [see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: Yesterday we considered and saw the perfect evidence of God’s law of reciprocation, the wondrous balance of God’s justice for God, the Son, Who humbled Himself for mankind that we might be lifted up to Glory with Him. However, this law worked first and foremost – and perfectly - for Jesus; and what a wondrous sequence it is to contemplate the exaltation of Christ, following the kenosis [i.e., emptying] of His glory and majesty in the incarnation, … that He, having died for mankind, would be resurrected by God, the Holy Spirit, ascended to Heaven to the Right Hand of God, The Father (see Acts 2: 32 – 33; Acts 5: 30 – 31) and then to be honored above all by His Coronation so that He might serve eternally in intercession for you and me and His Church as our High Priest (see Hebrews 4: 14 and 7: 25).

As John MacArthur puts it in his Strength for Today entry today, “He (Jesus) rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven. Then He was seated on the throne of God to intercede as High Priest of His people.” And I hope you are as much in awe as I am to meditate and contemplate the truth that as believers who have received Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will one day be resurrected (should He not come again during our lifetime), and we will be exalted to sit with Him and to rule in eternity with Him. Is that not mind-blowing in its implications!!

Think about the spirit of Christmas. Is it not a small, small gift to be able to serve our Lord on this earth for the gift of exaltation He has given us? But that’s all our Lord wants from us – the gift of our surrender and service to Him. And really it’s all I have to offer Him. He has everything! And, as one of our staple exhortations from Christ, Luke 9: 23, documents, what Jesus asks of me (and you) is for me to give up myself and follow Him. It’s really not too much to request for me to contemplate giving my all for Him during this Advent season (and beyond in my life).

What about you who might be reading this? Are you giving our Lord enough of yourself for Christmas [and for life, for that matter]? Well, there will be more time to mediate on this during the rest of December; … stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: May I always be diminished, Lord, that You may increase! Amen

Getting Close To Christ - Dec., '08 - Day 12

December 12, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 9 - 11 [see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
9 Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.


My Journal for Today: In today’s entry of Strength for Today, John MacArthur helps those, like myself, who pursue God through his devotional to see from God’s word (in the highlight passages from Phil. 2 above) that Christ’s humiliation in His incarnation, life, and death on the cross as well as His exaltation (see today’s passage) are very powerful and practical examples of God’s economy of justice. It’s really a straightforward formula; but it’s also an infinitely challenging message for all mankind to accept and implement. THE FORUMULA is that when one humbles himself, he will be exalted. Jesus was our earthly model of humility [Phil. 2: 6 – 8]; and in today’s passage [Phil. 2: 9 – 11] we read of Christ becoming our heavenly and perfect example of God’s exaltation out of His earthly and perfect humility.

MacArthur reminds me [us] that the Apostle Peter [in 1st Peter 1: 10 – 12] had pointed to Christ fulfilling the prophesies of the ancient Prophets concerning the Messiah. And the Author of Hebrews wrote of Christ [in Heb. 12: 2], “… Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So, the Apostle Paul’s purpose in our passage from Phil. 2 was to illustrate, not only Christ’s humble emptying of His majesty in His Incarnation; but also to document His re-entry into heavenly glory as a result of His humiliation on the cross. So it’s worthy of repeating, … Christ, therefore, is not only our human example of humility, He is also our heavenly example of God glorifying anyone who is willing to humble himself and receive God’s Son as Lord and Savior.

That economy and balance of justice is also documented in James 4: 10, where we read, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” As I’ve documented before, that is the message that was also laid out by Solomon in Prov. 3: 34 and 1st Peter 5: 6 … that God gives His grace to the humble but resists the proud. So, Jesus was God’s model of His scale of justice; and His word repeats the lesson often. BUT, do we get it?!

Unfortunately, all too often I’ve had to learn the lesson of God’s economy with regard to humility the hard way. I know the lesson in my head; but my deceitful heart [see Jer. 17: 9] brings me often to a place where God has to teach me humility in the face of my pridefulness. I have to be brought low because I’ve chosen to exalt myself. When will I see - from the heart - that it’s so much better for me to CHOOSE to be humble and let God exalt me for being like Christ?

Just like Christ, one day as a believing Christian, I (and all Christians) will be lifted up to be with my (our) Lord in Heaven, … not because of anything I will do in humility, … but because of what Christ has already done for me (us). Oh how I (we) need to meditate on this at this time of year, especially letting this message encourage us in our trials. But as we do so in reading this, we can look forward this month to even more about our Lord; so, … yes, … stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: Blessed am I by Your exaltation, Lord. Amen

Getting Close To Christ - Dec., '08 - Day 11

December 11, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 8 [ NIV - see highlight passage in bold] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

My Journal for Today: John MacArthur begins his Strength for Today devotional on this date by reminding his readers (that’s me!) of what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 11: 33, writing (from the NASB), “Oh, the depth … of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” And Paul was agreeing with David, the Psalmist (in Ps. 36: 6) who wrote, “Your judgments (are like) the great deep.” And we also read God say, through the Prophet in Isaiah 55: 8 – 9 [NIV] , “ 8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

When we consider the passage we’ve been studying this month in Philippians 2, certainly no human would have ever scripted God coming to mankind in the way His Incarnation unfolded from God’s plan. And even Christ’s Disciples had trouble recognizing their Messiah, even though they knew of the Old Testament prophesies and walking with Him as they saw Jesus fulfill so many of those prophesies.

Who would have thunk it ?! A babe, born in a manger, not a palace … a boy raised as a carpenter’s son, rather than as a powerful prince ... and the King of kings, living out his adult years with a ragtag group of itinerants, rather than leading an army against Rome in deliverance of God’s people. And yet, this was the wild and wondrous plan which God used to redeem mankind, culminating in the horror and humiliation Christ endured to shed His blood in atonement for Man’s sin.

As MacArthur states for this date, “God’s ways ARE unsearchable; His truths profound. And His plan to redeem us was accomplished by Christ’s humiliation.” As the kids would say today, “Go figure!” … However, for the one who does figure it out, or at least seeks it out (i.e., reasoning in faith from his/her heart), he/she will plumb God’s incredible plan for eternal life from the depths and treasures of the very mind of God [so beautifully summarized in John 3: 16].

That’s where one finds The Good News and gets a glimpse personally into the most incredible display of humility ever fashioned for us to follow. Yes, God’s heights are so incredibly high; but they must be scaled. They are so vastly deep; but they must be plumbed. That, to me, is the essence of any Advent season; and as we move on into this Christmas Season, there will be more; … so, again, stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: Too high and deep are Your ways, Lord; but I find them as I seek to know my Savior. Amen

Getting Close To Christ - December '08 - Day 10

December 10, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 8b [ NIV - see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

My Journal for Today: As Christians, all of us aspire to grow in Christlikeness. In the Phil. 2 passage from which we’ve been studying this month, verse 5 says that our attitudes as Christians should be the same as that of our Lord. So, as individuals, and collectively as the Body of Christ, we should be doing all we can to capture and live with the attitude of Christ. And here in this wondrous passage, the Apostle Paul tells believers that the #1 attitude to which we ought to aspire is that of humility; and I’m here to tell you that this is one of the toughest lessons I have to learn as a disciple of our Lord.

You may already know that humility, along with meekness, are the only two adjectives Jesus ever used to describe Himself (see Matt. 11: 29); and we learn from passages like 1st Peter 5: 6 and James 4: 6, as well as Prov. 3: 34, that God honors humility by pouring His grace into those who humble themselves in obedience to God or His word. However, when it comes to the Phil. 2: 8 comparison test, all too often I come up short with my ego exhibiting pride, falling way short of the humility modeled so perfectly by my Savior.

And what a model of humility we have in Jesus, especially as He fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophesies concerning His passion and death on the cross. He was totally humbled to the will of His Father by dying on “the tree,” the most ignominious and humiliating form of capital punishment ever devised by man, and one which was hated by the Jews (see Deut. 21: 22 - 23). During all of His unjust trials before His crucifixion, He spoke not a word; and we see our Lord totally surrendered to the will of His Heavenly Father … that He be would become the Lamb of God to save ME! Me, of all people; but that was our Lord’s humble mission in life, … to serve me and you and all who would receive His humble and graceful act of atonement … that we might have eternal life. Is that not THE model of humility?

And now, in His word, I read from the inspiration of His Spirit, that I am to have His humility (again Phil. 2: 5); and Christ’s own words from Luke 9: 23 with regard to discipleship ring in my heart/mind as well … that I am to deny my self … and follow Him. So, the lessons of life in this regard continue; and I will enter my thoughts here today, doing all I can to humble myself to my Lord and to others. It’s a daunting task; but it is one I must learn and live.

So, I (we) move on … and there’s more to come. Yes, you’re getting it by now; … stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: It is my humble prayer, Lord. Again I pray, Lord, help me to be humble! Amen

Getting Close To Christ - December '08 - Day 9

December 9, 2008 … [You know ... yesterday they begin to call me 65 ... two days ago I was 64. I don't feel a year older. Oh well ... moving on!]

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 8a [ NIV - see highlight passage in bold/red] ... 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

My Journal for Today: The most important question anyone will ever confront and answer in this life is “Who is this Man, Jesus?” For years I was a fool and pretended the answer to that question was unimportant. But finally I came to recognize the ultimate importance of answering that question correctly; and I was brought to a place by God so that I could see Him for Whom He really was and is.

Today’s verse in the Phil. 2 passage (i.e., verse 8a), in the context of the verse immediately preceeding, i.e., verse 7, shows the degree to which Christ was willing to experience the humiliation of humanity to reveal His deity in a way that mankind could identify and see Who His is. But having been one of those blinded to His deity, I now wonder how mankind, including myself, could not see Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, … the Savior of all mankind. The “fools” of Christ’s day, even most of the ones who saw Him physically, saw only his “appearance” as a man. That word “appearance” in today’s verse is the Greek term “schema,” from which we get our word, “scheme.” It means the “outer form” of anything … that which we can see or perceive with our senses.

In other words, as Christ walked the earth, even doing incredible miracles that only God could do, most of those around Him only chose to only see His “schema,” … His humanity; and most could not – or would not – see God in the God-Man. That even included the twelve chosen disciples who were closest to our Lord during His three years of earthly ministry. And, as I said above, I was that way for 39 years of my life. I would have been like those in John 6: 42 or 8: 48, rejecting Jesus for Whom He really was/is. Our human, selfish logic often only allows us to see the outer “schema” of a person, not being willing or able to see inside to perceive the real person – or in the case of Jesus, being blind to His deity. Though I must admit that it’s tough for me to see how his twelve disciples, who had seen Jesus feed thousands from a few fishes and loaves and who saw Him walk on water, could bolt and run when he was taken by the Romans and Jews to be crucified. But truth be told, had I been one of His inner circle, I probably would have been one of the cowards myself.

Take it from one who knows; … it’s so easy to humanize God or to rationalize His truth, rather than to deal with Christ or His word personally. Jesus and His truth demands that we accept Him for Whom He is … in faith. Jesus of Nazareth was/is God! And His Gospel is truth, the real message of the Advent Season in which we find ourselves at this time of the year! We must accept it and deal with it … from the inside out – totally – not just the outer skin.

I pray that we’ve all done that … but stay tuned … we will get to know this Jesus even further during the rest of this month. >>>

My Prayer Today: Lord Jesus, You are my King and my Lord! Amen

Getting Close To Christ - December '08 - Day 8

December 8, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 7c [ NIV - see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

Journal for Today: About today’s highlight phrase in Phil. 2: 7c, in his Strength for Today devotional on this date (BTW, my fleshly birthday), John MacArthur quotes from a book entitled Systematic Theology by Charles Hodge, who wrote, “The Scriptures teach that Christ had a … true body and a rational soul … a material body which in everything essential was like the bodies of ordinary men. ... He thought, reasoned and felt [as a man].” MacArthur totally agrees with Hodge, as do I. However, as MacArthur points out, Jesus was more than God in a body. He was The God-Man, born as a babe, Who developed into a man, and was a man Who experienced the effects of man’s fall into sin. No, He didn’t sin; but he experienced, as a human, the temptations and the effects of sin upon mankind. He suffered sorrow, pain, thirst, hunger, and yes, … even death, all of which resulted because of the sin of man in the garden.

And if you read and meditate on Hebrews 2: 14 – 17 below, you will see why He had to do all of this.

