The Best Form of Slavery

 The Best Form of Slavery

He who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. (1 Corinthians 7:22, my translation)

I would have expected Paul to switch the places of “Lord,” which means Master, and “Christ,” which means Messiah. 

He correlates our liberation with Jesus being our Master (“a freedman of the Lord”). And he correlates our new slavery with Jesus being our Messiah (“a slave of Christ”). It seems strange because the Messiah came to liberate his people from their captors; and masters take control of their slaves’ lives. 

Why does he say it this way? Why correlate slavery (rather than liberation) with Messiah, and liberation (rather than slavery) with Master? 

Suggestion: The switch has two effects on our new liberty and two effects on our new slavery.

On the one hand, in calling us “the liberated of the Lord,” he secures and limits our new liberty:

His lordship is over all other lords; so our liberation is uncontested — absolutely secure.

But, free from all other lords, we are not free from him. Our freedom is mercifully limited. Jesus is our Master.

On the other hand, in calling us the “slaves of Christ,” he loosens and sweetens our slavery:

The Messiah lays claim on his own in order to bring them from the confines of captivity into the open spaces of peace. “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:7). 

And he makes them his own to give them the sweetest joy. “With honey from the rock I would satisfy you” (Psalm 81:16). And that Rock is Christ, the Messiah.

So, Christian, be glad in this: “He who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord” — the Master. “Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ” — the loosening, sweetening Messiah.”

PUT YOUR SPIRITUAL NEEDS FIRST!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 11, 2025.

SUBJECT: PUT YOUR SPIRITUAL NEEDS FIRST!

Memory verse: "One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD, all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple." (Psalm 27 vs 4.)

READ: Luke 10 vs 38 - 42: 

10:38: Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.

10:39: And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 

10:40: But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

10:41: And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.

10:42: But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

INTIMATION:

We should have our priorities right, knowing that the spiritual, which controls the physical, should take precedence in all we do. It is good to care for our physical needs. However, the spiritual needs of man are always more important. One must not use the service of physical needs as an excuse to neglect the spiritual food that is more important. It is for this reason that Jesus advised us thus, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6 vs 33.) Our priorities should be determined by what is most important at the time.

To seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness means to put God first in your life, making Jesus the Lord and King of your life. He must control every area —your work, play, plans, relationships etc. You must fill your thoughts with His desires, to take His character for your pattern, and to serve and obey Him in everything. Emphasis here is that our desire should be that the will of the Father be done on earth in our hearts, as it is in heaven. God’s righteousness comes through one’s submission to His Will. Seeking the kingdom of God, therefore, must always be first. God will take care of those who seek Him first. 

People, objects, goals, and other desires all compete for priority. Any of these can quickly become most important to you, if you don’t actively choose to give God first in every area of your life. Our greatest desire should be to live in the presence of the Lord each day of our lives. Sadly, this is not the greatest desire of many who claim to be believers. Many substitute commitment and obedience to God with busywork in form of Christian services, especially in the church, which, to a large extent, is self-serving—wanting to be seen as workers in His vineyard while their hearts are far away from Him.

Consider Mary and Martha in the passage we read today, on this occasion they were both serving Jesus in their house, the One they both loved. But Martha was very busy with the household chores while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to His teaching. Martha didn't realize that in her desire to serve, she was actually neglecting her guest. As at the time Jesus was present in the house, Martha’s priorities were wrong. She was busy doing a needed and good work. However, the situation demanded a change in her priorities because the end of Jesus’ ministry was drawing near. It was a time to listen to Jesus for the last time.. 

Though Martha’s works were good but were not to her best interest. She got so busy that she found it hard to relax and enjoy her guests. Her service to Jesus degenerated into mere busywork that was no longer full of devotion to Him. The personal attention she gave her guests should be more important than the comforts she tried to provide for them. She was overwhelmed by her wrong priority of placing physical needs above spiritual needs. 

Our work for the necessities of life takes second place to that which is above this world. When material things are in their right priority, they become spiritual in the sense that we consider such to be blessings from God. When material blessings are used for the work of God, then they are a blessing to many. The rich man who continually focuses his material blessings toward the propagation of the gospel is a blessing to the kingdom of God. 

What is really important to you? Is the kingdom only one of your many concerns, or is it central to all you do? Are you holding back any areas of your life from God’s control? As Lord and Creator, He wants to help provide what you need as well as guide how you use what He provides. Only in seeking first the kingdom of God can one maintain the correct priorities of the Christian life. It is when one places God first in all things that God takes care of the one in all ways. 

