Psalm 119:129-136 Authorized (King James) Version

פ  Pe

¹²⁹ Thy testimonies are wonderful:
therefore doth my soul keep them.
¹³⁰ The entrance of thy words giveth light;
it giveth understanding unto the simple.
¹³¹ I opened my mouth, and panted:
for I longed for thy commandments.
¹³² Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me,
as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.
¹³³ Order my steps in thy word:
and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
¹³⁴ Deliver me from the oppression of man:
so will I keep thy precepts.
¹³⁵ Make thy face to shine upon thy servant;
and teach me thy statutes.
¹³⁶ Rivers of waters run down mine eyes,
because they keep not thy law.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

What are we truly asking for when we ask God, “Order my steps”?

The King James Version of Psalm 119:133 reads, “Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.”

Other translations use different phrasing, such as “establish my footsteps” (NASB), “direct my footsteps,” (NIV) or “keep steady my footsteps” (ESV).

The Message reading of this passage is as thus;

^129-136 Every word you give me is a miracle word—
    how could I help but obey?
Break open your words, let the light shine out,
    let ordinary people see the meaning.
Mouth open and panting,
    I wanted your commands more than anything.
Turn my way, look kindly on me,
    as you always do to those who personally love you.
Steady my steps with your Word of promise
    so nothing malign gets the better of me.
Rescue me from the grip of bad men and women
    so I can live life your way.
Smile on me, your servant;
    teach me the right way to live.
I cry rivers of tears
    because nobody’s living by your book!

The Complete Jewish Bible reads the verse this way: ¹³³ Guide my footsteps by your word;
don’t let any kind of sin rule me.

Although the translations of the Bible vary, they all portray the psalmist’s desire to live according to God’s loving wisdom through His Word, not ours..

While the exact phrase “order my steps” may only appear in one translation of a single verse, the theme of God alone directing His people in the way they should go runs throughout Scripture and is an integral part of what it genuinely means to be a disciple of Christ—the greatest calling of all believers.

What Does it Mean For God to Order Our Steps?

When we repent and turn to Christ, we acknowledge that we have been wrong.

We have lived our lives in such a way that does not honor our created design—a way that does not come close to honoring, glorifying and worshiping God.

Doing so, we have greatly oppressed, suppressed, wounded ourselves and one too many others -to the point we have lost all sight of what is good and true.

Repentance is a turning from that oppressive and suppressive way of life and a turning to Savior Christ, who is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

It is a process of unseating dethroning one’s own will, reinstating God’s will.

Thus, Romans 10:9 says that those who believe God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and give their heartfelt confession with their mouth Jesus as Lord will be saved.

Being a baptized Christian is not simply a matter of acknowledging that God is real but an echelons beyond serious matter of actually choosing to follow Him.

In following Christ, we are asking Him to order our steps, to guide us as we attempt to live like Christ in a world that pulls us in every other direction.

Verse 105 in Psalm 119 paints for us a clear picture of what it looks like for God to order our steps: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path,” it reads.

The psalmist uses both darkness or blindness to describe those who do not acknowledge God in their ways (Proverbs 4:19, Romans 1:20-21).

Proverbs 4:19 Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁹ The way of the wicked is like darkness;
they don’t even know what makes them stumble.

Romans 1:20-21 Complete Jewish Bible

²⁰ For ever since the creation of the universe his invisible qualities — both his eternal power and his divine nature — have been clearly seen, because they can be understood from what he has made. Therefore, they have no excuse;  ²¹ because, although they know who God is, they do not glorify him as God or thank him. On the contrary, they have become futile in their thinking; and their undiscerning hearts have become darkened.

In a world continually shaped by darkness, God’s word acts as an illuminating force, showing us the ONE right way, ordering our steps according to wisdom.

What Does the Psalmist Say Will ‘Order My Steps’?

The writer of Psalm 119 asks that God order His steps according to His word.

This psalm is exceptional because it is the longest single chapter in the Bible—coming in at 176 verses.

God’s word is referenced throughout the psalm, using various terms: His law, testimonies, precepts, statutes, commandments, judgments, words, and His ordinances.

The psalmist confirms all of them point to the character of the One who gave them.

The psalmist desperately wants the very heart of God to guide His steps, as it is being revealed through His continually living and continuously active word.

As believers under the new covenant, we have the glorious benefit of knowing Christ, whom John refers to as “the Word” in the opening line of his gospel.

John 1:1-5 Complete Jewish Bible

1 In the beginning was the Word,
    and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.
²     He was with God in the beginning.

³ All things came to be through him,
    and without him nothing made had being.

⁴ In him was life,
    and the life was the light of mankind.

⁵ The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness has not suppressed it.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The term that John used for “Word” is Logos.

In Greek philosophy, this term referred to divine reason or the natural law of the cosmos.

According to the Stoics, aligning your life with the Logos was to live well.

When John takes this term and applies it to Jesus, he uses a term familiar to both Jewish and Gentile audiences to show that the world was created and is sustained not merely by a mediating principle but through a personal God.

Only in Jesus, through Whom the world was made (John 1:3), can we know truth and make sense of the world.

The Logos, a set of principles, was the Stoics’ guiding force.

For a Jew (like the Psalmist), the word of God, as revealed in their recorded history, in the 614 laws that God gave to Moses, and the commandments that God gave directly to His people, revealed the Lord’s heart.

He was their guide.

For a new covenant believer, our guide is the Word: Jesus Christ, the fullest revelation of God the Father’s heart, will, and intentions (Hebrews 1:1-4).

God’s Final Word in His Son

1 God, having spoken to the fathers long ago in [the voices and writings of] the prophets in many separate revelations [each of which set forth a portion of the truth], and in many ways, ² has in these last days spoken [with finality] to us in [the person of One who is by His character and nature] His Son [namely Jesus], whom He appointed heir and lawful owner of all things, through whom also He created the universe [that is, the universe as a space-time-matter continuum]. ³ The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s ^[a]Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal]. When He [Himself and no other] had [by offering Himself on the cross as a sacrifice for sin] accomplished purification from sins and established our freedom from guilt, He sat down [revealing His completed work] at the right hand of the Majesty on high [revealing His Divine authority], ⁴ having become as much superior to angels, since He has inherited a more excellent and glorious ^[b]name than they [that is, Son—the name above all names].

To know Him better—and know God the Father and the Holy Spirit better—we must read, study and know the Word of God as its revealed through Scripture.

What Happens When We Let the Bible Order Our Steps?

Psalm 1:1-3 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].

Psalm 1:1-3 shows the advantage of living according to God’s law.

The one who does so aligns with the truth.

They will experience the inherent benefit built into the system.

The book of Proverbs echoes this sentiment in its repetitive contrast of wisdom with foolishness.

“He who trusts in His own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26).

Someone who has allowed God to order their steps is walking wisely and will be delivered.

Fools will follow their own path and unavoidably stumble into the snare they set for themselves.

Apart from God’s wisdom, we are fools trusting in our own hearts, walking according to our own understanding—believing lies, living as if they were true.

Inevitably, this will lead to ruin.

But suppose we allow the Bible to order our steps?

If so, we live according to the wisdom by which God established the earth (Proverbs 3:19).

¹⁹ 
The Lord by His wisdom has founded the earth;
By His understanding He has established the heavens.

We find the necessary conditions for experiencing the benefit of aligning ourselves with the truth.

Yes, we still live in a fallen world.

Even if wisdom is applied to its fullest, bad things still happen.

The prosperity gospel falls flat on its face.

Karma loses its livelihood.

Stoicism falls short.

While the Stoics would agree with Christians that the best way to live was to align oneself with natural law, they had little to offer when nature seemed to crumble in on itself.

As Jesus Himself can testify, allowing God’s word to order one’s steps will not exempt one from suffering.

What then?

Christians have an even greater hope than a life untouched by harm.

As we allow the Word of God to guide and teach us, we grow in conformity with Christ and our understanding of His heart.

As we “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,” we “increase in our knowledge of God” (Colossians. 1:10).

As we trust Him and find that He is true to His word, our faith more precious than gold (1 Peter 1:7), is strengthened and established.

As we see the goodness in His wisdom, our understanding of His heart expands.

As we experience His willingness to be our strength when His commandments feel too burdensome, we know Him as our “very present help” (Psalm 46:1).

Our obedience becomes how we come to know Christ Himself.

That is true joy and freedom.

That is life eternal (John 17:3).

Steadfastly following our God’s commandments safeguards us from our utter foolishness’s consequences, creating the space for greater intimacy with our Lord and Savior.

How Can We Start Letting God’s Word Order Our Steps Today?

For God’s Word to guide us, we must know His voice.

The best way to become familiar with how He speaks is to read His Word.

To really know God’s voice and become transformed by it, we need to spend daily time in the Bible.

After all, “man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy. 8:3).

Just as we cannot live and function without physical sustenance, we cannot thrive without the word of God.

No matter how good it tastes, starving all week before having a feast does not make a healthy body.

No matter how enriching, a Sunday service cannot replace a personal, daily interaction with God through His Word.

Like any relationship, you cannot truly know someone without spending time with them.

Through diligence and discipline, only when His revelation of Himself shapes your image of God and your understanding of how He speaks through Scripture can you really know that you are obeying His voice?

Only then can He truly “order your steps.”

If you want to start incorporating a daily Bible study into your life but don’t know the first steps, begin with a Bible reading plan.

Choose a time of the day when you can consistently spend time reading the Bible.

Bring other people into your journey.

Find a mentor or friend with whom you can share your intention and then ask them to hold you accountable.

Doing so will give you another person to process what you have been learning with.

We aren’t meant to live our Christ life alone!

We were made to grow in relationships.

The Holy Spirit will teach and convict you as you spend more time in Scripture.

God’s Word will reveal areas of your life that need to be surrendered to and transformed by Him.

This is a good thing, “for the Lord disciplines those whom He loves” (Hebrews. 12:6).

It is an opportunity to intentionally, instinctively choose faith in Christ as you allow Him, and Him alone, to order your steps.

If what He calls you to do feels too a might bit burdensome, remember Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:18-21:

Ephesians 1:18-21 Amplified Bible

¹⁸ And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the ^[a]hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the ^[b]saints (God’s people), ¹⁹ and [so that you will begin to know] what the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His [active, spiritual] power is in us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength ²⁰ which He ^[c]produced in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion [whether angelic or human], and [far above] every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and world but also in the one to come.

The power that raised Christ from the dead is available to you.

Christianity is not a ‘pick yourself up by the bootstraps’ religion but God calling you to walk humbly in freedom by His grace.

Sometimes, though His guidance will be less clear when big decisions arrive, and the route will appear foggy.

Here, relationship, prayer, and surrender will become vital.

Are all areas of your life surrendered to Christ?

We can only expect to be led by Him in the big things if we listen to Him in the little.

If you have chosen deafness in an area where He has been speaking, address that first.

