2019-12-06
Good Morning Dear Ones,
There is no offering to God, quite as dear to Him as a sacrificial one. In the course of continuing to supply support Scriptures to Colossians and examining our relationships with Him and with other people, I’m led to discuss sacrifices for faith and for Jesus Christ. These enrich our lives and offer Him the praise and thanks He is due. We are “slaves to righteousness,” in that it is expected of us to live according to God’s teaching. Interestingly enough, TITUS 2: 9-10 begins discussing God’s expectations for the human slaves of His people. However, we are considered God’s “servants,” so it applies to us as well. TITUS 2: 9b- 14, “Instead they must show that they are always good and faithful, so as to bring credit to the teaching about God, our Savior, in all they do. For God has revealed His grace for the salvation of all people. That grace instructs us to give up ungodly living and worldly passions; and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this world-- as we wait for the blessed Day we hope for, when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will appear. He gave Himself for us, to rescue us from all wickedness and to make us a pure people who belong to Him alone and are eager to do good.”
In examining our own experience with doing this (meeting God’s expectation for believers), we find that we are not encouraged to take the easiest path. We must avoid temptations and choose to act against our own sinful nature. While this lifestyle can’t be compared to the Son’s answering the Father’s call to face His own kangaroo court, humiliation, death on the cross, and eventual resurrection, it is still a sacrificial offering to honor God’s goodness and blessings. Let’s turn to 1 PET 2: 18-25. God will honor us, if we are willing to demonstrate forgiveness and goodness toward those who do wrong against us. This behavior toward those who are not kind and considerate demonstrates our understanding of God’s teaching. Enduring suffering of any kind for the sake of our faith in Christ is sacrificial suffering. Insult is not answered with insult or threats. This is placing one’s hope in God, the righteous Judge. 1 PET 2: 24-25, “Christ Himself carried our sins in His body to the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. It is by His wounds that you have been healed. You were like sheep that had lost their way, but now you have been brought back to follow the Shepherd and Keeper of your souls” [see also: IS 53: 5-6].
My own experience with these principles came when I was working in an emotionally toxic workplace. I had been hired to do the same job as an insurance adjuster that men do but was being paid only half of what they made. The company got around this inequity legally by giving my co-workers and I different job titles and requiring four years of college. The men only needed two years of college. Such inequities are no longer practiced, but back in the 1960’s they were. To make matters worse, sexual harassment was rampant at that time. Today, such practices wouldn’t be tolerated. As always, I was deeply faithful in the religion I practiced, so I decided to live and respond to this predicament with the righteous behavior and self-control that God has every right to expect. I remember attending an office Christmas party. My faith-walk banned drinking alcoholic beverages, and I asked for an orange juice when I first came in. Due to my inexperience at such functions, I didn’t watch my drink being poured. It was given to me with 9 parts vodka and 1part orange juice. Thinking it was only the juice, I drank it down. My vision became indistinct and the room seemed to spin. My body wasn’t used to the effects of alcohol! It was necessary for me to get into a packed streetcar and stand for 40 mins on my way home. Someone was giving out gifts of bottles with 1/5th of Scotch just before each worker left, and I was holding one with my arm against my body, standing trying to hold on to a streetcar pole with the other, the entire way to where I would transfer to a bus. The next day, I experienced my first and last hangover. It was a lesson sorely learned. Once this unfortunate incident was over, I was deeply angry and ashamed. However, I chose to remain polite and respectful toward my bosses and co-workers in keeping with the precepts of my faith. In the end, when I finally got the job I had been seeking all along, teaching on the university level, I knew that our wonderful Savior had been keeping me in His sights all along.
PRAYER: O Lord, our faith in You is what keeps us able to meet the challenges You allow to teach us to mature. Our faith is tested at these times, and we learn mature behavior and to make wise choices as we are ready. Your advice, in 1 TIM 6: 1-2, originally given to human slaves long ago still applies today to us. “Those who are slaves must consider their masters worthy of all respect, so that no one will speak evil of the name of God and of our teaching. Slaves belong to Christian masters must not despise them, for they are believers too. Instead, they are to serve them even better, because those who benefit from their work are believers whom they love. You must teach and preach these things.” You are a God of equity and fairness. You judge us all by the same standards and never use artificial humanoid ones. As our Messiah, You are always watching over us, never miss an important “teaching moment,” listen to all our prayers, and see to it that we advance in maturity as we are ready for these lessons. We are encouraged to delve internally to expose our deepest sins and confess them before You. Your heart of forgiveness is sweet, kind, and dedicated to what is in our best eternal interests. We thank and praise You with all our being, so that others will see the depth of the faith in You we have. This prayer is offered in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m led to discuss COL 4: 2-4, 12-13 as compared to the sacrificial suffering discussed in 1 PET 1-5. This deals with how God changes lives, by means of sacrificial suffering. In the book of Romans, Paul mentions “the true worship we should offer is to let God transform us inwardly by the complete renewal of our mind”-away from the standards of this world and toward those gotten from being obediently faithful to the teachings of God [RO 12: 1-2]. God does this by using such power, elegance, and wisdom as has never before been seen. This alteration happens corporately with other humans and individually within ourselves. Every relationship we have is great impacted by it. We can find evidence of it wherever we travel and encounter believers in Christ. It can be felt keenly within the Christian community and in our interaction with other Christians and Messianic Jews outside of it. Praise and thanks to God forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2019. All Rights Reserved.
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