--------------
Hebrews 2: 14 -17 … 14 Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17 For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.
--------------

No, Jesus, The Christ, didn’t sin; but He experienced, even with more intensity than man, the pain and anguish of temptation of sin out in the wilderness, confronting Satan (see Matt. 4 and/or Luke 4). And He experienced all of humanity as He walked the earth in his ministry years as well as in the Garden of Gethsemane, and, of course, on the cross. And as the passage from Hebrews above (and in Heb. 4: 17), we see that Jesus, the God-Man, becoming fully human allowed for Christ to become my High-Priest and my Savior. Yours too … if you have received and declared His saving grace by faith [see Rom. 10: 9 – 13]. Oh, right now, how I pray you have don’t that!

Without being fully man, but sinless, Christ could not have shed His perfect blood as the Lamb of God, for my (our) sin. So, we must remember and celebrate (at least in our Eucharist worship) Christ’s sacrifice of His spotless body and perfect blood so that He could be our Redeemer and we can have everlasting life in our faith in that very human, but God-ordained, sacrifice on my (our) behalf. And now we have a Savior, who has been re-coronated and re-glorified into the Godhead, … One Who intercedes for us as born-again believers … and One Who has sent His Spirit to minister to our every need.

Is that not good stuff! But there’s more! Stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: On my birthday, Lord, I declare, “HALLELUJAH!!” Oh, how you know the depths of my being as well as my gratitude for making my re-birthday possible. Amen

Getting Close To Christ - December '08 - Day 7

December 7, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 7b [ NIV - see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

Philippians 2: 7b [NASB] … 7b …, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

My Journal for Today: John MacArthur ends his Strength For Today devotional on this date, while focusing on today’s verse, but also by quoting the words of Jesus in Matt. 20: 27, where our Lord said, “…whoever wants to be first must be your slave [or ‘bond servant].” And then MacArthur asks his readers if we, who call ourselves Christians, really pursue that model of Christlikeness by serving others in lowliness as we have also read in Phil. 2: 3 – 4.

Today’s highlighted verse (Phil. 2: 7b), uses the Greek term “morphe” when it refers to Jesus taking the “very nature” (or “form” in the NASB) of a bond servant. That, of course, is the Greek word which is the base from which comes our word “metamorphosis” or the more modern term “morph,” which refers to something changing its essence, from one form to another. And as we’ve been studying thus far this month, Christ did this by His “kenosis,” or by emptying Himself of His claims to Trinitarian majesty as He was incarnated into a babe and lived for 33 years, finally dying as the Lamb of God on a cross for all of us. So, as MacArthur points out, Christ, fully God, “morphed” into a servant to live His life as a man on earth; and we read Paul’s exhortation in Phil. 2: 5, that our attitude, as Christians, must MORPH from our basic sin nature to become that of Christlikeness as we aspire to live like Him. So, above all, the logic and truth of today’s verse would point us to become bond servants of God as was our Savior; and our servanthood to Christ, in our surrender to His Spirit, is our status as bond-slave to Him as we live our lives for His purposes.

Jesus was the ultimate servant, totally “bonded” to the will of His Heavenly Father and also to the needs of all of mankind as He ultimately served us by dying as the suffering servant that we might have eternal life (see John 3: 16). In fact over 700 years before Christ came among us, He was depicted as the One who would become almost unrecognizable on the cross, serving mankind [see Isaiah 52: 13 – 14]. What we’re reading in Phil. 2, is how Christ’s fulfillment of those prophesies plays out in the lives of those who come after Him … those who serve Him as His disciples; and in doing so, those who serve God’s Kingdom by serving others.

Christ’s servanthood is our model as we strive toward Christlikeness; and it again begs the question, “Are we, in fact, living out this mandate for servanthood?” I, for one, have far to go; but I’m bolstered by God’s promise (in Phil. 1: 6) that He is doing a work in me to shape me into His image – and this most certainly leads me to become more of a bond servant to His Spirit in this process.

But stay tuned; … there’s even more to come about our Servant and Lord.

My Prayer Today: Transform us, Lord, into Your likeness … as a true servant. Amen

Getting Close To Christ - December '08 - Day 6

December 6, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 7a [ NIV - see highlight passage in red/bold] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!

Philippians 2: 7a [NASB] … 7 but [Christ] emptied Himself, …

Philippians 2: 7a [NKJV & KJV] … 7 but made Himself of no reputation, …

Philippians 2: 7a [ESV] … 7 but [Christ] made Himself nothing, …

Philippians 2: 7a [The Message] … 7 When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity …

My Journal for Today: Today I (we) return to the theological doctrine of Christ’s “kenosis,” by focusing on this one short phrase in Phil. 2: 7a; and when looking at a short phrase of Scripture like this sometimes, it helps to use tapestry of the Scripture weaved by looking at several versions of God’s word in the one passage. In this case I’ve provided four reputable/scholarly translations and Peterson’s popular rendering, The Message.

And as we began discussing this topic yesterday, we see the extent of Christ humility as He set aside – BY CHOICE – His infinitely powerful glory and His oneness in the Trinity to become a man. As we read in The Message version, Peterson says, “… He (Christ) set aside the privileges of deity.” And this is helpful in understanding that Christ did not set aside His deity. No, He voluntarily became human; and in doing so, He had to “empty Himself” of His majesty (that’s the Greek term “kenoo,” from which we get our theological term “kenosis.”)

It may be a rather anemic word picture to describe this wondrous process of Christ’s kenosis; but it might be seen in human terms if Bill Gates disguised Himself in some way so as not to be recognized and decided to go in among the worker bees at Microsoft and work as a new programmer, setting aside his privileges as CEO. He would still be the CEO; but as long as he was not recognized as Bill Gates; and set aside his position, to practice the function of programmer, he could function as a Microsoft staff worker. However, at any time he desired he could step back into the role of CEO and become the Top Dog again.

Yes, I know that comparing Bill Gates to Jesus Christ is about as ludicrous as it gets; but I hope you see that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, chose to humble Himself, not being recognized as God in the flesh until He decided to begin to reveal the essence of His deity to His disciples and followers. And over time we see Christ, during His ministry walk on this earth, taking on some of the POSITIONhood of God as well as the PERSONhood as He followed the Father, utilized the power of His Spirit, and performed many miracles, doing things that a mere man could never imagine being done.

Jesus, becoming the Messiah and a man, gave up His independent authority in the Godhead, completely being submitted to the will of the Father and becoming a bond servant for mankind (see Phil. 2: 8 above and Matt. 26: 39). In this self-chosen position as bond servant, Jesus only exercised the power of His Deity when God, the Father, required it or when it was necessary, utilizing the power of the Holy Spirit to highlight Whom He was as the Son of God. We see this in reality (in Matt. 24: 36) when Jesus was not able to say when His second coming would occur, indicating that only God, the Father, knew that.

