2009-06-19
Good Morning Cherished of God,
As a verse in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount on judgment, our Lord tells us, in MT 7: 6, “Do not give what is holy to dogs-they will only turn and attack you. Do not cast your pearls before swine-they will only trample them underfoot.” This hyperbole is used to draw attention to a very important teaching. It means we must be discriminating in the sharing of our faith. I know how important my faith in Christ and His teachings is to me, No doubt a lot of you feel the same. That’s why we must choose not to force it on anyone who is not interested, preoccupied, unwilling to listen, or not in a place where there is no chance of him accepting it. This requires a judgment on our part, as the Holy Spirit doesn’t always tell us when a non-believer will suddenly become a believer. On the other hand, there are those delicious times when he does. There are also times when a non-believer hears the truth, but it takes him an extended length of time before he comes to accept it. So, except in cases where it is utterly clear that witnessing is a waste of time, we need to treat unbelievers as if they were potential future believers. In any event, we gain some very important advice in 1 PET 3: 15-17, “But have reverence for Christ in your hearts, and honor Him as Lord. Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you, but do it with gentleness and respect. Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are insulted, those who speak evil of your good conduct as followers of Christ will become ashamed of what they say. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if this should be God’s will, than for doing evil.”
It’s not a bad idea to start your day with praying PS 119: 125, “I am Your servant; give me understanding, so that I may know Your teachings.” And the same can be said of PS 51: 6, “Sincerity and truth are what You require; fill my mind with wisdom.” These pleas for discernment and wisdom place us where we should be in the scheme of things, willingly submitting to God’s superior wisdom and asking Him to share it with us. God is only too happy to equip us to spread the truth. We must also not forget the God’s full armor given to us to aid this process from EPH 6: 10-18. These things are faith [shield], salvation [helmet], God’s word [sword], truth [belt], righteousness [breastplate], and readiness to announce the Good News of peace [shoes]. It shouldn’t surprise us to know that these things are mentioned in several places in the Scriptures. One reason for that is they are so important to Him, and therefore, should be important to us. The words above in boldface type give us a picture of godly character.
Some of us are teachers, and I’m one of many. For teachers, leaders, clergy, administrators-anyone who influences a number of other people, we are and should be held to a higher standard. That’s part of accepting the responsibilities we have. Even before I became a believer I made myself a promise never to enter any task where I was influencing others unprepared. So far, I’ve been keeping that progress. And yes, there were plenty of times when I was fatigued, preoccupied, grieving, or otherwise exposed to the adversary’s fiery arrows shot at me to interfere with me living up to my responsibility. Have you found yourself in that predicament? Prayer has always been a good response to that, and I have been told repeatedly, “Don’t do any task for the Lord without praying first.” It’s solidly good advice. God gives most of us the ability to study in preparation and edification. Choosing what to study is an act of discernment. Some people may not like studying as well as others, but except for the mentally challenged, most of us can apply ourselves to it. I find myself needing to study the word of God every day. The wisdom in it, the beauty it has, and the practicality of it are not to be missed. Moreover, after spending 45 years doing this, I find a supernatural ability of this one special book, the Bible, to teach me something new every time I come back to the same verses in a different context-no chance to get bored here! Memorizing Scripture is highly beneficial too. Any excuses I had that I was too old to do this were washed away two years ago when our senior pastor threw down a special gauntlet. He challenged anyone willing to memorize 100 Scriptures [verse and/or passages] in 100 days. That was a mountain for me, but I climbed it and reached the summit. So did a lot of others. Study, memorizing, citing, and meditating over Scripture all have the their places in the life of a true believer. 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed.”
“Guarding the Treasure entrusted” is one of the gifts that Holy Spirit gives us [2 TIM 1: 13-14]. He is our Counselor, Who explains why something is important and what it really means to us in an eternal sense [JN 14: 17]. That Treasure is the compilation of all God’s teaching in the Bible. We must convey it accurately and allow it to govern the judgments we make in our lives. For only the truth can be God’s light piercing the darkness of evil, sin, and death. It is only God’s truth that gives us the wisdom and discernment we need to make judgments that are pleasing to Him. It is only by living His truth that we can honor Him and make the various actions we take, our very lifestyle, a form of worship that results in His pleasure and our inner peace. PS 62: 5, “Only God gives inner peace, and I depend on Him.”
PRAYER: O Lord, each time we come to You to gain Your wisdom or to share our thoughts and concerns, You make Yourself available to us. By Christ’s example, You teach us how to live with Your wisdom and discernment in making judgments. It is You, Who made that ultimate sacrifice of Your only begotten Son, so that we might have the chance for salvation, godly living, wise judgments, and the wisdom the Holy Spirit gives us. All we needed to do was to repent, confessing our sins, and believe in Him. It seems such a small price to pay for so many wonderful blessings, the blessings of Your word, prayer, and their impacts on our lives. RO 10: 9-10, “If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God [justified]; it is by our confession that we are saved.” With heads bowed in reverence to You, Dearest Abba, we thank and praise You for making such a miracle possible for Your sinful human creation. All throughout this devotion, things such as discernment, wise judgment, study, prayer, guarding truth, etc. have been discussed. Two more important responsibilities to You that we have are heart and service [hands]. Our faith must not be only intellectual in nature. What we learn from You and from Christ must also be believed. Our hearts are an open book to You; You know everything about us, including our heart-attitudes. Nothing is hidden from You. So, Dearest Father, we must show you by our actions that our faith is genuine. We must “Be holy because I am holy” [LV 19: 2, LV 11: 44-45; 1 PET 1: 16]. Our piety must be a part of every judgment we make. Moreover, we must show by the service we perform in Christ’s holy name, that we are following a genuine heart and profound belief. When we know Your word well, it shows in our actions toward others. For this and all Your teaching, we thank You and praise You forever. In Christ’s holy and mighty name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, I’m led to discuss the dependence on knowing the Scriptures of real discernment between right and wrong. From there, we will examine the times when judgment is not forbidden. Yes, there are actually times when God leaves the judging up to us by choice. For now, we need to think about how the boldface typed words apply in our own individual lives. That is a good motivation for me to be writing these devotions. God’s secret and mine is that He often chooses the person who needs a lesson the most to have to write about it. ? I have used the term “true believer” to indicate a person who leads a fully godly life based on God’s teaching and His ethics. This is a goal for every believer in Jesus Christ to work toward. It completes the head, heart, hands connection in every way. That is why one needs to make God’s Word the very center of our lives. JN 1: 1-5, “Before the world was created, the Word already existed; He was with God, and He was the same as God. From the very beginning the Word was with God. Through Him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without Him. The Word was the Source of life, and this life brought light to mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.” That Word that became flesh is Jesus Christ, the very Best Friend any of us will ever have. Praise be to God for bringing Him into our lives and for giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn