Thankful Not Boastful

A PRAYER PROBLEM

“I thank thee, that I am not as other men are…even as this publican.” It’s not the first part of this man’s prayer that got him into hot water, but the latter. After all, what godly woman doesn’t thank God she is not a harlot, etc.? And what good Christian man is not thankful he isn’t a drunkard or something worse? The problem with the prayer is not in evaluation but elevation.

ALL ARE MADE FROM THE SAME MOLD

It is not wrong to be thankful you’re not like other men. But it is to think you’re better. We are all cut from the same Adamic “cloth,” and as such, are capable of anything and everything anyone else does. As it is said, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” To be humbly thankful you have not experienced another’s misfortune is one thing; but to be haughty and boastful of this fact is another.

How's Your Multiplication?

5 × 39= 195

This is the minimum amount of stripes Paul bore in his body as a result of being beaten on five different occasions, thirty-nine times each. Historians tell us the Roman whips had several cords attached to the main stem; if so, that would add to the number. When taking into account  he was beaten three times with rods, and once was he stoned, one can only imagine the horrific sight of that mangled body, that had been given over to God for His use, pleasure, and glory. Remember, along with all this, he carried to the grave his thorn in the flesh.

PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

Those earned (I didn’t say, deserved) marks in that precious body, were his credentials to all who would question his devotion to Jesus Christ. As he told his legalistic inquisitors at Galatia, “From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” He is one who would not be “carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease!”

AN INGREDIENT NOTICEABLY MISSING IN PAUL’S LETTERS

It is difficult, if not impossible, to find any complaints as to his sufferings anywhere in his thirteen epistles. Rather, you will discover this old warhorse turned the tables on the flesh, the world, and the devil. We see him praising God and glorying in Him in all his afflictions. He found in his weakness, God’s strength, and in his suffering, God’s grace. This seasoned saint believed with all his heart and soul-

  “Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

We're All Guilty Of It

NEVER SAY NEVER

“I could never do that.” Familiar? I guess so. Who among us can plead, “Not guilty” of uttering this common phrase ? Whenever we speak such rubbish you can be assured, whether one likes to admit it or not, it comes from a pharisaical spirit or ignorance as to the power of indwelling sin.

A GOOD EXAMPLE

On at least three different occasions Peter said he had or would never do such and such a thing: 1) let Jesus wash his feet; he did; 2) had never eaten anything unclean; he ate with the Gentile believers; 3) that he would never deny Christ; he did!  He, like us, was surprised at what he was capable of.

THE ROOT PROBLEM

Rather than, “condescending to men of low estate,” and “esteeming the other better than ourselves,” we look on them with contempt. Down deep, unless the Holy Spirit has done a work of grace in our hearts, we think ourselves a notch up from all others, as Peter did when he referred to “all men.”

“BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THERE GO I”  

Hurry Up/Slow Down/ Win the Race

GOD’S PRINCIPLES

The world and carnal Christians will never understand God’s ways; for example, the way up is down, the way to get is to lose. And so it is with those who desire to be first, win the race, if you please. “The last, says Jesus, shall be first.”

THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT

Getting there first has no guarantee attached to it. John outran Peter to the tomb, getting there ahead of him, but it was the latter who went in and saw where the body had lain. John only “looked in,” but he didn’t go in till after.

OUTSHINING A BROTHER OR SISTER

In the story of Joab sending David a report of Absalom's death, Cushi started running first with the message to king David, but Ahimaaz outran and outshone him by overtaking him and arriving first, but was told by David to, “Turn aside.” No message.

REMEMBER THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE STORY

Jacob was crippled by his God, so that he could no longer keep up with his brother. He had, according to his own testimony to “lead on softly.” Isaiah makes a great statement in his writings, “The lame take the prey.” Like the four lepers in 2 Kings, seven.

The second birth, the second mile, the second veil,  the second Man, are all better than the first.

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Settling It-Is Settling

ALL MUST DO IT...SOONER OR LATER

There comes a time in every saint's life when he or she must ask themselves that all-important question, and answer it honestly, “Am I going to go all the way, no matter what? This comes at different stages in each Christian’s life, but generally at a Red Sea experience, when all human possibilities have been exhausted. It’s not difficult to affirm  positively, “YES!,” when lying on flowery beds of ease. But when the waters are about to cover you, as in David’s case, it’s a different matter.