Not only did Jesus empty Himself of authority in the Godhead; but He also set aside His access to His personal riches (see 2nd Cor. 8: 9), becoming poor as a man so that mankind might become rich with Him forever in glory.

Finally, and this is the most touching of all losses Christ incurred in His kenosis; He left behind His favored and glorified relationship in the Trinity to become a man who would become hated, spat upon, and crucified. We read of this horrible voluntary loss in Christ’s words from the cross, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" (see Matt. 27: 46) And all of that, He did for me (and for you).

No, I don’t think we will ever truly comprehend Christ’s loss as He emptied Himself; but because of it, we had the God-Man on earth to be written about in God’s word and so that we might be able to see more clearly than ever the character and person of God walking in our midst. And because of that, mankind can come to know Him in faith and to receive His saving grace for eternal life with Him. And to that all one can say is, “HALLELUJAH!!!”

But there’s more … stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: Lord, You emptied Yourself that I might be filled in You. Amen

Getting Close To Christ - December '08 - Day 5

December 5, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 6 - 7 [see highlight passage in bold] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: In all of this discussion about Christ becoming a human – a man – it is important for Christians to understand that Christ did not lose any of His deity. Yes, as Jesus, The Christ, did empty Himself of His glorious POSITION in the Godhead for a season of earthly time. However, He lost none of the PERSON of God in the process. And so, rather than losing anything in the emptying process, Christ’s choice of manhood to fulfill the Old Covenant actually added humanity to his Godhood, the second Person of the Trinity.

In His discussion of this emptying by Christ in Strength for Today, John MacArthur, reminds or enlightens his readers that the incarnation of Christ required what is called “kenosis” in theology, which comes from the Greek verb “kenoo,” found in today’s text. When one reads the connecting phrase, “…but made Himself nothing …” in the NIV above, in the NASB it is translated, “…but emptied Himself;” and the term “emptied” is that Greek word, “kenoo,” which literally means “to empty or make void.”

It is difficult – well really, impossible - for my finite mind to fully comprehend the extent of Christ’s sacrifice in this process of voiding His claim to His glory and majesty in His incarnation while He became a human. But it is truth. He lost nothing of His Godhood; and we see that often in the New Testament account of His life and ministry. For example, we read [in Matt. 8, Mark 4, or Luke 8] where He calmed a raging storm with a simple command. How often do we read of Christ speaking or gesturing and bringing complete healing to people who had had lifelong physical or health maladies or even raising the dead to life? So, we know of Jesus’ full deity as was evidenced in Scripture. He was 100% God and 100% Man. However, to become man, Jesus had to lay aside [i.e., empty Himself of] His heaven-bound glorious majesty for that time on earth when he would carry out the will of the Father and fulfill all the prophesies for The Messiah … until the time when He was resurrected and ascended again into Heaven to be re-glorified and re-crowned in majesty by God, The Father, as the King of Kings for eternity.

To me this passage of Scripture (i.e., Phil. 2: 6 – 11) is the best Christmas story of all; and there is even more to it. … So, stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: How blessed I am that You, Lord, became a man … for me! Amen

Getting Close To Christ - December '08 - Day 4

December 4, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 6b [see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: Today we focus on the second phrase in Phil. 2: 6; and it’s truly a remarkable truth, … one which the religious leaders who opposed Jesus in His day could not understand. And here’s where I think I have some empathy for the Pharisees of Christ’s day. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I hope that I wouldn’t have been so prideful in my position that I would be willing to plot the death of this One Who claimed to be The Messiah. But if I had learned about the God of Abraham the way the Pharisees had, with all the religious training and traditions of the day, it probably would have been difficult, if not impossible for me to understand how this Jesus, the son of a simple carpenter in Nazareth, could claim to be One with Elohim/Jehovah, the God whom they worshipped as the One true God.

And so, how could we expect the people of Christ’s day to understand how He, the God-Man, would be willing to release Himself from the holdings of glory and His favored position as the 2nd Person of the Trinity? And then to carry this through to the conclusion where we see Him completely fulfilling every one of the Messianic prophesies of the Old Testament, … becoming one of us, being rejected by His own, being humiliated and than, being executed so that His shed blood could allow all who believe in Him as Savior/Lord, by His grace, to share in His glory forever. How could the people of Christ’s day accept this because it’s difficult for theologians of today to get their minds around that truth as well?

Can any who might read this grasp and believe this greatest Christmas story ever told, where God, The Son, willingly decided to release Himself from His glorified place in the God-Head and become a babe in a manger … to grow to manhood … and to march to the cross so that the greatest gift of all time would become our “Christ Mass,” … this wondrous time when we can celebrate the birth of our Savior? I don’t think I will ever truly understand the full implications of what The Son of God did for me; but His humble decision to be incarnated into humanity, His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension, His coronation, and His re-glorification have given me the picture I need to see of the One Whom I believe is Lord and Savior and the One Whom I know has given me eternal life.

It may be too much for my mind to grasp; but not my heart – which is His. I pray that you too have given, and are giving, your heart to Him, and I pray that you’re celebrating – in this Advent season – the truth of what we’re learning in Philippians 2 … how God Himself was willing to become one OF us so that we could become one WITH Him.

And we’ll see even more of Him tomorrow; so, stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to let go of my personal glory and to become a humble servant like You. Amen

Getting Close To Christ - December '08 - Day 3

December 3, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 6a [see highlight passage in bold/red] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: Yes, here we are with the same short sub-verse, … Phil. 2: 6a. However, I hope that you’re disciplining yourself to read and meditate on the entire passage of Phil. 2: 5 – 11 each day with me while we’re in this passage of Scripture. Who knows? If we use that passage a lot this month [and we will], we might all get to know Jesus more closely than ever before. Is that not reason enough to be meditating daily on this passage for this month?

