Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are all on top of the world! The glittering prizes of “our wealth and honor – our fame and fortune – of intellectual prowess our great importance” is highly prized in today’s world system but can too often bedazzle the eyes of believers as well, and even Christ’s own disciples were not exempt.
How petty and self-serving can we get? How petty and self-serving were these two disciples – James and John? They wanted special favors from their Rabbi.
They were arguing about who was to be the most important in their little group and were jostling for the highest and best position in Christ’s coming kingdom.
James and John? They thought more highly of themselves. But what a shocking silence must have descending on each person, when Rabbi Jesus stunned them into silence with these head scratching words: that even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life -as a ransom for many.
SELF-SERVING
How are the decisions we make impacting those around us?
Rabbi Jesus said that we should seek to love others as we would love ourselves (Matthew.22:39). Nothing could be more central to that command than for us to spend more time considering how our plans, actions, and words will either serve us or serve others, help, hurt, hinder, the people in our circle of influence.
As Christians we no longer “live to serve ourselves” (Romans14:7)—or at least we shouldn’t. God’s will for us is to see our lives as instruments of Christ to aid, build up, positively enhance the well-being of all the ‘neighbors’ in our lives.
Having been called by the humility of our Savior Jesus, to no longer simply look out for our own interests, but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4), we should instead be driven to carefully ponder how pursuing our desires in that purchase, this move, or that meeting is going to affect and benefit others.
The world will continue to tell us to “Look out for number one!”
I’m all for that—as long as we remember that we’re not number one! Christ is.
And he has directed us to look out for the interests of the people with whom he has sovereignly surrounded us. Yes, every day we will make decisions for our own good, but they should all be evaluated with a willingness to modify them or even abandon them as we prayerfully consider their impact on others.
Sometimes we allow ourselves to think we are the centre of the universe. We get so wrapped up in our own world and issues of daily life, we forget about others and their struggles. The incredibly little word ‘me’ becomes most important. We somehow think all of ‘everything’ revolves (or should revolve) around ourselves.
All too often we think all of our feelings and ideas are the most important in all of the world. But guess what: often times, others probably have better ideas than we do. Life has a habit of jolting us into reality, and a lot of things don’t work out as we expect them to. We need to learn we can be wrong sometimes.
Some people love to talk, mainly about themselves, and can be quite dismissive about the point of view of others.
They are not all that interested in what you’ve got to say—they have already worked out their response before you can say too much.
You know people like that?
Does my opinion matter? Probably not.
The New American Webster Dictionary has a really great definition for selfish people:
“they are much too busy absorbing their whole selves into themselves.”
It’s like everything revolves around them, and no-one else. It’s all about me, myself and I. The self-centered person loves no-one else except themselves.
James and John, Sons of Thunder, tried to bargain with their Rabbi for quite the most prominent places in the Kingdom Jesus is leaving behind, for themselves.
James and John, sons of Thunder, were in pursuit of all the wrong things – and even after they heard the words of their Rabbi, could not begin to understand the staggering implication of His words: “Give my Life as a Ransom for Many!”
Mark 10:35-45Amplified Bible
35 James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.” 36 And He replied to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 37 They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit [with You], one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory [Your majesty and splendor in Your kingdom].” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism [of suffering and death] with which I am baptized?” 39 And they replied to Him, “We are able.” Jesus told them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. 40 But to sit on My right or left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared [by My Father].”
41 Hearing this, the [other] ten became indignant with James and John. 42 Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their powerful men exercise authority over them [tyrannizing them]. 43 But this is not how it is among you; instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first and most important among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a [a]ransom for many.”
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
We are going to take a step back in time today to conceptualize, contextualize what Jesus meant when He asked Bartimaeus: “Come. What Can I Do for You?”
Jesus was asking Bartimaeus, “How will you, then, serve the Kingdom of God?”
When Bartimaeus receives his miraculous healing from Jesus – whom will he be most grateful to, whom will he follow and serve – His Savior God or himself?
45 For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Here is the heart of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, given in one simple statement.
The foundation and basis of servanthood is giving – and Jesus gave His life as a ransom for all who believe in Him.
No one “took” His life – He willingly gave it up.
Jesus, with all of His power and might did not come to be served as He deserves, but by His love and grace, came down to serve us.
He served us by giving us a way to spend eternal life with Him even though we do not deserve it, nor can we earn it on our own merit.
He gave His life freely so that we might have eternal life.
He served us by being the payment for our sins.
Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death, but Jesus paid the price for us. He was our “ransom.”
The word “ransom” refers to the price one paid in Jesus’ day to release a slave.
We are slaves to sin, but Jesus’ life became our ransom that set us free from the bonds of sin.
To be a servant of Jesus, as Jesus himself modeled servanthood, means we must be willing to give up all rights to our life and to do anything God wants us to do.
When we look at Jesus’ ministry, we can see how Jesus served others, just as the disciples had seen Him do: they saw Him touch those that were unclean.
Without any partiality or bias, they saw him heal the sick, deaf, blind, and mute.
Without any partiality or prejudices, they saw Him raise people back to life.
Without any single thought given as to how they were different from him, they saw their Rabbi Jesus feed thousands with just a small amount of bread and fish.
Without biases or prejudices, knowing all their hearts down to the most finite of details, even knowing who would betray him, they saw Him wash all their feet.
They saw Him beaten and nailed to a cross.
Face to Face, Eye to Eye, Soul to Soul, Heart to Heart;
they quite literally watched Him die – for them.
Over and over again Jesus – the only Son of God – for the JOY, which was before Him, placed Himself in humble service to others – even death on a CROSS!
After he was arrested in Gethsemane, Jesus told Peter after Peter had struck the Temple Servant, Malchus:
“He had ten thousand angels at His disposal if his true intention was to call them down to ultimately “Subdue, and then Lord Himself over his Captors.”
He was in the Beginning! He was the Creator of the world!
He shared in the glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Yet He gave up all of Heaven to come to earth, born to a poor virgin girl in a stable with only an animal feeding trough for a bed.
He gave up his own majesty for the humility of needing his diaper changed.
For JOY, He willingly accepted the humiliation and torture of the cross.
And we esteemed Him not?
And He went to the Cross ANYWAY?
Luke 16:15 AKJV 15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
Romans 5:8-10 AKJV 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Why would He do that for you and me?
Why should He do that for you and me?
Why did He do that for you and me?
His only reason for doing so, was to utterly and completely minister, utterly serve all of humanity throughout all the ages through His willing sacrificial death in our place so we could all one day spend eternity in Heaven with Him.
The greatest servant of all gave us the greatest gift of all because of His greatest expression of unconditional love for us. (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34)
We often talk today about our desire to utterly and completely “serve” God.
And certainly, we should be completely obedient to do what He asks us to do.
But we also need to remember Jesus did not come to earth to be ministered to.
He came so that he could utterly and completely minister unto us.
He still wants to utterly and completely minister to us today.
We don’t have to do life on our own.
He ready to utterly and completely help us.
When we are utterly and completely exhausted or anxious or fearful,
He tells us to cast all our care on Him because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).
When we need wisdom, He tells us to ask Him for it and He will give it to us generously (James 1:5).
When life gets busy and overwhelming, Jesus says, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10).
Whatever it is we face in life, Jesus utterly, completely, stands ready to minister to us.
If He utterly and completely loves us enough to die for us, you can bet it all He stands completely ready to help us through every single moment of our life.
How utterly humbling it is to know the Son of God longs to serve one like me.
“Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
Jesus is speaking in broad terms as he describes what people in power can be like. They can freely coerce, intimidate, bully, threaten, and seek to control.
In contrast, Jesus says, we are called to live differently.
We must not follow the way of the world with its structures of riches, privilege, race, class castes, culture, nationalities, influence, politics, or religious elitism.
Jesus says we are to be counter cultural servants, following HIS example. He came not to be served but to serve and “to give his life as a ransom for many.”
All our relationships—parent-child, wife-husband, pastor-congregation, teacher-student—need to be refreshed from tendencies to control and manipulate. Instead, the focus should be on serving others, helping people to flourish, and empowering everyone to honor, worship, and follow Christ.
Are you a servant in the example of Christ in your circles of influence?
In what ways are you serving others as a neighbor, friend, spouse, parent, family member, teacher, or church member?
We are children of the heavenly Father and disciples of Jesus, who did not consider glory a thing to be grasped, but who humbled himself to die on a cross (Philippians 2:5-11).
Christ’s life was the exemplary witness to the truth of these words.
He was the eternal Son of God – the King of kings and Lord of lords.
All power in heaven and earth had been entrusted to Him, but He did not demand the service of others but knelt to wash His disciple’s feet.
The One before Whom all creation will one day bow in humble adoration, came to be Servant to all…
and His final act of Service to the children of men, was to become the pivotal point in the history of the universe –
when for the JOY which was before Him, He gave His life as a ransom for many.
Because of Jesus, we offer ourselves as living sacrifices so that the name and kingdom of God are made known.
His words must be our legacy. His example must be the pattern for our lives.
By His death and Resurrection, Jesus bought us out of Satan’s grasp and brought us to an everlasting freedom through the ransom price he paid.
We are now called to follow his example and live his life in our world. We are to serve and sacrifice for others. Living to serve others is the Jesus-way of life!
May we, in these radically challenging contemporary times we must navigate, be endowed with the mind of Christ – for although He was the Son of God,
He learned obedience by the things that He suffered – and humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross, to pay the price for the sin of humanity – and to ransom ALL of those who trust in His name.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Jesus, thank you for you dying in my place so that my sins could be forgiven. Help me to live my life so that it brings honor and glory to you. May I learn from your example of servanthood to serve others that you have placed in my life so that your love shines through every act of service and every spoken word. Help me, please, Holy Spirit so to remember you stand ready to serve, to minister to me in every situation, I face in life.
Lord God, Author of my life, I pray for wisdom and grace to know how to suffer with You in this life and to give my life in service to others and to You. Keep me from my hankering after every glitz and glamour of this world and may I, like Christ humble myself, become truly obedient to Your word, selflessly follow in Your footsteps – so that Your name may be glorified, in Jesus’ name I pray, Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.
As we look into this story again today, let’s now focus on the one question Jesus asks Bartimaeus, the man who is blind: “What do you want me to do for you?”
Since Bartimaeus has been customarily begging by the roadside, we would expect him to ask for handout—some bread or money, perhaps.
But in response to Jesus’ sudden question, the marginalized man is bold enough to ask for much more than what he might have originally asked for. He asks to be able to see—and that means he is asking to have his life completely changed.
If this, were you, in that exact moment Jesus spoke to you, asked you that one question you never expected to hear come from anyone’s mouth, how would you now respond to Jesus’ question “What do you want me to do for you?”
You have just been given a blank check with Jesus’ signature with full authority to ask for whatever you want in that exact moment, what is your first answer?
We all could use a little help, or a little healing, or some additional resources to get us through another hour or day, right? And surely, we would be thankful for whatever small amount of help the man Rabbi Jesus would give to balance life.
But let’s not forget who is asking. Just as Bartimaeus could see that Jesus was the Son of David, the promised deliverer who could make all things right, we need to see that Jesus is the Lord and Savior who offers us full, new life forever.
Jesus invites us, right here and right exactly NOW to be 10000% GENUINE and honest about our single greatest need: the mercy of God for sinners. So, we need to ask him for our miracle, and a new life, that we may serve with him forever.
Mark 10:46-52Amplified Bible
Bartimaeus Receives His Sight
46 Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road [as was his custom]. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and say, “Jesus, [a]Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly rebuked him, telling him to keep still and be quiet; but he kept on shouting out all the more, “Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!”49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So, they called the blind man, telling him, “Take courage, get up! He is calling for you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni (my Master), let me regain my sight.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith [and confident trust in My power] has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Jesus on the road.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
This word has been on my heart for quite some time.
Today, for whatever reason, for whatever purpose, to whatever end God has set aside by His own sovereign Authority, I felt specifically moved by the Lord God, who literally woke me up from a sound sleep, release it into your soul today.
The specifics in this word won’t be for everybody, although the principles in this word are truly for everybody. But if the specifics of this word are for you, you’ll recognize yourself described below.
The message the Lord gave me for those of you to whom Holy Spirit bears witness today is:
You and I have a blank check with God.
Inserting ourselves into the Gospel Conversation between Bartimaeus and Jesus. We are saved, and we are healed. We share with Bartimaeus, a holy and miraculous life transforming experience, which at first, neither could believe.
We both know it has happened and it was Jesus alone who came, summoned us. Two Thousands of years apart, Jesus still lives and miraculously, blessedly, we are His witnesses, both ancient and contemporary. How much more real can it possibly get for us? Far more real for Bartimaeus because he stood face to face.
I find myself wanting to know from Bartimaeus himself – Face to Face! Face to Face with Rabbi Jesus – 100% Physically, not spiritually as is the case with me.
I find myself contemplating actually, genuinely, having that conversation in my living room – sharing my food and sharing my drink and sharing OUR Jesus!
So, this is how I have contemplated having, sharing that conversation with him.
“You AND I have sought God with all your heart for many years. We have loved Him; we still continue to do forever. Along the way, we have done everything possible to bring every aspect of our life into full maximum obedience to Jesus.
We have been healed, and the Lord has refined you in His fire. We have been through hell and back three times. (I heard the Lord say that very specifically: “three times.”) This triple refining has removed the dross from your life and mine in greater ways than you or I could ever know or think to ever imagine.
Listening! What measure and degree of absolute JOY fills my heart right now!
Now the Lord says: “I am pleased with you.”