Then, as you come to Him with “clean hands and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:4), you can trust that He will guide you in all wisdom (James 1:5).

God’s word is a light to our dark path in a morally uncertain world.

It must be our standard for right and wrong, righteousness and evil.

As God’s will and Word have sway in our life, we are delivered from all sorts of destructive practices that can ruin our lives.

As God’s will and Word have sway in our lives, we are enlightened to the truth of the Cross – that God so loved the world He sent His only Son to save us from sin.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Great and Almighty God, Creator of all things, Author of all life, who raised His Son, who raises the dead and restores the fallen, make my heart delight in your truth and my life more perfectly conformed to your will. Lead me in your way and guide my footsteps in righteousness. Empower me to freedom from any form of bondage that Satan might use to control me and ruin my godly influence. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and Renew a right spirit within me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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1 Timothy 4:11-14 The Message

^11-14 Get the word out. Teach all these things. And don’t let anyone put you down because you’re young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed—keep that dusted off and in use.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

It can be so easy to look at a younger person and think what would they know?

But God, without any partiality or regard to age, has put us all in specific places, for specific times, and with God-given talents and skills, and life experiences.

1 Timothy 4:12 New Living Translation

¹² Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.

The Book of Timothy was written by the Apostle Paul to his friend Timothy.

Timothy was a young trusted associate of Paul and was an active and faithful missionary and church leader in the Early 1st Century Church. 

The purpose of this epistle or letter was to encourage, inspire young Timothy and to outline a set of instructions for church leadership and organization. 

Some of the most important topics built into this letter include prayer, worship, husbands and wives, church leadership structure, false teaching, and money. 

Of course, as we now are reading in our text, within these topics, Paul discusses, values and highlights the importance of not looking down on young people just because they are young and that is our focus for this devotional effort this day.

What is the Context of 1 Timothy 4:12?

1 Timothy 4:12 New King James Version

Take Heed to Your Ministry

¹² Let no one ^[a]despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, ^[b]in spirit, in faith, in purity.

1 Timothy 4:12 states: “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in  purity.”

I love that Paul does not throw out idle words, but he backs up the command with ways to assist his young protégé Timothy in following it through. 

Timothy was to not allow the world to despise, to look down on him because he was a younger person than some, but he was to be a young man who showed himself to be capable, mature for his years, “set an example for the believers.” 

Paul does not stop there but he specifically itemizes the areas in which Timothy was to set that example: 

in speech, in the words he shared with others,

in conduct, in his actions,

in love, in how he treated others, 

in faith, in his belief in God and lastly,

he was to set an example in purity or how he treated women and acted with his own body (1 Timothy 4:12). 

This list covers every area of Timothy’s life.

I believe what Paul is laying out here is the idea that we are not only saved for Sundays, but our faith should be embedded into every facet of our lives, and like young Timothy, we must also become a people who set an example to the world around us and ensure that we are each becoming more and more like Jesus. 

Paul was a man who knew what it was to offer a whole life to God.

Paul was a man who knew what it was to place highest personal value to a whole life devoted to living more like the example set by Christ and to revealing Christ.

He wrote in so many places in Scripture about this, but another is in Romans 12.

The Message version of verses 1 and 2 of this reads: 

Place Your Life Before God

12 ^1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Isn’t it marvelous that Paul even goes as far as to say, “God helping you,” or as the NIV puts it, “in view of God’s mercy.” 

A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Even the Apostle Paul knew this was a life we could never attain on our own, but we would each always need every single measure and last degree of God’s help.

Isn’t it somehow just a tiny bit more refreshing to hear that message spoken, know we don’t have to live up to a certain way of being in our own strength!?

Paul also knew what we in our humanity will absolutely sometimes forget it.

In our technologically advanced, technology dependent ways, it is too easy in life to get caught up with what is going on around us than what God is doing. 

So, Paul, in verse 13, lends his wealth of education, experience, and wisdom, fleshes these words out a little by saying Timothy was to devote himself to the reading of Scripture and doctrine and to never neglect the gifts God gave him. 

1 Timothy 4:12-13 New King James Version

Take Heed to Your Ministry

¹² Let no one ^[a]despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, ^[b]in spirit, in faith, in purity. ¹³ Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to ^[c]doctrine.

How Does this Passage of Text Apply to Us Today?

British evangelist Henry A. Redpath was once quoted saying,

“A Christian might have a saved soul but a wasted life — but no follower of Jesus should ever be content with such a place.” 

Friend, let this be a friendly reminder that when God created you, He embedded into your very existence gifts and purpose, passions and valuable life principles.

No matter what your age, whatever your skill set, Paul writes to young Timothy to please use them up for God’s glory, do not bury them away, never hide them.

Jesus Himself echoes these words;  

Matthew 5:13-16 New King James Version

Believers Are Salt and Light

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it [ever] be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Not that God will one day owe us a reward or a prize, or that we may become prideful of our own gifting’s and progress, but so that God gets revealed, God gets every measure the glory, honor, worship and His kingdom is expanded!

Timothy, Paul writes, was to be diligent or focused on the above, but also, he was to watch or observe the public and private conduct of his own life closely; if not, it could ultimately lead unto the destruction of those he was trying to lead. 

It is so important that Christians self-examine, and ask God regularly to show us, as David would say, “If there is any wicked way in me?” (Psalm 139:23-24). 

While the above sounds like a very long list of things Timothy needed to do, I feel it is worth once again mentioning all of this would be done with God’s help, and over time and with personal discipline to reading, and study and prayer, it would be a way of life, not a list of boxes to be ticked when Timothy felt like it. 

Young Timothy was also being reminded to persevere even in the hard seasons because it was going to be example of that perseverance which would save both him and embolden, inspire and empower the hearers of the words he shared. 

I feel it is worth pointing out right here that it is not our good behavior nor our faithfulness that actually saves a person. 

I believe Paul is pointing out here that it is essential for us, without regard for our ages to evaluate ourselves so that we do not lead a church or people astray by false teaching, false worship and faked and poor private, public behaviors.

Again, Jesus echoes these words;  

Matthew 6:1-13 New King James Version

Do Good to Please God

6 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. ³ But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you ^[a]openly.

The Model Prayer

⁵ “And when you pray, you shall not be like the ^[b]hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. ⁶ But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you ^[c]openly. ⁷ And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

⁸ “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. ⁹ In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
¹⁰ Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread.
¹² And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
¹³ And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
^[d]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

It is also so important that we do so because our actions, our words, and our faithfulness to God are sometimes, and quite often how others come to Christ. 

They see things in us that they do not see in the world and that is attractive to those who do not yet know the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4) or to the joy that can exist for us when we have trials in our lives (James 1). 

These things are noticed, scrutinized by those who live around us, and often, they are what draws an unsaved friend, workmate, or family member to Jesus. 

Why Does This Passage of Text Matter to us Today?

Friend, it is easy to look at a younger person and think, what would they know?

But our absolutely impartial God has put us all in specific places, for specific times, and purposes and with God-given talents and skills, and life experience. 

It is vital that we listen to those around us, and help the younger ones in ministry to grow, praying for them, reminding them of their role when they seem to be going the wrong direction in love, and, of course, mentoring them. 

But also dignifying them, honoring and respecting them, listening when they come to us with words from God, or to pray for us, or to teach and admonish.

We must lean into acknowledging the youth, the knowledge that God can use anyone, any age, and respect our leader in authority, whatever age they may be. 

Of course, respect must go two ways, and if we read on into 1 Timothy 5, Paul outlines for Timothy how he must treat and respect the older generations, and those younger than he: with dignity, respect, giving proper recognition, and to honoring and to treating them as though he would his own father or mother. 

The life of the church is best imaged in that of family.

God created us all with relationship in mind, and it is important that we see each other how God sees us, loved!

If we see through the eyes of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and love, we will inevitably find it so much harder to treat each other so poorly, or dismissively.

So, friend, whatever age you are, there will be those in leadership older than you and younger.

As you come to mentor those older and younger, do so in love, not forgetting God has placed you into this season for good reason, and follow His guidance.  

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You for the wisdom and instruction that we gain from the pastoral epistles to Timothy and Titus. May I look to Jesus, day by day, and stand firm in the faith, holding fast to the truth of the glorious gospel of grace. Help me not to be offended by the actions or attitude of others towards me, but rather, may my speech and conduct be honoring to You, and may I serve You in faith and purity, to my life’s end. Help me to be a living godly example to those with whom I have to do, for Your holy name’s sake, and greater glory. This I ask in my Savior Jesus’ name, AMEN

Glory be to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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Proverbs 22:4 New Living Translation

⁴ True humility and fear of the Lord
    lead to riches, honor, and long life.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

Pride goes before destruction.

In an exaltation of power and freedom, Icarus flew so high that the sun melted the wax holding feathers on his wings, he crashed into the sea and drowned.

Eve and Adam wanted to be like God, and ended up mortal, expelled from the Garden. Nebuchadnezzar boasted, “Is not this great Babylon which I have built (Daniel 4:30)?” until God deprived him of his wits.

Pride comes naturally to the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve, but “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).”

Pride does not end in riches and honor and life.

Humility requires God’s grace, given often through rebukes, setbacks, God’s Word, parents, and teachers, until we learn that God is God, and we are not, and that other people deserve the same love and consideration we do.

The truly humble person thinks brutally, honestly about himself, not too highly, nor falsely denying what God has given: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).”

God commands us to cultivate humility.

“Humble yourselves (I Peter 5:6, James 4:10),” before God by accepting His Word and Providence without grumbling, and before other people by putting their interests above your own (Philippians 2:1-5).

Coupled with humility is the fear of the Lord.

The proud forget God, do not call on Him for help and forgiveness, and refuse to give Him any degree or measure of thanks.

The humble know they rely on Him even for breath itself.

The reward for true humility and fear of the Lord is “riches and honor and life,” the things God promised Abraham when He called him to go to a land filled with milk and honey, and young Solomon after he asked for wisdom (1 Kings 3:3-15).

It’s what Jesus promised Peter, who asked Him what he would get for having left everything to follow Him:

Very truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).

There are great blessings and profound rewards in this life for for those who seek true humility through genuine heartfelt repentance and fear of the Lord (Psalm 51 and Psalm 32).

But because the world is malignantly proud and resists God, the rewards come “with persecutions” — job demotions and loss, separation and then divorce, homelessness, a ruined reputation, loss of personal freedom – that is jail and imprisonment, and (Acts 5:1-10) sometimes even severe accountability, death.

No follower of Jesus should ever get so prideful to believe that God promises a life of uninterrupted success resulting in “riches and honor and life,” such as Job had before God allowed Satan to take them away – our true riches are stored up for us in the age to come, when God gives the truly humble one eternal life.

We read in the Word that God resists the proud. 

Proverbs 16:5 New Living Translation

⁵ The Lord detests the proud;
    they will surely be punished.

Proverbs 21:4 New Living Translation

⁴ Haughty eyes, a proud heart,
    and evil actions are all sin.

