Psalm 18:25-26 KJV
25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
This passage is pretty straight forward. I believe that it speaks of your attitude and how God responds to your attitude. It shows that if your goal is to be merciful, upright, and pure that the Lord treats you in kind. Not to get too confusing, but I use the word "goal" because I believe that the only way to have those aspects in your life is to have a total reliance on Christ to infuse those qualities in your life.
The last line is a little difficult without looking at the Hebrew or another translation. Both instances of "froward" do not come from the same Hebrew word. The first instance refers to being crooked or deceitful. The second instance refers to struggle, to wrestle or to be unsavoury. With this being the case it makes perfect sense: if you are trying to be deceitful, the Lord is not what is pleasing to you - you will be butting heads with Him.
Now the tough part. Be honest with yourself. Which end are you on? Don't automatically dismiss the "froward" reference because you know the Lord. I say that because we tend to do that when we read His word.
Has there been times when it feels that you've been wrestling with God? Or times that you didn't want anything to do with Him? I believe this scripture reference is a "check yourself" or "red flag" more than a condemnation. If you're struggling with God, check to see what you may be hiding from Him. Then take the time to strive for mercy, righteousness and purity: put on Christ (Rom 13:14).
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Just Do It!
James 1:22-25 ESV
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
This is one of my favorite sections of scripture. This combined with 2 Timothy 3:16-17 encourages me. I know God is perfecting me through His word. The one challenge I have is obedience to His word.
The image James brings up would be like you looking in the mirror, seeing a piece of spinach stuck in your teeth and doing nothing about it. If we look at God's word as just literature we lose out on the life-changing experience He offers us. If however, you believe the Bible is God's way of communicating with us, you are more likely to do His word.
By doing God's word you not only learn it you get to know God. You become who actively loves God and others. Those actions become a witness to others (Matt 5:16).
Make no mistake, you don't have to be a Bible scholar to let God's word change you. You have the Holy Spirit who dwells in you and teaches you (1 Cor 6:19-20; John 14:26) and the Bible is God's and it can perfect/complete you (2 Tim 3:16-17). How can this happen? As the Nike advertisements say, ''Just do it!''
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
This is one of my favorite sections of scripture. This combined with 2 Timothy 3:16-17 encourages me. I know God is perfecting me through His word. The one challenge I have is obedience to His word.
The image James brings up would be like you looking in the mirror, seeing a piece of spinach stuck in your teeth and doing nothing about it. If we look at God's word as just literature we lose out on the life-changing experience He offers us. If however, you believe the Bible is God's way of communicating with us, you are more likely to do His word.
By doing God's word you not only learn it you get to know God. You become who actively loves God and others. Those actions become a witness to others (Matt 5:16).
Make no mistake, you don't have to be a Bible scholar to let God's word change you. You have the Holy Spirit who dwells in you and teaches you (1 Cor 6:19-20; John 14:26) and the Bible is God's and it can perfect/complete you (2 Tim 3:16-17). How can this happen? As the Nike advertisements say, ''Just do it!''
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Blessings and Curses
Deuteronomy 28 ESV
1 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
9 ''The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.
15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
45 “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. 46 They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things.''
I chose just a few verses from this chapter; it goes into detail of the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience. (14 verses on the fruit of obedience and 54 verses on the fruit of disobedience). This chapter applies both to the individual and the nation. Just as a side note, it is interesting to see what the economic/political results are of obedience and disobedience (vs. 1, 7-10, 12-13, 25-26, 33-34, 36-37, 43-44, 49-51).
I would like to just point out the attitude in obedience that brings the blessings. Though in the ''curse'' section, verse 47 gives us a clue: ''...Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart.'' I am reminded of what our attitude should be about giving in 2 Corinthians 9:7, "not grudgingly or out of necessity.'' Shouldn't this be the attitude we take in all that we do for the Lord, including obedience? (Col 3:23) And the last thing I ask would be, isn't this attitude in itself an incredible blessing?
1 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
9 ''The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.
15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
45 “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. 46 They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. 47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things.''
I chose just a few verses from this chapter; it goes into detail of the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience. (14 verses on the fruit of obedience and 54 verses on the fruit of disobedience). This chapter applies both to the individual and the nation. Just as a side note, it is interesting to see what the economic/political results are of obedience and disobedience (vs. 1, 7-10, 12-13, 25-26, 33-34, 36-37, 43-44, 49-51).
I would like to just point out the attitude in obedience that brings the blessings. Though in the ''curse'' section, verse 47 gives us a clue: ''...Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart.'' I am reminded of what our attitude should be about giving in 2 Corinthians 9:7, "not grudgingly or out of necessity.'' Shouldn't this be the attitude we take in all that we do for the Lord, including obedience? (Col 3:23) And the last thing I ask would be, isn't this attitude in itself an incredible blessing?
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Forgiveness
Isaiah 1:18-20 ESV
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Please read Psalm 66:18 and Proverbs 28:13. I thought of these verses right off because this portion of scripture the Lord is putting it all on the table: "You have sinned, but you can be clean."
Personally, I see Isaiah 1:19-20 in a new light, and that would be accepting or rejecting the forgiveness God has for us and the results of following either path. Obedience and disobedience in this case could very well be the difference of confessing and forsaking the sin or holding and hiding the sin.