Then eye to eye, The Lord looks at you. The Lord says to you, “I am pleased with you. I love the way you love Me. I love the way you faithfully serve Me. I TRUST YOU. I trust you to obey My Word, follow My instructions, to pull back if you get ahead, to keep pace with Me, and to venture out where and when I send you.”
So now Jesus says to you, “I want you to know that you have a blank check with Me.”
My Word is true, and I told you over and over in My Word that you have a blank check with Me when you are obedient. I have refined you as silver; yes, I have refined you as gold. I have searched you and found nothing amiss. You have been weighed in the balances and found NOT WANTING.
Now, beloved, I want to know what burdens you.
The aspirations in your heart are there because I placed them there; but I desire not to work alone, but to co-labor with you. I am moved by what moves you. I will be burdened for what burdens you, for you are My hands, feet on the earth.
So, I want you to please tell Me: Bartimaeus, (insert your name) what do you want to do?
What would you like to accomplish next for the building and strengthening and taking of My Kingdom? Where would you like to go? What would you like to do?
Surely, (insert your name) “I know your heart already, but I desire for you to tell Me anyway. I want to converse with you; to talk with you; to plan and dream with you. We are friends, you and I; and I just love to see what matters to you.”
You have a blank check with Me.
I say it again: ‘You have a blank check with Me.’ If you get ahead of Me, I will tell you; I will make it plain. If you are in step with Me, and I with you, you will know that too. There are no secrets between you and Me; I am keeping nothing from you. You are My friend, and there is open communication between us.
Matthew 9:35-38Amplified Bible
35 Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages [in Galilee], teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news (gospel) of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness [His words and His works reflecting His Messiahship].
36 When He saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion and pity for them, because they were dispirited and distressed, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is [indeed] plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
We have no idea what this man Bartimaeus did with his Miracle of Healing. We are only told that after he regained his sight, he followed Jesus “on the road.”
How Bartimaeus engaged with the ancient Roman world we do not know. How he came to fulfill his ministry, mission part in the Great Commission, Acts 1:8, is not known nor can it really be stated with any certainty how he Shared Jesus.
However, we can definitely say he played a significant role for John Mark in his writing of this Gospel Narrative which carries his name and Christ’s life to us.
Thanks be to God that those two came together somewhere, somehow. John Mark and Bartimaeus were introduced to each other by someone. Brought together to share a common miraculous experience, Salvation in Jesus alone!
Does this word resonate with you today?
Does Holy Spirit bear witness in your spirit that this word is for you?
So, now, I pray that God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have revealed themselves to you, and you are now ready to have that talk with them – to do that face to face, eye to eye, voice to voice thing, hear them say:
So, (insert your name) let’s move. Let’s go forth together. Let’s co-labor on the earth.
“What do you want to do? You have a blank check with Me. Ask, and you shall receive. There will be a process of discovery as I move with you; you will learn as you go; I will teach you what to say. We will labor, and we will work together.”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 146Amplified Bible
The Lord an Abundant Helper.
146 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2 While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation (help). 4 When his spirit leaves him, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts and plans perish. 5 How blessed and graciously favored is he whose help is the God of Jacob (Israel), Whose hope is in the Lord his God, 6 Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that is in them, Who keeps truth and is faithful forever, 7 Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets free the prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the [a]righteous [the upright in heart]. 9 The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow; But He makes crooked the way of the wicked. 10 The Lord shall reign forever, Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Every single day, we all need the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We all need to hear the Good News of Salvation only through Jesus Christ!
And perhaps the best news is that we are all children of the loving God, who calls us to trust and obey him so that we can live life abundantly. God wants to save us so that we can live life forever with him. God wants this for all of us.
In these devotions I try to write, we try to explore what this means to each of us, but especially for those people who experience poverty and hunger, also often oppressed, displaced, and vulnerable, those who somehow are on the fringes.
But living life on the fringes? Customarily living life sitting with a cup in your hand, on the roadside? That is not the way life is supposed to be. Instead, there should be “a customary – extraordinary” abundance and flourishing for all.
From the beginning, back in the Garden of Eden, that is the great vision of peace and flourishing God originally had for all of his creatures and all of his creation.
The Bible reminds us again and again God has great compassion for all who are poor and oppressed, marginalized, “forced” to the fringe and he acts on their behalf. God also wants his followers to love and serve these people in his name.
God places these people directly, decisively in our line of sight and of influence.
“Line of Sight,” meant to stir within us a sense of deep thought for them as we’re always decisively made aware by the Gospel of Jesus’ great compassion.
So, while we are wrangling with our abundance, let’s pray about how we can serve God by caring for people in tangible ways, from feeding, helping people to rebuild “their roadside lives, cities” to helping with long-term development.
As we do this, we’ll also be praying and thinking about God and his heart for those customarily on “the roadside,” revealed in Jesus Christ. And this will lead us into deeper discipleship, doing justice and loving mercy in Jesus’ name.
Mark 10:46-52Amplified Bible
Bartimaeus Receives His Sight
46 Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road [as was his custom].47 When Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and say, “Jesus, [a]Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!”48 Many sternly rebuked him, telling him to keep still and be quiet; but he kept on shouting out all the more, “Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So, they called the blind man, telling him, “Take courage, get up! He is calling for you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni (my Master), let me regain my sight.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith [and confident trust in My power] has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Jesus on the road.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Today, I am drawn to these particular verses from Mark’s Gospel Narrative:
47 When Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and say, “Jesus, [a]Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly rebuked him, telling him to keep still and be quiet; but he kept on shouting out all the more, “Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So, they called the blind man, telling him, “Take courage, get up! He is calling for you.”
Then almost immediately, I am reminded of these words from Apostle Paul:
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 Amplified
11 For you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you just as a father does [in dealing with] his own children, [guiding you] 12 to live lives [of honor, moral courage, and personal integrity] worthy of the God who [saves you and] calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
There’s those familiar words live and walk that Scripture often uses to describe our journey in life with God.
Genesis chapters 1, 2 and 3, from the beginning, before their “apple rebellion,” God enjoyed creating access to Him, walking in the garden with Adam and Eve.
And guess what, Brothers and Sisters IN CHRIST?
Even today, He still greatly enjoys creating access, long walks, with us today.
A walk is simply how we live our lives every day, through practical daily actions.
An authentic believer lives the life of a servant, and lives at peace with other servants. Cowboy philosopher Will Rogers said it this way, “Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your talking parrot to the town gossip.”
These verses tell us that God calls us “into His own kingdom and glory.”
We are reminded throughout Scripture that
God calls us both from something and to something.
We are called from labor to rest in Matthew 11:28.
We are called away from death to life in 1 John 3:14.
We are called away from bondage to liberty in Galatians 5:13
and away from darkness to light in 1 Peter 2:9.
We are called away from “HINDERING” to “HELPING!”in Mark 10:48-49
Called away from “CROWD CONTROL” to “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus!” in these exact same two verses from the Gospel Narrative of Mark 10:48-49.
When did Authentic Christianity become all about “CROWD CONTROL?”
When did Authentic Discipleship become all about “BLOCKING ACCESS?”
I am sure Jesus’ Disciples heard the same words we still hear declared today:
Matthew 11:28-30Amplified Bible
28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation]. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.”
When did our Authentic Christianity become all about “CROWD CONTROL?”
When did our Authentic Discipleship become all about “BLOCKING ACCESS?”
Isaiah 61:1-4Amplified Bible
Exaltation of the Afflicted
61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed and commissioned me To bring good news to the humble and afflicted; He has sent me to bind up [the wounds of] the brokenhearted, To proclaim release [from confinement and condemnation] to the [physical and spiritual] captives And freedom to prisoners, 2 To proclaim [a]the favorable year of the Lord, [b]And the day of vengeance and retribution of our God, To comfort all who mourn, 3 To grant to those who mourn in Zion the following: To give them a [c]turban instead of dust [on their heads, a sign of mourning], The oil of joy instead of mourning, The garment [expressive] of praise instead of a disheartened spirit. So they will be called the trees of righteousness [strong and magnificent, distinguished for integrity, justice, and right standing with God], The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
4 Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up and restore the former desolations; And they will renew the ruined cities, The desolations (deserted settlements) of many generations.
So, I ask again,
When did our “customs and traditions” become all about Crowd Control?
When did “our customs and traditions” become all about Blocking Access?
Unbiased, Unadulterated, Unfettered, Unhindered Access to our Sanctuaries?
Unbiased, Unhindered Access to Authentic Worship of our Authentic God?
When did our Authentic Christianity become all about “CROWD CONTROL?”
When did our Authentic Discipleship become all about “BLOCKING ACCESS?”
When did “Turning our, other’s Eyes Upon Jesus'” become all about “CROWD CONTROL,” “BLOCKING ACCESS” by “Turning our Eyes Upon our Disputes?”
By turning our eyes, and everyone else’s eyes upon our disputes and divisions?
by turning our attentions, and our Authentic Callings away from “Bartimaeus?”
When did that “creep” into the Gospel of Good News to all of the Poor sitting on the roadside, become our over-riding, over-arching call to Authentic Ministry?
I remember Jesus himself fervently praying in the Garden on all our behalf’s:
John 17:13-21Amplified Bible
The Disciples in the World
13 But now I am coming to You; and I say these things [while I am still] in the world so that they may experience My joy made full and complete and perfect within them [filling their hearts with My delight]. 14 I have given to them Your word [the message You gave Me]; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world and do not belong to the world, just as I am not of the world and do not belong to it. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but that You keep them and protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth. 18 Just as You commissioned and sent Me into the world, I also have commissioned and sent them (believers) into the world. 19 For their sake [a]I sanctify Myself [to do Your will], so that they also may be sanctified [set apart, dedicated, made holy] in [Your] truth.
20 “I do not pray for these alone [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for [all] those who [will ever] believe and trust in Me through their message,21 that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe [without any doubt] that You sent Me.
Our God is constantly calling us to new, higher ground because our walk is never to become static but constantly dynamic and changing for the good.
How else will our legions of ‘Bartimaeus’ know we are Authentic Christians?
How else will our legions of ‘Bartimaeus’ know we are Authentic Disciples?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 146 Amplified Bible
The Lord an Abundant Helper.
146 Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise the Lord, O my soul! 2 While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God as long as I live. 3 Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation (help). 4 When his spirit leaves him, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts and plans perish. 5 How blessed and graciously favored is he whose help is the God of Jacob (Israel), Whose hope is in the Lord his God, 6 Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that is in them, Who keeps truth and is faithful forever, 7 Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets free the prisoners.
8 The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the [a]righteous [the upright in heart]. 9 The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow; But He makes crooked the way of the wicked. 10 The Lord shall reign forever, Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Our hearts stir with the many stories of bold and courageous people in the Bible.
We admire and are greatly inspired by the Patriarch Noah, heard the command of God, who stood alone built the Ark in the face of enormous unrighteousness.
We admire Abram for leaving his homeland to follow the Lord.
We applaud Moses for marching in before Pharaoh with God’s demand “Let my people go!” We love to hear of young David going out to meet mighty Goliath.
Well, we look at God’s approach to Joshua, who is about to take over in Moses’ place. God’s first words to Joshua are about courage. Three times in his address to Joshua, God repeats the challenge for all to hear “Be strong and courageous.”
Courage is needed when the task is big–and this task of communicating the Gospel is immense! God says, in effect, “Call Israel together; cross the Jordan; conquer the cities; overcome the enemies; resist their gods. Yes, the enemies of the Gospel will be many and will be fearsome, but you, I, must be courageous!”
Courage has always been a necessary quality among the people of God. Standing up in the face of opposition for the sake of God’s righteousness in a society that freely accommodates itself to evil takes courage.
Communicating and spreading the true gospel of Jesus Christ in a culture that wants to say any religion will do, takes courage. Allegiance to Jesus Christ in a world that is often against the Gospel truth of Jesus Christ takes great courage.
David’s confidence, immense courage in the Lord in the face of his enemies –
“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”
“Thou preparest a table before me in the face of mine enemies.”
“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!”
“Thou anointest my head in oil, my cup runneth over.”
Paul’s charge to his friends in Corinth applies to us all. “Be alert. Continue strong in the faith. Have courage, and be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13, NCV).
Mark 10:46-52Amplified Bible
Bartimaeus Receives His Sight
46 Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting beside the road [as was his custom]. 47 When Bartimaeus heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout and say, “Jesus, [a]Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly rebuked him, telling him to keep still and be quiet; but he kept on shouting out all the more, “Son of David (Messiah), have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So, they called the blind man, telling him, “Take courage, get up! He is calling for you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni (my Master), let me regain my sight.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith [and confident trust in My power] has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Jesus on the road.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Throwing his cloak aside, [the blind man] jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.
The expression “in a nutshell” describes an important point that can be shared in just a few words.
Did you happen to notice that in the VERSE about the ‘BLIND’ Bartimaeus “THROWING HIS CLOAK ASIDE, HE JUMPED UP and HE CAME TO JESUS.”
this series of actions includes a critically important detail!
Bartimaeus’s cloak was probably his only possession, and he needed it for his meager life sitting around on the side of the road, on the fringes of society.
DAY IN AND DAY OUT! EVERYDAY WITHOUT CHANGE!
AS WAS HIS CUSTOM …
HOW MUCH COURAGE DOES IT TAKE FOR US, THE CHURCH, TO SIT ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, DAY IN AND DAY OUT, EVERY DAY, AS IS OUR CUSTOM?
Bartimaeus was blind and could not see what people might toss to him as they passed by, so he would have to spread some of his cloak on the ground to catch the small bits of food or gather the small number of coins that he might receive.
Then he would have to search, to feel around the cloak, find the offerings on the cloak. In other words, he needed his whole cloak in order to gather his income.
At night he would wrap the cloak around his body for warmth. It was his bed.