That the Lord hates the proud look and the arrogant heart.  

Temporary riches and deceptive honor may come without humility – but the real thing demands it. 

The truly wise, humble person realizes at the top of all things is God – the only true “way to the mountain top” comes as we humble ourselves before Him.

History is littered with those who thought they could become the big cheese – yet in the end – they only smelled like bad, over aged and spoiled limburger.  

2 Kings 20:1-6 New Living Translation

Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery

20 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.”

² When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the  Lord, ³ “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.

⁴ But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard,^[a] this message came to him from the Lord: ⁵ “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. ⁶ I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’”

Like Hezekiah, when we genuinely, truly humble ourselves before God – we place ourselves in the direct path of “good health” “longer life” and blessings.  

The truly wise man embraces humility and his own weaknesses. 

He even glories in them because he knows that as he sees himself weak – then God becomes the strength in his life – the strength is his choices – the strength behind his behaviors, character and all future actions. (2 Corinthians 12:6-10)

God also speaks His truth to our haughty lives through this proverb to tell us succinctly that the other twin of riches, honor, and life is the fear of the Lord. 

This is a respect and intrinsic honor shown to our Sovereign God, His Word, and His complete and perfect judgment on all matters. 

We are told at the very beginning of Proverbs that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 

Without a proper reverent fear of God – we will degenerate into a pride and self-assuredness which will lead us astray from wisdom. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25) 

This fear of God often begins with a terror initially as we grasp Who God is – and where we stand before Him.  

Imagine the moment Paul grasped the true fear of the Lord. 

He had settled into a self-assured sense of his own right-ness in his religious views and stands. 

This had led him to the point of zealously persecuting Christians to the death – and imprisoning others.  

On his way to Damascus to continue his war on the church – Jesus manifest His ultimate power and knocked Paul off his horse and blinded his eyes with light.

Imagine the fear that must have gripped Paul when he heard that the answer to “Who are you Lord?” was, “I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting.” 

The fear of God had to almost paralyze this man who lay on the road. 

But that moment of terror was also the beginning of wisdom for Paul. 

It led him away from a religion of effort and self-righteousness – to the true wisdom and ultimate truth of God’s grace in the gospel. 

There are many voices teaching us, telling us, conning us on all of the quickest and easiest ways of how to get, be rich, honored, and truly alive in this world.

Unless they are teaching us, telling us that the way to these things is through the path of true humility and the fear of God . . . they are ultimately wrong. 

God will vigorously resist those who take other messages than this one. 

Acts 2:38-39 New Living Translation

³⁸ Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away^[a]—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”

But for those who embrace humility and the fear of the Lord – there is a wealth, an honor, and a God promised eternal life that can never be taken from them. 

Truly theirs is the wisest way of achieving them – and holding to them forever.

The Day of Pentecost, empowered by the Holy Spirit, Peter preached, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 2:38).

In other words,

“by your baptism, Put off your old way of living and all your own attempts to be holy in your own strength. Put off the FACADE of being a Christian, and put on Jesus Christ. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is for you!”

According to the Scriptures, three thousand truly humbled souls were added to the Church that day — three thousand religious people who had been doing the best they could to be godly in their own strength; three thousand who were perhaps tired of learning about God and His former power; three thousand who noticed that there were people who actually possessed the power, Spirit, of God!

So what must you and I do in order to get this power of God today?

After all, we will surely need it in order to confront the days ahead of us.

First, we must wave our white flags, surrender ourselves and return to the full purpose that God intended for our lives on this earth: to be living witnesses of who He is, which requires truest humility, for we will be mocked and ridiculed.

Yet, regardless of what the world may think of us, there must be a resolve in our heart that says, “I don’t care what it will cost. I want this new life, this strength to go with God, strength to share God, and I will not settle for my being lukewarm.”

This is a choice you and I must make.

Remember, the promise of the Holy Spirit is to you, to your children, to the young, the old, the educated, the uneducated, the strong, the weak.

Do you and I really, truly, want it — and the lifestyle that accompanies it?

If we are genuinely willing to allow ourselves to be humbled, I encourage us to go before the Lord in humility and ask him to fulfill HIS greater promise to us.

He will surely be faithful to humble us to the Truths of HIS active, living Word.

Humbled as his Church, we will return to the power of God in these last days!

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Abba Father, God of Righteousness, Peace and Love, we humble ourselves before you, prostrate and penitent, for all wisdom, all knowledge, all virtues, come from you, Who are the inexhaustible source of all Holiness. Your Holy Word teaches us to seek truth, purity, godliness and knowledge that leads to love and harmony. You are the embodiment of love, and we are nothing without you, which proves, most assuredly and most undeniably, undoubtedly, that where there is no love, there is nothing.

We are naught, in your sight, without the blessing of the generous spirit of love. Sharing this spirit of benevolence, means caring for our lesser endowed, poorer brethren, for you, God, are impartial in your great and perfect love, making the sun shine on the rich and poor, in equal measure. Lord, may we not lose your favor, for reasons of selfish pride. Teach us to practice humility in all our worldly dealings.

Bless us with true Christian humility, in imitation of Christ, for which you have graciously promised manifold rewards, for it is a grace of great price in your sight. May we fear your greatness and justice in condemning all that is false and imperfect in us. By the power of thy Holy Spirit, May we be sanctified and purified from all grave misdemeanors, by transforming our lives to gain the merits and comforts of this life, and happiness of the next, promised to us, in Jesus’ Name. Alleluia, Amen

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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Romans 12:9-10 New Living Translation

⁹ Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold on tightly to what is good. ¹⁰ Love each other with genuine affection,^[a] and take delight in honoring each other.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

Oh, here they come, those loving Christians, Some are welcoming, Some are inclusive and not, Some of them are just plain soul and spirit and energy draining …we’ll say.

Oh, Yes!

“Oi’ Vie”

“Not them again!”

Here they are “marching in formation” with their bibles – God’s great pretenders!

Oh, here they come, those loving Christians, Some are welcoming, Some are inclusive and not, Some of them are just plain soul and spirit and energy draining …we’ll say.

Oh, Yes!

“Oi’ Vie”

“Not them again!”

Here they are “marching in formation” with their bibles – God’s great pretenders!

There they are on the street corners, in the park on a bench, in their work places, in the grocery stores and hurriedly and busily shopping in the Walmart or Sam’s Club. They are the ones who are sitting in their classrooms and walking and running the long halls of Academia, they are the ones in unemployment lines, homeless shelters.  

We are the world of the non-believers, the discouraged, and the disillusioned.

We are also the Baptized of God with the Gospel of Jesus oozing from our souls, the Gospel message of Salvation through Jesus Christ alone – mixing together.

We are people of the world which God did create who knows how long ago.

Baptized or not, believer or non believer, here we are – one world community.

Whichever is our lot in life at this moment => We are all absolutely guilty of it.

“The Smart Phone” Posture – our attention exclusively on our emails, texts.

Walking the streets, riding on busses and subway cars, driving our vehicles, on airplanes and trains, on bicycles and motorcycles even skateboards, Segway’s.

Giving no particular attention to anyone in particular – locked, loaded on self!

Apathy

Complacency

Pretense

Singularly hoping the moment never comes when God puts the spiritual Baptized Christian, the not so spiritual Christian the Non Believer, and the apathetic, the discouraged, the disillusioned, the unsure, in the same room.

We cringe and scramble to appear busy, on the move, or in a conversation before (gasp and groan) we are actually cornered into a long conversation.

There are people we will all actually ago to impossible lengths just to void.

It’s the shocking truth.

In a world where we have been set down to serve others, when push comes to shove, we actually don’t want to, or like to, sometimes, depending upon the person, what we each have going on in our own lives at the moment, to have an encounter when actual conversations about God occurs or act .01% Christ-like.

We Are All Just Being the World’s Greatest Pretenders

The English Dictionary definition of pretend is “to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so.”

Hand in hand and Heart to heart, Pretending runs right alongside avoidance.

I would bet my surgically repaired heart to say pretense makes Christ cringe, all the “fake” “boundaries” we put up around hurting people who border our lives.

I claim no innocence as I’m certain I am just as guilty of such negligent conduct.

Some days are such an emotional struggle for me, I don’t understand where the capacity to reach out and do anything for anyone else is going to come from.

Or, classically, I’ll find myself overwhelmed with my schedule and proclaim, “I have too many yes’s and not enough no’s in my life!” 

As if my helping too many people is way too pressing of an agenda to sustain.

Oh, I can safely believe how the Lord God must absolutely roll His eyes at me.

“Most of us have learned how to be courteous to others—how to speak kindly, avoid hurting people’s feelings, and appear to take an interest in them,”

except that the Life Application Bible notes, “But God has called us to a love that goes far beyond pretense and politeness.” (Romans 12:9-10 The Message)

^9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

We Are All Just Being the World’s Greatest Pretenders

The English Dictionary definition of pretend is “to cause or attempt to cause (what is not so) to seem so.”

Hand in hand and Heart to heart, Pretending runs right alongside avoidance.

I would bet my surgically repaired heart to say pretense makes Christ cringe, all the “fake” “boundaries” we put up around hurting people who border our lives.

I claim no innocence as I’m certain I am just as guilty of such negligent conduct.

Some days are such an emotional struggle for me, I don’t understand where the capacity to reach out and do anything for anyone else is going to come from.

Or, classically, I’ll find myself overwhelmed with my schedule and proclaim, “I have too many yes’s and not enough no’s in my life!” 

As if my helping too many people is way too pressing of an agenda to sustain.

Oh, I can safely believe how the Lord God must absolutely roll His eyes at me.

“Most of us have learned how to be courteous to others—how to speak kindly, avoid hurting people’s feelings, and appear to take an interest in them,”

except that the Life Application Bible notes, “But God has called us to a love that goes far beyond pretense and politeness.” (Romans 12:9-10 The Message)

^9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

Love from the CENTER of who we are – exactly who, whose am I at my CENTER?

Don’t Fake it – except faking the moment is the easier, less accountable option.

Run for Dear Life from Evil – who can ever run fast enough and far enough and long enough to actually avoid the presence, the power and the influence of evil?

Hold on for Dear Life to Good – sooner or later we have to let go of everything because our grips are not as strong as those of Hercules or Samson’s or God’s.

Be Good Friends who Love Deeply – How good a friend, to what commitment’s?

Practice Playing Second Fiddle – Not with my Pride and so Not with my Apathy!

This love Paul writes to the Roman believers of looks like 100% inconvenience.

It costs us time, money, and effort.

It’s more than simply putting someone on a prayer list somewhere.

We’re covenant called to care deeply for and create disciples for Jesus Christ.

Oof.

That takes time, commitment, sacrifice and resources we usually do not have.

Thankfully, the Author of every single minute of our lives has the ability to stretch human capacity to fit an insurmountable amount of love and good.

It is All About Our Being the Real Church – Easy and Difficult Sharing

No one wants to be a “charity case” or someone else’s “project.”