So, as we focus on Phil. 2: 6a again, we’re looking into the centerpiece of our beliefs as a Christian in this statement about the deity of Christ. You see, one cannot claim to be a disciple of Christ without holding faithfully to the core belief that Jesus was Whom He claimed to be … the ever existent God Himself. If one also goes to a verse like John 8: 58, we read Jesus clearly referring to Himself as the eternal “I AM,” which was the equivalent of the term God used to name Himself to Moses in Exodus 3: 14. And so, the unbelieving Jews, hearing Jesus proclaiming Himself to be God (in John 8: 58), immediately picked up stones to kill Jesus, whom they felt had committed unpardonable blasphemy. But as we know, Jesus somehow hid himself from them because it wasn’t His time to die.

Actually, everyone is confronted with the ultimate question: “Is Jesus Who He claimed to be?” And if we declare ourselves to be “Christian,” we must believe that Jesus is One Who existed before Abraham existed (again as He claimed John 5: 58 – 59). Historically it’s easy to see that there was an historical Jesus of Nazareth, the adopted son of a carpenter, Who was born in Bethlehem and Who was crucified on that hill called Golgotha. But to be a born-again Christian, we have to buy into His claims of being One with His Father … and that He truly was - and is - God.

When the Apostle Paul was charging one of his young protégés, Titus (see Titus 1: 9), reviewing the characteristics of Christian leadership, Paul said that a leader in the church (and really he’s speaking to all Christians as well) must hold fast and stand faithful to the teachings we are describing herein – that Jesus Christ was – and is – the ever existent God, … the great “I AM.” We must be willing and able to stand for Christ’s deity, even in the face of the historical fact of this Man who died so ignominiously in humiliation on the cross. So, as we read in Col. 1: 15 – 17 of Christ’s deity (also in Hebrews 1: 3), will we be defenders of the truth of Christ’s deity?

Now we have to ask ourselves, “Do we live up to the declaration of Romans 1: 16, which says, ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ!’ ? “ I leave it to you to decide where you stand.

But, stay tuned … there’s more!

My Prayer Today: My dear Jesus, I stand with You as the Lord God! Amen

Getting Close To Christ - December 2008 - Day 2

December 2, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 6a [see highlight passage in bold] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: When our first granddaughter, Sydney, was just under two years of age, she was sitting on my lap as I read her favorite book, which was a children’s Bible where there were illustrated depictions of various Bible stories/characters. Sydney’s mom, our daughter, and her dad had taken her through this book many times; and she could name the names of all the Bible characters in the book. I was so proud of our first, and rather precocious, grandbaby at the time.

Well, on this occasion, Sydney was naming all the characters as we came to each story page; and when we got to the first depiction of Jesus, Syd named Him “God.” Thinking that rather curious, especially after she had named all the other characters by their given names – even “Zacchaeus” – I asked her if the “God” character she had named had another name, … to which she replied matter-of-factly, “Well, PawPaw, it’s Jesus!” And, with my chest pounding with pride, I told her she was exactly right!

I use this story to illustrate that even a two year old can understand what the Apostle Paul was teaching in today’s highlighted text … that Jesus was, by His nature, God (see Phil. 2: 6a above). The NASB renders this phrase, “[Christ Jesus], Who, although He existed in the form of God.” And in today’s Strength for Today entry, John MacArthur explains that an even stricter wording from the Greek might be “Jesus, in His inalterable being, was God.” And that reality was what little Sydney, my two year old granddaughter had grasped, … something I didn’t fully understand until I was 39 years old, when the equality of Christ as God became evident to me.

Some of us are slower than others! ;)

This month, we are going to see more of Christ’s divine nature in my devotional entries which are led by John MacArthur’s study. However, as Christians we must first grasp and believe, as did little Sydney, that Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter’s apprentice, was and is God, fully expressing Himself and living in human form, being the full essence/character of God even as He walked this earth and most certainly as He lives now, having been resurrected to be rejoined with His Heavenly Father. And from that truth, all we see and learn about Jesus is God’s way of showing Himself to us in Christ’s humanity.

Stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: May You be praised, Lord, for becoming like me, yet without sin. Amen

Getting Close to Christ - December - Day 1

A Year of Daily Devotionals: A Journal by Bill Berry … December, 2008

December 1, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Philippians 2: 6 - 8 [see highlight passage in bold] … 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

My Journal for Today: As we come into the Advent season, a time where cultural consumerism and/or political activism often attempt to cancel “CHRIST” from Christmas, Paul’s teaching from today’s passage from Philippians 2 is one of my favorite CHRISTmas scriptural passages. In fact, in the mind of this humble Christian, Phil. 2: 5 – 11 is the most powerful Christmas story told in the Bible, with today’s focus from John MacArthur in Strength for Today being on Phil. 2: 6 – 8.

In the Spirit of this season, we, as Christians, are admonished by Paul in Phil. 2: 5 to be like Christ in attitude; and Jesus’ brother James (in James 4: 6, 10) and the Apostle Peter (in 1st Pet. 5: 6) both indicated that our attitudes as Christians would require Christlike humility before God, which would lift us up as Christ was lifted up by His Father [see Phil. 2: 9 above]. And when it comes to our following behind Christ’s attitude of humility, there is no better place to see our Model of humility than in Phil. 2: 5 – 11.

May I assume that any reader following along in this devotional entry shares my desire to be uplifted by God in our relationship with Christ? If that is not your desire, you need read no further; because I’m writing this with an intense desire to let this study in the month of December enhance my attitude of humility, which, I believe, will help me to have God’s grace poured out in abundance into my life. If that is your desire as well, I charge you to read on and to follow these entries on a day-by-day basis in December.

This month John MacArthur, if you’re also using Strength for Today as a devotional book, is going to help me (us) take a closer look at our Savior so that I (we) can see Whom I (we) should model my life [our lives] in His image. And first, we focus on Christ’s incredible humility, personified in His incarnation, where we see Him setting aside His glory in the God-Head to become a bond servant to His Father’s will, even unto death on a cross.

And so we begin our focus on Jesus this month (a study in “Christology”), continually doing a self inventory, framed in the exhortation of Phil. 2: 5 … questioning our attitudes to see whether our minds run parallel with that of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. And right off the top, I come up short; because humility is one area where I already fall far short of THE MARK (Christ); and we’ll explore that shortcoming more in days to come.

Stay tuned!

My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to be humble, like You. Amen

Pursuing Godly Wisdom - November - Day 30

November 30, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Ephesians 5: 17 [highlight verse in bold] … 15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

My Journal for Today: Well, here we are on this last day of November, closing out our discussion of the pursuit of Godly wisdom; and for the final time in our series, we return to the Apostle Paul’s exhortation to walk carefully in this evil world (Eph. 5: 15 – 16); and we’ve seen that he made this charge to help believers walk in a way that is worthy of our calling in Christ (see Eph. 4: 1). But today we focus on Paul’s tag line in verse Eph. 5: 17, which he added after verses 15 – 16; and that is the exhortation to avoid foolishness by understanding the will of God for our lives.