His courage was essentially what he searched for every day on his spread cloak.
So, to THROW HIS CLOAK ASIDE without thinking about it …. represented what?
What did that moment of ‘throwing the source of his courage aside’ represent to the Blind Bartimaeus?
Throwing his cloak aside … the cloak which served critical purposes for him …
Covering his nakedness? Collecting his source of income? His food for the day?
Throwing it aside … to who knows where, … to who knows who …
Exposing himself before those who he could not see, every last vulnerability?
“For the absolute shame, which was ever before him, which he could not see?
“For the absolute shame, which was ever before him, WHOM he could not see?
The absolute courage to stand there at the risk of ultimate public humiliation?
The absolute courage to stand there and either be arrested for indecency or to see, to be healed and made whole by his faith in Jesus whom he could not, see?
By the way, wow old was Bartimaeus? What season, stage of life, was he living?
Every age, every season of our lives carries with them different vulnerabilities!
How long had Blind Bartimaeus been Blind? From birth or from what age?
If “spiritually” blind – for how long, to what effect, affect, on his faith in God?
How long had Bartimaeus been customarily sitting by that customary roadside?
How long had Bartimaeus been customarily waiting to finally “jump up?”
How old are we now? How long have we been, like Bartimaeus, “customarily” waiting by our “customary” roadside, to shed our own “customary customs?”
What would it take for the Peanuts character Linus Van Pelt to stop sucking his thumb, carrying his security blanket over his shoulder – as was his “custom?”
Does Linus Van Pelt ever give up on his custom of philosophically sucking his thumb?
Does he ever give up on his customary “I always carry my blanket” philosophy?
When Jesus called the first disciples, they left everything behind to follow him (Mark 1:16-20; 10:28).
Similarly, blind Bartimaeus stands up, leaves his “security” cloak behind as he jumps to his feet to come to Jesus, to have his life changed, and to follow Jesus.
This is the gospel in a nutshell. Bartimaeus leaves his security blanket behind as he jumps up, comes to Jesus, gains his sight, follows his Savior into his new life.
What “customs” do we still “customarily ” still carry around with us – on the side of the street, we customarily sit at every day – waiting for Jesus to come?
Are we really ready to do as Blind Bartimaeus did – shed all of our “customs?”
Are we genuinely ready to expose all of our “nakedness/vulnerabilities” before a world we cannot see to communicate a Gospel, so few ever wants any part of?
Job 1:20-21Amplified Bible
20 Then Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head [in mourning for the children], and he fell to the ground and worshiped [God]. 21 He said,
“Naked (without possessions) I came [into this world] from my mother’s womb, And naked I will return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Cheer up! Jesus is calling you too!
Cheer up!
But not just “cheer up”
BUT …
JUMP UP!
The Gospel promise of God is this: Jesus is absolutely coming back!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
O Lord, my Salvation, I am blind to the world around me. I know there are issues to face, temptations to withstand, and enemies to meet. You gave us the Gospel! Give me a courageous heart, that I may be firm in my obedience. For Jesus’ sake, Amen.
Dear Jesus, in your mercy and with your grace, restore my “sight,” please give me new life. Help me to see that following your call is the way to live each day. Amen.
We are bound to get into an argument every once in a while, — whether it’s with your business partner, a family member, a friend, or a complete stranger.
We all possess strong thoughts, aspirations, and opinions that sometimes transform everyday conversations into long debates and hostile disputes.
But while our tendency to disagree may be shared, did you know that everyone has a different approach to handling strong thoughts and emotions, a “fighting style” if you will, that provides us with a glimpse into their mental health, too?
How you and I respond to an argument and the tactics and strategies we use to confront a verbal altercation says a lot about your emotional and mental state.
Since few of us are strangers to the realm of combative discussions, we may be asking ourselves, “Okay, what does my fighting strategy reveal about my inner thoughts and mental health?”
Below, are outlined a list of the typical fighting styles used by individuals when they get into a heated discussion or argument — and what these tactics show about our personality, our emotional state and our self-control.
And nothing is more aggressive or unproductive during an argument than ad hominem attacks on the other person’s character, rather than sticking to the topic at hand.
If we tend to break down our opponent by using the information you know about their character as a leverage point, we may want to stop and evaluate how we would feel if you were in their shoes – if our character was under attack.
When people struggle with self-esteem, they can be their own worst enemy and may pick apart their own character traits and flaws.
That’s why it’s not uncommon for these same individuals to resort to “below the belt” tactics in an argument, too.
2. Accepting Defeat or Faking Indifference
In many ways, those who accept defeat or feign indifference during a fight are the same. In both instances, the individual doesn’t open up their inner thoughts — regardless of their reasoning.
Whether we fear that our argument is invalid, or irrelevant, or we cannot find the strength within us to craft an argument or fight, merely accepting defeat or pretending we do not or will not care may indicate that we think and we believe others may find it difficult to or incapable of understanding our thoughts.
This is a common symptom of depression, as individuals who grapple with this mental illness often seek love — rather than arguments or debates or disputes, simply because they don’t believe they have the emotional energy to surrender.
Whenever it appears that their opinions do not align with those of the opposing party, they may act indifferent or accept defeat in an attempt to feel more loved, acknowledged, included, validated and accepted.
3. The Silent Treatment
Maybe we are the type of person who applies the silent treatment tactic every time an argument or heated discussion appears to suddenly arise before us.
If we have found ourselves on the receiving end of the proclamation of “Why aren’t you saying anything to me?” then we may also be subtly wondering what this says about our mental state and our self-esteem and sense of self-control.
While you may have been called out on your quiet tendencies in the past, it may actually be a good thing we become active listeners whenever a dispute erupts.
If your natural tendency is to take the silent approach during a fight, it may serve as an indication of sound mental health and that one acknowledges that proactive discussions, resolutions often arise when one speaker remains calm.
Just be sure to evaluate whether we’re choosing to give the silent treatment, as making this calculated choice could likewise indicate we are acting emotionally distant, insensitive and invalidating toward, unto, our “assertive challenger.”
4. Openness and Honesty
Perhaps one of the healthiest fighting styles that indicates a positive mental state is adopting a style which promotes both openness and honesty — offering an open welcoming platform for every party involved in the discussion to speak.
Those who do not communicate openly and honestly may do well to try to learn how to be open, inclusive and welcoming and then intentionally practice them.
An inclusive and welcoming, and open and honest fighting style generally sees the most successful results for both parties at the end of an argument or debate.
Find Your Balance
When we labor and work to establish a sense of respect that lets our and our “opponent” work through the argument with ease, we’ll experience an easier, less stressful time overcoming whatever difficulties or opposing views arise.
Since psychology has long revealed that getting into healthy arguments can be beneficial to our relationships, it’s very crucial for us, as Christians, to develop a constructive fighting style that not only helps us to enjoy deep and proactive communication channels, but likewise enhances a healthy state of self-control.
But why does all of this or any of this matter to edifying the Kingdom of God?
Proverbs 25:28 King James Version
28 He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
WHY I MUST LET GOD GUIDE MY SPIRIT AND BECOME MY SELF-CONTROL
Self-control helps us to resist temptation and avoid conforming to the things of this world.
It guides our decisions, and it correlates with how we connect and relate to each other and reveals the “things of God” and shows the other fruits in our lives.
For example, forbearance, or patience, requires self-control.
Proverbs 14:29 says, “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.”
Our sinful nature leads us to give into our temper, but we are called to rise above this and show patience.
Self-control can be applied to all of the fruits of the Spirit in the same way it is applied to forbearance.
Displaying self-control is often a matter of responding rather than reacting.
When we react to a situation, we all too easily let our emotions take control.
We are more likely to become defensive and say hurtful things.
Responding, consistent with the Word of God, however, involves developing a more thoughtful Godly response that is guided by reason more than emotions.
As Christians, our responses to situations are to be guided by the fruits of the Spirit – this devotional covering the Spiritual fruit of Self-Control.
Jesus Christ gives us the perfect example of self-control, because He lived a sinless life and possessed every fruit of the Spirit.
Jesus demonstrated self-control because He was sent to earth to carry out the Father’s will. He was to live a perfect life in order to set an example for us, and in the end, He, in obedience, died for our sins so that we may have eternal life.
In Matthew 26:53-54, Jesus says, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”
Jesus knew what He was sent to Earth to do, and despite his own fears, He demonstrated self-control in submitting to the Father’s perfect plan. Without the self-control of Jesus, we would face death as the punishment of our sin.
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
With the Holy Spirit inside of us, we are able to possess self-control and demonstrate the fruits of the Spirit.
As a result, we can live in a way which are both controlled by and honorable to God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
So, next time you are in a tough situation, remember God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the perfect example he gave us of how to live.
While it may seem challenging to demonstrate self-control,
the rewards will definitely and decidedly will be great –
Psalm 103:1-5 Amplified Bible
Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.
A Psalm of David.
103 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And all that is [deep] within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits; 3 Who forgives all your sins, Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you [lavishly] with lovingkindness and tender mercy; 5 Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the [soaring] eagle.
How are we to take David’s three-thousand-year-old Song and make it ours?
Four vital reasons why WE need to learn to let God become our Self Control.
1. BECAUSE OUR FEELINGS OF SELF-CONTROL ARE OFTEN UNRELIABLE.
Our feelings are often far too easily and dangerously unreliable.
They can lead you and me in the wrong direction.
How many times have you and I thought …?
“I just know this is the right thing to do. I just feel it in my gut.”
And you do it and it doesn’t work out. Every one of us have done that.
We have given people motives for doing things, that were not true.
We have had a feeling this person would be a great friend.
We have had a feeling this time we were going to win.
Our feelings are often wrong.
Our intuition does not always work.
Your emotions often lead you down a blind alley with no exit point.
You and I cannot depend on everything you feel.
We do not have to believe everything we feel or think.
I’m telling you the reader; you do not have to accept everything you feel.
Because not everything you feel is right. Not everything you feel is reality.
Some of the things you feel about yourself are flat out dead wrong.
Some of the things you feel about other people are dead wrong.
You say, I’m sure this is the right direction, but it’s not.
So, you and I need to let God do a better job managing our emotions.
Proverbs 14:12 says this “There is a way that SEEMS right to a person, but in the end, it leads to death.”
So, our emotions are not infallible.
Just because you and I feel it so strongly does not always make it 100% true.
Our feelings are often wrong, and they often guide us in the wrong direction.
The second reason I need to let God control my emotions is.
2. BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO BE MANIPULATED.
If you and I don’t let God control our emotions, they will control us, and we will be manipulated by your moods.
If you and I are always 100% guided by OUR feelings, You and I will all too quickly reject the truth of the Word of God, because you and I feel as though something else is infinitely, temporarily more noble, more just or more loving.
If you and I are always guided by feelings other people are going to quickly take advantage of us.
In fact, politicians, salesmen and advertisers are trained in how to stir up your emotions because they know if they can get you hooked emotionally, you are going to buy the message or the product they want to move off their shelves.
So, the emotional bent of the message, the color scheme of the packaging and the music in the commercial and the things that they say in the presentation are all deliberately and intentionally designed to quickly, if not immediately, to get us emotionally involved to the point of saying, “I genuinely need one of those.”
And if you make snap decisions like what you buy based on emotion it’s called impulse buying, you are going to buy stuff that you do not really need or want.
Has anybody ever done this?
Could I see your hands?
We all have!
You go home and you go,
why in the world did I believe that?
why in the world did I buy that?
The Bible says in Proverbs 25:28 – I love this in the New American Bible, “Like an open city with no defenses is the person with no check on his feelings.”
Remember in the days Proverbs was written, you built walls around the city to keep the enemy out.
Otherwise, the enemy just rushes into the city and take whatever they wanted.
Let me show you this verse in another translation.
The New Living Translation says this “A person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken down walls.”
Not only are you defenseless against the manipulation of other people but you are defenseless to the manipulation of other people by your own old nature.
Our own old nature will maliciously use our feelings to turn us inside out.
It will convince you, “you deserve whatever you feel like having.”
The sinful nature in me, can use my best feelings against me and against the truth of the Word of God for His Children.
We have people feeling as though Jesus was not “unconditionally” loving “all of the people” when he said marriage was exclusively between man and a woman.
So now people feel as though they are being more loving and compassionate than Jesus, by letting Jesus know he was wrong, it doesn’t have to be a man and a woman. How can you and I be more loving or compassionate than Jesus was?
The woman caught in adultery felt like what she was doing was right.
Jesus had absolute 100% compassion on her by telling her to go, sin no more.
Worst of all Satan’s favorite tool in your life is negative emotions.
He will never hesitate to use fear to keep you in bondage.
He will never hesitate to use resentment and jealousy and envy to get you off track from the will of God.
He will never hesitate to use bitterness, worry, anxiety and shame to keep us from growing in Christ.
He will never hesitate to use despair, desperation and discouragement to keep us from confidently, fervently, going to God in prayer. (James 5:13-18)
If you don’t know how to manage your emotions, you are 100% helpless against Satan. Because he so quickly wreaks so much havoc in our lives emotionally.
1 Peter 5:8 says this “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
If you and I don’t have self-control, he will very quickly “eat you and I up.”
The third reason I need to control my emotions because:
3. BECAUSE I WANT TO PLEASE GOD.
God cannot be God in my life if my emotions are “my god in my life.”
God cannot rule my life if my emotions rule my life.
Jesus can’t be Lord of my life if my emotions are the lord of my life.
If I make all my decisions simply based on how I feel, then I have tragically made my feelings my god.
And then my GOD cannot be MY GOD!
The Bible says in Romans 8:6-8“To be controlled by human nature results in death; to be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace. . . Those who obey their human nature cannot please God.”