Nonetheless, all of us have needs.

No one can live independently.

We are dependent on other people to build things like roads, cars and houses.

We need others to raise our food and provide resources like electricity and gas.

We need to be in relationship with other people.

We need friendships and love.

Because we all have needs, apostle Paul calls us, from moment to moment to Love each other without regard to who they are, share with each other freely.

Some people are easy to share with—a friend who breaks her leg, a coworker who has surgery.

But some needs are more intense.

A severe health issue, a major depression, a death, separation or a divorce can create significant, additional needs for many months.

Sometimes church communities respond well and quickly to help someone with significant additional needs.

Sometimes churches struggle, however, with helping to meet long-term needs.

Some people don’t “get better.”

Some people wont “get better.”

People who have long-term needs tend to be forgotten after a while: shut-ins, people who develop serious physical or mental health disabilities, people with end stage chronic health issues, cancer, chronic pain or autism or dementia.

Paul calls us to deliberately and intentionally encounter each other, share not only with God’s people who are easy to share with, but also with God’s people whose needs and hurts, the disillusioned, discouraged, apathetic, complacent, time consuming, resource heavy, character building, complex, deep and long.

When the apostle Paul talks about the body of Christ in Romans 12, he urges all his listeners and readers to, as Christ first did for us, sacrificially, worshipfully, use whatever spiritual gifts they have been given to their fullest utmost ability.

It doesn’t really matter which gifts we might have.

What matters is we use them to the best of our ability for the good of others.

In community, people care for each other.

They use their gifts to help each other and to see that anyone who is wounded or hurting or in some other difficulty is looked after and loved.

Sometimes healing is possible.

Other times mourning and support are needed when healing won’t take place.

At times we all need caring for.

Acts 2:43-47 New Living Translation

⁴³ A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. ⁴⁴ And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. ⁴⁵ They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. ⁴⁶ They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity^[a]— ⁴⁷ all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Having a genuine community of genuinely compassionate people, whether they believe in God, Jesus, Holy Spirit or not, around us to do that is essential, is the single greatest effort we can make to create opportunities for God to go to work.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father God,

Stretch our minutes and lengthen our patience, Father. Show us how to genuinely love the people You have placed in our lives, Lord. Let us not be too busy to connect with our neighbors and have lengthy conversations while our ice cream melts in the cart. Father, we do have time for people. Our time is Your time! You are the Author of our days, and You know the number of them! Your plan for our lives includes loving others. There is no greater task or agenda than to really love them. 

Show us what it means, Father, to be genuine as Christ was genuine, to hold tight to what is good. We know we need genuine, and realistic boundaries in our lives, and we realize we can’t say “yes” to all the things we want to do or that people want us to do. But the plans You have for us, Lord, You make time for. So, help us to learn, to understand what we are adding to our days which is not ordained by You, so we are free to take all the time we need to love the people You quietly put in our paths daily. 

God, You are Love. You love us so much, You gave Your one and only Son, Christ Jesus, so we would not be bound to the limits of this world. In Christ, Your Holy Spirit lives in us, directing us daily to whoever needs us to extend Your love to them each day. Broaden, Heighten our sense of the Holy Spirit and sharpen our immediate obedience to follow His lead on our lives. Bless our lives to shine with the light and love of Jesus, Father. In His mighty name, we pray, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia Amen. 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

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1 Kings 17:1-16 New King James Version

Elijah Proclaims a Drought

17 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

² Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ³ “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. ⁴ And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

⁵ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. ⁷ And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

Elijah and the Widow

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ⁹ “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” ¹⁰ So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” ¹¹ And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

¹² So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a ^[a]jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

¹³ And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”

¹⁵ So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

Today, we will delve into the remarkable story of the Prophet Elijah and explore several spiritual lessons we can learn from his amazing life of devotion to God.

Through these accounts we prayerfully discover points which highlight how Elijah’s journey can embolden, empower and inspire our own Christian walk.

Bold Faith and Trust in God (1 Kings 17:1-6)

Elijah Fed by Ravens

17 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”

² Then the Lord said to Elijah, ³ “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. ⁴ Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”

⁵ So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook.

Elijah’s story begins with an incredible act of faith as he confidently declares a drought upon the land of Israel.

This demonstrates his unwavering trust in God’s power and that even during his great time of discouragement, his willingness to obey divine instructions.

Similarly, we can learn to rely on God completely, stepping out in faith and trusting in His faithfulness to guide us through challenging circumstances.

People of faith are never going to be promised an easy life and steady, but they are steadfastly and immovable promised that God will absolutely be with them.

As we begin to look at the life of the prophet Elijah, we see that his work begins with a message of judgment from God.

Wishy washy King Ahab and evil Queen Jezebel are ruling the land, but in their kingdom Baal is worshiped front and center and the worship of the true God is pushed to the back row.

The sins of the rulers and the sins of the people lead to God’s punishment.

Elijah announces, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

The consequence of Israel’s sin is that the nation’s fertile land will become a desert, and everyone will suffer.

God’s judgment even affects Elijah.

He will need water and food in this time of famine.

It will not be easy to be a person that God will use.

But God tells Elijah where to live and find water, and God assures Elijah that the ravens will supply him with food.

We don’t know what the food looked like after being in a raven’s beak.

What probably did happen, though, is whenever a raven landed with his daily bread, Elijah gave a prayer of thanks: “The Lord has provided for me—today.”

Divine Provision and Sustenance (1 Kings 17:7-16):

1 Kings 17:7-16New Living Translation

⁷ But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.

The Widow at Zarephath

⁸ Then the Lord said to Elijah, ⁹ “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”

¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”

¹² But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”

¹³ But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”

¹⁵ So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days. ¹⁶ There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.

During the drought, God leads Elijah to a widow in Zarephath, who generously provides for his needs from the meagerness of her own.

This account teaches us God’s miraculous provision, in the midst of scarcity.

It reminds me and I pray it reminds each of us to fervently seek God’s guidance and trust that He will provide for us abundantly, according to His perfect plan.

Life can be harsh.

We are up against death all the time.

The woman at Zarephath was prepared to do everything she could for her son, even until the end.

If we could do this in our homes and neighborhoods and communities today!

The world outside is a famine-stricken wasteland.

So all a husband really has to do is start his wife’s car for her once in a while.

And a wife could spend five minutes listening to her husband.

All a kid needs to do is say, “Thanks for supper,” and carry the dishes to the counter—or maybe even volunteer to wash them.

We might only have today, you know.

It shouldn’t be too difficult.

Just scrape a few sticks of basic kindness together.

Really?

You and I can’t do that?

Sure you and I can.

Because God scraped up two big sticks and made them into a cross.

His Son died on them for a broken, famine-scorched sin broken world.

He died for you.

And He died for me.

He literally and echelons beyond what we can imagine, gave us all he had.

Living out salvation is really mostly about giving our own everything to God.

Happier homes start when people in a family make a gentle commitment:

“I will give my family everything of what I have; I will share what “everything” I have with them, even just the little bitty things that may seem too meaningless.”

God’s Faithfulness in Answered Prayer (1 Kings 18:36-39)

³⁶ At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,^[a] prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. ³⁷ O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

³⁸ Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! ³⁹ And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”

The most iconic moment in Elijah’s life occurs on Mount Carmel, where he publicly, singularly steadfastly challenges the prophets of Baal and calls upon the God of Israel to claim the moment, send fire upon his water logged offering.

God dramatically answers Elijah’s prayer, consuming the sacrifice with fire from heaven.

This event demonstrates God’s faithfulness in answering fervent prayers, encouraging us to approach Him with confidence and trust that He hears us.

Fire is most certainly a destructive force, but it can also illuminate the night.

Elijah on Mount Carmel stands as God’s representative before people who worship other gods and the people from Israel who can’t seem to choose.

Greatly outnumbered by the Baal’s, publicly, at great risk of his life, Elijah calls them all to decide between the Lord, the one true God, and Baal, the false god.

Before any decision is made, a contest is played out between Elijah and the prophets of Baal as to who can bring fire from heaven down on a sacrifice.

The prophets of Baal prepare their sacrifice and cry out for Baal’s attention, going so far as to cut themselves and bleed.

But there is no response, because Baal does not exist.

Then Elijah pours water over the sacrifice he has prepared.

The sacrifice is totally drenched, and water also fills a trench around the altar.

Then Elijah prays to God.

In response, the Lord sends fire so intense that it burns up the sacrifice and the wood, stones, and soil and evaporates the water in the trench.

In this battle, it is clear who has won.

The people no longer waver.

They cry out and acknowledge the Lord as God.

We serve the one true God, who hears us.

We serve the God who is not silent.

We serve the God who was even willing to send his Son, Jesus Christ, into a hopelessly broken, sin governed world, to die for us, securing our salvation.

This God also turns to us and calls us to follow him as His own Son followed.

Learning from Isolation and Solitude (1 Kings 19:1-9)

Elijah Flees to Sinai

19 When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel everything Elijah had done, including the way he had killed all the prophets of Baal. ² So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: “May the gods strike me and even kill me if by this time tomorrow I have not killed you just as you killed them.”

³ Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. ⁴ Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”

⁵ Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” ⁶ He looked around and there beside his head was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again.

⁷ Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.”

⁸ So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai,^[a] the mountain of God. ⁹  There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.

The Lord Speaks to Elijah

But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

After the triumph on Mount Carmel, Elijah finds himself overwhelmed by fear and flees into the wilderness.

In his isolation, God reveals Himself to Elijah, teaching him important lessons about divine presence and guidance.

We, too, can experience spiritual growth in times of solitude, as God speaks to us and strengthens our faith in the quiet moments of life.

But, what makes us run away in the first place and display our distrust of God?

We are just too tired to think about any other alternative but running away?

We have become too discouraged or perhaps too disillusioned not to run away?

Both are very real possibilities – who of us has not experienced any of them?

By all accounts, Elijah had just finished a successful revival.

The false prophets of Baal had been utterly routed, and the people of Israel had publicly acknowledged God and had proclaimed their allegiance to the true God.

God had answered Elijah’s prayers for an end to a crippling drought (1 Kings 18).

But instead of resting confidently and faithfully in the Lord, who had brought about all these good things, Elijah instead made the decision, ran away. Why?

Sometimes we are just too worn out to stay where we are.

Even our moments of success can be clouded by opposition and fear, and it can seem easier to run away.

Maybe you’re overwhelmed by the uncertainties of life, or you feel unable to cope for another day with a difficult relationship.

Or maybe you’re just plain tired and you think that being elsewhere—physically or spiritually—will fix things.

But when we run from our challenges, we often miss the lessons God wants us to learn—about ourselves and His mercy, forgiveness and compassionate care.

Thankfully for us, God is willing to meet us when we run away.

He came to Elijah with a gracious question: “What are you doing here?”

And God responded to Elijah’s hurt and fear with a promise of his presence and ongoing work.

By coming to us in Christ, God has done even more.

