I don't think there is a believer who is not acquainted with the words of 1 Cor. 13. Yet, the other morning, listening to the Word being preached from the pulpit, it struck me that we do not really pay enough attention to the contents of this, one of the most beautiful passages in the Word.
Love. I must have love. I must show love. The very foundation of my every thought, word and deed should be love.
The Lord Jesus said in answer to the question asked Him by a lawyer as to which is the greatest commandment in the law (can you just see that legal mind ticking away attempting to outsmart the Lord?):
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: "You
shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law
and the Prophets." Matt. 22: 37-40
Interesting last words: What do they mean? Simply that we cannot keep the Law or obey the prophets without love!
Read 1 Cor. 13 again, slowly...
Nothing I do is worth anything at all if it is not founded in love.
The biggest misconception we as human being suffer is that love is mere passion. Yes, of course, passion has its part in loving somebody, but true love asks a decision of your will. Augustinus says of God: "You love your creatures, but without passion." When you love as God does, unconditionally, viewing loved ones lovingly yet dispassionately, your judgment in critical situations will be more just, more lenient, more compassionate, more practical, more beneficial to them; selfless.
If we can convince ourselves to take this all-important decision before making our marriage vows, then, I believe, we will not have half the number of divorces taking place. Instead we will in critical situations be reminded that we had decided to love and keep loving this person, come what may...
Thank You, Lord, that your love is unending....everlasting, from generation to generation, forevermore.
Tuesday 27 September 2016
A MAN/WOMAN AFTER GOD'S HEART
What could it possibly mean to be a man/woman after God's own heart?
We often hear that King David of Old Testament times was a man after God's own heart. Yet, when we look at his life, it appears that he was as human as any one of us. He even planned another man's murder to be able to marry his widow! Shocking! Not something that many of us would do, or even contemplate!
What then is the secret of David's life?
When we research his life, we find that he feared no one. Just think about the Goliath incident! Or the time when he came so close to king Saul's person (knowing that Saul sought to kill him) that he could have cut off a piece of Saul's garment!
We also begin to understand that he revered and respected God. In this regard we only have to remember the time when the Israelites brought the ark back to Israel when Ussa died next to the ark because He stumbled and touched the ark, and when David refused to take the ark to his dwelling place as a result of his fear of God. We read about this in 2 Samuel chapter 6.
David sought God's will for his life. We often read how he first consulted God before going to war against other nations.
He loved praising and exalting God's name! We find lots of proof thereof in the Psalms and songs that he composed. He was not mindful of the opinions of others regarding his love and devotion to God.
We read in 2 Samuel 6:14:
"And David danced before the Lord with all his might, clad in a linen
ephod".
He encouraged others to praise and exalt God.
Ps. 117:
"O praise the Lord, all you nations! Praise Him, all you people! For
His mercy and loving-kindness are great toward us, and the truth and
faithfulness of the Lord endure forever."
He was not without sin, no, but, he was willing and ready to immediately confess his sin and to ask for God's forgiveness; to subject himself to whatever punishment, if any, the Lord would deem fair to meet out to him.
In other words, God took the number one place in David's life and God's honour was of paramount importance to him.
1 Samuel 17: 45-47:
"Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear,
and a javelin, but I come to you in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God
of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied. This day the Lord will
deliver you into my hand and I will smite you and cut off your head. And
I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds
of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know there
is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not
with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into
our hands."
I am sure that David and his sling would have won a Gold Medal if he were to participate in the Olympic Games at any time!
David knew God, the Almighty.
He did not rely on his own strength, but on the Lord God.
He did not put his trust in people but his faith and trust was in the Lord God
He was prepared to act in the Name of the Lord God on behalf of his people.
He desired to build a house for the Lord God, where the nation could worship the Lord.
Would you therefore agree that when we look at the relationship between David and the Lord God, it is indeed possible for each one of us, man or woman, to also be close to the heart of God?
No, God certainly does not expect any one of us to go out and physically kill a giant, but we must also not limit what God can do in and through each of us.
One of the great men of God of the previous century once said: "The world, and God, is anxiously waiting to see what God can do in and through a man, or woman, who is totally devoted to Him."
By living in such a close relationship to God as David did, by continuously seeking His will for our lives, praising and exalting Him in what we think, say and do, we too will be enabled to do great things for God in our homes, our families, amongst our friends, in our neighbourhoods, our communities, and our countries.