So, you and I cannot please God if our emotions dominate our life
and they are running our life and our decisions are made based on;
“How do I feel rather than what does the Word of God say?”
The fourth reason I must let God manage my emotions is…
4. BECAUSE I WANT TO SUCCEED IN LIFE.
This is probably one of the number one predictor of success or failure in life.
Do you and I know how to manage our moods?
Do you and I know how to deal with how you and I feel?
Do you and I know how to control our emotions?
The answer to these questions is unequivocal – “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”
But if you and I don’t learn how to do this you and I will never be the success in life that God wants you and I to be and that, for God’s sake you and I want to be.
Study after study after study have shown our EQ is more important than our IQ.
That for success in business Emotional Quotient is far more important than your Intelligence Quotient.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is a skill that refers to one’s ability to understand, and process, and express one’s feelings, as well as recognise and be able to engage with the feelings of others.
Emotional intelligence is a skill that can be improved. But more than learning about it, it requires a deliberate, intentional effort to be trained by practicing.
Why is emotional intelligence important?
This skill is essential for building relationships with other people.
It’s also an essential key to understand yourself and your needs.
Emotional intelligence can help you handle difficult moments in your life.
Developing emotional intelligence can help your career because it makes you a more stable and cooperative team member.
That is why, by God’s Grace, we have the Word of God for the Children of God.
A better relationship, also with yourself …
But emotional intelligence not only improves our relationships with others.
By developing a better understanding and connection with our feelings and our needs, we will be able to develop a more balanced life and a good mental health.
Even if it becomes “impossibly” hard to stop our “inner chatter”, through emotional intelligence we can learn from God how to develop within ourselves an inner chatter that is more compassionateand edifying also with ourselves.
A lot of people who do not have a high IQ are very successful in life.
They have got good smarts in dealing with their emotions.
As a result, they are people-people. They know how to get along with others.
I consider emotional intelligence to be a very necessary “Christian” life skill.
Not only does emotional intelligence make life easier, but it also makes it better too.
By intentionally, deliberately, consciously, setting our whole selves in a known difficult environment where you have to rely on other people, we see the Lord and His labors, His Spirit, becoming increasingly engaged in His community.
We’ve all known people who live by their emotions and waste their life. They don’t feel like doing anything relational, so they don’t do anything relating.
How many people do you know, who you have tried to witness to who have ruined their reputation because of their lack of effort towards self-control?
How many people have been kicked out of school, have been sent to jail, have families who want nothing to do with them all because of a lack of self-control?
When you give your heart to Jesus that includes your emotions.
So, when you say, “I gave my heart to Jesus,” you gave your emotions to him to be managed by him.
Because the heart is the seat of your emotions.
Jesus wants to be Lord of how you feel not just what you think and what you do.
He wants to be Lord of your emotions.
In fact, the Bible says this to believers
1 Peter 4:2 “From now on you must live the rest of your earthly lives [the rest of your earthy lives] controlled by God’s will and not by human desires.”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
My God, You shaped my whole being, authored my entire life from within my mother’s womb. Yet, the sum total of my life is more “why me?” instead of “the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” I pray that the fruit of self-control will grow in me like a tree of strength. I pray that I will control what I say and do and make them subject to Your spirit. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Alleluia! Amen.
There is an African – American Spiritual which declares to each of us today,
There is a balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole There is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin-sick soul
Sometimes I feel discouraged And deep I feel the pain In prayers the holy spirit Revives my soul again
There is a balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole There is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin-sick soul.
Let’s take a feeling test this morning.
Let Me Ask each of us these questions:
What are you and I feeling now?
What all did you and I feel yesterday?
What do you and I hope and pray you and I will feel tomorrow?
Who felt loving, happy, sad, hateful, angry, joyful, thankful, disappointed, depressed, jealous, ambitious, surprised, convicted, hopeful and who felt as though God’s love wanted to use them to make a difference in someone’s life?
Today we are going to take a brief biblical look at emotional health.
That is how to deal with how you feel.
Yesterday we talked about the heartbeat of love and hate.
“I Hate to Love!” and “I Love to Hate!”
Today we are going to begin looking at how to manage your emotions.
Moving into a “GOD” direction of “I Love to Love!” and “I Hate to Hate!”
I am pretty sure we all know the answer to this question …
When has anyone of us here ever had a change, good or bad, take place in their life because they did not keep your range of Love and Hate emotions in check?
We are going to look at what the Bible says about our emotional health and how to perhaps, even hopefully and prayerfully, successfully manage your emotions.
In the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, how to deal with how you and I feel.
Mark 12:28-34 Amplified Bible
28 Then one of the scribes [an expert in Mosaic Law] came up and listened to them arguing [with one another], and noticing that Jesus answered them well, asked Him, “Which commandment is first and most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The first and most important one is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’ 31 This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] [a]love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to Him, “Admirably answered, Teacher; You truthfully stated that He is One, and there is no other but Him; 33 and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to [unselfishly] love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he answered thoughtfully and intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”And after that, no one would dare to ask Him any more questions.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Mark 12:34 … Young’s Literal Translation
34 And Jesus, having seen him that he answered with understanding, said to him, `Thou art not far from the reign of God;’ and no one any more durst question him.
Today we will begin to explore how emotional health and trust are linked.
Truth is, thanks be to God, we are all emotional beings and how we are doing emotionally (positively and negatively) affects all of us on a regular basis.
God our Creator, the Author of our entire Life has something to say about yours and mine emotional health, and it is my fervent hope you, the readership, are and become greatly encouraged and feel the touch of just one of the tears Jesus cried for you and receive a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit, come to know how deeply you and I are loved by the Lord as we focus in on this truth today.
Do you know that God cares deeply about your emotions?
Gospel Truth is this: Your heavenly Father longs for your life to be marked by emotional joy, fulfillment, satisfaction, and peace. He longs for your emotions to be rooted and grounded in his steadfast love and goodness.
Our Savior is an emotional Savior. He is not void of feelings.
We feel because he feels.
We have emotions because we are made in his image.
For much of my Christian life I thought my emotions had to be based on my circumstances.
I felt happy or sad based on others’ opinions, the pressures of life, and opportunities I had or didn’t have.
As a result, I was on a constant emotional roller coaster following the ups and downs of this shaky world. I found myself controlled by the things of the world rather than the foundation of love laid before me by the sacrificial love of Jesus.
Scripture continually describes a link between emotional health and trust.
Isaiah 26:3-4 says, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”
Psalm 56:3-4 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”
And Psalm 33:21 says, “For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.”
We are robbed of having our emotions rooted in God whenever we take on more pressure than we are meant to carry.
Our emotional health is directly linked to our level of trust.
We feel pressure at work when we look to our job and co-workers for our provision, identity, purpose, and fulfillment.
We feel pressure in our relationships when our worth isn’t based on God’s perspective but the opinions of others.
We are robbed of peace when we try and plan our own steps rather than following our Good Shepherd into the green pastures and still waters.
In John 14:27 Jesus says,
“Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
God’s heart is to fill you with peace.
He longs for you to have all the fruit of the Spirit dwelling within you.
He has consistent, constant peace available to you.
But you must trust him in every area of your life.
You must hand over the reins of your relationships, job, identity, and plans to your Good Shepherd.
You must love and trust that he will guide you perfectly into an abundant life.
Mark 12:29-30 Jesus says this
“The most important commandment is this, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.”
Do you understand the emotion involved in this passage?
If this verse had said, you must love your favorite football team, or favorite singer, or favorite actor with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength,
what imagery comes to your mind?
How are you going to act at the game, at the concert, or at the movie?
Would people think you were a little radical, a little nuts?
God is saying, I want to have an emotional relationship with you, where you throw everything, you have into it.
God even complains when we don’t do it.
He says, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Have you ever seen somebody do something, and though they did it right, you could tell their heart just wasn’t in it.
God wants us to be emotionally involved in our relationship to him.
Look to your heavenly Father for peace.
Find rest in his abundant love.
Find your self-worth in the fact that God so desired relationship with you that he laid down his own life to have it.
UNDERSTAND MY EMOTIONS
Let me give you some truths about your emotions before we get into this.
1. First, Our Savior has emotions.
Jesus was God in the flesh.
Can you imagine the whole range of emotions he went through riding on the back of the foal as he entered the city gates of Jerusalem?
“Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna!” “Save us we Pray! Save us we Pray!” the crowd of people joyously shouted at the top of their lungs as Jesus recalled his destiny
He was happy to see the people turn out in large numbers.
He was thankful for the praises of the people.
He was disappointed that the Pharisees could not see what was taking place.
He was angry that religious leaders wanted him to silence the crowd.
He was so angry when He entered the Temple grounds, he turned over tables and yelled above the raucous din and activity of the “marketplace” inside.
He was sad that the people didn’t understand their true need.
He cried because he knew the destruction the Roman army would inflict on some of the people there.
He felt rejection because he knew the cross was still less than a week away.
Our Savior Jesus has emotions.
The only reason you have emotions is because you’re made in God’s image.
If our Savior was not an emotional Savior, we wouldn’t have any emotions.
We would not read: “Jesus Wept!”
2. My ability to feel is a gift from God.
Your emotions are a gift from God.
They may not always seem that way.
But even the negative ones have a role in your life.
God can use them to show you your need for him.
Emotions are a great asset.
They’re the one thing that make you and me human.
If you and I didn’t have emotions, you and I would just be a robot.
How many of you would want to be married to a robot?
It is our emotional ability that allows us to love and create and to be faithful and loyal and kind and generous and all the range of the emotions that are attached to both the good and bad and catastrophic things in life.
One of the most astounding verses in the Bible is
Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image.”
In OUR Image.
As I said the only reason you have emotions is because God gave them to you.
And you were made in his image.
3. There are two extremes to avoid.
There are two extremes you need to avoid in dealing with emotions.
One is called emotionalism and the other is called stoicism
Emotionalism means all that matters is how I feel.
Emotionalism is the extreme of saying the only thing that matters in life is how I feel.
It does not matter what I think, it doesn’t matter what’s right or wrong, it doesn’t matter what’s popular or unpopular, good or bad.
What matters is doing and responding to what you feel.
If it feels good, do it.
If I am full of Emotionalism, my emotions, they control my life, they dominate my life, they run my life and I am a very emotionally centered person.
Stoicism – feelings aren’t important at all. Stoicism is the exact opposite. It basically says feelings aren’t important at all. The only thing that matters is the measure of your intellect and your will – your volition and your intelligence.
So, the stoics say emotions are not part of life; feelings do not really matter.
We lean one way or the other and have a tendency to marry someone on the other end. One of us wants to tell the whole story with all the drama, and the other one just wants to hear the basic facts.
Like Joe Friday, from Dragnet, we say “the facts mam, just the facts.”
Actually, both of these are extreme positions.
And the happy medium is where you really want to be.
It’s not emotionalism or stoicism.
You want to know how to worship God with your emotions as shown by the facts of the truth of the Word of God.
God gave us our emotions for a reason.
God wants us to worship him emotionally.
God wants us to feel it.
In fact, God complains in the Scripture many times you’re just worshiping with your lips but not with your emotions, not with your heart.
You don’t really feel it.
By the way the word “emotion” isn’t used that often in the Bible because the Bible uses the word “passions” or “affections” or the number one term for emotions is “heart.”
We still use that today.
When you fall in love, what part of your body do you symbolically give to the person to show it.
You say, “I give you, my whole heart.”
Heart is the symbol of love and emotions.
Even today we say, “I love you with all my heart.”
In the bible, the word of God, the mind represents the intellect and the heart represents emotions. Both of them are involved in the worship of our God.
We come to church to learn about God and to feel the presence of God. That’s why our praise and our worship is as important as hearing the preached word.
We now know that those are actually two different circuit systems in your brain.
Your emotions have an amazing system as well as your thoughts do.
Some things you just react emotionally without even thinking about it.
4. GOD GAVE US THE PSALMS IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND OUR EMOTIONS.
If you have a hard time with some emotions in your life you need to spend a lot of time in the book of Psalms.
Psalms has every emotion known to man in it – the good ones and the bad ones.
The positive and the negative.
You read some of those psalms and you think,
“Why is this chapter in the Bible?”
It’s there to teach you about even those negative emotions.
Because not all psalms are about praise and thanksgiving.
There are psalms of anger and there are psalms of complaining and psalms of lament and sorrow.
There are psalms of arguing with God.
Every emotion known to man is in the Psalms and God is saying all of these are legitimate.
127 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.
Psalm 100 Amplified Bible
All Men Exhorted to Praise God.
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness and delight; Come before His presence with joyful singing. 3 Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, [a]not we ourselves [and we are His]. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with a song of thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, bless and praise His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy and lovingkindness are everlasting, His faithfulness [endures] to all generations.
Psalm 70 Amplified Bible
Prayer for Help against Persecutors.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.
70 O God, come quickly to save me; O Lord, come quickly to help me! 2 Let those be ashamed and humiliated Who seek my life; Let them be turned back and humiliated Who delight in my hurt. 3 Let them be turned back because of their shame and disgrace Who say, “Aha, aha!”
4 May all those who seek You [as life’s first priority] rejoice and be glad in You; May those who love Your salvation say continually, “Let God be magnified!” 5 But I am afflicted and needy; Come quickly to me, O God! You are my help and my rescuer; O Lord, do not delay.
In Psalm 70 we read today, in just those first five verses, we found desperation, frustration, anger, encouragement, confidence, humility and hope AND GOD!
So, we’re going to take some quality time at how to deal with how WE feel.
It is important for us to learn how to deal with managing our emotions and how to deal with an unwanted devotion.
Your Father counts you worthy of the death of his only Son.