When you’re worn out and tempted to run away, let the unsurpassable peace and incomparable presence of Savior Christ lead you back home to rest in Him.

Hearing God’s Still Small Voice (1 Kings 19:11-13)

¹⁰ Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”

¹¹ “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The God who created the universe is obviously present in big things, and God is also present in the small, mundane, meaningless, subtle and quiet things of life.

God does huge miracles, saves countless people, and heals debilitating diseases.

From the limitless depths of eternity, God also watches over us in our weakest times and knows the minute details of our lives.

From the indefinable silence and coldness of our universe, God is present in the whispers of our lives when it seems as if no one is there and nothing matters.

Fellowship, Koinonia, Community, Neighbors and Neighborhoods are similar.

It isn’t just present in the big and life-changing moments.

It isn’t just present in huge groups.

It is present in the quiet, little things of life too.

Sometimes we aren’t even looking for it, and it just shows up.

It is present in couple’s nights, quiet conversations over coffee, in small game nights, in family meals, in BBQ’s, or in any garage as friends work on their cars.

What small mundane moments do you look for and maybe find community in?

Maybe when you look for community in those situations, you’ll see it all around you and maybe in all those innocuous and mundane moments – find God there?

Leaving a Legacy of Faith  (2 Kings 2:9-15)

⁹ When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.”

And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.”

¹⁰ “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah replied. “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.”

¹¹ As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹² Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” And as they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress.

¹³ Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. Then Elisha returned to the bank of the Jordan River. ¹⁴ He struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.

¹⁵ When the group of prophets from Jericho saw from a distance what happened, they exclaimed, “Elijah’s spirit rests upon Elisha!” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

Years had passed since the time God chose Elisha to succeed Elijah as his prophet (1 Kings 19:16, 19-21).

Now, after training Elisha, Elijah was going home to God.

It was time to see if Elisha was ready to serve in his place.

What might look like a good-bye tour of their favorite hangouts was really a test.

First Elisha’s loyalty was tested, and three times he said he would not leave.

Next Elisha’s wisdom was tested, and with true insight Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit—the inheritance traditionally given to an eldest son.

Suddenly two things happened at once: a chariot and horses of fire came between them.

And Elijah was sucked up into a mini-tornado and was gone!

Because he saw Elijah taken away, Elisha received what he had asked for.

Then, in front of everyone on the other side of the Jordan River, Elisha was able to repeat Elijah’s last miracle.

With the cloak that had fallen from Elijah, Elisha parted the waters and walked across on dry ground.

Everyone watching could see Elisha had been chosen to be God’s new prophet in Israel.

Each of us has been called and also equipped to be a prophet, right where we are and alongside the people we live with.

Equipped with God’s Holy Spirit and His power, we too are also commanded to follow our clouds of predecessors, pick up our cloaks and get right to laboring.

Conclusion:

The life of Elijah provides us with valuable spiritual lessons.

Through his bold expressions of faith, unwavering trust, divine provision, answered prayers, solitude, attentiveness to God’s voice, overcoming deep discouragement, leaving a legacy, we can grow in our relationship with God.

In and by your baptism, How might this all be expressed through your own life?

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Lord God, heavenly Father, we are poor, miserable sinners. We know your will, but we are too weak to fulfill it. Our flesh and blood hold us back, and our enemy the devil will not leave us in peace. Pour your Holy Spirit into our hearts, that with a steadfast faith we may cling to your Son Jesus Christ, find comfort in his passion and death, believe the forgiveness of sin through him and in willing obedience to your will lead holy lives on earth until by your grace we depart from this world of sorrow and obtain eternal life; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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1 Kings 19:11-13 Amplified Bible

¹¹ So He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by, and a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, [there was] an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake, [there was] a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire, [there was] the sound of a gentle blowing. ¹³ When Elijah heard the sound, he wrapped his face in his mantle (cloak) and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen

One of my favorite Bible stories is about Elijah the Prophet hearing God. 

1 Kings 19:11-13 says, “The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then, a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

It’s a descriptive account of how the great Elijah the Prophet, exhausted and depressed, expected to hear his God and then how God actually showed up.

He looks for God in the powerful winds, earthquakes, and fire.

God was not there.

Unexpectedly, he heard God speak when he quietly waited at the mouth of a cave, and after all the ear splitting noises of nature, God whispered to Elijah.

How often do I look for God to show up as a mighty storm in my life or for him to suddenly get my attention by literally rocking my world, such as we see with hurricanes, tornado’s, earthquakes and great fires on television or the internet?

At times, God absolutely does speak in those moments, and he surely is with us when our lives take sudden unexpected turns, but what about the innumerable extraordinarily ordinary moments that make up the majority of all of our lives?

Does God care about our daily routines?

Is it possible to hear him as we walk to get the mail or make lunches?

What about while cleaning the dishes or driving to work?

Does he only check in with us on Sundays when we attend church services, or does the rest of our humdrum Monday through Saturday matter to him, too? 

The Quiet Moments Can Also Be God Moments

Elijah’s story reminds us that the quiet moments can be God moments, too.

We can see God in the simplistic moments of unexpected beauty we are given.

How many times have I given thanks to God just at the sight of children running around in our simple backyard on a sunny day or my wife as she does jewelry?

I am in awe of the wonder they are able to enjoy the everyday things.

How many prayers have I lifted up while walking around the grocery store?

My heart cries out, God please help me be the husband, step father, you have called me to be! My life and all that I have invested in goes mostly unseen. 

I can attest to the fact that every word God has given me has come right in the midst of my ordinary life.

God nudged me towards my neighbor one morning as he was getting his young daughter ready for school – to openly pray for them both and reveal His glory.

During my workout routine trying to get my new heart exercised, He reminded me that all I need to do is pray, God I need you, and God will be there for me.

During a talk with a Nurse friend at church, He assured me and my new surgical heart that the new medication I needed to calm my my sugar, blood pressure and mind, the rest of my body, was an essential part of his healing plan for me.

Living in my everyday life is interrupted by God’s gentle, guiding whisper voice.

He is there in the ordinary with us, showing us his ways, teaching us his path.  

We Have Moments We Are Called to Give Without Being Seen 

Can I trust that God cares about my days, even if no one is promoting me or praising me for the efforts I make recovering and rehabbing from surgery?

The lessons I thought I taught my heart about having confidence, endurance ?

The tantrums I endured when I thought my heart was not listening as well as I thought it should have based on the number of “the more” steps I was walking?

We all are called to serve unto the Lord and not man.

We all have moments when God leads us to give without being seen. 

Jesus rebuked the religious elite for parading around when they fasted and prayed.

He wanted more than a spectacle from his followers, he wanted our hearts.

That’s why no matter if you are a CEO or a stay-at-home parent, there are definitely going to be silent moments when God calls you to give, serve, pray, love, and fast without being seen – this is when our true character shines. 

I’ll tell you from personal experience that it’s not easy to serve unconditionally.

When given the chance to do it for days, weeks, and even years on end, what you find is that your heart is not as pretty as you once hoped. 

Pride and a drive for affirmation run deep, at least it does in me.

But the lesson I’ve been learning and relearning in my home, as my heart heals, as I live stuck in all kinds of ordinary, which I used to be able to do but hesitate to do now, is that rehabbing my life is all about my obedience and not success.

Obedience to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – not to me, myself and I, but to God be every measure and degree the highest glory, honor and the praise.

In my weakness, his strength is made perfect.

I can do all things only because the grace and strength of my Savior Jesus Christ is in me, not because I’m a capable though healing, responsible Christ follower. 

The ordinary stuff is the place, as my mom and dad often said, where our moral and ethical character is built – pebble by pebble, stone by stone, brick by brick.

It is how we rehab our sinful lives, renew our thoughts, it’s how we do the dishes – as a cheerful giver or a grumpy, resentful servant – God cares about.

Thankfully, He is gentle with us, and on the grumpy days, there is grace, but the lesson comes again the next morning.

How will be rehab our lives, renew our thoughts, get right with our Savior Jesus.

How will you do these dishes differently, more thoughtfully, today, He asks? 

The Whole of Our Days Are Exclusively for His Glory

Psalm 46:10-11 Amplified Bible

¹⁰ 
“Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.”
¹¹ 
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.

The incomparable thing with God is that in His economy, nothing is wasted.

We are the one’s commanded by God to just “sit still” for as long as it takes.

When Abraham waited years and years to realize the promise of a son, God was using his everyday life to prepare him for what was to come.

Moses spent four decades working in the desert before God appeared to him in a bush, giving him an indescribably holy, life rehabbing, life-changing mission.

That time raising his family, shepherding Jethro’s flocks in the desert was readying him to lead the Israelites through harsh terrain in the years to come. 

We think of life as a series of high notes and low notes on a timeline, but God sees it all.

Each day we are given is a chance to learn and grow closer to our Maker.

Today, in all of your mundane ordinary day, please don’t miss His whisper.

Let fixing the coffee, making your breakfast remind you of all His faithfulness.

Drinking your Orange Juice, and eating your breakfast tells of all His provision.

Thank Him that His mercies are new every morning and each day has a definite mundane, ordinary, extraordinarily humble purpose for you in God’s Kingdom.

They all absolutely matter to him.

Don’t curse the simple moments because they are not extraordinary enough; lean in to ordinary, and you will hear that whisper of his gracious love for you.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Father God, I am humbled to realize that You have included me and my life, as part of Your plan for humanity. I realize more and more that I must decrease in every area of my life and entrust all circumstances into Your gracious hands… so that You may increase, and I may decrease. Use me, Lord, as You will, in Your wider plans and purposes, and develop in me an understanding heart and a listening ear to hear all You have to say to me. Teach me the sudden and subtle lessons that You would have me to learn and keep me looking to Jesus. This I ask in His precious name, AMEN.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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Deuteronomy 8:11-16 The Message

^11-16 Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

Are We Remembering God as God Remembers Us?

Deuteronomy 8:11-14 Amplified Bible

¹¹ “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by failing to keep His commandments and His judgments (precepts) and His statutes which I am commanding you today;¹² otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have increases, ¹⁴  then your heart will become lifted up [by self-conceit and arrogance] and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

It takes a whole lot of work and resources to keep and maintain a home.

Whether you own your own residence or lease or rent from others, there are always little maintenance projects that creep up: light bulbs need replacing, lawns need mowing, faucets begin to drip, doors which need to be repainted.

Sometimes we put the work off for another day, but if we wait too long the home will slowly deteriorate – home always needs regular maintenance.

We can also face many temptations to take our home with God for granted.

When times are good, we look at our material blessings, at our relationships with family and friends, neighbors or at our moral character, and we assume we are doing fine -we forget that these are gifts from God that we receive by grace.

In our bible text, Israel was reminded that when they arrived in the promised land, they needed to make work of remembering God. God warned that if they did not actively honor the Lord for his gifts, they would soon forget the Giver.