2 Corinthians 7:10 talks about godly grief/sorrow and worldly grief/sorrow. We started with God addressing our sin and giving us a choice to accept forgiveness or to reject it. 2 Corinthians 7:10 guides us in understanding that accepting that forgiveness is no light matter, but comes from the sorrow we know from disobeying God in the first place. Guilt, or worldly sorrow, doesn't produce the confessing or forsaking but rather produces either rebellion or depression, i.e. death.
What does this mean to us? We sin. God knows. We know. We can be feel bad about it, beat ourselves up over it and just shut off God from our lives. Or we grieve because we disobeyed God, turn from and forsake the sin and then continue to grow in the Lord.
18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Please read Psalm 66:18 and Proverbs 28:13. I thought of these verses right off because this portion of scripture the Lord is putting it all on the table: "You have sinned, but you can be clean."
Personally, I see Isaiah 1:19-20 in a new light, and that would be accepting or rejecting the forgiveness God has for us and the results of following either path. Obedience and disobedience in this case could very well be the difference of confessing and forsaking the sin or holding and hiding the sin.
2 Corinthians 7:10 talks about godly grief/sorrow and worldly grief/sorrow. We started with God addressing our sin and giving us a choice to accept forgiveness or to reject it. 2 Corinthians 7:10 guides us in understanding that accepting that forgiveness is no light matter, but comes from the sorrow we know from disobeying God in the first place. Guilt, or worldly sorrow, doesn't produce the confessing or forsaking but rather produces either rebellion or depression, i.e. death.
What does this mean to us? We sin. God knows. We know. We can be feel bad about it, beat ourselves up over it and just shut off God from our lives. Or we grieve because we disobeyed God, turn from and forsake the sin and then continue to grow in the Lord.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Obedience
John 2:1-11ESV
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
There are two verses I would like to focus on in this story: verse 5 and verse 9. This is concerning the servants in the story.
In short, they were told to obey Jesus and when they did they witnessed a miracle.
But lets look at it a little more. Did these servants have to obey Jesus? I am not totally sure one way or the other - these were not Mary's or Jesus' servants (Jesus, Mary and the disciples were guests). I personally doubt that Mary was some sort of wedding planner where she was calling the shots (the master of ceremonies would be praising her instead of the bridegroom). Just imagine being invited to a wedding and you address the caterers: "Whatever cousin Joe-Bob Buford says, you do." Do you think they would comply?
Okay, lets move on and say that Mary had enough influence to where she could direct the servants. They were in the know, there was no wine. Now there is this guy telling us to go fill up these bathing jugs with 30 gallons of water each. Can't you just see it? A beautiful waterfront wedding and reception and cousin Joe-Bob Buford telling the waitstaff to go fill up six bathtubs with river water. "Go fill up your own bathtub buddy!"
The point is that the servants decided to obey Jesus. It was an action of free will. Even if it looked ridiculous they obeyed. And the reward for their obedience: they witnessed a miracle. They got to be part of something that could not be explained other than the mighty power of God.
No pat on the back for their obedience. No cash reward. They didn't even get their individual names put down in the account - they were just "the servants." I think many of us are looking for this when we obey and because we do we lose out out on the greater reward.
Our obedience could put us in a position where we see God work in a mighty way that is totally unrelated to our own lives. Our obedience can lead to someone else's physical blessing, but our blessing may be of a totally different nature. Obedience can lead us to see God at work, a chance for our faith to grow and our hope to be established.
On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
There are two verses I would like to focus on in this story: verse 5 and verse 9. This is concerning the servants in the story.
In short, they were told to obey Jesus and when they did they witnessed a miracle.
But lets look at it a little more. Did these servants have to obey Jesus? I am not totally sure one way or the other - these were not Mary's or Jesus' servants (Jesus, Mary and the disciples were guests). I personally doubt that Mary was some sort of wedding planner where she was calling the shots (the master of ceremonies would be praising her instead of the bridegroom). Just imagine being invited to a wedding and you address the caterers: "Whatever cousin Joe-Bob Buford says, you do." Do you think they would comply?
Okay, lets move on and say that Mary had enough influence to where she could direct the servants. They were in the know, there was no wine. Now there is this guy telling us to go fill up these bathing jugs with 30 gallons of water each. Can't you just see it? A beautiful waterfront wedding and reception and cousin Joe-Bob Buford telling the waitstaff to go fill up six bathtubs with river water. "Go fill up your own bathtub buddy!"
The point is that the servants decided to obey Jesus. It was an action of free will. Even if it looked ridiculous they obeyed. And the reward for their obedience: they witnessed a miracle. They got to be part of something that could not be explained other than the mighty power of God.
No pat on the back for their obedience. No cash reward. They didn't even get their individual names put down in the account - they were just "the servants." I think many of us are looking for this when we obey and because we do we lose out out on the greater reward.
Our obedience could put us in a position where we see God work in a mighty way that is totally unrelated to our own lives. Our obedience can lead to someone else's physical blessing, but our blessing may be of a totally different nature. Obedience can lead us to see God at work, a chance for our faith to grow and our hope to be established.
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