day no. 12,803: just an observation‏

Are you observant?

"Observant" contains the word "servant."

The word does not find its etymology in using this word "servant," rather in observe + ant, however it is a helpful reminder to serve those we observe.

I know lots of people who enjoy "people watching" at the mall.

I know few people who go out of their daily way to anticipate other's needs based off their attentive observations.

We would do well to observe people with the intention to serve those people by ministering to their needs or by addressing them before they become needs.

day no. 12,800: do you love your friends?

John 15:13

 

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

 

What most people mean when they said, "I love my friends," is that they like that their friends like them, they have fun with them, they enjoy them.

 

I love my friends like that.

 

Jesus died for His friends.

 

He's a better friend than I am and you are.

 

That shouldn't be a surprise.

 

The surprise should be in realizing how easily we make our friends into fodder for our own fetishes of self-love.

day no. 12,799: if we do only what we feel inclined to do, some of us would do nothing for ever and ever‏

Oswald told me this morning that feeling inspired is not a necessary condition of being obedient. Don't buy it? Read for yourself below.

Be instant in season, out of season. —2 Timothy 4:2

 

Many of us suffer from the morbid tendency to be instant "out of season." The season does not refer to time, but to us – ‘Be instant in season, out of season," whether we feel like it or not. If we do only what we feel inclined to do, some of us would do nothing for ever and ever. There are unemployables in the spiritual domain, spiritually decrepit people, who refuse to do anything unless they are supernaturally inspired.The proof that we are rightly related to God is that we do our best whether we feel inspired or not.

 

One of the great snares of the Christian worker is to make a fetish of his rare moments. When the Spirit of God gives you a time of inspiration and insight, you say – "Now I will always be like this for God." No, you will not, God will take care you are not. Those times are the gift of God entirely. You cannot give them to yourself when you choose. If you say you will only be at your best, you become an intolerable drag on God; you will never do anything unless God keeps you consciously inspired. If you make a god of your best moments, you will find that God will fade out of your life and never come back until you do the duty that lies nearest, and have learned not to make a fetish of your rare moments.

 

If you only obey when you feel like it or are forced to it, might I be so bold as to suggest you are not obedient.

day no. 12,798: even if you do nothing, God will get all He desires done‏

"Even if you do nothing, God will get all He desires done." ~ Troy Nesbitt

What an encouraging reminder of how little of this depends on me and how much of this is in the hands of the faithful Creator and Perfector of faith fulfilled in the life, work, death and resurrection of Christ.

This is not meant to inspire laziness, but to expose the flesh.

God will get everything He desires done.
He will do it.

With or without you.

He will not accomplish more if you cooperate.
He will not accomplish less if you rebel.

But all joy and peace in believing is available to you in receiving the revealed righteousness of God in pursuing the obedience of faith Paul mentions in Romans 1:5

day no. 12,797: very boldly by way of reminder‏

Romans 15:15-16

¹⁵ But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God ¹⁶ to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

I love Paul's word play here in suggesting that the Old Testament Levitical priesthood has now somehow been transformed into the priestly work of reminding people what Christ has done on their behalf.

Priests temporarily reconclied men to God, but only for a moment and only for sins, not sin.

Jesus' sacrifice was not just for the sins we have committed, but for sin itself.

We are not merely forgiven in Jesus for things we've done wrong or things we've failed to do right, we are forgiven for being the type of people who delight in doing wrong and delinquent in doing right.

Praise God for the Gospel and the priestly service of reminding others with boldness that it is in Christ alone that we have full freedom to live eternaly here and now.

day no. 12,796: cursed is the man who trusts in man‏

My friend, Joel, sent me the following passage today in an email in mentioning how great the hope in God is and how fickle the hope in flesh.

Jeremiah 17:5-9

⁵ Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
⁶ He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.

⁷ “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
⁸ He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?

I love the imagery and potency of these verses:

uninhabited, unfruitful, unproductive salt land
vs.
confident, fruitful, productive roots by water.

And yet we long for drought and desert.

We are sick.

God is good in His grace to reveal Himself to us and create within us a desire to long for Him and His.

And yet even in this blessed state we acknowledge that we often desire to be free from grace and enslaved again to sin.

The heart is beyond our ability to repair.
Who can understand these things?

Praise God for His grace and unfailing, faithful love.

Psalm 68:19

Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.  

Selah

Selah, indeed

Give pause to reflect upon that promise.
He DAILY bears us up.
If He doesn't, we are bare.

day no. 12,793: a purpose-driven vs. promise-given life‏

Oswald dished up a hearty breakfast this morning when he said,

Jesus’ parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25:14-30 was a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacities. This parable has nothing to do with natural gifts and abilities, but relates to the gift of the Holy Spirit as He was first given at Pentecost. We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our education or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, we will falsely accuse Him as the servant falsely accused his master when he said, “You expect more of me than you gave me the power to do. You demand too much of me, and I cannot stand true to you here where you have placed me.”

...Never forget that our capacity and capability in spiritual matters is measured by, and based on, the promises of God.

We have the peculiar penchant of ignoring God's promises in preference to focusing on our performance. Then when our performance falls short or flat of where we thought we could go, we lash out at God for making our purpose so lofty and well, perfect.

We accuse God of making the measure too great all the while ignoring the promises of God in the revealed righteousness that comes in receiving Christ on our behalf.

We dishonor Christ's accomplishments by refusing to believe that they are enough on their own without our assistance.

Jesus doesn't need our help.
For anything.

2 Corinthians 1:20

 

For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in Him. Therefore, the “Amen” is also spoken through Him by us for God’s glory.