I read once that most divorces occur not because of an affair or a spouse’s violence but because of apathy—a husband or wife simply begins to take the other for granted – they look at each other and cannot find a reason for love.

Something similar kind of apathy can happen in our relationship with God.

Our God wants us to know and remember where our blessings come from—and especially the gift of our relationship with him in Christ – do we still recall, do we still remember all the ancient covenants God gave us to create community?

Are We Remembering to Live A Christ-Centered Life?

It absolutely matters how you and I live our lives.

Oh, it is great to be saved; but don’t neglect how you live your life thinking I have all I need.

If you take that apathetic attitude now that I am saved and it doesn’t matter anymore how I live my life, your lack of following Christ faithfully might result in a family member, a friend, or a co-worker not accepting Christ in their life.

I believe it would be terrible if the way I live my life somehow, in some careless way, manner, prevented someone from coming to know Christ as their Savior.

Right now, it sounds good that I am going to heaven.

But I believe that when Jesus hands out rewards for how you lived, you would have wished you done more in this life to store up treasurers in heaven.

As in the Parable of the Talents, I believe that when Jesus assigns us places of service in His kingdom then we would have wished that we done more in this life to be able to have a greater reach, greater place of service in His kingdom.

Jesus warned us in the Sermon on the Mount to store up treasures in heaven.

The Apostle Paul testified that all he had gained in this life, he counts as loss for knowing Christ.

He says the real value of life is knowing Jesus and serving Him while we have breath.

Apostle Peter talked about the importance of our obedience to God because He has set up an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that does not fade away reserved in heaven for you.

So what I am hearing is that salvation should not be enough in my life.

I should only want to live a Christ- Centered life; I should only want to live big for Christ; Paul lived big for Christ; Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, many clouds of witnesses lived big for Christ and every one of us in here should try to live big for Christ, but I can tell you from personal experience, it is not so easy.

In the world we live in today, we have so many complex things competing for the center stage of our life that sometimes Jesus is delegated to a side stage.

I would hope that we would ask ourselves today the question:

Is Jesus center stage in my life?

Is my life a Christ-centered life?

You don’t know. You are not sure.

So, I want to spend some much needed, much required quality time with you today sharing what I believe a Christ-centered life looks like, then we must each fervently pray, decide for ourselves whether, if my life is Christ-centered or not.

Christ-centered life sees Jesus as the source of everything in their life.

Philippians 4:18-20 The Message

^18-20 And now I have it all—and keep getting more! The gifts you sent with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God to no end. You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.

Notice the Scripture does not say that God shall supply some of my needs, nor does it say that God shall supply most of my needs but God supplies them all.

You would think, perhaps even steadfastly believe and preach that God being the source of my everything would be an ultra easy concept for one to grasp.

Can anybody here think of something that you do that God is not the source?

My own surgically repaired heart, my life, my very last breath, my sleeping, my labor, the protection of my family, the food on my table are all the result of God.

You know what that tells me: if I am indeed Christ-centered, Jesus is always on my mind because it constantly, naturally comes to my mind that He has done all of this; for His glory and honor and praise alone He has done all that for me.

But let me tell you what happens to us.

Humanity happens!

Humanity interferes!

Slowly over time, I switch the source from God to myself.

I begin to think that I am doing it.

I begin to think less about Jesus as I go through my day and more about what I am accomplishing, and all of the accolades I should be receiving in abundance.

I am the one that got the promotion the boss just gave me.

I am the one who put in the extra hours; I am the one that got the boss to notice the quality of work.

Pretty soon all of that self-sufficiency stuff that pushed God from the center of my life turns back into self-pride(look what I have done) and God moved even further from center stage in my life to one of the smaller tiny stages on the side.

Back to being governed by my humanity, I again begin to forget all about what my Savior Christ is doing for me, and it is all about what I am doing for myself.

God gave the Israelites a warning about that type of thinking: and now in this moment of devotion, I believe that by warning them, God is also warning us.

Deuteronomy 8:11-16 The Message

^11-16 Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness, those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

Can that happen to us and we forget God?

Yes, it surely can happen to us just like the Israelites.

Yes, confess it or not, because it absolutely has already happened to us.

A Christ-centered life will place its central focus on the person of Jesus Christ not the rules of our faith.

Philippians 3:10-11 The Message

^10-11 I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

There ought to be a sticker on the front door of every Christian home that says, “make room for Christ in your Christianity.”

I am afraid that a lot of people get so caught up in the do’s and the don’ts of their beliefs they substitute a religion-centered life for a Christ-centered life.

The Jewish faith of the Old Testament substituted a relationship with YHWH in lieu of the do’s and don’ts of their faith.

That is what made the Pharisees so powerful – they were the teller of the rules.

That same thing has happened in the New Testament churches.

There are churches which are so centrally focused on the rules of denomination that they forgot the person of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And individual Christian people have been known to take the focus off Christ and put it on the rules.

If you have done that you are in good company.

The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:4-6, I got caught up in the do’s and don’ts of the Jewish faith.

But he goes on and says in verse 7 all these things I count loss for Christ.

Now Paul is talking the person of Jesus Christ.

He saw his error and corrected it.

If you focus on the rules over the person of Jesus Christ are you willing to correct it?

A Christ-centered life wants no one to get the glory except Christ.

Revelation 4:11 Amplified Bible

¹¹ 
“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they exist, and were created and brought into being.”

A Christ-centered life has one goal: Jesus gets 100% the credit.

I love it when after a football game when a player is interviewed by an on the field announcer and the very first thing out of their mouth is all credit for my performance today goes to Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 10:29-30 The Message

^29-30 But, except for these special cases, I’m not going to walk around on eggshells worrying about what small-minded people might say; I’m going to stride free and easy, knowing what our large-minded Master has already said. If I eat what is served to me, grateful to God for what is on the table, how can I worry about what someone will say? I thanked God for it and he blessed it!

But then there are those interviews with the politicians.

And nine out of ten of them want to give the credit to themselves for something they done, some law that they passed.

And as it gets ever so much closer to election time, they want you to know all their accomplishments to curry favor with the voters.

What are you more like the football player who gives the credit to God or the politician who touts all his or her accomplishments.

In a Chris-centered life- Christ has got to get 100% the glory.

A Christ-centered life handles the troubles of this world with hope.

A life that is not Christ-centered will sometimes fall apart dealing with those same troubles.

The difference is the hope.

Romans 15:4-6 Amplified Bible

⁴ For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope and overflow with confidence in His promises. ⁵ Now may the God who gives endurance and who supplies encouragement grant that you be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify and praise and honor the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 3:15 Amplified Bible

¹⁵ But in your hearts set Christ apart [as holy—acknowledging Him, giving Him first place in your lives] as Lord. Always be ready to give a [logical] defense to anyone who asks you to account for the hope and confident assurance [elicited by faith] that is within you, yet [do it] with gentleness and respect.

The hope inside of a Christian is a resurrected Christ, the hope is a living Christ.

And we know that whatever the outcome God is absolutely 100% in control and that he has plans for us and we ultimately, win. (read 1 Corinthians 15:57-58)

The unbeliever can not see how this is going to turn out good.

Conclusion

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 Amplified Bible

⁵⁷ but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory [as conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].

A lot of things competes for the center stage of our life.

Don’t let Jesus be removed from the center stage of your life for something that has no business being there.

Christ is the only ONE who has business being on the center stage of your life.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 46 The Message

46 ^1-3 God is a safe place to hide,
    ready to help when we need him.
We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom,
    courageous in seastorm and earthquake,
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
    the tremors that shift mountains.

    Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

^4-6 River fountains splash joy, cooling God’s city,
    this sacred haunt of the Most High.
God lives here, the streets are safe,
    God at your service from crack of dawn.
Godless nations rant and rave, kings and kingdoms threaten,
    but Earth does anything he says.

⁷     Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

^8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God!
    He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole,
    breaks all the weapons across his knee.
“Step out of the traffic! Take a long,
    loving look at me, your High God,
    above politics, above everything.”

¹¹     Jacob-wrestling God fights for us,
    God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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2 Corinthians 4:7-15 Amplified Bible

⁷ But we have this precious treasure [the good news about salvation] in [unworthy] earthen vessels [of human frailty], so that the grandeur and surpassing greatness of the power will be [shown to be] from God [His sufficiency] and not from ourselves. ⁸ We are pressured in every way [hedged in], but not crushed; perplexed [unsure of finding a way out], but not driven to despair; ⁹ hunted down and persecuted, but not deserted [to stand alone]; struck down, but never destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying around in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown in our body. ¹¹ For we who live are constantly [experiencing the threat of] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced in our mortal body [which is subject to death]. ¹² So physical death is [actively] at work in us, but [spiritual] life [is actively at work] in you.

¹³ Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had, who wrote in Scripture, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” We also believe, therefore we also speak, ¹⁴  knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and will present us [along] with you in His presence. ¹⁵ For all [these] things are for your sake, so that as [God’s remarkable, undeserved] grace reaches to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of [our great] God.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

2 Corinthians 4:11-12 Easy-to-Read Version

¹¹ We are alive, but for Jesus we are always in danger of death, so that the life of Jesus can be seen in our bodies that die. ¹² So death is working in us, but the result is that life is working in you.

2 Corinthians 4:11-12New International Version

¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Are we being so changed by our relationship with Christ that others who are in our lives see the glory of His character? How can we share in the dying of Jesus?

What we all want in this life as baptized Christians, of course, is to be like Him.

But the power of God is the miracle of others seeing in us, in the midst of our pressures and trials, our life which reveals the character and the life of Jesus.

I have always been taken aback and challenged by the verse in Colossians 1, where Paul prays that his friends in Colossae may be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might (Colossians 1:11a).

¹¹ [we pray that you may be] strengthened and invigorated with all power, according to His glorious might, to attain every kind of endurance and patience with joy;

What are they going to use all this power for?

It sounds as though Paul ought to say, So that you can go about doing great miracles; so that you can astonish people with the tremendous magnetism of your preaching and teaching and be followed by great crowds. 

But that is not what he says. He says, I pray that you may be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience (Colossians 1:11).

That is what takes power; that is where the life, the power of God is manifest.

That is the life of Jesus.

As you read through the gospels, the Spirit of God brings to your mind’s eye a far more beautiful and wonderful picture, perhaps, of Jesus’ character and life.

What you see His compassion of heart, His moral beauty that attracted people everywhere He went.

You see the serenity of His spirit, how He moves through every scene of anger and unrest with calmness and quietness.

You see His disciplined will and His obvious joy in living.

That is the life of Jesus, and that is what we want, isn’t it?

How do you get it?

The secret, Paul says, is our consent to share in the dying of Jesus.

What does he mean by the dying of Jesus?

You know he does not mean that we have to get ourselves nailed to a cross.

But that cross is a symbol of something very real in our experience.

What was Jesus like on the cross?

He was not powerful and impressive and significant anymore; now a criminal, He was not being applauded by the multitudes that listened to His every word.