Trust him today.
Place your entire life in his capable hands.
And experience God’s abundant life in the area of your emotions, rooting and grounding yourself in his unconditional, available love.
May your life be marked by increasing emotional health as you grow in trust.
Tomorrow, we’re going to try and examine why we must take quality time with God in our shared efforts to learn how to in Jesus’ name, manage our emotions.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Prayer
1. Meditate on the link between trust and emotional health. Allow Scripture to stir up your desire and willingness to trust God with every area of your life.
“For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.”Psalm 33:21
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?”Psalm 56:3-4
2. Where are you not experiencing abundant life in your emotions? Where are you feeling void of peace, joy, passion, and purpose?
3. Ask God to help you discern what part of your life you are not trusting to him. Hand over that area to him and find peace and rest in his trustworthiness.
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”Isaiah 26:3-4
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 4:6-7
“Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”John 14:27
Human nature we say has multiple intense emotions attached to it, a couple of those intense feelings condensed into 4 letter words are love and hate.
If it is justified that we can just happen to instinctively or naturally love a person or an activity, can the same logic be used to justify hatred?
To understand if that is the case or not, we need to begin by defining hatred.
Both Merriam Webster, as well as Oxford dictionary, define hate as ‘extreme disgust’ and ‘intense dislike’ respectively.
Of course, both the adjectives mentioned here are pretty vague because it is difficult to decide what level of extremity or what measure of intensity can be termed as extreme or intense, the constant question comes, what parameters qualify this threshold?
Love and hate are two parallel emotions that are always used together. One needs to experience the extremes of hate/love to know entirely about them.
Hate is defined as a powerful feeling of not liking somebody/something at all. It’s a negative emotion that affects our rationales and way of thinking, and it comes out of anger, hostility and resentment. Hate harms the hater as well as the hated person, and it makes life more miserable.
In simple words where a feeling of mild disgust or of mild dislike makes us uncomfortable till that extent which we end up having a subconscious wanting to harm or cancel or just eliminate the target, that’s where the mild feeling gets converted into hatred.
Think about this. Our mental defense mechanisms are self-protective in nature, we subconsciously end up equipping the tool of greatest personal reassurance.
Hence, if we have already devalued the image a person or a group in our mind on the basis of what we have ‘heard’, we confirm the bias against something that we already have heard to reinforce and reassure our beliefs we feed ourselves with even more information to back it.
Aristotle states that ‘whereas anger is customarily felt toward individuals, hatred is often felt towards groups…. hate is based on the generalized attribution of action to the basic traits and features of a person’.
Hence if one day we experience or get to know that an individual having a specific trait, be it color or religion or anything similar we rather than disliking that specific instance end up reinforcing our stereotype that we have made and label the group showing that trait to be potential causes of the same actions.
Rather than hate, one should always spread love and bring positivity in their and others’ lives. One should not let hatred consume them as it will only have both serious and severe adverse effects on their physical and mental health.
Hence, I have brought these love – hate quotes to yours and mine attention to “put an elbow into our ribcages” and remind us to spread happiness and love!
“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in this world but has not solved one yet.” Maya Angelou
“Somewhere between love and hate lies confusion, misunderstanding and desperate hope.” Shannon L. Alder
“When we don’t know who to hate, we hate ourselves.” Chuck Palahniuk Source: Invisible Monsters
“I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.” James Baldwin Source: The Fire Next Time
“I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.” Booker T. Washington
“Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.” Muhammad Ali
“Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too.” Will Smith
It is our love for one another that lets our light shine unto the world and boldly states we are Christians!
In 1 John 3:11-18 John states if one is indifferent or hates a brother or sister then either one is not saved or is out of fellowship with God.
1 John 3:11-18Amplified Bible
11 For this is the message which you [believers] have heard from the beginning [of your relationship with Christ], that we should [unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another; 12 and not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother [Abel]. And why did he murder him? Because Cain’s deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, believers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed out of death into Life, because we love the brothers and sisters. He who does not love remains in [spiritual] death. 15 Everyone who hates (works against) his brother [in Christ] is [at heart] a murderer [by God’s standards]; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know [and have come to understand the depth and essence of His precious] love: that He [willingly] laid down His life for us [because He loved us]. And we ought to lay down our lives for the believers. 17 But whoever has the [a]world’s goods (adequate resources), and sees his brother in need, but has no compassion for him, how does the love of God live in him? 18 Little children (believers, dear ones), let us not love [merely in theory] with word or with tongue [giving lip service to compassion], but in action and in truth [in practice and in sincerity, because practical acts of love are more than words].
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
A new command Christ has given to us born of the water and the Spirit.
That is to “love one another” so that the world will “know that you are My disciplines” (John 13:34)!
As Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) we are called to not curse human beings made in God’s image (James 3:9) but instead labor to do good unto them (Luke 6:27) so that the comfort and love we have received (2 Corinthians 1:3-5) from the Father might be apparent and a witness of His grace and mercy.
If by Jesus’ own words, (Matthew 5:43-44) If God commands us to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute us. then how much more ought we love, seek unity and peace with our spiritual brothers within the same body of Christ?
While the command to love one another is clearly to be a priority for God’s own it is difficult to put into practice because it invites intense persecution!
Rabbi Jesus warns us that while obeying His command to love results in our light shining amongst the lost it at the same time invites hatred amongst those who don’t want to approach the light because their evil deeds will be exposed (John 3:20, 15:18).
While it is painful to be persecuted by non-Christians who have not passed from death to life (1 John 3:14), how much more so when indifference or “active antagonism” comes from within the body of believers?
This was the situation that Apostle John wrote about in 1 John 3:11-18.
The Johanne community were “experiencing a pattern of prejudicial treatment and resentment” from two God-fearing bodies.
First, the Jews were putting them out of the synagogue and killing them (John 16:2, 9:34) due to their belief in the Messiah dying once and for all, and
second, they faced intense persecution from a group of heretics, followers of Cerinthus, that were spreading false teaching.
The incredibly sad part is that these secessionists used to belong to their church!
Today’s devotion is going review the reasons John gave as to why it is not ok to be indifferent or outright hate those created in God’s image, especially when they belong to the same body of Christ because such negative emotions often demonstrate your bond is with Satan and you in fact are not born again!
The Message from the Beginning
John begins by stating that he is “not giving the church a message they have never heard” but instead one that was given from the beginning!
The command to love was Christ’s command given to His disciples “likely dependent of the Last Supper discourse.”
Jesus said, “a new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so must you love one another. By this everyone will know you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:34-35).
This is not meant to be some “academic, theological, doctrinal statement,” but one of the litmus tests one can use to determine if one has indeed “passed from death to life” (1 John 3:14)!
“As the knowledge of God is tested by conduct—whether one walks in the light (1:5–2:11)—so being “born of God” (2:29) is tested by righteous action and love of the brethren.”
While the definition of “love” by the world is incredibly broad and often self-gratifying, the kind of love John is referring to,
agape love, is the “responsibility to demonstrate selfless concern for our brothers and sisters in Christ as our response to the grace God has given us!”
Agape love is crucial for “living for Jesus and for advancing God’s kingdom.”
Because it is by considering others better than ourselves and looking out for their best interests (Philippians 2:3) that one demonstrates one has indeed received and is now able to pass the comfort one has received from the Father onto His children!
It is not by our carrying Bibles, singing worship songs, theological astuteness, or even the size of our church or our congregations that others see God’s light but instead by our visible and invisible expression of sacrificial love for them!
While we are called to love all humans because they are created in God’s image,
John stresses how important it is to show those who have a bond with the Devil and are filled with jealousy, hatred and strife that when you chose a bond with God through belief in the atoning sacrifice of His Son (John 3:16-17) you receive the opposite: expressions of unity, peace and love for both God and one another.
It is covenanted within this testimony of love that a believer can point the lost sheep to the Good Shepherd to be found, loved, and redeemed by His blood!
Hatred as a Sign of Death
Before John tells his audience more about the love believers are to emulate, he begins by using Cain as an example of the opposite of love, hated!
We are told in Genesis chapter four that “in the course of time” (4:3) both Cain and Abel brought offerings unto the Lord.
While “Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil” Abel brought “fat portions from some of the firstborn of the flock” (4:3-4).
We are told that the Lord looked favorably on Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s (4:4-5). “Cain became very angry; his face was downcast” (4:5) so the Lord said to Cain, “if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it” (4:7).
In a fit of jealousy and anger we are told that Cain invited his brother Abel to go out into the field where he proceeded to butcher him like one would an animal!
I believe the greater issue here is not that Cain brought an inferior sacrifice, a grain instead of animal sacrifice as some commentaries suggest, but that Cain lacked love, trust and faith (Hebrews 11:4) to give God his very best and was filled with murderous hatred in the sight of his brother’s righteousness!
Despite both brothers being raised in the same environment and by the same parents, unlike Abel, Cain chose to reject God as the Master of his destiny and tried to control his own future.
Cain did not “become a child of the Devil (1 John 3:12) by murdering his brother.
Rather, he murders his brother because he is already a child of the Devil!”
The “evil character of Cain is universally assumed in both biblical, extrabiblical sources” and the murder of Abel constantly reminds us that every single person has to make a choice between “hatred and love, life and death, murder and self-sacrifice” that comes from either having love, trust and faith in self or in God!
With the story of Cain in mind John boldly warns the successionists, the Jewish people and his own flock that what one possesses within one’s heart, either good or evil, is a sign of whether one has passed from death to life (1 John 3:14)!
From Cain’s murder of Abel, we learn an absence of love means living in an atmosphere of death!
Our choosing between being “right in our own eyes, being right in the eyes of God will draw hatred from others who cannot tolerate the light, morality, and selfless, sacrificial righteousness of those who rely on God’s grace and mercy.
Since “genuine love cannot be fabricated or imitated, it is either present within our hearts from Christ or not.”
Love and fellowship with God are an amazing barometer to determine if one is saved or not!
In Mark 7:21-23 Rabbi Jesus said that true murder is that which is conceived in the heart. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed malice, deceit, lewdness, and envy, slander, arrogance, and folly.
All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean!
An absence of evil within one’s heart or having love for others “will not cause spiritual life to occur but will give evidence of it. Conversely, to be unable to love means that a person is without life from the Father and remains in death.”
For John when a believer is either indifferent or outright hates other believers this is the “spiritual equivalent of murder” (Matthew 5:21-22), as a lustful eye is the spiritual equivalent of adultery (Matthew 5:28).
John is not saying that any person who hates is unsaved or have committed an unpardonable sin but merely that since “hate and death go together” as evil from the Devil, these are signs one either has not passed from death to life or at the very least are not abiding in the new life in Christ, therefore stand outside of the fellowship of God!
To these first century secessionists who rejected both faith in Jesus (2:22–23; 4:2–3) and love for one’s brothers and sisters (2:9–11; 3:11–15), John point blank states you are not saved but to those inside his flock he is saying that since by your fruit you will be known make every effort to not hate but love those within the family of God!
Love as a Sign of Life
When it comes to knowing exactly what love is, John says we are to emulate Jesus who laid down His life for us (1 John 3:16)!
While Cain is a universally acknowledged example of ultimate hate,
He who emptied Himself and became the suffering servant for even His enemies is an ultimately holy and ultimately perfect example of agape love!
The kind of love we are to have for our brothers and sisters in Christ is one that goes beyond self to focus on the well-being of all others.
When John speaks of Christ laying down His life this makes us think of the passage where Jesus talks about being the Good Shepherd who voluntarily lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11, 15-18).
Agape “love is denial of self for another’s gain.”
It is doing what Jesus Himself already did and continues to do.
It is becoming like Apostle Paul who said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
“The effacement, (the quality of not claiming attention for oneself) of another’s rights and perhaps existence for one’s own sake is the essence of hatred; the effacement of oneself for another’s sake is the essence of agape love!”
Being angry, envious, and holding extreme grudges against those born again and created in the image of God drives a wedge between us and Him for God above all is pure love!
While loving all people, especially those with different dreams, goals, hobbies, and yes even different theology is impossible for our sinful natures to accept, those born of the water and Spirit (John 3:5) can do so for they have been given a new heart to replace their one of stone (Ezekiel 36:26)!
While we “are unlikely to have opportunities to literally die for others” we are to walk in Christ’s footsteps and voluntarily (John 10:18) “sacrifice our own self-interests” so that the vertical relationship of love between us and the Father might horizontally be known amongst our fellow believers!
It is through this kind of sacrificial other focused love that the world and we too see ourselves as true children of God!
To keep these first century Secessionists, Jews, and members of his own church from enthusiastically speaking with the tongue the kind of love that is not in their hearts; above all,
John says agape love “must be practical, visible, and active” (1 John 3:17-18)!
How easy and self-assuring it is to say I love all of humanity while at the very same time being indifferent or hatful towards those who are “uninteresting, exasperating, depraved, or otherwise radically different and unattractive!”
To follow in Jesus’ footsteps, one must be willing to seek and acknowledge the needs of others by practically meeting them when possible.
What would have happened to us if Christ had not emptied Himself of the glory, He had with the Father but instead chose not to lift a finger to help us “sinful, ungodly, unrighteous folks?” What if Paul never wrote Romans chapter 5,6?
Without His grace and mercy would we not remain lost sheep looking for our Master?
“Actions speak louder than words”
for it is precisely in our putting other’s interests above our own that we demonstrate we have learned much from the Lord who is our Shepherd!
Since “love that fails to take form of action on behalf of others is nothing more than religious rhetoric,” with unspeakable joy in the presence of He who voluntarily atoned for our sins may we emulate His love for all by offering those around us whatever we can to reduce their burdens.
