Are You Glad You Are Not God?

 

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! (Psalm 96:7)

Here’s at least part of the experience that the psalmist is referring to when he says, “Ascribe [= give] to the Lord strength.” What are we doing when we “Ascribe to the Lord strength”?

First, by God’s grace, we give attention to God and see that he is strong. We give heed to his strength. Then we give our approval to the greatness of his strength. We give due regard to its worth.

We find his strength to be wonderful. But what makes this wonder that we experience a “giving” kind of wonder — “Give to the Lord strength!” — is that we are especially glad that the greatness of the strength is his and not ours.

We feel a profound fitness in the fact that he is infinitely strong, and we are not. We love the fact that this is so. We do not envy God for his strength. We are not covetous of his power. We are full of joy that all strength is his.

Everything in us rejoices to go out of ourselves and behold this power — as if we had arrived at the celebration of the victory of a distance runner who had beaten us in the race, and we found our greatest joy in admiring his strength, rather than resenting our loss.

We find the deepest meaning in life when our hearts freely go out of ourselves to admire God’s power, rather than turning inward to boast in our own — or even think about our own. We discover something overwhelming: It is profoundly satisfying not to be God, but to give up all thoughts or desires to be God.

In our giving heed to God’s power there rises up in us a realization that God created the universe for this: so that we could have the supremely satisfying experience of not being God, but admiring the Godness of God — the strength of God. There settles over us a peaceful realization that admiration of the infinite is the final, all-satisfying end of all things.

We tremble at the slightest temptation to claim any power as coming from us. God has made us weak to protect us from this: “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Oh, what love this is, that God would protect us from replacing the everlasting heights of admiring his power with the futile attempt to boast in our own! It is a great gladness not to be, but rather to see, God!

THE SIN OF IDOLATRY!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 08, 2023.

SUBJECT : THE SIN OF IDOLATRY!

Memory verse: "Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (Mark 10 vs 23.)

READ: Job 31 vs 24 - 28:

31:24: If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, You are my confidence;

31:25: If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;

31:26: If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

31:27: And my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed my hand:

31:28: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

INTIMATION:

Idolatry is excessive admiration or adoration of someone or something. It’s someone or something which is highly revered, and becomes a deity other than God. Such deity or thing is known as an idol. Therefore, an idol is primarily an idea, fancy, or an image that represents a false God. It’s anything that substitutes for the true faith, anything that denies Christ’s full deity and humanity, and any loyalty that replaces God at the center of your life. It is also any human idea that claims to be more authoritative than the Bible.

The corresponding Hebrew word or idol denotes vanity (things of nought). The apostle Paul called it, “nothing in the world” (First Corinthians 8 vs 4). And an idolater is one who adores or idolizes someone or something, and is a slave to the depraved ideas his idols represent.

Idolatry is sin against God because it denies the supremacy of God and is a direct violation of the first and second of the “Ten Commandments” of God (Exodus 20 vs 2 - 3). It’s a sin of the mind against God that denotes lack of acknowledgement of God and of gratitude to Him. Many things can take God’s place in our lives. And such things become idols in our lives.

Idolatry begins when people reject what they know about God. Instead of looking to Him as the Creator and Sustainer of life, they see themselves as the center of the universe. They soon invent “gods” that are convenient projections of their own selfish ideas. These gods may be wooden figures, or they may also be goals or things we pursue, such as money, power, or possessions. They may even be misrepresentations of God Himself—making God in our own image, instead of the reverse. The common denominator here is that idolaters worship things God made rather than God Himself. 

When God is not first in your life, you are an idolater. Something then must be first in your life. Now, check yourself; Is there anything you feel you can’t live without? Is there any priority greater than God? Do you have a dream you would sacrifice everything to realize? After haven checked yourself, do you worship God or idols of your own making? 

Idolatry is making anything more important than God, and our lives are full of that temptation. Money, looks, success, reputation, security—these are today’s idols. Many “gods” entice us to turn away from God. Material possessions, dreams for the future, approval of others, emotional reactions, and vocational goals compete for our total commitment. Striving after these at the expense of our commitment to God puts our heart on created idols which is the sin of idolatry. They put away worshiping the Creator in order to worship his creation. 