ONE OF THE GREAT DECLARATIONS OF FAITH

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” James tells us the old patriarch is our example when, so to speak, one’s back is against the wall. Previously, Job’s life was more or less serene. But now the very heavens are falling in on him. And what is his testimony? Out of the ash heap of despair this broken man cries, “Though He multiply my sorrow, increase my pain, and add torment  to my already tormented soul, I will go to my grave clinging to Him. As with Jacob, “I will not let thee go.”

TRUST, NO MATTER WHAT

The words that win God’s heart is, “I’LL TRUST YOU, LORD, NO MATTER WHAT.” “I’ll trust you like Moses at the Red Sea; as Daniel did in the lion's den; like the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace; as Hezekiah did on his sickbed; when shut-in like Joseph; when I lose everything dear, as Naomi; when everything is going against me, as Jeremiah; when my very life is being slowly drained from me, like the woman with the issue of blood; and yes, when suffering on my deathbed, when it seems even YOU have forsaken me, as in your Son’s case, I’ll trust you!”

ISAIAH SAYS IT ALL

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation...Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. “ Isaiah 12:2; 26:3-4

An Appetite For the Divine

TWO KINDS OF APPETITE

There is a fleshly appetite and a soulish one. We are are all familiar with the former, but not so much with the latter. Isaiah speaks of a man’s soul having an appetite. Few there be today, I believe, who have a real hunger for God. It seems many are satisfied with religious junk food. I guess because it’s “fast food,” no need to wait.

JESUS’ DISCIPLES HAD TO LEARN IT AND SO DO WE

On one occasion, Jesus’ disciples were overly concerned with food while our Lord, on the other hand, was taken up with His fellowship with God. His appetite for God was greater than that for food. This is seen in His statement at the time, “But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.” His was a diet of Deity!  

THE CHURCH-A REFLECTION OF ISRAEL

“They saw God, and did eat and drink.” What a sad experience!  Strange, it affected no permanent transformation. This brief encounter with God satisfied them, but left no desire to go deeper into fellowship with Him. Only a short time later, after eating, they’re seen worshiping the golden calf. Notice the order. By putting the flesh first they ended with carnal worship.

DO YOU AND I HAVE THE SMELL OF GARLIC UPON US?

Many of us, like in Jesus’ parable,“dureth for a while,” and then are drawn away by our taste for other things. The leeks and garlic of Egyptian bondage seem more inviting to some than the sweet manna of wilderness liberty. The mixed multitude never longs for the latter! God’s elect have, as it were, a spiritual “sweet tooth.”

Seeking The Wrong Thing

EXPERIENCE IS NOT THE BEST TEACHER

The book of Proverbs teaches the best way to learn is by instruction; the following book, Ecclesiastes, written by the same man, shows experience is not the best teacher. Ask any child who was told not to touch the stove, lest they get a painful burn, but who was dead set to find out for themselves. I guarantee they’ll testify to the fact I present.

THE OLD PURITANS HAD IT RIGHT

I learned a great truth early in my Christian life from reading the Puritans. It has helped me throughout these many years. “We’re to seek the Apostles teachings, not their experiences.” Not only attempting to emulate Bible characters’ experiences is dangerous, but also saints whose lives we read of in Church history. We all need to read more objectively.

IT’S WHAT THEY SAY, NOT WHAT THEY DO, THAT COUNTS

We cringe at the saying, “Don’t do as I do, but do as I say.” Yet this is exactly what Jesus taught His followers on one occasion. “All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.” I might add, it is not a question of what would Jesus do, but what did Jesus say?” For example, He drove them out of the Temple with a whip. I wouldn’t recommend that.

The Miraculous

I’VE THOUGHT THE SAME THING MYSELF

“And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”

MIRACLES MATTER

The miraculous is an integral part of Christianity. Disregard miracles and you have taken the very life out of it. One good definition of a miracle is, “An observed event that triggers an awareness and awesomeness of God’s presence and power.”