No. The cross was a place of great physical weakness, of ultimate humiliation, of ultimate rejection by the scornful, proud and arrogant world around Him.

It was a place of lethal obscurity, a place where He was choosing, willing to lose everything He had built and to trust God to bring it back and make it significant.

We are only human, but we each want to live a life which matters

Pride before the Fall? Have you been in those circumstances recently, where no matter what you do you just cannot seem to get any glory or credit for yourself?

That is exactly where God wants you, because out of those times of inordinate pressure, times of hurt and despair and heartache and a sense of a Christian life being wasted and not used, God is working His will.

Others, perhaps, are being given life because of the death we are going through.

In our Scripture Lesson for this day, apostle Paul says that God has decided to put the most urgent and essential message of all time—the greatest treasure in the world—the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ inside of “jars of clay.”

Clay jars were used to carry water and other goods during Paul’s day.

And clay is a common substance that is available almost everywhere, and potters mastered the art of forming clay jars on their pottery wheels.

While some clay jars were beautifully decorated, most were humble vessels.

But whether they were plain or beautiful, they had a life-giving function—that of the gathering, preserving, and transporting of food, water to thirsty people.

Clay jars are also remarkably fragile—breaking if dropped or hit by a stone.

Not many clay jars survived a person’s lifetime—and even fewer survived to be passed down through several generations.

And Paul here uses the metaphor of jars of clay to represent us Christians who by our baptisms now carry God’s message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus—that is the treasure!!!

I think jars of clay are an outstanding metaphor for our brief lives.

We have but a few “short” decades to proclaim and share the Gospel at best.

I also love this metaphor of clay jars because it reminds me of my calling to proclaim the Gospel, but I am also conscious of my inadequacy to do just that.

But notice again what Paul writes in verse 7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Why is this important?

Well, for one thing, it gives us a good reason for practicing our humility daily.

Humility is 100% essential for anyone of us who seek to be vessels who carry the message of God’s love to other people who are thirsting to hear and see it.

When we forget that Christianity is not about us, is not about our opinions, is not about our rights and privileges—that is when we start to veer off track and cause the Gospel—which is really no Gospel at all—to look like a bad thing to the rest of society, like a judgmental and “I’m always better than you” thing.

In our reading, Paul doesn’t mince words, nor does he lie when he rightly points out that the honor of our being a bearer of the Gospel in this world is complex.

And this is because we are all human.

We all live with sin, temptations, limitations, the stark reality and the fragility of being easily broken, taken down a peg or two, at any given point in our lives.

Even the extraordinarily well educated Master Pharisee Paul freely admits to moments being perplexed, hard-pressed, persecuted, and often struck down.

But he says that even though this is the case, we are not left in despair, we are not abandoned, we are not left without any hope and we are not destroyed.

And this is all because of our Savior Jesus and our Savior Jesus only!

Isaiah 53:4-6 Amplified Bible

⁴ 
But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,
And He has carried our sorrows and pains;
Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,
Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him].
⁵ 
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing];
The punishment [required] for our well-being fell on Him,
And by His stripes (wounds) we are healed.
⁶ 
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
We have turned, each one, to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wickedness of us all [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing]
To fall on Him [instead of us].

Even when we fulfill prophesy, like sheep we go astray, get off course and our eyes lose sight of the Shepherd, let go of God’s hand, God never lets go of ours.

Even when we prophetically mess up and prophetically do really dumb things, God is with us and God’s Holy Spirit leads us to repentance and reconciliation.

In spite of these self fulfilling prophesies, If we are willing vessels, God can accomplish some very good things through us even when we make mistakes…

…because…

…it’s NEVER GOING TO BE ABOUT US—it’s always about the treasure of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified and Risen that is the “surpassing power from God.”

I hope this enables us to be honest about our frailty, our human-ness—not only with God and others but with ourselves.

Phariseeism, or trying to be perfect according to the Law according to our own strength, can and will cause us all kinds of connectional, relational problems, such as isolation and low self-esteem, frustration, and possibly mental illness.

But when we finally achieve a place in our baptism, accept that God accepts us—even as imperfect jars of clay- we can accept ourselves and others and enjoy the fruitful journey of being one of Jesus Christ’s very fragile human disciples.

And that is the healthy way to live.

And that is attractive to other people.

Because no one is perfect.

Because no one should ever expect to be perfect or made perfect in this life.

Because no one is going to be perfect in this life.

And if we try and pretend we are perfect, we will find ourselves in a lonely place, an anonymous place, a darkened secretive and a broken place walking on eggs.

John 3:28-31 Amplified Bible

²⁸ You yourselves are my witnesses that I stated, ‘I am not the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed),’ but, ‘I have [only] been sent ahead of Him [as His appointed forerunner and messenger to announce and proclaim His coming].’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this pleasure and joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰ He must increase [in prominence], but I must decrease.

³¹ “He who comes from [heaven] above is above all others; he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks [about things] of the earth [his viewpoint and experience are earthly]. He who comes from heaven is above all.

The power of God’s living Word makes God’s light shine in our hearts, for “we [dare not] preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord….” (2 Corinthians 3:1-3)

Ministers of a New Covenant

3 Are we starting to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some [false teachers], letters of recommendation to you or from you? [No!] ² You are our letter [of recommendation], written in our hearts, recognized and read by everyone. ³ You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

If the message of God is going to be robustly revealed throughout our lives, we must absolutely get out of the way.

And what a relief that is.

It is a relief to know we don’t have to try and save the world—we are not expected to save the world.

Only the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ can and will save the world.

So, we are free to be humble.

We are free to be ourselves.

We are free to be wholly and fully human.

We no longer have to live with the pressure of fighting for all the attention or demanding our rights, our way, and so forth.

We don’t have to judge the world and tell the world it is wrong and we are right.

We are to allow God’s light to shine through our lives simply and humbly.

The life of a humble servant of Christ may not be easy, but it should be a stress reducer.

Paul says, “For we who are alive are being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.”

We are to die to self and live for Christ.

We are to die to our wants and live for what Christ wants.

We are to die to selfishness, envy and the like and live lives of humble transparency and love.

The world talks a whole lot about human power, but the real characteristic of a human being is not our power but our weakness, what God can and will achieve through that weakness.

There is a story about a water carrier in India who had two large clay jars, and each jar hung on either end of a pole that she carried across her shoulders.

One of the jars had a crack in it, and the other did not.

After the long walk from the source of water, the cracked jar always arrived at its destination half full.

And this caused the jar with no crack to become proud of its own accomplishments.

But the cracked jar was ashamed of its imperfection and was miserable that it could only accomplish half of what it was created to do.

One day, the cracked jar spoke to the water carrier, “I am ashamed of myself,” it said.

“You need not be ashamed of yourself,” replied the water carrier who had an appreciation for the old cracked jar.

She said, “As we return to our destination, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

And sure enough, as they went down the path, the old cracked jar saw the sun warming the beautiful flowers on the side of the path.

But at the end of the trail, the cracked jar felt bad again because it had leaked half its load.

The water carrier asked, “Did you notice that there were flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other side?

That is because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.

I planted flower seeds on your side of the path and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them.

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table.

Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty in his house.”

Each of us have our own unique flaws.

We are all cracked jars.

We are all only human, weak and fragile.

But God is able to do great things, even through our weakness if we allow Him.

And that is an ample reason to greatly rejoice in whom God has created us to be.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You that Jesus died and was raised from the dead for my sake. Thank You for the ministry of Paul whose life was a little reflection of Christ’s deep love for us… as he selflessly shared the gospel of grace to lost souls and was willing to be delivered over to suffering and death for love of the Lord Jesus so that the life of Christ might be manifest through him. I pray that I would be willing to die to my own self-interest for the love of Christ Jesus so that I may also be used by You to spread the good news of the gospel of grace and the life of Jesus might be manifest in my mortal body too. This I ask in Jesus’ precious name, Alleluia, Alleluia, AMEN.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

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1 Corinthians 15:45-49 Amplified Bible

⁴⁵ So it is written [in Scripture], “The first man, Adam, became a living soul (an individual);” the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving spirit [restoring the dead to life]. ⁴⁶ However, the spiritual [the immortal life] is not first, but the physical [the mortal life]; then the spiritual. ⁴⁷ The first man [Adam] is from the earth, earthy [made of dust]; the second Man [Christ, the Lord] is from heaven.  ⁴⁸ As is the earthly man [the man of dust], so are those who are of earth; and as is the heavenly [Man], so are those who are of heaven. ⁴⁹ Just as we have borne the image of the earthly [the man of dust], ^[a]we will also bear the image of the heavenly [the Man of heaven].

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

Since my sudden need for my Triple Bypass Open Heart surgery this past July 17, when they sawed open my sternum and stopped my heart for 80 minutes, two words have been implanted indelibly on my soul – mortality and eternity.

Not just my own mortality and eternity, but the mortality and eternity of all of my family and indeed, to a far more reaching extent, the whole of humanity.

What will become of the future generations of those “clouds of witnesses” talked about in Hebrews 12:1-2 who will set aside their sins and burdens, in an effort to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to whatever is left of the world?

Even if we could muster all our imaginative powers, it’s utterly impossible for us fully to conceive of the world as it ought to be—and, indeed, as it will be.

Can you imagine a world where earthquakes, storms, and tornadoes no longer wreak havoc and destruction?

A world in which the word cancer and Alzheimer’s and heart disease and diabetes, so many other serious life threatening diseases strikes fear into nobody’s heart?

A body without weakness, a body without infection, a body without sickness, a body without sadness, a body without death?

The fact is, none of us can begin to hope to raise our imaginations to that level.

However, we do have an image of our hope for resurrection life in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

In being raised from the dead, Jesus Christ has become the first fruits of all who place their steadfast and immovable faith, hope and love and trust fully in Him.

What we see in Him is what we are someday to become.

By nature, we are all “in Adam” and destined for death; but to any who are in Christ, God promises renewed hope (1 Corinthians 15:21-28).

1 Corinthians 15:21-28 GOD’S WORD Translation

²¹ Since a man brought death, a man also brought life back from death. ²² As everyone dies because of Adam, so also everyone will be made alive because of Christ. ²³ This will happen to each person in his own turn. Christ is the first, then at his coming, those who belong to him ⌞will be made alive⌟. ²⁴ Then the end will come. Christ will hand over the kingdom to God the Father as he destroys every ruler, authority, and power.

²⁵ Christ must rule until God has put every enemy under his control. ²⁶ The last enemy he will destroy is death. ²⁷ Clearly, God has put everything under Christ’s authority. When God says that everything has been put under Christ’s authority, this clearly excludes God, since God has put everything under Christ’s authority. ²⁸ But when God puts everything under Christ’s authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, since God had put everything under the Son’s authority. Then God will be in control of everything.

By triumphing over death, Christ, “the last Adam” (⁴⁵ This is what Scripture says: “The first man, Adam, became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. v 45), has set us on the path to indestructible life in heaven.