That’s actually a pretty heavy challenge. If I’m to be a wise Christian in this evil world, Paul is saying that I have to know and understand God’s will for my life. Well, how do I do that? And in this pursuit of God’s will, John MacArthur give us six signpost areas, which are biblically supported to help us know God’s will for our lives.

From God’s word and prompted by John MacArthur's study, which is documented in today's entry from Strength for Today, we know that it is God’s will that any Christian must be …

-------------
>>> #1 … Be SAVED (1st Timothy 2: 3 – 4 and 2nd Peter 3: 9)
>>> #2 … Be SPIRIT FILLED (Ephesians 5: 17 – 18 – see above)
>>> #3 … Be SANCTIFIED (1st Thessalonians 4: 3 – 8)
>>> #4 … Be SUBMISSIVE (1st Peter 2: 13 – 15)
>>> #5 … Be SUFFERING FOR CHRIST (1st Peter 3: 17)
>>> #6 … Be SAYING THANKS (1st Thessalonians 5: 18)
----------------

According to MacArthur, if a Christian is all of these or recognizes his life in the context of these elements of the Christian experience, he is bound to be living a life which fulfills God’s will. He would also be in complete fulfillment of God’s command, through the Psalmist, to “… delight [ourselves] in the Lord,” (see Psalm 37: 4) which results in God’s wonderful promise to fulfill the heart of such a believer.

This biblical and God-promised formula goes like this … the quest to know God yields >>> the loving desire to be obedient to God’s will, the pursuit of which results >>> the inner drive to obey and serve God to the utmost, surrendered to God’s Spirit; and the fulfillment of which yields the abundant blessing of fruitfulness from God’s grace [i.e., the fruit if the Spirit – see Gal. 5: 22, 23]. If you’ve read my teaching or exhortations enough, you may remember me quoting the chain of Christian discipleship, which goes … to know God is to love Him >>> to love Him is to obey Him >>> to obey Him is to serve Him >>> to serve Him is be blessed by Him. And so, does not this make pursuing the mind of God (i.e., knowing God and His will) the foremost goal for all Christians? I believe it does.

That’s what I’ve gotten from this month’s quest for Godly wisdom … that I am driven, by God’s prevenient and enabling grace, to know my Savior, to dig deeply into the treasure mines of God’s word (see Job 28), to find His will for my life (again primarily from His word), and to live out God’s way (i.e, always following Christ as He commanded in Luke 9: 23) in such a way that I can shine His light into this darkened world, glorifying my Father in Heaven (see Matt. 5: 16, which I would certainly hope you have memorized by now).

Is knowing God and His will for your life your primary goal in life? Is your life directed in such a way as to move in the direction we’ve discussed this month? If not, perhaps it would be productive to ask yourself, “Why not?!” And then maybe you could move to respond to God’s challenge from Paul in Ephesians 3: 13, resulting in a quest to know and understand the mind of God no matter what the challenges of life present. If you do, God’s promise and power awaits you [see Acts 1: 8]; and you will become a more powerful witness for our Lord in this world. That is certainly my desire and plan. I hope you join me.

My Prayer Today: I want to know you more today, Lord … and then even more tomorrow! Amen

Pursuing Godly Wisdom - November - Day 29

November 29, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Ephesians 5: 16 [highlight verse in bold] … 15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

My Journal for Today: Yes, we return to Ephesians 5: 16 one more time! And I’ve learned that any time an accomplished and gifted teacher like John MacArthur repeats a biblical exposition like this, as he does in today’s Strength for Today devotional, one should take notice. And so, I hope you who read this and will join me in paying close attention to this entry.

According to MacArthur, the use of our time as Christians measures our willingness to live for self or for others. So, MacArthur returns to a focus on the Apostle Paul’s exhortation in today’s verse, indicating that believers should be “… making the most of our time (from the NASB translation).” If I were to paraphrase this portion of today’s verse, it would be, “making Christlike choices as we live our lives.” Such choices, in my humble estimation, reflect the degree to which we are living as wise Christians in answer to the question James asked on DAY ONE this month (from James 3: 13), “Who is wise and understanding among you (Christians)?”

Jesus, when he was teaching about how we invest the providence of our financial gain, said, “For where your treasure [or your time] is, there your heart will be also [Matt. 6: 21] .” The addition is mine; but Christ wants us to be willing to give our all for Him, not just our treasures, but also our time. However, through His grace, He only demands the first portion of our God-given providence (see Prov. 3: 9 – 10, Matt. 6: 33, and 2nd Cor. 9: 6 – 7). And our investment of time falls under these edicts of truth as well as would our treasure or our talents.

So, what are we doing with our time? When we have planning choices to make involving our time, do we think of God first? This morning when our feet hit the floor, did we choose to invest the first portion of our day with God; or did we invest that time thinking of selfish concerns or other worldly, frivolous matters?

Let’s reflect for a moment. Allow me to ask you these questions concerning the time investment choices in our lives …

--------------------------
>>> What did we do yesterday for our Lord or His Kingdom?
>>> What do I plan to do on this very day which will definitely glorify my Father in Heaven?
>>> What goals and plans do I have for tomorrow and beyond that reflect my love of God?
--------------------------

And a few more questions … How do the answers to those questions above help me measure my Godly wisdom? Am I wise enough to realize that I’m spending my time to get to know the mind of God and His will for my life? Am I accounting for my time in a way that reflects my understanding of God’s word and His plan for my life? How am I using my time to understand and internalize God’s word? Am I spending my time using the spiritual gift or gifts God has given me to reap eternal rewards in Heaven from the investment of the time God has given me in this life? As it directs in Matt. 6: 33, am I really seeking to invest my time FIRST for God and His righteous, or do I consider my own fleshly choices first as I plan my life?

These are hard questions which demand straight AND honest answers; because the answers will lead us to do what the Apostle Paul has exhorted in Ephesians 5: 16 … to make the most of every opportunity to serve our God.

