Obedience and blessings

Then King David rose to his feet and said: “Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building. But God said to me, ‘You may not build a house for my name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’ Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my father’s house to be king over Israel forever. For he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father’s house, and among my father’s sons he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me, ‘It is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules, as he is today.’ Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever. (1 Chronicles 28:2–8)

David was the king and yet forbidden to built the house of the Lord. As king, this seemed out of line. Yet even though it was on his heart, God said NO and David was okay with that. He accepted his lot in life and obeyed God. His response to this is remarkable.

Not only that, he turned it into sound advice for others, telling them to obey God because that is key to the good life for ourselves and our children. Most humans try to make that good life happen by our own efforts, but…

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Running my life my way will lead to misery because my own way is sin. Why is it so easy to believe Satan when he whispers “God does not want the best for you” and forget that He died for me that I might have an abundant life and the ability to live His way?

This week I told my pastor that God gave me an easily distracted mind for a reason, not that I would be distracted from the truth but that I would need to constantly read it from His word because that is the only way I can remember it. I accept my weakness because He uses it for good.

Jesus, I am thankful for my mother’s mantra, “We must need it or we wouldn’t be getting it.” It is a biblical attitude that put the idea in my heart to accept whatever You and life throw at me, and to look for Your good reasons for letting things happen. You DO want the best for me, even when it comes as an unpleasant trial to prompt a heart search. Thank You, thank You.

 

 

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

For years I have felt guilty about those NT commands to show hospitality. Today I discovered this is a false guilt for I had the wrong idea of what that word meant. To me, it was inviting people into my home for meals and even to stay overnight, etc. The people who were identified as gifted in hospitality always did this and for me, it seemed very difficult. So today I delved into the Greek and discovered this: 

The word hospitality comes from philoxenia, meaning "love of strangers," and involves welcoming all people without prejudice. While meals and a bed could be a way of showing it, this is more about an attitude that reflects the love of God toward people. But it is not just a feeling. In the NT, it includes practical acts of service such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and helping those in need. 

Not only that, this word is not a special gift for a few (good cooks with nice table settings?) but an obligation for all Christians that is done without expecting any payback. Instead it may involve personal cost of money, effort, time and talent. It is not mere entertainment or merely sharing a meal, but sharing the life of Christ with others, including the gospel. It is unconditional love, like God’s love, and again, it is often about strangers with needs like hunger, homelessness, illness, or being in prison. 

This is not just about being an extrovert either, such as those who draw strength and feel good about being with people and doing things for them. Hospitality is a selfless obedience, not done to make the doer feel good, but to show God's love in sacrificial ways. I am more of an introvert. So how does hospitality jibe with being an introvert, which often adds to my feeling of falling short? 

I researched that also and now understand how poor word definitions can produce false guilt. This is what I found out about introversion: It is about people who primarily draw energy from solitude and inner thoughts, and who feel drained after social interaction with large groups. It is not necessarily being shy or not liking people, but needing alone time to "recharge" after social events, which make me feel exhausted even though I enjoy them. I do like one-on-one interactions or small groups better than large crowds though. Yet even in small groups, many times I’d rather listen than talk. However, I am able to speak up when the Holy Spirit prompts me. I have very little fear of social judgment. but would often rather stay home than go to many events. 

All of this makes me think of this:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:1–6)

PRAY: God, You created me as You desired that I would do what You want from me. Thank You for these thoughts today. While focusing on what You do is vital, so is self-awareness — as You see it. I get skewed by my own ignorance. However, truth revealed by You always sets me free and better equipped to live for Your glory.

Confess, be filled, accept His will

When my husband was saved, we had a discussion with one of the elders in the large church we attended. He had a cup in front of him and used it to illustrate the Christian life. He held the cup upright and said that when we confessed our sin for salvation and for each sin after being saved, God would fill us with the Holy Spirit. The cup remained upright.

Then he said that each time we disobeyed God, the cup tipped over — or in other words, we were filled with ourselves and the Holy Spirit was no longer in control. He said that we needed to deal with that sin so we could be upright and again filled with God’s Spirit.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

A new Christian discovers the joyous wonder of what it means to be forgiven and clean. We realize the power of the Lord Jesus and become amazed at His ability to give us victory. We are  delighted that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)

However, the illustration with the cup didn’t end there. The elder tipped it then set it upright several times, and said, “You have to realize that this is the Christian life and how God works to deal with the sin that He has saved you from.”

Today’s devotional writer points out that Christians tend to feel that a life of inward rest and outward victory is their inalienable birthright. We remember that initial joy that made us certain of victory but it isn’t long before our experience becomes one of few and fleeting victories and our defeats are many and disastrous.

I remember when my early visions of triumph grew dim and I began to match that overturned cup. My faith seemed to be an never-ending cycle of failure and victory, one hour sinning and the next repenting. I soon thought 1 John 1:9 had to be the most important verse in the Bible regarding Christian growth and victory over sin.

Then I started to think that this experience was more like being a soldier. Enlisting makes me one but in name only. Life would be the bootcamp where I learned to live like what I already was.