We are just as guilty when God no longer holds first place in our lives. When we think more about wealth, pleasure, prestige, or material possessions than about God, we are actually worshiping them as gods.  Discipline awaits all those who continually put earthly desires above spiritual priorities.

It was for this reason that Jesus said it was very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God because the rich, having their basic physical needs met, often become self-reliant. When they feel empty, they buy something new to try to fill the void that only God can fill. Their abundance and self-sufficiency become their deficiency. The person who has everything on earth is not a sign of faith or partiality on God’s part, but rather a strong temptation to idolatry.

Job affirmed that depending on wealth for happiness is idolatry and denies the God of heaven. We excuse our society’s obsession with money and possessions as a necessary evil or”the way it works” in the modern world. But every society in every age has valued the power and prestige that money brings. 

True believers must purge themselves of the deep-seated desire for more power, prestige, and possessions. They must also not withhold their resources from neighbors near and far who have different physical needs.

To all believers the apostle Paul says, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry:” (Colossians 3 vs 5.) “For this you know, that no fornicator, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Ephesians 5 vs 5.) The obsession of these aforementioned evil tendencies the apostle Paul says is idolatry.

Prayer: Abba Father, remove from me obsessions with created things, and evil tendencies, and empower me by Your Spirit to live for You, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Eleventh-hour Breakthroughs

 

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” (Luke 23:42)

One of the greatest hope-killers is that you have tried for so long to change, and have not succeeded.

You look back and think: What’s the use? Even if I could experience a breakthrough, there would be so little time left to live in my new way that it wouldn’t make much difference compared to so many years of failure.

The former robber (the thief on the cross next to Jesus) lived for another hour or so after his conversion. Then he died. He was changed. He lived on the cross as a new man with new attitudes and actions (no more reviling). But 99.99% of his life was wasted. Did the last couple hours of newness matter?

They mattered infinitely. This former robber, like all of us, will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of his life. “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10). How will his life testify in that day to his new birth and his union with Christ? How will his life confirm his newness in Christ?

The last hours will tell the story. This man was new. His faith was real. He is truly united to Christ. Christ’s righteousness is his. His sins are forgiven.

That’s what the final hours will proclaim at the last judgment. He is changed! And his change mattered. It was, and it will be, a beautiful testimony to the power of God’s grace and the reality of his faith and his union with Christ.

Now back to our struggle with change. I am not saying that struggling believers are unsaved like the robber was. I am simply saying that the last years and the last hours of life matter.

If in the last 1% of our lives, we can get a victory over some long-standing sinful habit or hurtful defect in our personality, it will be a beautiful testimony now to the power of grace; and it will be an added witness (not the only one) at the last judgment to our faith in Christ and our union with him.

Take heart, struggler. Keep asking, seeking, knocking. Keep looking to Christ. If God gets glory by saving robbers in the eleventh hour, he surely has his purposes why he has waited till now to give you the breakthrough you have sought for years.

GOD WELCOMES SINNERS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 07, 2023.

SUBJECT : GOD WELCOMES SINNERS!

Memory verse: "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1 vs 18).

READ: Matthew 9 vs 10 - 13:

9:10: And it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples.

9:11: And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

9:12: When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well  have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.

9:13: But go and learn what that means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

 INTIMATION:

Never let guilt feelings of sin keep you from praying (seeking the face of God), which is your only means of restoration, because only God forgives sin. Do you feel that you could never come close to God because you have done something terrible? God can and will forgive you of any sin, except the sin against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12 vs 31 - 32).

Jesus said He came for the sinners; to call them to repentance. If there were no sinners He wouldn’t have come. But because sinners abound on earth He came. The Scripture says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3 vs 23). Jesus welcomes those He came for. Therefore, you are welcomed at anytime you visit with Him, and He is ever ready to offer His free gift of salvation—of redemption, of righteousness, and of sanctification—to you.

No matter how long you have been away from God, He is ready to hear from you and restore you to a right relationship with Him. Every situation can be salvaged if you are willing to turn to God. In Judges 16 vs 28 - 30,  we would observe that in spite of Samson's past, God still answered his prayer and destroyed the philistines' heathen temple and worshipers. He killed more people at his death than he did in life because of the mercy of God when he turned to Him in prayer.

