Nehemiah 11:1-2 Amplified Bible
Time Passes; Heads of Provinces
11 Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem; but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one [person] out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities. 2 And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
As time passes us by ……
And time will consistently pass us by ……
We can consistently bet our lives on it and time will always consistently win.
As the clock keeps right on ticking even after we remove the inner workings of the watch, even after we slam the snooze button, or we unplug the alarm clock.
Examining pros and cons, benefits, detractions of daylight savings time.
Time keeps right on going whether we like it or not, consistently, every second.
Time is going to do whatever it is time wants to do – consistently, every single moment of every single second of every single day – for quite literally, eternity.
How do we consistently contemplate leading lives of such equal consistency as Christians in this consistently busy, consistently fast paced, changing world?
To begin with, we might try consistently contemplating our living out this consistency exactly where God has placed us.
We are needed where we are planted, in our homes and community as a church.
There are constantly people who consistently live with real needs all around us.
What if we consistently sacrificed our lives on a daily basis, celebrating what God has done in us, by serving others and sharing the good news of Jesus? What if we consistently stepped out into God’s neighborhood to make a difference?
In Nehemiah 11, we see a people, immediately after rededicating their lives to the Lord their God, and renewing their covenant with Him in chapter 10, stayed consistent and began taking consistent and decisive, definitive steps to fulfill their renewed covenant commitment by moving their lives into Jerusalem.
This was not an easy or safe task, but one that showed their consistent devotion to God, which they declared in the previous chapter 10.
What we learn from this is that leading lives of consistency is not a one-time thing; not once a month, not weekly, but hourly and even second by second.
We are called to consistently sacrifice for God’s mission and to be an example (of Jesus) to others consistently.
It is forever easy to say you want to be more constant with your walk with Jesus after a great night of worship, but it is another to live it out in all your daily life.
How consistent are you to consistently live out the faith you consistently profess?
Can you make a change today that will help you live more consistently for Jesus?
1 John 2:4-6Amplified Bible
4 Whoever says, “I have come to know Him,” but does not habitually keep [focused on His precepts and obey] His commandments (teachings), is a liar, and the truth [of the divine word] is not in him. 5 But whoever habitually keeps His word and obeys His precepts [and treasures His message in its entirety], in him the love of God has truly been perfected [it is completed and has reached maturity]. By this we know [for certain] that we are in Him: 6 whoever says he lives in Christ [that is, whoever says he has accepted Him as God and Savior] ought [as a moral obligation] to walk and conduct himself just as He walked and conducted Himself.
Now, we will discuss other side of consistency being inconsistency. What does it look like when you know that someone’s words are different than their actions?
In 1 John 2 we see a sobering picture of what consistency is, and what it is not.
Paraphrasing the first part of chapter 2, John essentially says that if you say you have “consistently” received the love and grace of Jesus Christ, but do not live by His commandments, then you are a liar, and the truth of God is not in you.
In other words,
if you have put your faith in Jesus and there is no outward change, no want nor desire to know Him more, no want to love the things He loves, no care for His mission with consistency, then you should stop and really examine your heart.
You should contemplate stopping and examine your walk and relationship with Him, because something consistently appears to be consistently out of order.
Our walk and growth in Jesus will never be perfect… so please do not hear me saying when we have the slightest mess up, we should question all of our faith.
What I am saying is what John is: when we do sin, we have an advocate with the father, who has paid the price for our mess-ups and His name is Savior Jesus.
Lord and Savior Jesus set the perfect example, which should consistently serve to consistently inspire us to consistently strive for consistency in all our faith.
Someone who is consistent behaves in the same way, has the same attitudes towards people or things, or achieves the same level of success in something.
In consistency, there is no contradiction.
there is continuity, practice, determination, faithfulness, balance, harmony, stability, orderliness, reliability and quality.
As Christians, we need to accept nothing less than true consistency!
Paul and Barnabas spoke of the need for a congregation to be consistent
– Acts 13:43 43 Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to {consistently} continue in the grace of God.
Consider contemplating Acts 14:22 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to {consistently} continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
From God’s own Words, the declaration is clear that we as Christians should be consistent in godly living, consistently continue in the covenant ways of God.
There is no need for anyone to think that consistency is not needed in our lives!
When we do everything, God requires from us, we must not slack nor be distracted because there is nothing to glory about it.
We still have a whole lot more Kingdom work to do for the transformation process to continue.
Luke 17:10 10 So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”
Reality: God has shown the greatest love to mankind by the death of His Son. God has done more for us by allowing us to find an entrance into His church.
Because more is consistently done for us, we have a consistent obligation to do more to ensure the transformation process God intends continues to manifest.
It not only brings consistency, but it also shows reflection that we are grateful to God for the work of redemption.
“To whom much is given — of them much shall be required.”
The blessings we consistently enjoy are not the fruit of our merit — but the fruit of God’s consistent and never changing and always and forever available mercy.
By how much the more grace we have received (Romans 6:1) — by so much the more the maximum magnitude of glory we are obliged to return unto the Giver.
A grateful mind is a great mind.
A consistent life means that we carefully consider the effect our lifestyle on our society.
A consistent life is a looking-glass, wherein Christ sees His own likeness.
A consistent life means that we recognize that our dependency is on God.
We must be consistent in our Christian lives because we know our consistency is not derived from our finite strength or finite skill but from the power of God.
Godly duties performed are regarded before God when we allow Christ fills them.
Any good work we do can never be sustained without the support of Christ or the power of the Holy Spirit.
If we ever do any good work, it is still not the reason for our continued physical existence – Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the very reason why we are alive.
When we have kept all the commandments, there is one commandment above all to be kept; that is, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags!”
In most of our works — we are abominable sinners; and in the best of our works — we are consistently unprofitable servants, consistently unconscionable sinners.
Hebrews 13:8Amplified Bible
8 Jesus Christ is [eternally changeless, always] the same yesterday and today and forever.
Let us always go in the unchanging, unchangeable strength of our Savior God.
What areas of our “Christian life” are consistently showing inconsistency?
How can we consistently make those continuous changes God presents to us?
And consistently focus on what Jesus is consistently calling each of us to do?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Great God in heaven, unchanging, unchangeable Savior, I believe in you and trust in you. I want to walk as Jesus walked. I want to abide in You. Be with me as I go about my day. Help me to make wise, wiser, decisions as I work to be more like you. Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 