I had to learn this reality: Jesus came to save me now, in this life, from the power and dominion of sin and to make me more than a conqueror through His power. The Bible declares it in the purpose of His death and says it everywhere. Not one hint is given that this deliverance is limited and partial, nor that we have to be satisfied with continually being tipped over.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:1–8)

The solution is keeping short accounts, not accepting that tipped-over condition as the norm. I’m to set my mind on Him and consider the old me dead to sin and alive to God.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

PRAY: Lord, it is harder to set my mind on the truth of what You have done in me when my body is plagued with weakness and feels yucky. Help me keep short accounts and take care of myself without letting this recovery time fill me with fleshy self-pity. Of course I want the joy of the Holy Spirit but I will accept whatever You want for me.

What about the last straw?

Sometimes we hear Christians in great trouble say, “There is nothing left for me now but to trust the Lord.” Others might respond with, “Oh dear, has come to that?”

Likely every believer has had moments like that, as if God is much less able to deliver us from trials than His promises would lead us to expect. It might even seems as if trusting Him means totally giving in to whatever has us in despair and never experiencing a return to ‘normal’ or seeing a change for the better.

To be honest, having this case of bacterial pneumonia sometimes has me feeling I will never get better and that trusting the Lord means living with fatigue and a continual cough for the rest of my life. Even verses like this one seem to add to my concerns at times, rather than encourage me:

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us… (Ephesians 3:20)

I tend to think that instead of giving me a return to health, the “abundantly” of this verse means the ability to live with the problem. That means sleep much and not being able to spend much time with others. The Bible also reminds me:

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— (1 Corinthians 2:9)

However, that is not a promise that He will do what I want. It is a revelation that He is able to do what He wants for me without me being able to figure it out beforehand.

This should not bother me. I read fiction by Deborah Crombie, love being totally mystified, and feel great satisfaction when the end of the story comes and it makes complete sense. The trouble is, life is not like fiction and all trials do not end with “reader satisfaction” or happily ever after. I’ve a friend whose husband is dying of cancer, and another whose husband committed suicide. Certainly heaven will take away all pain, but right now, the only hope for inner peace is trusting the Lord — and for the two of them, that is one huge challenge.

It is for me too as I experience pain for them, a deep sorrow that makes my own situation seem small. Their struggles add to the helplessness of not being confident that God will ‘fix’ any of it. As already said this week, sometimes God doesn’t give us what we can handle, but helps us handle what we are given. Can I do that? Not without the Lord’s help.
 

PRAY: Jesus, again I think of what You said in the garden: “Not my will but thine be done” and while my situation is not even a tiny bit as horrid as what You faced, I understand the great challenge of yielding — no matter what. Grant me the ability to handle whatever You decide and do it with grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit — that You might be glorified.

Why me?

 

Last night our small group discussed an issue that boiled down to why does God save some and not others? One option is that He will save everyone, but that does not jibe with Scripture. Since that discussion, these verses came to mind. God is speaking to Israel:

Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. (Deuteronomy 9:5–6)

Salvation is not earned, not deserved. God selected the Israelites because He would use them, a stubborn people, to deal with the wicked. They were just as sinful as the nations around them in their resistance to God, but Abraham believed when God told him to move, and he moved. God promised to make a great nation of him and did it.

Today’s devotional is about God’s promise to glorify and reward every believer with an eternal heritage given to all who believe. It is part of the package, the gift that begins with God speaking faith into our hearts and at that same instant, changing us from stubborn and selfish sinners to His people. That is the beginning. Then, Paul says:

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

As the devotional says, we are not what we used to be and there is much to be done to make us all He wants us to be, yet God will finish the task, despite our doubts and struggles. Unlike Israel who could not keep the laws of God, we have a Savior who fulfilled them and now represents us as ‘in Him’ and therefore saved from the penalty of sin. He works throughout our lives to save us from sin’s power and guarantees that one day we will be completely rescued from its presence. God’s work within us is so certain and so powerful that Scripture guarantees its completion, and the final stroke of God’s brush happens when we will see Him face to face.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. (1 John 3:1–3)

On that day, my earthly cares will be gone, and I will stand before Him “blameless with great joy” (Jude 24). This is guaranteed by the work of Christ and the promises of God. I can get discouraged with my struggles (yesterday found me frustrated and angry because of technical problems with our computers) and yet I know that God is working to transform me into the image of His Son, even using these frustrations as teaching tools.

Looking ahead to what I will become helps me confess my negative attitudes and sinful actions. I can focus on “the joy set before me” rather than beat myself up for being so stubborn and immature.

All this tells me:

1.       Stop beating myself up over confessed sin. It is forgiven.

2.       Fight evil, resisting it in my own life and praying for others caught in its trap. Tell them the good news.

3.       Rejoice that I will be like Jesus when I see Him.

4.       God gives me all I need to do all that He wants me to do. No excuses. Get at it.

5.       Don’t let anything keep me from praising God and taking all issues and concerns to Him in prayer.

Lord Jesus, this is a prayer from Your Word and my prayer today: “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now I thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.” (1 Chronicles 29:11–13)

MORE: According to Revelation 7:9–17 and 22:1–5, what is God giving me to look forward to?