Prayer: Abba Father, give me the grace to adequately prioritize my needs, placing You and my spiritual needs first in my life, that I may serve the interest of Your kingdom first, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Saving Faith Isn’t Easily Satisfied

 Saving Faith Isn’t Easily Satisfied

If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. (Hebrews 11:15–16)

Faith sees the promised future that God offers and “desires” it. “As it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” Dwell on this for a moment. 

There are many people who water down what saving faith is by making it a mere decision with no change of what one desires and seeks. But the point of this text in the great faith chapter in the Bible — Hebrews 11 — is that living and dying by faith means having new desires and seeking new satisfactions.

Verse 14 says that the saints of old (who are being commended for their faith here in Hebrews 11) were seeking a different kind of country than this world offered. And verse 16 says they were desiring something better than what a present earthly existence could offer. “They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.”

They had been so gripped by God that nothing short of being with God would satisfy.

So, this is true saving faith: seeing the promises of God from afar, and experiencing a change of values so that you desire and seek after and trust in the promises of God above what the world has  to offer.

GOD’S THOUGHTS FOR US!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

MONDAY FEBRUARY 10, 2025.

SUBJECT: GOD’S THOUGHTS FOR US!

Memory verse: "I have not spoken in secret, in dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, seek me in vain; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right." (Isaiah 45 vs 19.)

READ: Jeremiah 29 vs 11 - 13:

29:11: For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

29:12: Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

29:13: And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

INTIMATION:

God is the Creator, and is present in His creation. He is close to every one of us. But He is not trapped in His creation—He is transcendent. This means that God is sovereign and in control, while at the same time He is close and personal. God owns all things, and according to His wise plan, He predetermined a future for all His creation. Consequently, He urges His people to call upon Him in confidence. His children need not despair because they have God’s presence, the privilege of prayer, and God’s grace. If we seek Him wholeheartedly, He will be found. 

God knows the future; He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46 vs 10). And His plans for us are good and full of hope. As long as God, who knows the future, provides our agenda and goes with us as we fulfill His mission, we can have boundless hope. This does not mean that we will be spared pain, suffering or hardship, but that God will see us through to a glorious conclusion. We are encouraged by a leader who stirs us to move ahead, someone who believes we can do the task he has given and who will be with us all the way. God is that kind of leader. 

God is love, and loves us greatly. He so loved us that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to the world as a propitiation for our sins. Jesus came, took the form of man, suffered all things, and died the death we ought to have died for our sins. What an awesome sacrifice—one given His life for another, exchanging what is of immeasurable value with what is completely worthless—our sinful lives!

The apostle Paul, in Romans 8 vs 32 and 35, clearly asks rhetorically; “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”.....”Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?...” He answered the questions, saying; “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8 vs 37 - 39).

Therefore, if God gave His only begotten Son for you, He isn’t going to hold back anything that you require to live for Him. If Christ gave His life for you, He isn’t going to turn around to condemn or abandon you. Neither a strange land, sorrow, persecution, nor physical problems can break our fellowship with God. If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our sinful and worthless condition and exposing Himself to the worst by sending His own Son, is there anything else He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? Certainly nothing!

Never despair to seek Him. His promises are public, and their fulfillment is sure. Don’t ever doubt Him. We never have to be uncertain when we have a God of truth and righteousness. In times of dire circumstances, it may appear as though God has forgotten you, but God may be preparing you for a new beginning with Him at the center.

Prayer: Abba Father, Your love for me and for the whole world is unparalleled. I cannot thank You enough for all You have done for me. O Lord, I know Your good thoughts for me, endue me with the spirit of absolute trust You, obeying You in all things, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Better Than Money, Sex, and Power

 Better Than Money, Sex, and Power

Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. (Hebrews 10:35)

We need to ponder the superiority of God as our great reward over all that the world has to offer. If we don’t, we will love the world like everyone else and live like everyone else. 

So, take the things that drive the world, and ponder how much better and more abiding God is. Take money or sex or power and think about them in relation to death. Death will take away every one of them. If that is what you live for, you won’t get much, and what you get, you lose. 

But God’s treasure is vastly superior, and it lasts. It goes beyond death. It’s better than money because God owns all the money and he is our Father. We are his heirs. “All [things] are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:22–23).