THE NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL

It’s important to point out that God uses the natural when performing the supernatural. Natural things become supernatural when God is associated with them. Things like an axe head, water pots, a barrel, ravens, and a teenage virgin, to name just a few. We see from these examples that generally miracles interrupt, but do not disregard, the usual course of nature. Nevertheless the God of nature is not tied to its laws.

AN IMPORTANT REMINDER

We do well to remember, in Bible times, as far as I know, no one ever saw a miracle while looking for one. The supernatural occurred while he or she were busy doing what came naturally. As that blessed man, A.W. Tozer, has written,"Miracles follow the plow."

EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE

Not often will the Lord do His part if we neglect to do ours. But He can and will, if it so pleases Him! And praise His name, “He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.”

Favorites

MY FAVORITE NEW TESTAMENT STORY

I think most, if not all Christians have their own favorite Bible stories. My favorite in the New Testament is the following; it’s found in John chapter four, verses forty-six through fifty-three.

“So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told [him], saying, Thy son liveth. Then enquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.  So the father knew that [it was] at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house.”

ALL AVENUES EXHAUSTED

I believe parents will agree with me that this father had tried all avenues open to him for the healing of his son. From the medical profession to homeopathic remedies; possibly, even some quack cures. All doors were closed and locked to him. He was literally “shut-up unto the faith.” He was at his Red Sea with no place to turn.

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES

There seems to be a principle in the scripture: God loves it when His children come to the end of themselves. When all hope is taken away. When there is no man to help. Someone has written—

“God is a tower without a stair

And His perfection loves despair.”

A THOUGHT THAT HAS HELPED ME

From our scriptural story, God gave me a little saying that has helped me these many years.

“Act as though it were, And you’ll experience it as it is.”

NO MAGICAL BOOK

Paul tells us the Word of God works effectually in them that believe. There is nothing magical about the Word. Wishing will get you nowhere, believing it will take you a long way.

DON’T LET THE WEAKNESS OF THE FLESH TROUBLE YOU

You can have a weak flesh with a strong faith, look at Abraham’s life of faith. He staggered on the outside but the inner-man stood strong. The wise man declares, “The root of the righteous shall not be moved”. The storms can bow the limbs, but never the root. Like a buoy, you may be tossed to and fro on the surface, but underneath it is steadfast!  “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil.”

"At the end of self...you’ll find God.”

(rds)

God's Oath to Himself

FAITHLESSNESS VERSES FAITHFULNESS

"If we believer not, yet he abideth faithful.” God’s faithfulness is not dependent on our belief. Belief can bring benefits to us, but whether we believe of not, God’s faithfulness is unchangeable. Our doubts will never change the dignity of His Deity. Our gentleman God always keeps His Word.

ONE PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Our faith may waver at times, as Peter’s of old. We may have honest doubts, as John the Baptist. And, like the disciples in the storm, we might even question His care for us. But, in the midst of all our carnal confusion, one thing abides the same: the faithfulness of God; believe it or not.

WHO ARE WE TO BELIEVE?

Often it is said, “I can’t believe.” But I ask the question, “Whom can’t you believe?” God is not asking you to believe you, but to believe Him. We are not to look at our faith, but to the faithful One.

GOD SWORE TO HIMSELF

Settled assurance comes from the fact of knowing God did not swear to us but to Himself. As Moses said to the Lord, “Thou swearest by thine own self.” And the writer of Hebrews, referring to this very thing adds, “For when God made promise…because he could swear by no greater, he swear by himself.” Is it any wonder then that Jeremiah, in the midst of chaos, says, “Great is thy faithfulness.”

If not true of anyone else in the entire universe, “To thine own self be true” is true of God.

The Idealist

AN IDEALIST-A MISGUIDED OPTIMIST   

Webster defines an idealist as, “an impractical person; a person who represents things as they might or should be, rather than as they are.” For example, the young girl who believes her marriage will be free from all trouble, or the teen-age boy entering service believing he will return from war as a hero without a scratch. Such immature imaginations are idealistic, that is, “It just ain’t so.”

CHRISTIAN IDEALIST

Christians can be idealistic about spiritual things. Many have manufactured a life void of all problems. They believe they simply turn everything over to God, thus taking themselves out of the equation. This sounds good, but it is not reality. We are never removed from the picture. It is always us and God within the frame together (Philip.4:13). It is not I without God; nor is it God without I. It’s God and I together.