Once we each walked the path of “the man of dust,” but now all who are in Jesus Christ “bear the image of the man of heaven.”

That lingering question which rolls and rolls through my soul; “What will life be like when that man of heaven returns to earth and brings heaven with Him?”

Scripture does not lay out all the details so we can order our lives accordingly.

God and God alone give order to our lives and the lives of all God hath created.

And that all God created order is the greatest unsolvable mystery of all eternity.

But we do know this, and is that instead of our bodies being perishable, our bodies will then be imperishable.

As we live and breath, and walk and talk, we currently have a limited shelf life, but we have the promise and hope of an eternal life with no expiration date.

We will live forever (1 Corinthians 15:42 That is how it will be when the dead come back to life. When the body is planted, it decays. When it comes back to life, it cannot decay.), and every day in that great forever will be glorious, for nothing will ever perish, spoil, or fade (1 Peter 1:4-5 ⁴ We have been born into a new life which has an inheritance that can’t be destroyed or corrupted and can’t fade away. That inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ since you are guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed at the end of time.)

We also know that God will transform us from a condition of dishonor and weakness to a renewed state of power and glory (1 Corinthians 15:43 ⁴³ When the body is planted, it doesn’t have any splendor and is weak. When it comes back to life, it has splendor and is strong.).

Neither you nor I have the categories to fathom such a resurrection life.

Whatever you and I try would ever try to imagine, reality will be 100% better!

But of this you and I can be 100% sure: that life does await you, awaits me, for our risen Lord Jesus Christ has 100% trampled death underfoot once and for all.

Death has been swallowed up in His irreversible victory (1 Corinthians 15:53-54 ⁵³ For this perishable [part of us] must put on the imperishable [nature], and this mortal [part of us that is capable of dying] must put on immortality [which is freedom from death]. ⁵⁴ And when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the Scripture will be fulfilled that says, “Death is swallowed up in victory (vanquished forever).).

Today, we will all still see the forces of death at work around us—even in us.

Perhaps we are very aware of that in one way or another as we read these words.

But be assured that the kingdom of light has already prevailed over the domain of darkness.

In fact, our citizenship already belongs to the kingdom of resurrection life.

At times you and I may still feel the decay and the dust, but you can yet find hope, knowing that the man of heaven will one day transform our “lowly body to be like His eternally glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21 ²⁰ But [we are different, because] our citizenship is in heaven. And from there we eagerly await [the coming of] the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹ who, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself, will [not only] transform [but completely refashion] our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious resurrected body. )—forever and ever Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Thank You, Lord God, that You purposed from the foundation of the world You created to save mankind from sin. Thank You that by grace through faith in Christ, I have been transferred from the old creation in Adam to the new creation in Christ. Thank You that my spirit has been regenerated and I have been given a new nature in Christ. I pray that I may keep the old sin nature nailed to the Cross. I praise and thank You that one day, this mortal body will be clothed with immortality, because I now bear the image of the heavenly Lord Jesus. In His name I pray, AMEN.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen, Amen.

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James 2:8-9 Amplified Bible

⁸ If, however, you are [really] fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, if you have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit]” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you show partiality [prejudice, favoritism], you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as offenders.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning; is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

Par·ti·al·i·ty – unfair bias in favor of one thing or person compared with another; favoritism.

Are you, am I, showing partiality to people?

If so, are we even aware that we’re sinning?

Most of us might be quick to respond with, “No, I don’t show favoritism.”

But think about it very carefully.

When given the singular or habitual opportunity to choose, do we give gifts to people we believe deserve them over others who seem less deserving?

Are we more willing to help those people who we believe are “worthy” of being helped over those we, by some worldly standard of measure, deem less worthy?

Digging deeper, do we give our offerings to those we like better than others rather than asking God where to give, following His leading over our own?

Likewise, how do we decide whether to donate to someone’s mission trip or not?

What standard of criteria do we base our generosity on?

Even deeper, when it comes to prayer, do we pray more for people we believe deserve our prayer time and our efforts over those who seem beyond hope?

How might God react to that business of “partiality?”

Does God show favoritism?

Is God a “partial or impartial” God?

Does God’s love discriminate based on human standards – race, ethnicity, skin color, national origin, young or old, male or female and etcetera? (JOHN 3:16)

Although many believers may not consider favoritism a serious issue or even something to be dealt with, God makes it abundantly clear that our showing any partiality towards people is absolutely not okay. (read also Galatians 3:23-29)

It might be a hard concept for us to grasp because, as believers, we may think He does because of various passages in the Bible where God gives favor.  

But God clearly distinguishes between His giving favor and His showing favoritism, so quickly setting this misconception aside, His word tells us,

“For God does not show favoritism” (Romans 2:11).

It’s enormously challenging, too, trying to convince some Christians it’s not a good thing because some do not even minimally consider showing partiality sinful or view it as doing anything particularly divisive, or harmful or wrong.

There are likewise believers, too, who, by some rationale, will even think and believe it’s a wise and discerning practice, justifying favoring some individuals over others, seeing those certain persons as more deserving and responsible for receiving their kindness, generosity, helpfulness, and more. (read Acts 6:1-6)

Churches who play favorites: Acceptance With No Favoritism

Who hasn’t seen favoritism?

Sadly, partiality is widespread not only out in the world but in many churches.

James 2:1-4 addresses it within the Church, revealing the sinfulness behind it.

James 2:1-4 Amplified Bible

The Sin of Partiality

2 My fellow believers, do not practice your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of partiality [toward people—show no favoritism, no prejudice, no snobbery]. ² For if a man comes into your ^[a]meeting place ^[b] wearing a gold ring and ^[c]fine clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in, ³ and you pay special attention to the one who wears the ^[d]fine clothes, and say to him, “You sit here in this good seat,” and you tell the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down [on the floor] by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not discriminated among yourselves, and become judges with wrong motives?

The Bible makes clear that believers in Christ, enjoying the gift of God’s acceptance by grace, may not show favoritism, treating some people as better or more worthy than others.

This follows from God’s own practice of accepting all who call on his name (read also Acts 10:34-35; Romans 10:9-13).

James gives a specific example about favoritism in action, showing that there is no room for discrimination in God’s kingdom.

He adds, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.”

We must not miss this: “Loving our neighbors” means ­accepting one another!

We accept others when we make room at our table or in our circle of friends for someone we may not know.

It’s more than being friendly.

Jesus said, “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me” (Matthew 10:40).

Jesus identified with people who were poor, hungry, strangers, sick, and in prison. (read also Matthew 25:34-40)

We must do this too.

Loving one another means getting involved in the lives of others—as messy or as unwelcome as that may be.

It could involve inviting someone to join a Bible study at your home.

It could even be uncomfortable.

But you can do so, remembering that few are offended by Jesus.

Accepting one another as Jesus did ­honors God and brings rejoicing in heaven.

To whom can you show God’s love today?

Christians in Authority Who Play Favorites

God emphasizes in Ephesians 6:7-9 how He looks at showing partiality between people, especially in situations where some may believe they’re justified in treating individuals differently because of their various positions in life.

Sadly there are Christian leaders, bosses, parents who leave their Christianity at the door, believing they are in the right to play favorites at home or work.

But God calls us all to serve one another, regardless of rank or position in life. 

Ephesians 6:7-9 New International Version

⁷ Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, ⁸ because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.

⁹ And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.

Unfortunately, many humans, including Christians, struggle with wanting to feel more important than others.

Rooted in sin, Philippians 2:3 urges us to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”

Overcoming Partiality

So how do we live a life free from partiality?

Scripture provides direction on how to overcome the tendency to play favorites.

1. Ask God for Direction

When tempted, look to God for help.

Proverbs 3:5-8 Amplified Bible

⁵ 
Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart
And do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
^6 
[a]In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him,
And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way].
⁷ 
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord [with reverent awe and obedience] and turn [entirely] away from evil.
⁸ 
It will be health to your body [your marrow, your nerves, your sinews, your muscles—all your inner parts]
And refreshment (physical well-being) to your bones.

2. Freely Received, Freely Give what was Freely Given

Freely give because God has freely given us all things (Romans 8:32), not based on who someone is or isn’t, but because it pleases God. 

Proverbs 3:27 encourages, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”

3. Sacrificial Transformation, Spiritual Renewal of our Thoughts

Romans 12:1-5 Amplified Bible

Dedicated Service

12 ^[a]Therefore I urge you, ^[b]brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. ² And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be ^[c]transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].

³ For by the grace [of God] given to me I say to everyone of you not to think more highly of himself [and of his importance and ability] than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has apportioned to each a degree of faith [and a purpose designed for service]. ⁴ For just as in one [physical] body we have many parts, and these parts do not all have the same function or special use, ⁵ so we, who are many, are [nevertheless just] one body in Christ, and individually [we are] parts one of another [mutually dependent on each other].

Paul’s urging of each of us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices is based on Christ’s ultimate act of service and ultimate act of sacrifice for all of our sake.

Baptized believers, transformed and renewed, living sacrifices serve because they’re steadfast immovable followers of Jesus, who served by giving his life.

Yet, as one pessimist I know put it, “The problem with living sacrifices is that they’re always crawling off the altar.”

Being a living sacrifice, with Christ as our supreme example, calls for sincere commitment to serve faithfully, selflessly and no matter what, to not give up.

Healthy worship and prayer life, Healthy family life, healthy church family life, means serving the all members of the family by doing whatever it is we do best.

Healthy church family life means freely serving fellow members of the body of believers with the gifts God has entrusted to us.

It means sacrificing biases, prejudices, valuing to the utmost, service to one another because together we form a body belonging to God and to each other.

Paul put it simply: “As Christ’s body, each member belongs to all the others.”

Intersecting Faith and Life: 

Hebrews 13:1-2 English Standard Version

Sacrifices Pleasing to God

13 Let brotherly love continue. ² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Ask God today to reveal to you opportunities how to be genuinely Christ-like impartial and to reveal to other neighbors any ways you’ve been practicing it.

When confronting an un-neighborly situation where you can choose how you respond to people, ask God to lead you and to transform you and to renew your thoughts towards heavenly things, lean on His understanding over your own.

You simply never know what difference you would make in another’s journey.

But believe that God already knows what difference you absolutely did make!

In the name of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Oh, Lord, we often fall into determining someone’s value based on their wealth. Their wealth tells us nothing of their heart or their love for you. Help us not to insult the poor and elevate the rich. We pray that you will help us reach out to others without selfish motives like James addresses here. Help us not to disregard those in humble circumstances in order to try and elevate ourselves with those who show their disdain for you and treat others badly. You have called us to honor you with whatever you have blessed us with, and at the same time you call us not to play favorites. Help us to have humble hearts, to follow your example of loving all and not judging a person by their economic status or what they can do for us. In the One who is the richest of all and yet humbled himself on the cross for our sake – Amen!

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning; is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.

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