You laid earth's foundations a long time ago,
and handcrafted the very heavens;
You'll still be around when they're long gone,
threadbare and discarded like an old suit of clothes.
You'll throw them away like a worn-out coat,
but year after year you're as good as new.
Your servants' children will have a good place to live
and their children will be at home with you."
"...true believers are taught to consider with all humility, when they come into the divine presence, how frail and transitory their condition is, that they may bring nothing with them but their own emptiness. Such self-abasement is the first step to our obtaining favour in the sight of God, even as he also affirms that he is moved by the sight of our miseries to be merciful to us."
I'm also reminded of the first line of an old classic by Horatio Bonar, called "How Shall I Go To God?" It says, "It is with our sins that we go to God, for we have nothing else to go with that we can call our own." Unless we come before him completely empty, we are of no use.
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
"Looking For God's Will"
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
Reading from the English Standard Version:
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Most of us desire to know God's will for our lives. Knowing God, truth, and his will are very closely connected, because God's will is truth itself.
However, we are not always sure how to go about discerning his will for us, especially when faced with two or more choices that all seem pretty equal. Many times we agonize over such a decision. (And there are times, in my own opinion, when the decision is totally up to us, and any of the options might be completely right.) There are times when God intervenes in some gloriously supernatural way. But, if we are honest, we must admit that these times are rare. The first and best place to turn when faced with any kind of decision is Scripture.
Today's passage makes one thing clear. God's will for us is sanctification. His will for us is holiness. So, right off the bat, we can see that any option that would compromise this is most certainly wrong.
"Knowing Our Motives"
1 Samuel 16:7
Reading from the English Standard Version:
But the Lord said to Samuel, �Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.�
(This verse is part of God's instructionas Samuel is getting ready to anoint David as King over Israel.)
Our motivation for obedience may very well be just as important to God as our performance. In face, it may be more important.
In 1 Chronicles 28:9, David said, "The LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought." Frankly, that truth can be a bit disarming. Paul, in describing the coming of the Lord, said this: He "will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart." (1 Corinthians 4:5) We'd better have our hearts right, eh?
"To be acceptable to God, our motives must spring from a love for Him and a desire to glorify Him." Legalistic obedience does not please God. Nor does obedience done with the motive of attempting to gain favor with him. How many people go to worship services with the purpose of getting something out of them? Or even worse, how many don't go because they say they don't get anything out of it? I go to worship because my heart wants to worship God. I go to worship to put something in! Not to get something out. The only correct motive for serving God is to glorify him.
"Our good works are not truly good works unless they're motivated by a love for God and a desire to glorify Him. But we cannot have such a Godward motivation if we think we must earn God's favor by our obedience or if we fear we may forfeit His favor by disobedience." Works-oriented motivation is self-serving, prompted by what we think we might gain or lose.
I pray that we be sanctified. And by "we," I mean all believers. But rith this minute, I pray for the close-knit body of believers that I worship with each week. Sanctify us, Lord! Make us holy. Especially those of us in leadership positions. (Elders/pastors, etc.) It is my desire to be holy for you, Father!
And may I always appear before you as an empty vessel, waiting to be filled. Not necessarily empty handed, as I have gifts to bring to you out of love for you. But in terms of what I have inside me that is of any value, there is nothing save what you have placed there.
Pray for our foreign policy to take a stand for religious freedom and human rights when dealing with China and other nations that restrict freedom of worship.
Before dawn last Sunday, a megachurch in eastern China was recently demolished by reportedly 400 people in police suits. The mob raided the "Good News Cloth Shoes Factory," which also serves as the site for the Fushan Church. Men tore at the building's foundation with shovels as bulldozers worked to level other buildings on the site, Dozens of church members sleeping at the construction site of the new church building were also suddenly attacked with bricks and other objects.
Father, I pray for the believers in China. Protect them from this evil. But, most of all, keep them faithful and brave in the face of persecution.
Grace and peace, friends.