My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord … convict me … direct me … to live for You! Amen

Pursuing Godly Wisdom - November - Day 28

November 28, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Revelations 2: 4 – 5 … 4 Yet I hold this against you [i.e., the Church @ Ephesus]: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

My Journal for Today: Why don’t we (the Church in the USA) see it? The last few days we have read [in Ephesians 5: 15 – 16] how the Apostle Paul tried to wake up the Church in Ephesus about the evil influences of the world; and God, through John’s Revelation in today’s passage, warned the Ephesian Church to return to their first love, they having waned in their love of Christ [see also John’s warning in 1st John 2: 15 – 16]. But history tells us that the church at Ephesus did not heed God’s warning; and God, the Holy Spirit, apparently removed the lamp stand which God had planted there in Ephesus, … the church about which Paul instructed Timothy (in 1st and 2nd Timothy) as to leadership. Sadly there has not been a viable Christian church in Ephesus for some centuries now; and we in the U.S. should learn from those warnings and wake up to sense the urgency of what is happening in our midst today.

I totally agree with John MacArthur in his devotional for this date (from Strength for Today) that it may take a nationwide or worldwide persecution of Christ’s Church for the spark of revival to be lit for what appears (at least to this observer) to be a church who is slowly succumbing to the evils of the world. Actually we see these revival fires burning in China and in Africa today where Christianity is outlawed or under great oppression and where the first love of the church in these areas – i.e., their love of Christ – burns ever so brightly and is growing in intensity.

We need to take heed of Paul’s warning to Timothy and again to the Ephesians (see 2nd Tim. 3: 13 - 14) where he wrote, “… while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of.” That church (i.e., at Ephesus) did not ultimately heed Paul’s warning through Timothy; and God lifted their lamp stand, their church dwindling into oblivion.

Therefore, if it takes evil growing in our midst to awaken us to God’s prescription for revival in 2nd Chronicles 7: 14, … well, bring it on; but … Lord have mercy on us!

My Prayer Today: Whatever it takes, Lord; wake up Your Church! Amen

My Thanksgiving List … 2008

Well, ... Let me tell you about my Thanksgiving Day project for this year. The other day on a Christian radio program, I heard a Christian teacher (I can't remember who) teaching about the quality of Christian gratitude; and he proposed an exercise to promote gratefulness. Here was the deal ...

Take a sheet of paper (or on your computer) and create two columns. Lable the first column: What I'm Thankful For. The second label with: What Life Would Be Like Without That... . In the first column write down short summary statements [bullet points] about what you're thankful for in your life. Then, in the second column, briefly write down what your life would be like if that element you just wrote in column #1 was not a part of your life. It's sort of like an exercise taken from the movie "It's A Wonderful Life."

Well, this week I did that excercise; and it was powerfully revealing and gratifying for me. I did it on a Microsoft Word Table, which allowed me to edit, add, and change during the week as I prayed and was quiet with God each day this week. And God showed up - BIGTIME - in this project, showing me what a great life I have ... in spite of the economic downturn ... the horrible stuff going on in the world ... a number of health challenges ... and well, you get the picture.

So, I post this today to challenge any reader to get alone with God - real solitude, I mean - and ask Him to illuminate for you what you have in this life for which you are truly grateful. Then meditate on each of these elements of your life and picture what life would be like without that thing. You will be blown away with THANKSGIVING (or whenever you do this task).

And though I'll not share it here, anyone who'd like to see what I'm thankful for, just email me @ billb13@bellsouth.net and I'll send you my list.

And may God bless you dearly, even with the Romans 8: 28 challenges of life ... <'BB><

Pursuing Godly Wisdom - November - Day 27

November 27, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Ephesians 5: 16 [highlight verse in bold] … 15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

My Journal for Today: In his devotional entry from Strength for Today on this date, John MacArthur returns to Ephesians 5: 16; and I believe he does so for emphasis to warn Christians, as we search to live lives wrapped in Godly wisdom, about our need for vigilance in this evil, sin-ridden world in which we live. However, though this is our living reality, this world, so wrapped in darkness, presents an ever present opportunity for the Christian to shine brightly in contrast to the darkness (see Matt. 5: 16), … to live a life worthy of our calling in Christ (see Eph. 4: 1-2), … and to do good for fellow believers and for the lost (see Gal. 6: 9 – 10), especially as we aspire to live as Christ lived (see Luke 4: 18), reaching out to make disciples of those He saves from the grips of Satan and the world (see Matt. 28: 19 – 20).

Now, if that doesn’t give Christians a purpose in life, what more could?

Certainly God must grieve at what man has made of His wondrous creation with Satan’s powerful assistance. However, we followers of God, the Son, … the Christ, … have the awesome opportunity and responsibility to put a smile on God’s face as we live circumspectly in Christ by simply following Him (see Eph. 5: 15 in the NKJV) as He commanded us (see Luke 9: 23), and prayerfully leading others to Him with our witness and our walk (see Acts 1: 8).

You know, I really do hope that others read this and get as fired up as I am [especially on this day in 2008, which turns out to be Thanksgiving day] about what we can do for our God in the face of all the evil surrounding us. And we can! We’re not given the responsibility to be in control or to change it all. That’s God’s business. No, all we need to do is do what Christ modeled or commanded and live our lives worthy of Him, following in His footsteps. That's our business! And the irony is, when we do that, we do change the world – and we do so for His glory.

My Prayer Today: In Your Name, Lord, I go forth! Amen

Pursuing Godly Wisdom - November - Day 26

November 26, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Ephesians 5: 15 - 16 [highlight verse in bold] … 15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

My Journal for Today: I don’t know about any of you who might be reading this, but this exhortation from the Apostle Paul to believers, being inspired by God, the Holy Spirit, is deeply convicting to me. As I’ve said this past month as we’ve dealt with the pursuit of Godly wisdom, I have to ask myself often if I’m “making the most of every opportunity” to live, as Eph. 4: 1 says, “… a life worthy of [my] calling …” as a Christian.

In the Book of Psalms, Moses is quoted as writing (in PS. 90: 12), “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” And therein lies the emphasis I believe the Apostle Paul was trying to capture in today’s verse. The phrase “to number” [in red above] is the Hebrew term, “manah,” which literally means "to account for.” And so Moses was saying that believers must make an accounting to God for the days God gives us to live for Him.

