HONOR THIS PURPOSE

/in

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.” —Genesis 17:1
Without argument, most things are at their best when they are fulfilling their purpose and design.
For instance, a piano is made with a specific purpose: to produce music. However, I happen to know that someone once stood on a piano in order to put a fastener of some kind in the ceiling. Some artistic women have used piano tops as family picture galleries. I have seen piano tops that were cluttered filing cabinets or wide library shelves. There is an intelligent design in the creation of a piano. The manufacturer did not announce: “This is a good piano. It has at least 19 uses!” No, the designer had only one thought in mind: “This piano will have the purpose and potential of sounding forth beautiful music!”… Do not miss the application of truth here. God was saying to Abraham, “You may have some other idea about the design and purpose for your life, but you are wrong! You were created in My image to worship Me and to glorify Me. If you do not honor this purpose, your life will degenerate into shallow, selfish, humanistic pursuits..
“Lord, so many lives today have indeed degenerated into ‘shallow, selfish, humanistic pursuits.’ Work through me this week to help people with whom I come in contact to see the one purpose for which You created us. Amen.”
 

OUR REASON FOR EXISTENCE

/in

“Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”—Psalm 29:2
Yes, worship of the loving God is man’s whole reason for existence. That is why we are born and that is why we are born again from above. That is why we were created and that is why we have been recreated. That is why there was a genesis at the beginning, and that is why there is a re-genesis, called regeneration.
That is also why there is a church. The Christian church exists to worship God first of all. Everything else must come second or third or fourth or fifth….
Sad, sad indeed, are the cries of so many today who have never discovered why they were born. It brings to mind the poet Milton’s description of the pathetic lostness and loneliness of our first parents. Driven from the garden, he says, “they took hand in hand and through the valley made their solitary way.”
“Oh Lord, we live in a world that has so totally lost its way! How few have any concept at all of their reason for existence. How sad to see so many all around us who ‘took hand in hand and through the valley made their solitary way.’ Use me today to direct at least one to the right path. Amen.”

WORSHIPERS FROM REBELS

/in

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God”.—1 Corinthians 6:11
Sometimes evangelical Christians seem to be fuzzy and uncertain about the nature of God and His purposes in creation and redemption. In such instances, the preachers often are to blame. There are still preachers and teachers who say that Christ died so we would not drink and not smoke and not go to the theater.
No wonder people are confused! No wonder they fall into the habit of backsliding when such things are held up as the reason for salvation.
Jesus was born of a virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, died on the cross and rose from the grave to make worshipers out of rebels!
 

REVERENTIAL FEAR OF GOD

/in

“Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.” —Psalm 33:8
When we come into this sweet relationship, we are beginning to learn astonished reverence, breathless adoration, awesome fascination, lofty admiration of the attributes of God and something of the breathless silence that we know when God is near.
You may never have realized it before, but all of those elements in our perception and consciousness of the divine Presence add up to what the Bible calls “the fear of God.”…
There are very few unqualified things in our lives, but I believe that the reverential fear of God mixed with love and fascination and astonishment and admiration and devotion is the most enjoyable state and the most purifying emotion the human soul can know.

Humbled Before God

/in ,
“For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.” —Isaiah 66:2
Worship also means to “express in some appropriate manner” what you feel….
And what will be expressed? “A humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder.” It is delightful to worship God, but it is also a humbling thing; and the man who has not been humbled in the presence of God will never be a worshiper of God at all. He may be a church member who keeps the rules and obeys the discipline, and who tithes and goes to conference, but he’ll never be a worshiper unless he is deeply humbled. “A humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe.” There’s an awesomeness about God which is missing in our day altogether; there’s little sense of admiring awe in the Church of Christ these days.

 

GUARDING THE MIND

/in ,

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.” Phil 4:8

In light of all the references in the word of God to renewing one’s mind and guarding one’s mind, I am convinced that the battle we face down here on this side of heaven is ultimately won or lost in the mind.
The verse before us today solidifies my conviction, for it is impossible for a person to think both good and evil thoughts at the same time, and an embracing of one automatically excludes the other. There are many persons who win the battle with the externals but struggle and often lose it in the mind. Our thoughts produce our actions.
Let us wholeheartedly seek to obey the exhortation in Phil 4:8 (as with the rest of Scripture) as we see to live a God honoring life.

REJOICE IN THE LORD

/in ,

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Phil 4:4

One of the things I love about this verse is that, regardless of the differences in context that exist as it relates to culture, time that surrounds this verse, it has one central truth; “Rejoice in the Lord.” Today we as believers are exhorted to not just rejoice, but rejoice in the Lord, despite our circumstances. Paul was in prison when he wrote this exhortation. Very often us being happy and offering praise to God is based on how well things are going for us. But for Paul, rejoicing in God is not about our current situation but it is based on who God is.
Today I’m not by any stretch of the imagination trying to play down what some of you might be going through, but what I do know is that the word of God is just as relevant today as it was when first written. So I exhort you today as the church at Philippi was exhorted by the Apostle, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice.”

GRATEFUL

/in

1Ti 1:13
“Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy…”.

The verse before us describes a man known at that time as Saul, who in his own words “persecuted the church of Jesus Christ.” At another time he called himself “the chief of sinners”, which indicates to us in some way that he ranked himself among the lowest of the low. But he was shown “mercy”… rather than receiving a just recompense, the now Apostle Paul received the mercy of God.
Gods mercy is infinite and very often we do not understand the vastness of it that when applied to a violent murderer he is totally transformed and becomes an apostle.
Every believer today can identify with the Apostle Paul in one way or another, and be extremely grateful to God that we didn’t get what we rightfully deserved. “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (Rom 9:15). To Him alone be the Glory.