Since we have more material possessions than even the children of Israel when they entered the Promised Land, let’s give sacrificially, not with the expectation of reciprocity but with thankful hearts that what God has entrusted to us we get to share with His own!
Let us not give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25), become indifferent to some and infatuated by others, but instead let us share with one another, unified as one body in Christ who share the same Spirit and glorious hope of one day going home to be with Jesus!
Let this be one more Affirmation of faith, hope and love for today,
“Lord Jesus the love and comfort You have given me help me to share it with my brothers and sisters for Your honor and glory, Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Father, my Guide, illuminate my mind so I can understand how you want me to live. Your word tells me that people of integrity who follow your instructions are joyful. You have said that those who obey your laws and search for you with all their hearts are blessed and happy. I want that joy! Holy Spirit, please guard me against allowing evil to influence what I believe and do. Help me walk only in your paths. May my actions consistently reflect what you have said is right and good. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
It pays to pay attention to whom you pay attention to.
But how do I know the difference between good advice and bad?
In my files I have the following pieces of advice that you may want to consider:
· Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
· Never buy a car you cannot push to the service station five miles away.
When everything’s coming your way, you’re probably in the wrong lane.
· Find out what you do not do well, then do not do it.
· Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have any legs to stand on.
· An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of bandages and adhesive tape.
· It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
The world is filled with people who would like to give us advice.
And the Bible SAYS it is a good thing to listen to advice.
For example:
Proverbs 12:15 “The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.”
Proverbs 15:22 “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”
Proverbs 19:20-21 “Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.
Proverbs 16:1 “The plans and reflections of the heart belong to man, But the [wise] answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
Interestingly enough those proverbs were written by Solomon for the benefit of his sons – those who would come to sit on the very throne of Israel after he died.
Repeatedly – throughout Proverbs – Solomon would say things like this:
“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” Proverbs 1:8
From One Generation to the next, we try to impart the very best advice to then that they might come to avoid making the same mistakes we made, they would come to make better, sounder and much more thoroughly considered decisions.
But does this always work?
It would be so much greater than great for everyone in whole the world if it did.
But as we are about to read and consider from our biblical text – our answer is:
Obviously, Unfortunately, Ultimately, NOT!
1 Kings 12:1-19Amplified Bible
King Rehoboam Acts Foolishly
12 Rehoboam went to [a]Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 Now when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard about it, he was living in Egypt (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon). 3 So they sent word and called for him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our yoke (burden) heavy; so now lighten the hard labor and the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, and we will serve you.” 5 Rehoboam replied to them, “Leave for three days, then come back to me [for my decision].” So, the people left.
6 King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served and advised his father Solomon while he was still alive and said, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” 7 They spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them and grant their request, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.” 8 But he [b]ignored the advice which the elders gave him and consulted the young men who grew up with him and served him. 9 He said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke (burden) which your father put on us’?” 10 The young men who had grown up with him answered, “This is what you should say to this people who told you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but as for you, make our yoke lighter’—say this to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins [and my reign will be even more severe]. 11 And now, whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with [c]scorpions.’”
12 Jeroboam and all the people came back to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had instructed, saying, “Return to me on the third day.” 13 The king answered the people harshly and [d]ignored the advice which the elders had given him, 14 and spoke to them in accordance with the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but as for me, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people; for the situation was from the Lord, so that He might fulfill His word which He spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
The Kingdom Divided, Jeroboam Rules Israel
16 So when all [the ten northern tribes of] Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people replied to the king, saying,
“What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; To your tents, O Israel! Look now after [e]your own house, David!”
Then Israel went back to their tents. 17 But as for the sons (descendants) of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah [including Benjamin], Rehoboam reigned over them. 18 Then King Rehoboam sent [f]Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labor [to represent him], and all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam quickly mounted his chariot to escape to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel (the ten northern tribes) has rebelled against the house (royal line) of David to this day (the date of this writing).
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Solomon’s oldest son was Rehoboam.
Solomon’s oldest son was Rehoboam, and today we’re reading about the day Rehoboam sought that very kind of advice.
When Solomon died, his throne was passed down to his eldest son Rehoboam.
Rehoboam was approached by his people saying they needed relief from the high taxes his father had imposed during his reign to build the Temple and to govern and run the kingdom.
Wisely, Rehoboam asked for 3 days so that he could consult with his advisors.
1st he goes to his father’s advisors… older men whom Solomon trusted for good advice.
These men tell Rehoboam to listen to the people.
They say, “If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.” 12:7
But Rehoboam rejected the advice of these Elders.
Instead, Rehoboam goes to his friends, his younger inexperienced friends … and asks their advice.
But HIS friends are not wise and experienced men.
They are proud, arrogant and selfish men.
They like to “talk big”.
They probably spend a great deal of their time sitting around and making fun of people who aren’t like them.
These are men who probably enjoyed the “trash talk” of their day.
And you can tell – that’s the kind of men they are – from the kind of answer they give Rehoboam
“Tell these people who have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter’— tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’”
Now, it doesn’t take much of a genius to realize that this was definitely NOT the smartest advice they could have given in that moment when Charity is required.
Those were not words destined to make a whole lot of people very happy with their new King Rehoboam.
Those weren’t the words a good king would say.
Those were the words of tyrants and bullies.
People who like to push others around.
(Pause…) But those were the words Rehoboam listened to.
Where Charity and Love Prevail ….
Where Greed and Avarice Prevail ….
And so, when the people of Israel reassembled 3 days later,
King Rehoboam shows off for his friends and as a result — he loses nearly everything he’d inherited from his father. He lost more than half his kingdom and neither he nor any of his descendants could ever get it back again.
From that day forward,
the 10 tribes of Israel (to the North) and the two tribes of Judah (to the South and ruled by the descendants of Rehoboam) were never to be reunited again.
The ultimate focus of this devotional message today is this:
Proverbs 16:1 Amplified Bible
Contrast the Upright and the Wicked
16 The plans and reflections of the heart belong to man, But the [wise] answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
It pays to pay attention to who you pay attention to.
NOT ALL advice is good advice.
Psalm 1 Amplified Bible
Book One
The Righteous and the Wicked Contrasted.
1 [a]Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked [following their advice and example], Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit [down to rest] in the seat of [b]scoffers (ridiculers). 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And on His law [His precepts and teachings] he [habitually] meditates day and night. 3 And he will be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season; Its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity].
4 The wicked [those who live in disobedience to God’s law] are not so, But they are like the chaff [worthless and without substance] which the wind blows away. 5 Therefore, the wicked will not stand [unpunished] in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord knows and fully approves the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked shall perish.
In that short Psalm, God warns us to be careful who we hang around with.
Who we listen to.
Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the man who does
· Doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked
· Doesn’t stand in the way of the sinners
· Doesn’t sit in the seat of mockers.
Why not?
Why don’t I want to spend time with these folks?
Because, the reason they are the way they are, is because they think the way they think.
God tells us these folks are more wise in their own eyes than in God’s eyes.
They won’t stand in the judgment.
They’re not going to sit with the righteous in the last day.
They will perish!
And you DO NOT want to go where they end up.
Their actions and their words tell us what kind of people they are, and what kind of advice they’d give us.
What about Psalm 1 makes it so relevant here?
Psalm 1 is called the preamble to the book of Psalms.
That is, it serves as an introduction to the entire book.
What is said in Psalm 1 is relevant to all the rest of the book of Psalms.
Reverend Charles Haddon Spurgeon viewed it this way:
The matter of the first Psalm, which may be looked upon, in some respects, as the text upon which the whole of the Psalms make up a divine sermon.
The psalms begin with these words: “Blessed is the man.”
In Psalm 1, God addresses man’s most basic question: How can I be happy (blessed, fortunate, prosperous, favored by God) in this life?
Is this true?
Does God really want us to be blessed, fortunate, prosperous, favored by God?
Absolutely!
And this happiness is not temporary, but perpetual.
The word translated blessed is plural in the original Hebrew.
That is, it means perpetual blessings.
It can be read blessedness’s or happiness’s.
So how can I be happy, truly happy?
Psalm 1 is called a wisdom psalm because we learn that happiness results from our choice to follow God’s direction of life.
In this psalm the writer sets forth two ways or two directions in life.
One is the right way that leads to happiness,
and the other is the wrong way that leads to misery.
The Right Way
Psalm 1:1–3 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psalm 1 captures a basic fundamental teaching found in both the Old and New Testaments.
In the Old Testament God teaches His people that one’s choice will determine both the direction and the outcome of your life.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. (Deuteronomy. 30:19)
In the New Testament, Jesus’ message to the crowds is to choose the right way in life:
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew. 7:13–14)
Choosing the Right Path
First, in Psalm 1:1 we learn that happiness comes by choosing to walk on a righteous path.
This determination is directly connected to other people.
Each line in this verse tells us to avoid the wrong kinds of interpersonal relationships.
Your friends and your enemies make all the difference in your life.
Notice what this verse says: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.”
Choosing the righteous path includes refusing advice from those who hold godless values and whose moral choices violate the laws of God.
The second line goes a step further: “nor standeth in the way of sinners.”
It is one thing to listen to wicked counsel. It is another to decisively side with that viewpoint. Instead, the happy person refuses to follow the worldly crowd.
You don’t see him “hanging out” with those who pursue sin as a lifestyle.
Finally, he refuses to sit and associate with those whose conversations mock and curse God: “nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”
If you want to be miserable, make your best friends those who are scornful, critical and disrespectful.
The three verbs—walk, stand and sit—show the slippery slope of evil. Evil is not passive. It is ever descending. The longer you go, the worse you get. A pattern of evil choices causes a downward spiral in character that leads to destruction.
But we must also be very careful with our interpretation of this “right way.”
“Our interpretation” and “Our actions which follow our interpretation,” can go horribly wrong, and the only thing created is useless division inconsistent with the Words and essential Gospel Teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Jesus took His disciples into the much hated, thoroughly avoided Samaria to interact with the Woman at the Well with the message: How to Worship God.
John 4:15-25 Amplified
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw.” 16 At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your [a]husband. You have said this truthfully.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].” 21 Jesus replied, “Woman, believe Me, a time is coming [when God’s kingdom comes] when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ—the Anointed); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [we need to know].”
Jesus sat with and shared a meal with the hated, thoroughly avoided ones.
Matthew 9:9-13 Amplified
Matthew Called
9 As Jesus went on from there, He saw a man named Matthew (Levi) sitting in the tax collector’s booth; and He said to him, “Follow Me [as My disciple, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk].” And Matthew got up and followed Him.
10 Then as Jesus was reclining at the table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and [a]sinners [including non-observant Jews] came and ate with Him and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, “Why does your Master eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but [only] those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this [Scripture] means: ‘I desire compassion [for those in distress], and not [animal] sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call [to repentance] the [self-proclaimed] righteous [who see no need to change], but sinners [those who recognize their sin and actively seek forgiveness].”
John 21:15-17 Amplified
The Love Motivation
15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these [others do—with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I [a]love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16 Again He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with total commitment and devotion]?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me [with a deep, personal affection for Me, as for a close friend]?” Peter was grieved that He asked him the third time, “Do you [really] [b]love Me [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend]?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You [with a deep, personal affection, as for a close friend].” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
John 10:11-18 Amplified
11 [a]I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd [b]lays down His [own] life for the sheep. 12 But the hired man [who merely serves for wages], who is neither the shepherd nor the owner of the sheep, when he sees the wolf coming, deserts the flock and runs away; and the wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The man runs because he is a hired hand [who serves only for wages] and is not concerned about the [safety of the] sheep. 14 I am the Good Shepherd, and I know [without any doubt those who are] My own and My own know Me [and have a deep, personal relationship with Me]— 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—and I lay down My [very own] life [sacrificing it] for the benefit of the sheep. 16 I have [c]other sheep [beside these] that are not of this fold. I must bring those also, and they will listen to My voice and pay attention to My call, and they will become [d]one flock with one Shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My [own] life so that I may take it back. 18 No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down voluntarily. I am authorized and have power to lay it down and to give it up, and I am authorized and have power to take it back. This command I have received from My Father.”
The essential key here to properly contextualizing and applying the essential lessons from the Word of God from Psalm 1 into our New Covenant times is:
Hungering for God’s Word – ALL OF IT!
Second, Psalm 1:2 declares that happiness comes by developing a strong appetite for God’s Word.
We learn to enjoy the Bible by nurturing the disciplined habit of meditation.
Meditation involves a 24/7— “day and night”—focus on the Scripture.
This means seeking to understand the Bible’s meaning as well as its application to us personally.
The Spirit of God makes the Word of God satisfying to the soul of man.
The Scriptures are “sweeter than honey” (Psalm. 119:103) and “more to be desired [desirable] are they than gold” (Psalm. 19:10).
In some contexts, the word meditate can be translated growl or groan or moan.
It conveys the idea of muttering.
Perhaps you know someone who walks around mumbling to himself.
We tend to view such behavior as socially odd.
But the reality is that all of us talk to ourselves inside our heads all the time.
There is a mental discussion going on continuously.
Some people simply express parts of their dialogue audibly.
This mental conversation is meditation.
God blesses us as we mull over ALL OF HIS Words, both day and night.
The reason this way of life makes one so happy is that is fulfills the purpose for which we were created.
God’s first command to man was to “be fruitful” (Genesis. 1:28).
Psalm 1 describes the happy man as being “like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:3).
Fruit bearing is the result of deep roots’ finding an abundant supply of nourishment from underground streams of water. God’s Word is an all-sufficient, eternal supply of empowering grace for all of life.
Even during difficult, seemingly barren times, the Word will sustain life.
A fruitful life is a blessed life.