One of the effects of sin in our lives is keeping us away from fellowshipping with God in  prayer, but it is noteworthy that perfect moral behavior is not a condition for prayer. Though the stain of sin seems permanent, but only God can remove such stain of sin from our lives. We don't have to go through life permanently soiled. God's Word assures that if we are willing and obedient in turning to Him, Christ will forgive and remove our most indelible stains of sin.

Christ came for sinners like you and I, and He expects us, the sinners, to come to Him for mercy. We can only go to God in prayer, acknowledging our need and admitting that we don't have all the answers, and God will come to our help. He desires to show mercy and His mercy endures forever. 

Only God clears the guilty, and it is for this reason Christ came. The unforgivable sin is the deliberate refusal to take advantage of His invitation to come to Him, acknowledge Him, and His power in Christ, expressed through the Holy Spirit. It indicates a deliberate and irreversible hardness of heart. It reveals a heart attitude of unbelief and unrepentance, that attributes to Satan the work that the Holy Spirit accomplishes. Such people have turned their backs on God and rejected all faith, and are unwilling to ask for forgiveness. Even when they receive the prompting of the Holy Spirit, convicting them of sin, they reject it. And the deliberate rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit is blasphemy, because it is rejecting God Himself. Such person removes himself or herself from the only force that can lead him or her to repentance and restoration to God.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are the only God that forgives and blots out sin. You are so merciful and loving that you are ever ready and willing to welcome me into Your presence, and cleans me from my sins. Give me the grace for complete dedication of my life to You in all things, in Jesus name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Reviled Here, Rewarded There

 

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. (Psalm 1:3)

How does the promise in Psalm 1:3 point to Christ?

It says, “In all that he does, he prospers.” The righteous prosper in everything they do. Is this naïve or profoundly true?

In this life, it certainly seems that the wicked prosper. “Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!” (Psalm 37:7). “Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape” (Malachi 3:15).

And in this life the righteous often suffer and their goodness is rewarded with abuse. “If we had forgotten the name of our God . . . would not God discover this? . . . Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered” (Psalm 44:20–22). The psalmists themselves knew this. We are not protesting something they didn’t already know.

Therefore, when the psalmist says, “In all that he does, he prospers,” he is not naïve. He is pointing through the ambiguities of this life to life after death, where the true effectiveness — the true prosperity — of all that we have done will appear.

This is the way Paul thought.

First, he celebrates the victory of Christ over death. “‘O death, where is your victory?’ . . . Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55, 57).

Then, he draws out the implication that, because of this triumph, every work that believers have ever done will prosper. “Therefore, my beloved brothers . . . in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). When something is not in vain, it prospers.

Because Jesus died in our place, he guaranteed that every good deed prospers — sooner or later. “Whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord” (Ephesians 6:8). “Blessed are you when others revile you. . . . Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:11–12). Reviled here. Rewarded there.

What seems naïve in the Old Testament (“in all that he does, he prospers”) points profoundly to the work of Christ and the reality of resurrection. As the words of that great hymn by Katharina von Schlegel, “Be Still My Soul,” says, “Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay / From his own fullness all He takes away.”

BE SLOW TO ANGER!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY FEBRUARY 06, 2023.

SUBJECT : BE SLOW TO ANGER!

Memory verse: "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city." (Proverbs 16 vs 32.)

READ: Matthew 5 vs 21 - 24:

5:21: You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment:

5:22: But I say to you, that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council:. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.

5:23: Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,

5:24: leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

 INTIMATION:

Anger is a strong emotion; a feeling that is oriented toward some real or supposed grievance. It’s a belligerence aroused by a real or supposed wrong (personified as one of the deadly sins). Anger is a powerful emotion. Often it may drive people to hurt others with words or physical violence. It is a dangerous emotion that always threatens to leap out of control, leading to violence, emotional hurt, increased mental stress, and spiritual damage. Anger can be like a fire out of control. It can burn everything and you in its path. Anger divides people. It pushes them into hasty decisions that only cause bitterness and guilt. 