It’s better than sex. Jesus never had sexual relations, and he was the most full and complete human that ever will exist. Sex is a shadow — an image — of a greater reality, of a relationship and a pleasure that will make the most exquisite sex seem like a yawn.

The reward of God is better than power. There is no greater human power than to be a child of the almighty God. “Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:3). “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21).

And so it goes on and on. Everything the world has to offer, God is better and more abiding.

There is no comparison. God wins — every time. The question is: Will we have him? Will we wake up from the trance of this stupefying world and see and believe and rejoice in and love what is truly real, and infinitely valuable, and everlasting?

GOD IS IN CONTROL!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 09, 2025.

SUBJECT: GOD IS IN CONTROL!

Memory verse: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15 vs 3.)

READ: First Samuel 2 vs 4 - 9: 

2:4: The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength.

2:5: Those who were full have hired out themselves for bread; and the hungry has ceased to hunger. Even the barren has born seven; and she who has many children has become feeble.

2:6: The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up.

2:7: The LORD makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up.

2:8: He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory. “For the pillars of the earth are the LORD's, and he has set the world upon them.”

2:9: He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked shall be silent in darkness. “For by strength no man shall prevail.”

INTIMATION:

God is sovereign, He is in charge, and in control of the affairs of the world. God is not only the Creator of the world but He is also the Sustainer. In Him, everything is held together, protected, and prevented from disintegrating into chaos. At times it seems that God has let evil run rampant in the world, and we wonder if He even notices it. But God sees everything clearly, both the evil actions and the evil intentions lying behind them. God is All-knowing, and He will judge all sin. He will weigh everyone’s deeds and will reward all deeds accordingly: “...For the Lord is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed.” (First Samuel 2 vs 3.) 

Neither the righteous nor the wicked can escape His presence. God is not an indifferent observer. He cares and is active in our world. Right now His work may be unseen and unfelt, but don’t give up. One day He will wipe out evil and perish the evildoers, just as He will establish the good and reward those who do His will. God does not lie, forget, change, or leave His promises unfulfilled. God’s plan stands forever! Remembering God’s sovereign control helps us put both world and personal events in perspective. 

Because we live in a world where evil abounds and where war and terrorism always threaten, we may forget that God is in control: He is solid as a rock, the One who knows what we do, sovereign over all the affairs of people, and He is the Supreme Judge who administers perfect justice. The Lord said, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways.” For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55 vs 8 - 9.) God’s wisdom and knowledge are far greater than any human’s. 

Many of us, observing the evils in our world, want God to act now. God will act when He is ready. We are like children who have difficulty grasping the concept of time. “It’s not time yet” is not a reason children easily understand because they only comprehend the present. As limited human beings, we can’t understand God’s perspective about time. We want everything now, unaware that God’s timing is better. When God is ready, He will do what needs to be done, not what we would like Him to do. We may be impatient as children, but we must not doubt the wisdom of God’s timing. 

When God planned and executed the redemption of the world through His Son, Jesus Christ, the world didn’t understand His plans. Satan thought that, as the ruler of the world then, the killing of Jesus, through his wicked agents, will accomplish his victory and establish his continued rulership over the world. But he didn’t know God’s plan: “Which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (First Corinthians 2 vs 8.) Jesus was misunderstood and rejected by those whom the world considered wise and good. He was put to death by the rulers in Palestine—the High priest, King Herod, Pilate, the Pharisees and Sadducees. And through their wicked deeds, God’s plan was accomplished. 

Let us not worry about the evils and misrule in the world today. The earth and its fullness are His. God will even work out His plans and purposes in the midst of them all. However, there is no ironclad guarantee that all believers will be delivered from difficulties and death in this cruel world. However, God can (and often does) miraculously deliver His followers from pain and death; although sometimes, for purposes known only to Him, He chooses not to. Thousands of Christian saints have been beaten to death, whipped, fed to lions, or executed (Romans 8 vs 35 - 36; Hebrews 11 vs 32 - 40). When faced with harsh realities, we must focus on the wise judgements of God. In times of crisis we can place our hope in God because He is in control.

Prayer: Abba Father, You are All-wise, All-knowing, and rules in the affairs of men. I staunchly trust in Your inconceivable wisdom, and I rest assured Your All-seeing eyes run over the earth, to reward everyone according to their deeds, and Your Throne will be established forever, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed, Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Are You Glad You Are Not God?

 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!