So, David states that God’s way to happiness is being in, but separated from the world, saturated with the Word, and fruitful and successful in doing God’s will.
Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer for us as we navigate through our seasons today;
John 17:13-21 Amplified
The Disciples in the World
13 But now I am coming to You; and I say these things [while I am still] in the world so that they may experience My joy made full and complete and perfect within them [filling their hearts with My delight]. 14 I have given to them Your word [the message You gave Me]; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world and do not belong to the world, just as I am not of the world and do not belong to it. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but that You keep them and protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth [set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy]; Your word is truth. 18 Just as You commissioned and sent Me into the world, I also have commissioned and sent them (believers) into the world. 19 For their sake [e]I sanctify Myself [to do Your will], so that they also may be sanctified [set apart, dedicated, made holy] in [Your] truth.
20 “I do not pray for these alone [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for [all] those who [will ever] believe and trust in Me through their message, 21 that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe [without any doubt] that You sent Me.
The Wrong Way
Psalm 1:4–6 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
David goes on in verse 4 to contrast the way of the righteous with the way of the ungodly: “the ungodly are not so.”
Reverend Charles Haddon Spurgeon makes a powerful point when he notes that the Hebrew proposes a double negative:
“‘Not so the ungodly, no so.’ Oh! how terrible is it to have a double negative put upon the promises! and yet this is just the condition of the ungodly.”
Ungodliness will never, never prosper!
In the end ungodly people’s lives are deemed as “chaff.”
In other words, they are worthless, lifeless and useless.
They will be driven away by the wind of God’s judgment.
They will not dwell with the people of God in the congregation of the righteous (Psalm 1:5).
At the end of the passage, the psalmist sets forth two directions
—the way of the righteous and the way of the ungodly; two decisions
—to meditate on God’s Word or to listen to ungodly counsel; and two destinies
—the righteous will enjoy God’s presence forever, but the ungodly will perish.
So let me repeat: It pays to pay attention to who you pay attention to.
BUT who SHOULD I pay attention to?
Well, the reason Jesus created the church was so that we could look to each other for support and advice.
When you listen to the counsel of fellow Christians, you at least stand a good chance of getting Biblical advice.
But it’s interesting. The first people Rehoboam consulted were the Elders.
1Kings 12:6 tells us “Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. ‘How would you advise me to answer these people?’ he asked.”
Now, of course, these were not exactly “Elders” like a church might have.
They were older men whom Solomon had trusted for advice when he was King.
But older men have always the standard advisors in the Bible.
When Moses was leading the people out of Egypt, he was helped by 70 Elders of Israel, and these 70 Elders were often part of God’s dealing with His people because these 70 men were recognized leaders and wise men in Israel. Numbers 11:16, 25
Later, Elders of each city would sit at the city gates, and they’d act as judges in civil disputes. Deuteronomy 25:7
And throughout much of Israel’s history, the Elders of the people often guided Israel both in good and bad ways.
And that continued once God began His church.
Paul told the two young preachers – Timothy and Titus – to appoint Elders in their churches.
But these Elders were not just to be older men.
“An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.
Since an overseer is entrusted with God’s work, he must be blameless— not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather they must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.
He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that they can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” Titus 1:6-9
When God began His church, He intended that Elders, both ordained and Laity, should be the ultimate “advisors” for church.
They had to be men with a proven track record.
They had to be good husbands and fathers.
They had to have a good reputation in the community.
AND they had to be men who stood firmly with good doctrine because their main job was
“… encourage others by sound doctrine”
“… and refute those who oppose it”
That’s why it is so critical for a church to prayerfully consider who gets to be an Elder.
These men are the guardians of Christ’s bride/ His church.
They stand beside the preacher to do the work of the ministry.
They stand before the congregation to lead.
And they are here to help give you and I Godly advice when we need it.
And they can be counted on to give good advice because…
· they are good fathers
· they are good husbands
· They are men you can trust to stand with God’s Word.
But my point is this:
When you need advice… look to God’s people (that’s why God formed the church)
When you need serious advice… look to your Elders (that’s why God formed the Eldership)
If you follow this guideline in your life God will protect the things that are important to you.
If you don’t, you may end up listening to foolish people– whose advice may cost you everything you hold precious.
Now Solomon gave one more piece of guidance to his son Rehoboam that Rehoboam ignored:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.”Proverbs 3:4-7
In this entire story in I Kings 12, we don’t find ONE time that Rehoboam even prayed to God.
He never consulted the priests at the Temple.
He never visited one of the Prophets God used to proclaim His will.
Even when he visited with the Elders for advice, He wasn’t really looking for God’s will.
Rehoboam was looking for someone who would agree with what he’d already decided to do.
One person observed: “When we ask others for their advice, we are usually, actually, looking for a willing accomplice.” Marquis de la Grange
Rehoboam was looking for a willing accomplice.
He wasn’t looking for God’s advice or counsel.
He probably had already made up his mind what he wanted to do and his friends only confirmed the decision he’d already made.
But why would Rehoboam ignore God?
Why seek his own counsel rather than God’s?
Perhaps because Rehoboam thought he was wiser than both his father and God.
He didn’t think God would be wise enough for him to do what was best for him?
Why would he want to entrust his life to the wisdom of God when he did not believe God’s wisdom would be wise enough for him in the important matters.
Why would we want to entrust our life to the wisdom of God when/if we do not believe God’s wisdom will/would be wise enough for us in our critical times?
But Paul wrote: “… I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that
He is [wise enough, able enough {my emphasis}] able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” 2 Timothy 1:12 (NKJV)
In other words, Paul believed that no matter what happened in his life – if he entrusted that which was precious to God’s hands – God would take care of it.
Finally,
Anne Graham Lotz, in her book Just Give Me Jesus declared:
“No means of measure can define God’s limitless love…
No far-seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of His shoreless supply…
No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out His blessings…
· He forgives and He forgets
· He creates and He cleanses.
· He restores and He rebuilds
· He heals and He helps
· He reconciles and He redeems
· He comforts and He carries
· He lifts and He loves.
He is the God of the 2nd chance, the fat chance, the slim chance…
Just give me Jesus!
He makes change possible!
Just give me Jesus.
Just give me His counsel and guidance.
Just give me His will and way for my life.”
And the best way to have those blessings in your life?
Is to give your not so “wise” self to GOD’S “WISER SELF” completely.
In the name of God, the Father, and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord of wisdom, I sometimes finding understanding my life and my connection to the Bible to be far too difficult. I know you want me to apply your word to my life. I thank you for giving me your word so I can grow in my relationship with you. Help me to grasp what you want me to know as I read your revealed word. Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions. Be my teacher, so I can live and obey your word. Thank you for your much wiser advice. Amen.
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher. “Vanity of vanities! All [that is done without God’s guidance] is vanity [futile, meaningless—a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes, merely chasing the wind].”
127 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.
What does it mean to you to have “good” and “safe and sound” quality of life?
A Sound Mind? Good health? Harmony at home? A happy heart? Financial security? Freedom of speech and worship? A fulfilling career? Grateful and content children? A meaningful marriage? A life of significance? A Soul which boasts of its “perfect balance between Shalom and Chaos? Peace with God?
An interesting question to ask considering the turmoil which is probably swirling around your existence right now from the gravity of Supreme Court decisions to their ramifications and the socio-economic realities we live in.
Undoubtedly, the balance between these realities and our peace of mind makes up a life we have to decide is worth the living in and through —a quality life?
“Vanity of Vanities,” says the Preacher ….
What do we say of the Quality of Life of “a Preacher” who starts his message with “Vanity of Vanities?” Throws words such as “meaningless, “a wisp of smoke that vanishes, a wisp of smoke which merely wastes its time chasing after the wind which it can never catch, nor can it ever hope to grasp onto.”
What is the quality of this “Preachers” relationship with the world around him?
Moreover, the quality of our lives is mightily determined by the quality of our relationships.
Who we spend time with is who we become.
If we spend time with those wise in their finances, and if we pay attention, we can become wise in our own finances.
If we are intentional in our faith, we will worship with those of great faith.
The Quality of our life is a reflection of the Quality of our relationships.
Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Proverbs 13:20
So, how is your relational portfolio?
Are you diversified with people who bring value to all aspects of your life?
Conversely, are you intentional to invest time and interest in those who look to you for guidance?
Quality of life flows not from just receiving wisdom, but from giving wisdom.
Quality of Wisdom works in both directions for the good of the relationship.
What would we say about the Quality of our Life, the Quality of our Wisdom?
What does the “Preacher” have to say about the Quality of his Life’s Wisdom?
Ecclesiastes 1:12-14Amplified Bible
The Futility of Wisdom
12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by [man’s] [a]wisdom all [human activity] that has been done under heaven. It is a miserable business and a burdensome task which [b]God has given the sons of men with which to be busy and distressed. 14 I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a futile grasping and chasing after the wind.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
What would we say about the Quality of our Life, the Quality of our Wisdom?
How well do we relate or not relate to these words of “the Preacher” spoken to who knows who and when and who knows why some three thousand years ago?
Is there. or is there not a certain degree of resonance raising up within you in this moment when you read and confront the title: “The Futility of Wisdom?”
Whose Quality of Wisdom do you think is the most vain and the most futile?
His own or His God’s?
If you had to consider your own answer on this day in 2022, whose quality of Wisdom, whose Quality of Life, would be the most vain and the most futile?
The Quality of Your Wisdom drawn from the Quality of Your Life?
The Quality of Your God’s Wisdom drawn the Quality of His Life?
The harder we try to understand the book of Ecclesiastes, the greater is our own temptation to immediately chime in with the author’s refrain: “all is vanity!”
Yet, somewhere along the way, we might realize our life is going somewhere, somehow and by some means by ours or someone else’s reason, rationale.
After all, the “Preacher’s” life is not a mystery novel, where it is considered cheating to peep at the last chapter to find out who did what and why: it is in fact, a legitimate part of the wisdom writings of the written Word of God!
ECCLESIASTES 1:2. “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”
This is the refrain throughout the book. It speaks of the Quality of emptiness, futility, meaninglessness, something of a whole lot of the purest nothingness.
ECCLESIASTES 1:12. “I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.”
In a more traditional understanding of the authorship of Ecclesiastes, we have here an older version of Solomon, who having strayed from God’s path, is now writing after having tried everything which a ‘life without God’ has to offer.
ECCLESIASTES 1:13. “And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith.”
Solomon was more than just an interested or casual observer of the restlessness of surviving the Quality of the life he was living and struggling every single day to get through: he quite literally sought to “seek and search out by wisdom.”
After all, he says, this is the “sore travail” that God has given to us “sons of men” since the Fall (cf. Genesis 3:19).
The whole creation has been subjected to ‘vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same IN A LIVING VIBRANT HOPE’ (Romans 8:20).
ECCLESIASTES 1:14. “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
To the “Preacher,” To seek the Quality of Life in a life with God versus to seek quality of life in a life without God is just: “vanity” and a chasing after the wind.
ECCLESIASTES 2:18-19. “Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. And who knows whether he shall be a wise man or a fool? Yet shall he have rule over all my labour wherein I have labored, and wherein I have shewed myself wise under the sun, This also is vanity.”
The Quality of Our Thoughts determines the Quality of Our Life!
The Quality of Our Thoughts determines the Quality of Our Wisdom!
The Quality of Our Thoughts and the Quality of Our Wisdom determines the Direction of our Future Generations – goes a very long way to determining the Quality (vanity)of their thoughts and The Quality (vanity) of their Wisdom.
If the writer of Ecclesiastes is Solomon, then one might wonder if he had some ‘Quality” ideas of what a mess his son Rehoboam would make of the kingdom?
Solomon’s successor knowingly refused the counsel of the aged, and he spoke roughly unto the children of Israel, precipitating the division of the kingdom, (cf. 1 Kings 12:13-17).
ECCLESIASTES 2:20-21. “Therefore, I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun. For there is a man whose labour is in wisdom, and in knowledge, and in equity; yet to a man that hath not labored therein shall he leave it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil.”
The very thought of one’s hard-earned wisdom being squandered by a future generation makes one regret ever having made the effort to gain the wisdom.
“Evil” probably speaks of the unfairness of it all.
ECCLESIASTES 2:22. “For what hath man of all his labour, and of the vexation of his heart, wherein he hath labored under the sun?
“Labor” speaks of effort. “Vexation” speaks of stress.
This is a question expecting the “only obvious” answer ‘None!’
Jesus asked a similar question, ‘What?’:
Mark 8:34-36Amplified Bible
34 Jesus called the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to follow Me [as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and [a]take up his cross [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. 35 For whoever wishes to save his life [in this world] will [eventually] lose it [through death], but whoever loses his life [in this world] for My sake and the gospel’s will save it [from the consequences of sin and separation from God]. 36 For what does it benefit a man to gain the whole world [with all its pleasures], and forfeit his soul?
‘What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, then loses his soul?’ (Luke 9:25).
The rich man who built more and bigger barns for his worldly abundance is aptly named ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of thee: then whose will these things be which thou hast provided?’ (Luke 12:20).
ECCLESIASTES 2:23. “For all his days are sorrows, and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night. This also is vanity.”
Hard work, stress, sleepless nights. A recipe for burnout! The futility of it all!
Earlier in his life, Solomon wrote, ‘The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge’ (Proverbs 1:7).
Then, after all the excursions of this later book, ‘the conclusion of the whole matter’ will be the same. ‘Fear God and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man’ (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
If all this worldly labour is meaningless, Paul suggests: ‘Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:2-3).
Above all, quality of life results from your relationship with Christ.
He is life itself and everything good in life flows from Him.
Walking with God means you are ready to receive a miracle at any point in time.
When you grow in the Quality of your personal relationship with Jesus—it will definitely, decisively affect the Quality of growth of your other relationships.