Yet anger, in itself, is not wrong, especially when directed at sin and the mistreatment of others. It can be a legitimate reaction to injustice and sin. When you feel yourself getting angry, look for the cause. Are you reacting to an evil situation that you are going to set right? Or are you responding selfishly to a personal insult? Pray that God will help you control your anger, and channel legitimate anger into effective action for needed changes, and to conquer selfish anger through humility and repentance.

The Bible doesn’t tell us that we shouldn’t feel angry, but it points out that it is important to handle our anger properly. If vented thoughtlessly, anger can hurt others and destroy relationships. If bottled up inside, it can cause us to become bitter and destroy you from within. The Bible says we should deal with our anger immediately in a way that builds relationships rather than destroys them. If we nurse our anger, we will give the devil an opportunity to divide us. 

For instance, in First Samuel 11 vs 1 - 11, the Ammonites planned to humiliate the Israelites (the men of Jabesh) when they asked for a covenant with them to serve them. They accepted a covenant with the Israelites on the condition of putting out all the right eyes of the Israelites in order to bring reproach on all Israel. Saul was enraged and greatly angered by such demand from the Ammonites. His anger culminated in his organizing the Israelites for a war against the Ammonites and he conquered them. The Holy Spirit used Saul’s anger to bring justice and freedom. When injustice or sin makes you angry, ask God how you can channel that anger in constructive ways to help bring about a positive change.

The Scripture says, “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression.” (Proverbs 19 vs 11.) It’s glorious to control your emotions of anger. Self-control is superior to conquest. Success in business, school, or home life can be ruined by one who has lost control of his or her temper. So it is a great personal victory to control your temper. When you feel yourself ready to explode, remember that losing control may cause you to forfeit what you want the most.

Again, The apostle James says, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of a man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1 vs 19 - 20.) His counsel is on anger that erupts when our ego is bruised. In such situations we hear such things as, “I am hurt;” “My opinions are not being heard.” However, when injustice and sin occur, we should become angry because others are being hurt. But we should not become angry when we fail to win an argument or when we feel offended or neglected. 

In the passage we read today, Jesus gave the similitude in the terrible sin of killing and anger. Both violate God’s command to love. Anger in this case refers to a seething, brooding bitterness against someone. Anger keeps you from developing a spirit pleasing to God. Have you ever been proud that you didn’t strike out and say what was really on your mind? Self-control is good, but Christ wants us to practice thought-control as well. Jesus said that we will be held accountable even for our attitudes.

It’s noteworthy that when you lose something of great value, or if others conspire against you and succeed, anger is the first and most natural reaction. But you can control your feelings by (1) recognizing your reaction for what it is, (2) praying for strength, and (3) asking God for help to see the opportunities that even your bad situation may provide. Jealous anger blinds us from seeing the benefits we have and makes us dwell on what we don’t have. 

Selfish anger never helps anybody. The Scripture says, “Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.” (Ecclesiastes 7 vs 9.) Are you angry with someone right now? What can you do to resolve your differences? Don’t let the day end before you begin to work on mending your relationship. 

Prayer: Abba Father, engrace me with unction to function in the fruit of the Spirit at all times; being loving, joyful, peaceful, longsuffering, gentle, good, faithful, meek, and having self-control, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

The Main Purpose of Ministry

 

We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Hebrews 10:39)

Don’t look at the temporary cost of love, and shrink back from confidence in God’s infinitely superior promises. If you shrink back, not only will you lose out on the promises; you will be destroyed.

Hell is at stake in whether we shrink back or persevere. It’s not just the loss of a few extra rewards that hangs in the balance. Hebrews 10:39 says, “We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed.” That is eternal judgment.

So, we warn each other: Don’t drift away. Don’t love the world. Don’t start thinking nothing huge is at stake. Fear the terrible prospect of not cherishing the promises of God above the promises of sin. As Hebrews 3:13–14 says, “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

But mainly we must focus on the preciousness of the promises and help each other value above all things how great the reward is that Christ has purchased for us. We must say to each other what Hebrews 10:35 says: “Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.” And then we must help each other see the greatness of the reward.

That is the main task of preaching, and the main purpose of small groups and all the ministries of the church: helping people see the greatness of what Christ has purchased for everyone who will value it above the world. Helping people see it and savor it, so that God’s superior worth shines in their satisfaction and in the sacrifices that come from such a heart.