In our passage for today, the phrase “making the most of every opportunity” in the NIV is translated “making the most of your time” in the NASB. That term “time” in the Greek is the term “kairos,” not the normal term for time, which would be “chronos.” * The latter is the term for sequential time as we’d measure it with a clock. “Kairos,” however, means a certain period of time or “an era,” … for example, the time we are given on this earth. So, the Apostle Paul is saying that the time given to us by God needs to be maximized for God’s glory; and we must do this in the context of the evil days in which we live. Therefore, according to God’s word, from what we’ve studied here, Christians are charged to prudently pursue the wisdom, will, and ways of God, even as we’re bombarded by evil all around us, so that we can “carpe diem,” i.e., seize the day, for God’s glory.

How are we doing?

I ask myself from today’s time with God here this very morning, “How am I going to live this very day to know God more and to shine His light in this very evil world in which we live?” It’s a daunting task; but for the Lord Who saved me, it is a task which I must pursue with all I can muster. Besides, as 1st Cor. 10: 13 assures me, God will not allow me to be involved with anything which I cannot handle with Him faithfully by my side (also Heb. 13: 5 or Deut. 31: 6).

My Prayer Today: Lord, may my time today and all my tomorrows by for You. Amen

* Note: I hope the reader does not assume that I have first hand knowledge of Hebrew and/or Greek from my references to word studies from these languages in my devotionals. Hardly! However, often I find it helpful to use a Hebrew/Greek dictionary or reference to study the meanings of certain words or phrases. As the study in this devotional entry, it can give a closer look at the meanings intended by God from His word. And that study is well worth the investment of my time (or “chronos”). ;)

Pursuing Godly Wisdom - November - Day 25

November 25, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: Ephesians 5: 15 - 16 [highlight verse in bold] … 15 Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

My Journal for Today: Returning to Ephesians 5: 15 – 16 this morning, this month my devotional time with God, with John MacArthur as my biblical shepherd in Strength for Today, has focused on finding the mind of God (i.e., searching for Godly wisdom) and then applying that wisdom to my life in these perilous times in which we live as Christians. In Acts 20: 24, Paul is attributed by Luke to have written to Christians, “I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.” Note that Paul saw himself and other Christians to have a finite, God-led, course in life, and in the time he was given, Paul felt that his Christian witness to Christ’s gospel was of utmost importance. And that is why Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 5 becomes so critical.

We live in a most challenging era of history; but 1st Century Christians felt that way as well. In all eras of time, human lives in this fallen world have been tinged by evil and social upheaval. So, in these perilous times in which God has allowed us to live, we must do all we can to find God’s will and make the most of our time, giving witness to the next life with Christ. And as we’ve come to understand this month, one of the keys to living a productive and fruitful Christian life is to know God’s will and way through His word.

If we are to follow Christ’s command [in Matt. 5: 16] and shine His light in the world for all to see our Father in Heaven, we must be able to say, at the end of our allotted time on this earth, that we have crowns of righteousness waiting for us in Heaven. So I have to ask myself, “Can I say the following, as Paul did to Timothy?” [see 2nd Tim. 4: 7 – 8] “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

And I have found that it is WISE for me to do a periodic inventory of my values; and then to analyze seriously how I’m using my time to fulfill what God has for my life which will shine His light and glorify God. Are we all walking the worthy walk for Christ (see Eph. 4: 1 – 3)?

That is our challenge … today and always.

My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to be all I can be for You. Amen

Pursuing Godly Wisdom - November - Day 24

November 24, 2008 …

Passage of the Day: 1st Timothy 4: 8 [highlight verse in bold] … 7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

My Journal for Today: Still focusing on how we can pursue Godly wisdom, applying an abiding understanding to God’s word, we come upon Paul’s very practical instruction to Timothy – and thereby to all believers – about the dangers involved in doing “good” at the expense of doing God’s “best.” It is one of Satan’s cleverest ploys to get non-believers so wrapped up in physical, social, and/or spiritual disciplines that are not bad, but they take that person’s focus completely away from the One, True God and His will for our lives. And similarly, many Christians fall prey to this ploy as well by investing untold hours in “good” things/activities, ignoring the Spirit-led disciplines of the faith which could bring them God’s “best” things in life.

That’s where Paul was going in his exhortation to Timothy, the younger man who was becoming the Pastor of the Church at Ephesus. Think about it. How many Christians have we seen get wrapped up in rigorous physical exercise programs and/or hobbies, not finding the time to participate with equal commitment in disciplines such as fasting, prayer, solitude, silence, and/or Bible memory or study? How many Christian deer hunters are willing to get up at 4:00am every morning of deer season to go hunting; but they are unwilling to get up at 6:00am every morning for a devotional time which could deepen their relationship with Christ? Deer hunting is not a bad thing (unless you’re a Bambi lover); but saying that “I just don’t have time for a quiet time in the morning” is a bad thing when we choose a discipline of deer hunting over a driving hunt for the mind of God.

The Apostle Paul’s instruction for Timothy should hit us all where we live. Are these God-inspired words leading us into a discipline that could help shape us for HIS purpose where He could bless us with more of HIS power to accomplish HIS plan? Could I give up one half of my morning jog to have more time in the morning with God in Bible study and/or prayer? Could I spend one half of my daily lunch time at work praying for a list of intercessory prayer partners? Could I prioritize more time to a ministry/mission project which uses my spiritual gifts more for God’s glory than the worldly projects which occupy a lot of my daily calendar?

What we choose to do is a reflection of our values [see Matt. 6: 21]. And I have to continually keep asking myself to re-evaluate my “to do” list based upon my biblically founded Christian values. Are the “main things” in my life the MAIN THINGS in God’s plan for my life? And I always seem to come back to questions evolving out of Luke 9: 23 …

--------------
>>> Am I denying my own fleshly desires and serving within God’s plan for my life [see also Matt. 6: 33]?
>>> Am I carrying the crosses that Christ would lay at my feet rather than stepping around them to carry out tasks which I, personally, find important [see also Prov. 3: 5 – 6]?
>>> Am I really following the path that God has lain out for my life; or am I choosing the expedient, self-indulgent path which is wider and more traveled by others [again Prov. 3: 5 – 6]?
-------------

When I respond honestly to what Paul was instructing Timothy in today’s verse, often I have to redo my event planning list to come into line with God’s plans rather than my own. And when I do that, I find that my Christian witness becomes more powerful and my life more meaningful – just as Paul desired for Timothy [see and memorize Acts 1: 8].

My Prayer Today: Build me, Lord, into a powerful witness to Your Name. Amen