Quality Relationship building in heaven builds Quality relationships on earth.
Ultimately, Jesus is the Quality of life to model and follow.
The Quality of the resurrected life of Christ gives you the Quality of spiritual stamina to experience a “good and wise and sound” quality of abundant life.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord, my Rock and Redeemer, thank you that you are my ever-present help in times of trouble. When all I can see around me is trouble, help me to trust in what is unseen. Remind me of the truth of your power, that you surround me, and no one can pluck me from your hand. Remove my fear and replace it with wholehearted faith in you, my God. You are the King of ALL ages, immortal, invisible, the only God. To you be honor and glory forever and ever. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
When a baby is born, the first thing usually said is, “It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!”
The sex of a child is based on biology-anatomy and chromosomes. But, for some individuals, their sense of gender does not always match their sex.
That mismatch was brought to our attention in 2015 when Olympic superstar Bruce Jenner announced that he no longer wanted to be Bruce. Several months later he was introduced on the front cover of Vanity Fair as Caitlyn Jenner.
That same year, same sex marriage was legalized in all fifty states on June 26, 2015, by an act of the United States Supreme Court.
Who would have thought that momentous decision was possible but just a few short years earlier?
But the speed at which our culture’s view on gender and sexuality has changed with lightning speed.
I remember reading that the Facebook in the U.S. used to list over 50 gender alternatives, if the word ‘alternatives’ are the right terminology whereas in the United Kingdom. a person has over 70 gender alternatives!
However, I believe that now one is able to custom list one’s gender preference throughout social media. So, I do not know how many options there are today?
When I was praying and considering what topic my devotional time to today, I felt directed to this one on Sexual Orientation and what God has to say about it.
I believe this extraordinarily complex topic was important for us to examine in light of the current socio-cultural conditions.
Not only is there real divisive pressure in the contemporary culture to accept modern conceptions of sex and gender, but children are also being taught that at school too. “Drag Queens” are reading books to children in Public Libraries.
Where young children are involved, parents become, rightly so, very protective.
While I could write a multitude of sessions on this topic, I am going to cover it in only one session.
Therefore, this devotional will be necessarily cursory.
However, I believe, at least I pray I believe, it will be sufficient (by the grace of God) to give a biblical answer to the issue of sexual (and gender) orientation.
I have become aware of the book; The Gospel & Sexual Orientation by Michael Lefebvre (2012) and I am going to my Kindle to read it to better educate myself.
I have also become aware of the book; Gender as Calling: The Gospel & Gender Identity (2017) and I am going to my Kindle to read it to better educate myself.
I encourage my readers to read them to better educate and inform themselves.
I should also mention that I have no University Degrees, expertise in medicine, biological sciences, or any branch of social work or psychology or counseling.
My perspective on this is this – 40 years ago, the circumstances of my life required me to “fight this battle of intimacy and orientation” with my soul.
I fought it very privately for the first twenty years with no thought of God other than extreme anger and even stronger feelings of the absolute worst betrayal.
Then, circumstances changed drastically, and I accepted Christ as my Savior.
I spent the next eight years privately trying to sort things out with God and then in 2008 I met the woman who in 2010 became my wife of twelve + years now.
There are reasons and rationales galore why I remained a bachelor for 48 years.
God alone knows them all.
God alone collected and recorded in His Book, every single one of my tears.
Psalm 56: 8 Amplified.
You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not recorded in Your book?
It’s only but by the Grace of God, My Savior
– I fought the wars, I ‘bled,’ carried the scars, cried the tears and then
ULTIMATELY GOD WON!
I leave the details, for obvious reasons, strictly between my God and Me and those I have learned by time and tragedy and betrayal to implicitly trust.
I also will point out that I have no Seminary training nor Ordination license.
My training is “limited” to what I try to read and grasp in God’s Scriptures.
And so, I believe my approach to this topic is more theological and pastoral.
My concern in this devotional is what the Bible teaches about this topic, and also how we as Christians and as the Body of Christ – the church should help, counsel, those wrestling with issues related to sexual and gender orientation.
As the Body of Christ, God’s Church in the world, it is a very righteous effort to rigorously and vigorously examine the Word of God as it relates to such issues.
“One God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – One Faith – One Baptism.” Amen!
God is absolutely Sovereign over His own Creation.
God is the Author of all life – Psalm 139:13-18 Amplified.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in his wonderful face And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and grace
Genesis 1:26-28Amplified Bible
26 Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Let me briefly define a few terms so that we are thinking about the same thing:
* Sex-refers to the biological classification of a person as male or female based on physical features.
* Gender-refers to the social and psychological classification of a person as male or female based on personal perception.
There are a few instances in which a person’s physical anatomy is different from his or her chromosome make-up. That is very rare, and very difficult emotionally, very difficult pastorally, and beyond the scope of this writing.
Historically, a person’s physical sex and social gender were regarded as unified.
So, a physical male was also a social male, and physical female was also social female.
Today, however, this historical view has been challenged.
A person’s sex and gender are no longer regarded as necessarily matching.
Today, a physical male may be gendered as a female, or vice versa.
That is where the term transgender comes in: a transgender is a person whose sex and gender do not match.
Lesson
What is God’s answer for the issue of sexual orientation?
Let’s use the following outline:
1. Current Concerns about the Issue of Sexual Orientation
2. Culture’s Answers to the Issue of Sexual Orientation
3. God’s Answer to the Issue of Sexual Orientation
I. Current Concerns about the Issue of Sexual Orientation
First, let’s look at current concerns about the issue of sexual orientation. Why do we even need to examine this issue?
Sexual orientation and gender identity are at the forefront of today’s culture. A tremendous amount has been written about it. Laws have been changed. The media accepts that sex and gender do not need to match for people. And as I said, even social media, like Facebook, allows people to self-identify.
People who wrestle with sexual orientation and gender identity issues often struggle very deeply, and very privately although admittedly not all do.
A Transgender Remembrance Day poster stated,
“34% of trans people attempt suicide. 64% are bullied. 73% of trans people are harassed in public. 21% of trans people avoid going out in public due to fear.”
If these numbers are accurate, even if they are not close, that is sad testimony.
Our culture has been pressing very hard, especially in recent years, to accept whatever sexual orientation or gender identity a person chooses.
However, as we consider issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, we must be sure that any answers are in complete agreement with God’s Word.
We must not capitulate to “political correctness,” social media posts, medicine, science, or psychology unless its propositions are consistent with God’s Word.
Second, notice culture’s answers to the issue of sexual orientation.
One current view promoted is sexual orientation is determined by our biological make-up. They say sexual orientation is akin to eye color or left-handedness.
And with regard to gender, transgender activist and entertainer, Chaz Bono, said,
“There’s a gender in your brain and a gender in your body. For 99% of people, those things are in alignment. For transgender people, they’re mismatched. That’s all it is. It’s not complicated, it’s not a neurosis. It’s a mix-up. It’s a birth defect, like a cleft palate.”
The Question is being asked, researched and only relatively briefly studied:
Is Homosexuality in our Genetic make- up? I have no Idea whatsoever.
Is there a “Homosexual Gene?” Again, I have no Idea whatsoever.
It is far beyond my expertise ergo I can give no answers, nor I can offer one.
I suppose it is possible that future science will more thoroughly demonstrate that the biological factors associated with such conditions are truly causative.
I suppose that even the opposite may eventually be scientifically demonstrated.
Eventually it may even be discovered that there is indeed a “gay gene,” so that even homosexuality can be said to be congenital.
Again, this is beyond my expertise, and I leave it to the scientific community to do all of the necessary research and studies and the certainly inevitable debates.
The answers to these questions are extremely important; however, I believe they do not in and of themselves call for any reform of the church’s historic doctrine of man, of human sexuality, the undeniable impact of original sin.
Another current view promoted is that sexual orientation is determined by psychological and environmental factors.
Alfred Kinsey eventually stated,
“I have come to the conclusion that homosexuality is largely a matter of conditioning.”
Perhaps this is why sex authorities Masters and Johnson emphasized,
“It is of vital importance that all professionals in the mental health field keep in mind that the homosexual man or woman is basically a man or woman by genetic determination and homosexually oriented by learned preference.”
There are people who have “same-sex attraction” (SSA).
And there are also people who have what is known as “gender dysphoria,”
which is defined as an experience of clinically significant distress due to a “marked incongruence between one’s experienced/expressed gender and assigned gender, of at least six months duration.”
Our culture’s answers to the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity are inadequate. The vast majority of people dealing with these issues still struggle.
So, then, the question: what is God’s answer to the Body of Christ – HIS Church?
Matthew 28:18-20 Amplified Bible
18 Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 10:16Amplified Bible
A Hard Road before Them
16 “Listen carefully: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; so be wise as serpents, and innocent as doves [have no self-serving agenda].
So, what is God’s answer?
III. God’s Answer to the Issue of Sexual Orientation
Third, let’s examine God’s answer to the issue of sexual orientation.
Biblically, a person’s social gender is identified with his or her anatomical sex.
People are created by God with a male or female anatomical sex, and that sexual identity marks the person’s gender identity.
(There are, however, a very small number of people born with ambiguous anatomy, but that is echelons beyond the scope of this devotional message.)
The Bible’s foundational statement on sexual orientation and gender identity is Genesis 1:26-28:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'”
Note this passage of text introduces God’s design for humanity as “male” and “female.”
These two categories are not merely descriptive of all humans; they are prescriptive.
These are not the two outer ranges, with a gradation between them.
No, there are only two categories: male and female.
This passage of text also conflates sex and gender.
The biological classification is exactly the same as the social classification.
The reproductive and social duties of the man is presented within the same gender, as it is for the woman.
Lefebvre notes,
“Nowhere in Scripture are men or women exhorted to question their gender identity based on tastes or mannerisms-let alone their sexual orientation.”
Modern proponents for the sexual revolution say the Bible does not condemn homosexuality when it is properly understood.
They say that homosexual promiscuity in the Bible related to cultic prostitution or to rape or to pederasty.
They argue that the Bible approves of homosexual relationships, if they are true committed, life-long, monogamous relationships.
The theological problem is Scripture simply does not teach what they assert.
There are a number of passages in Scripture dealing with the complex issue of homosexuality.
These are:
Genesis 19:1-29 (the account of Sodom and Gomorrah),
Judges 19:1-30 (the Levite’s concubine),
Leviticus 18:22; 20:13 (the Mosaic prohibitions),
Romans 1:26-27 (Paul on unnatural desire),
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (Paul’s list of defilements),
1 Timothy 1:8-11 (Paul’s application of the Ten Commandments),
Jude 5-7 (Sodom and Gomorrah remembered).
We don’t have time to examine each of these texts, but I do definitely invite readers to do their own process of discernment and independent studies.
God’s answer, however, must also, by necessity, be given pastorally.
First, the Bible clearly teaches that there are only two sexes: male and female.
There are two genders, and these genders correspond to our biological sex.
Second, if you are experiencing sexual orientation or gender identity issues, please find qualified professional help, talk with someone whom you trust.
Third, grace is available to all.
All of us deal with sin and suffering in our lives.
Paul struggled with an unnamed affliction that God never removed from him (2 Corinthians 12:8-10). But God did promise that his grace was sufficient for him.
Fourth, the gospel provides the only hope for us to fulfill the Great Commission.
Luke 18:9-14 Amplified Bible
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and were confident that they were righteous [posing outwardly as upright and in right standing with God], and who viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood [ostentatiously] and began praying to himself [in a self-righteous way, saying]: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men—swindlers, unjust (dishonest), adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but was striking his chest [in humility and repentance], saying, ‘God, be merciful and gracious to me, the [especially wicked] sinner [that I am]!’ 14 I tell you, this man went to his home justified [forgiven of the guilt of sin and placed in right standing with God] rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself [forsaking self-righteous pride] will be exalted.”
God promises the total redemption of our whole man in Christ Jesus, our Savior.
In this life, we must continually make humble use of the means of grace, gifted to us by God, to Scripturally deal with our sin, grow, mature in Christlikeness.
John 8:1-11 Amplified Bible
The Adulterous Woman
8 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came back into the temple [court], and all the people were coming to Him. He sat down and began teaching them. 3 Now the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. They made her stand in the center of the court, 4 and they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women [to death]. So, what do You say [to do with her—what is Your sentence]?” 6 They said this to test Him, hoping that they would have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and began writing on the ground with His finger. 7 However, when they persisted in questioning Him, He straightened up and said, “He who is without [any] sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then He stooped down again and started writing on the ground. 9 They listened [to His reply], and they began to go out one by one, starting with the oldest ones, until He was left alone, with the woman [standing there before Him] in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She answered, “No one, Lord!” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]
2 Corinthians 5:17-21Amplified Bible
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life]. 18 But all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ [making us acceptable to Him] and gave us the ministry of reconciliation [so that by our example we might bring others to Him], 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting people’s sins against them [but canceling them]. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation [that is, restoration to favor with God].
20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us; we [as Christ’s representatives] plead with you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. 21 He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness].
Finally, let us be a fellowship of God’s people who love all people, regardless of the issue with which they are struggling.
It grieves my heart greatly when I hear people make off-color comments about those struggling with sexual orientation gender identity issues.
May we celebrate and love others as God first celebrated and loved Us. Amen.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank you that nothing is impossible for you. Hear my prayer for a miracle. Fill me with faith that you can answer. What seems impossible to me is within your power. When I can’t think of a solution, you are still able to act. Please help me believe that nothing I face in life can compare to you. You are the God of the impossible. Neither death or life, angels or rulers, things present or future, height or depth, or anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from your love. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Alleluia! 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). 