Pursue/Depend
2009-08-02

Trying to wake up this morning. Stomach is a little oogy this morning (can't imagine why...){{{sarcasm...


Here's a prayer request from the PPT site.

Safety of our troops. A U.S. service member was killed in Afghanistan Friday, wrapping up the deadliest month for foreign troops in the the eight-year-old war there. The death in southern Afghanistan brought to 40 the number of U.S. troops killed in July. The worst previous month for U.S. forces there was September 2008 when 26 were killed.

Father, keep your hand on our troops. Keep them safe.



Psalm for today: 86:11-17

Train me, God, to walk straight;
then I'll follow your true path.
Put me together, one heart and mind;
then, undivided, I'll worship in joyful fear.
From the bottom of my heart I thank you, dear Lord;
I've never kept secret what you're up to.
You've always been great toward me�what love!
You snatched me from the brink of disaster!
God, these bullies have reared their heads!
A gang of thugs is after me�
and they don't care a thing about you.
But you, O God, are both tender and kind,
not easily angered, immense in love,
and you never, never quit.
So look me in the eye and show kindness,
give your servant the strength to go on,
save your dear, dear child!
Make a show of how much you love me
so the bullies who hate me will stand there slack-jawed,
As you, God, gently and powerfully
put me back on my feet.
(The Message)

I chose verses 11-12 of this Psalm as my "life verses" about a decade or so ago.

"In submitting himself to God, and in imploring him to be his guide, David confesses that the only possible way by which we can be enabled to live a holy and upright life is, when God goes before us, while we follow after him...

"David is not only speaking of external teaching: but having the law among his hands, he prays for the inward light of the Holy Spirit, that he may not labour in the unprofitable task of learning only the letter; according as he prays in another place, 'Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law' (Ps. 119:18). If a prophet so distinguished, and so richly endued with the graces of the Holy Spirit, makes such a frank and cordial confession of his own ignorance, how great our folly if we feel not our own deficiency, and are not stirred up to greater diligence in self-improvement from the knowledge of our slender attainments! And, assuredly, the more progress a man has made in the knowledge of the true religion, the more aware will he be that he is far from the mark. It is necessary to add, that reading or hearing is not enough, unless God impart to us inward light by his Spirit."

(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)



Tabletalk Magazine

"On Younger Widows"
1 Timothy 5:11-12

11 But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry 12 and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. (ESV)

It almost goes without saying that not all widows are elderly women. Younger women lose their husbands, too.

Paul instructs the church not to "enroll" the younger widows in the assistance "program." In fact, later on, he will say that they should remarry if at all possible.

Now, apparently, what was happening here (possibly some speculation, as there are not a lot of details in the Scripture), was that younger widows pledged service to the church in exchange for support, thinking that they could remain single. Then, after suppressing their natural urges for a while, went and married the first eligible man that came along, who, frequently, was of a pagan religion. This may be what Paul means when he says that they "abandoned their former faith." So, by exhorting the younger widows to go ahead and remarry, he is trying to prevent this from happening.



Holiness Day by Day

"Grace or Duty?"
Psalm 37:5

Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.

We are definitely supposed to "pursue" holiness with intensity. The very word "pursuit" has a connotation of intensity. To pursue is to chase. The Bible consistently addresses our responsibility to "discipline ourselves unto godliness." We are not to simply "turn it all over to the Lord" and let him live through us. "Rather, we're to love one another, to put to death the misdeeds of the body, and to put off the old man and put on the new man."

In order to make progress, we must assume our responsibility in this matter. BUT we are to do all of this in complete dependence on the Holy Spirit "to work in us and strengthen us with the strength that is in Christ."

I don't always experience the strength of the Spirit. Sometimes, rather, I experience "deep, agonizing failure." I even weep sometimes over my sin and wonder why the Spirit doesn't come help me and strengthen me against temptation. I identify with Paul when he says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do" (Romans 7:15, NIV).

So why doesn't the Spirit always come to our aid? Several possibilities. Perhaps he is allowing us to see the sinfulness of our hearts. Perhaps he wants us to see how weak we are in our own strength and how much we truly need him. Perhaps we have a tendency towards spiritual pride and need to grow in humility. Whatever the reason, we are still to completely depend on the Lord. Yes, we must work...we must pursue, we must chase. But we must also depend on him. "Sovereignly and with infinite wisdom, He determines how best to respond to our dependence."



Father, thank you for reminding me of my "life verses" this morning. Rereading them in the ESV, they say, "Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever." I pray that prayer this morning, Father. I am so much weaker than King David ever was. So I need your instruction ever more than he did. Keep me humble, Father. Let me never attain a measure of spiritual pride. Or any other kind of pride, for that matter, other than pride in who my savior is.

I pray that your Church always have your wisdom when it comes to knowing who needs its support and who doesn't. It's a very difficult thing; I know this as an individual...you can't always tell right away who is truly in need of help, or who might be scamming you. Give us wisdom to know.

Father, I pray for the energy to keep pursuing holiness and Godliness, yet somehow managing to keep depending on you. Those seem like contradictory ideas on the surface, but I know that they co-exist, hand in hand. And they must do so, or the pursuit will end in disaster. Let me always depend on you for my strength. I can tell when I am not, because I get "burned out." And one who is depending on you for strength will never burn out. I truly believe that.



Pursue holiness. Pursue godliness. Rely completely on the Holy Spirit.

Piece of cake.

Right.

Grace and peace, friends!



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