CARNAL IDEALIST VERSES SPIRITUAL REALIST

The carnal idealist rejects everything not within his or her plan; a Spiritual realist accepts all things as God’s plan. That is, when one is living for Him. Within the realm of the realist “all things are possible with God.” It is not so with the idealist, he or she “limits the Holy One of Israel.”  All things must come up to their ideal of what God will do in any given situation; if not, to them, God could not possibly be in it.

The Commoner

THE ENGLISH COMMONER

Some of the definitions for the old British term Commoner is: any person ranking below a peer; a person without a title of nobility...an ordinary person...a person who is not born into a position of high social status…a derogatory word or term for a peasant/lower class.

THE WORLD AND THE CHRISTIAN COMMONER

Paul tells us the elitist society of his day considered Christians

“as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things.” Things haven’t changed for those believers who are sold out to God. They still look down their condescending noses at those who belong to Christ, thinking themselves superior.

GOD HAS AN AFFINITY FOR COMMON THINGS AND PEOPLE

The Bible speaks of: a common people; a common faith; a common salvation. In fact, God had to correct Peter for referring to things and people as common; things God had associated Himself with with. “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common...but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common.”

GOD IN DISGUISE

To the world and religion,  Jesus Christ was a common man, beneath them.  But in truth, He was God in disguise. And so it is with His children. The world’s not aware God is in these common, earthen vessels, and that these lightly esteemed, plain people are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ.    

WHAT A RUDE AWAKENING WHEN THE WORLD FINDS OUT THAT THE PEOPLE THEY TREATED AS  NOBODIES WERE GOD’S SOMEBODIES!

(rds)

A Test Tube God

DANIEL, PAUL, AND SCIENCE

The Bible tells us Daniel was, “...skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science…” On the other hand Paul writes of a ”...science falsely so called.” Science is like children; there are both legitimate and illegitimate kinds. Down through history, as today, there have been godly scientists, but sorry to say, such have always been outnumbered by the other kind.

MUSINGS FROM FAMILY FELLOWSHIP

Recently, our preacher/author son, Andrew, who lives a little over an hour away, visited us with his lovely wife, Sharon. As our family custom goes, it was not long before the conversation moved from the everyday things to those of the Lord. The discussion centered around the noticeable lack of interest in the greatness and power of God in the lives professing believers today.

MY TWO-CENTS WORTH

Personally, I believe God’s mighty wonders began to cease when we allowed the scientific world to take God into the laboratory and begin dissecting Him. Their plan was to  bring  Him down to their size, even smaller. So much so, that they now fit Him into a test tube. Christians who are either intimidated or impressed with their pseudo-knowledge presently worship and serve a pygmy god.  

CHRISTIANS GRABBED THE BAIT

Humanism is the deification of man and the humanization of God. Sorry to say, the mass of Christendom have fallen for this doctrine of devils, hook, line, and sinker!

Our Bible Reading

UNHAPPY DEVOTIONS

All good Christians read their Bible; but not all of us are happy afterward. To read our love letter and be concerned only with what the “Lover of our souls” said, forgetting who said it, will leave one, to say the least, wanting. It is actually possible after spending time in the scriptures to be left in a state of misery, even desiring to give it all up.

PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE OX

Everything must begin with God-”In the beginning God.” All things have a cause and effect; to take away the former is to leave one ineffective. The writer of Hebrews tells us, “He is the author and finisher...” Only by increasing our spiritual and intellectual knowledge of God do we understand life with its complexities and great mysteries.

OUR ONE MAIN PROBLEM

When looking into the mirror of God’s Word, we are to see HIM, not our reflection. Most of us are so taken up with ourselves and our concerns we lose sight of the author of the Book, who is its main character. We are so self-centered, we cannot think about anything other than “me, my, and I.” On God’s pedestal, there's only room for one, and it is not me.

LOOKING FOR THE WRONG THING

If not careful, we will spend a lifetime looking for “nuggets” from the Word rather than seeking “The One Pearl of Great Price.” The gem to be sought in our search of the scriptures is HIM! He is the one who gives value to everything else. Both the Written and Living Word of God were, and are, designed to bring us to God. Don’t stop short with either, let us go on.

“Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD"

(Hos. 6:3)

Mercy

LEARNING THE MEANING

“But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice...But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.”

(Matt. 9:13; 12:9)

GETTING PAST THE EXTERNAL

The ritualistic, legalistic Pharisees of Jesus day could truly be called, “Hardshell Religionists.” His was a day that put great emphasis on the external works of the flesh and had little, or no, concern with the workings of the heart. Because of this, they had become exceedingly hard and harsh in dealing with the less fortunate, the unenlightened.

CORRECTION FROM THE SCRIPTURES

Jesus directs their attention to what God said in Hosea. He shows them God is much more interested in seeing mercy extended to the needy than a heartless show of sacrifice to Him.“ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law...mercy...these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

REBUKED FOR WILLFUL IGNORANCE

Our Lord rebukes both them and us for not knowing something we should have, and could have, known. The moral standard of the Law, He teaches, takes precedent over its ceremonial requirements. The main focus to always  be on the former.

THE LETTER AND THE SPIRIT

It is not good enough to know the “letter” of the scripture; we must by the Spirit learn the meaning. And then, APPLY IT! Like our beloved Paul admonishes, “...shew[ing] mercy, with cheerfulness.”

“It’s difficult indeed, if not impossible, to live at the Mercy Seat and not be merciful to others who desire it.”

(rds)

The Lost Art-Meditation

MY DEVOTIONAL MEDITATION

I’ve started reading through my Bible again in my devotional time. While meditating on Abel, I received such a blessing. It never occurred to me, he was the first sinner to go to heaven, the first one to enter, singing, if you please, “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it; redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.” He was first to worship and praise God for His salvation by grace, to behold the pre-incarnate Lamb who was the antitype, the foreshadowing, of his own animal sacrifice, standing next to His Father. You might say, in one sense, he had heaven all to himself.

THE COW’S CUD

The old saying, “Chewing the cud,” generally refers to a cow bringing back up partly digested food from their first stomach, to the mouth again, for further chewing. One could apply this to some extent to meditating on the Word. We need to take more time chewing (meditating) on the Word of God. We need more “Selahs” in our Bible time. David mentions this word over seventy times in the book of Psalms. We also need to pause and consider what we have just read. All deep thinking Christians are men and women who give time to meditating on the Word. We need to heed the words, “Dwell deep.”

THE BLESSED MAN

The sweet Psalmist tells us the man (or woman) God blesses meditates in God’s Word, night and day. That is, he or she is thinking about it “round-the-clock,” as they say. C.H. Spurgeon has a good note on this in his book, Treasury of David. “He delights, moreover, to meditate in it, to read it by day, and think upon it by night. He takes a text and carries it with him all day long; and in the night-watches, when sleep forsakes his eyelids, he museth upon the Word of God. In the day of his prosperity he sings Psalms out of the Word of God, and in the night of his affliction he comforts himself with promises out of the same book. "The Law of the Lord" is the daily bread of the true believer.”

Brooms

Going to the Broom Closet

It’s a wise woman who grabs a broom when she has lost something of great value, and begins immediately sweeping the area where it disappeared. The woman in Luke’s gospel was such a person. She searched diligently till she found the cherished possession she lost. In fact, she swept the whole house before ultimately finding it.

I’ve been waiting some years now, watching to see when the Church will go to her broom closet. It has been most difficult for me to understand how she could lose her dearest and most treasured possession and not be concerned with her great loss. How like Samson the Church of today is. “And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.” Or as my dear old mentor, Dr, Joe Henry Hankins, used to preach, "Destitute, and unaware of it!"

Many once blessed churches now have indelibly written above their door, “Ichabod…The glory is departed…” The church then becomes a mortuary. They’re of no use to anyone but the mortician, grave digger, and the monument builder, who will inscribe on the tombstone what their church once was.

When Mary and Joseph lost Jesus, after three days of searching, they finally found Him where they left him. And so will any church that takes the time to do so. Revival is a re-discovery of Jesus.

New brooms sweep cleanest-but old brooms know where all the dirt is hidden!
(Dr. B.R. Lakin)