Psalm 90:17
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!
I want to give my hands to good, godly works and I want to receive the grace of seeing the works of my hands established for the glory of God, the good of my family and my own personal growth. God, grant me hands for hard work and good grace to see it established firmly for Your sake, amen!
Thursday, December 3, 2020
Wednesday, December 2, 2020
day no. 15,381: we must be rich towards God
Luke 12:21
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
God requires a man to be rich toward God in order to be saved. Therefore, debtors should not find it surprising that they are left off eternal's life guest list. But even if God forgives our debts, we are still just broke people. We no longer have the weight of debt keeping us from being rich towards God, but we're still just broke. Having $0.00 is not being in debt, but it is being broke. So if God requires us to be rich towards Him in order to be with Him, we need more than just our sins forgiven, we need riches deposited into our account. And this is what Christ, by His vicarious, righteous life earned and offers to us.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Sinners have two problems. They are debtors and they are not righteous. God forgiving our sins, eliminates our debts, but still leaves us unrighteous and broke. So God gives us Christ's paycheck. God imputes our sins to Jesus and He imputes Jesus' righteousness to us. Thus, in one act, God eliminates the problem of our debt and provides the credentials required to enter into His eternal joy.
So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
God requires a man to be rich toward God in order to be saved. Therefore, debtors should not find it surprising that they are left off eternal's life guest list. But even if God forgives our debts, we are still just broke people. We no longer have the weight of debt keeping us from being rich towards God, but we're still just broke. Having $0.00 is not being in debt, but it is being broke. So if God requires us to be rich towards Him in order to be with Him, we need more than just our sins forgiven, we need riches deposited into our account. And this is what Christ, by His vicarious, righteous life earned and offers to us.
2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Sinners have two problems. They are debtors and they are not righteous. God forgiving our sins, eliminates our debts, but still leaves us unrighteous and broke. So God gives us Christ's paycheck. God imputes our sins to Jesus and He imputes Jesus' righteousness to us. Thus, in one act, God eliminates the problem of our debt and provides the credentials required to enter into His eternal joy.
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
day no. 15,380: doomed
Psalm 79:8-11
Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name's sake!
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!
Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
We have no hope other than God doing for us what we could never deserve. The one on death row cannot demand a pardon, but he can beg and plead for one. That is the convict's only remaining move. We are that convict. Our iniquities have been tallied and we've been found wanting. Our only hope is appealing to God to discount our sins or count them against somebody else.
Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name's sake!
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!
Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
We have no hope other than God doing for us what we could never deserve. The one on death row cannot demand a pardon, but he can beg and plead for one. That is the convict's only remaining move. We are that convict. Our iniquities have been tallied and we've been found wanting. Our only hope is appealing to God to discount our sins or count them against somebody else.
Monday, November 30, 2020
day no. 15,379: our Father in heaven and fathers on earth
Psalm 78:1-7
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments
It is a father's job to remember what his father taught him. It is also his duty to pass along this to his son. The next generation should receive their information first hand from their fathers by way of the forefathers. The story of God is a story of fathers loving sons and handing down an inheritance of remembering our Father in heaven.
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments
It is a father's job to remember what his father taught him. It is also his duty to pass along this to his son. The next generation should receive their information first hand from their fathers by way of the forefathers. The story of God is a story of fathers loving sons and handing down an inheritance of remembering our Father in heaven.
Sunday, November 29, 2020
day no. 15,378: thorns, thistles curses and Christ
Hebrews 6:7-8
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
The land that bears thorns and thistles is cursed. It is worthless. It is cursed land. It's end is to be burned. The curse of thorns and thistles being applied to the land goes back to the garden of Eden and the sin of Adam.
Genesis 3:17-19
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
We are that land. That is our curse. We produce thorns and thistles and as a result, we deserve to be burned.
But Christ became a curse for us.
Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"
Jesus bore a crown of thorns and thistles on His head in order to bear the thorns and thistles our head, Adam, deserved. Jesus sweat blood from His forehead in order to bear the weight of the curse our head deserved. He did this in order to bear the curse of our head and to become our new Head.
We are led by a Head that once wore a crown of thorns and thistles. Jesus sweat blood in order to produce bread for us to eat so that in returning to dust, we might rise from the ashes.
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
The land that bears thorns and thistles is cursed. It is worthless. It is cursed land. It's end is to be burned. The curse of thorns and thistles being applied to the land goes back to the garden of Eden and the sin of Adam.
Genesis 3:17-19
And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
We are that land. That is our curse. We produce thorns and thistles and as a result, we deserve to be burned.
But Christ became a curse for us.
Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"
Jesus bore a crown of thorns and thistles on His head in order to bear the thorns and thistles our head, Adam, deserved. Jesus sweat blood from His forehead in order to bear the weight of the curse our head deserved. He did this in order to bear the curse of our head and to become our new Head.
We are led by a Head that once wore a crown of thorns and thistles. Jesus sweat blood in order to produce bread for us to eat so that in returning to dust, we might rise from the ashes.
Saturday, November 28, 2020
day no. 15,377: daily bread
"A daily portion is all that a man really wants. We do not need tomorrow's supplies; that day has not yet dawned, and its wants are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet; if we have enough for each day as the days arrive we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy. We cannot eat or drink or wear more than the day's supply of food and raiment; the surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveller, but a bundle of staves is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. This is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be content with his daily allowance. Jehoiachin's case is ours, we have a sure portion, a portion given us of the king, a gracious portion, and a perpetual portion. Here is surely ground for thankfulness." -- C.H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening
Like manna, God provides for our daily needs daily. Also, like the manna, trying to hoard today's provision in order to provide yourself with tomorrow's needs often goes rotten. God gives daily. He could give us a lifetime's worth today and make it enduring enough to last all of our days, but He chooses instead to be intimately involved on a daily basis, providing us with our needs, serving us daily.
Like manna, God provides for our daily needs daily. Also, like the manna, trying to hoard today's provision in order to provide yourself with tomorrow's needs often goes rotten. God gives daily. He could give us a lifetime's worth today and make it enduring enough to last all of our days, but He chooses instead to be intimately involved on a daily basis, providing us with our needs, serving us daily.
Friday, November 27, 2020
day no. 15,376: what gets smithed, get shipped
"When we are looking at a man’s family, we are looking for what we want to see duplicated—for Paul tells us that it will be duplicated." -- Douglas Wilson, The Neglected Qualification
Whatever is manufactured in the home will be moved beyond it. Whatever is produced behind closed doors will be distributed once they are opened.
Whatever gets smithed at home will get shipped outside of it.
If you don't like what you see when you look into a man's home, you should not want to see that man set up as an example or a target. A pastor/elder is a target. He is set up as an exemplar of what other men, fathers, husbands, brothers and sons should aspire. In other words, if you would not want more of a man's family in the world, then do not promote that man to the position of pastor/elder.
Whatever is manufactured in the home will be moved beyond it. Whatever is produced behind closed doors will be distributed once they are opened.
Whatever gets smithed at home will get shipped outside of it.
If you don't like what you see when you look into a man's home, you should not want to see that man set up as an example or a target. A pastor/elder is a target. He is set up as an exemplar of what other men, fathers, husbands, brothers and sons should aspire. In other words, if you would not want more of a man's family in the world, then do not promote that man to the position of pastor/elder.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)