It took one man, Noah, to build the ark. It took one man, Moses, and his brother, Aaron, to lead God's people out of Egypt. It took one man, Isaiah, to pray for a drought and three years later to pray for it to rain - our prayers are powerful instruments in the sight and hand of God.
It also does not matter what age we are. It was a young Samuel, not yet of school going age, to whom God gave a message to deliver to Eli. It was a teenager, Jeremiah, whom God annointed as prophet to His people, Israel. John, the baptist, was in his thirties when he was preaching repentance and baptism and preparing the way of our Lord. Paul, Peter and John, preached the Gospel, and wrote the books of the New Testament, when they were already old, infirm and even imprisoned.
2 Cor. 4:16 says:
"Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted,
and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is (progressively)
decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being (progressively)
renewed day after day." (Amplified Bible)
Also remember that God's mercies are new every morning and that He has promised that He will be ever present until the end of the age.
Rom 12:2 reminds us to "not be conformed to the world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you]." (Amplified Bible)
The most wonderful words ever uttered about any person is this : "He/she was a man after God's own heart".
Let's live it!
Thank You, Lord, that I also can be a woman after Your own heart. Please help me to reach this goal.
We often hear that King David of Old Testament times was a man after God's own heart. Yet, when we look at his life, it appears that he was as human as any one of us. He even planned another man's murder to be able to marry his widow! Shocking! Not something that many of us would do, or even contemplate!
What then is the secret of David's life?
When we research his life, we find that he feared no one. Just think about the Goliath incident! Or the time when he came so close to king Saul's person (knowing that Saul sought to kill him) that he could have cut off a piece of Saul's garment!
We also begin to understand that he revered and respected God. In this regard we only have to remember the time when the Israelites brought the ark back to Israel when Ussa died next to the ark because He stumbled and touched the ark, and when David refused to take the ark to his dwelling place as a result of his fear of God. We read about this in 2 Samuel chapter 6.
David sought God's will for his life. We often read how he first consulted God before going to war against other nations.
He loved praising and exalting God's name! We find lots of proof thereof in the Psalms and songs that he composed. He was not mindful of the opinions of others regarding his love and devotion to God.
We read in 2 Samuel 6:14:
"And David danced before the Lord with all his might, clad in a linen
ephod".
He encouraged others to praise and exalt God.
Ps. 117:
"O praise the Lord, all you nations! Praise Him, all you people! For
His mercy and loving-kindness are great toward us, and the truth and
faithfulness of the Lord endure forever."
He was not without sin, no, but, he was willing and ready to immediately confess his sin and to ask for God's forgiveness; to subject himself to whatever punishment, if any, the Lord would deem fair to meet out to him.
In other words, God took the number one place in David's life and God's honour was of paramount importance to him.
1 Samuel 17: 45-47:
"Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear,
and a javelin, but I come to you in the Name of the Lord of hosts, the God
of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied. This day the Lord will
deliver you into my hand and I will smite you and cut off your head. And
I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds
of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know there
is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not
with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into
our hands."
I am sure that David and his sling would have won a Gold Medal if he were to participate in the Olympic Games at any time!
David knew God, the Almighty.
He did not rely on his own strength, but on the Lord God.
He did not put his trust in people but his faith and trust was in the Lord God
He was prepared to act in the Name of the Lord God on behalf of his people.
He desired to build a house for the Lord God, where the nation could worship the Lord.
Would you therefore agree that when we look at the relationship between David and the Lord God, it is indeed possible for each one of us, man or woman, to also be close to the heart of God?
No, God certainly does not expect any one of us to go out and physically kill a giant, but we must also not limit what God can do in and through each of us.
One of the great men of God of the previous century once said: "The world, and God, is anxiously waiting to see what God can do in and through a man, or woman, who is totally devoted to Him."
By living in such a close relationship to God as David did, by continuously seeking His will for our lives, praising and exalting Him in what we think, say and do, we too will be enabled to do great things for God in our homes, our families, amongst our friends, in our neighbourhoods, our communities, and our countries.
It took one man, Noah, to build the ark. It took one man, Moses, and his brother, Aaron, to lead God's people out of Egypt. It took one man, Isaiah, to pray for a drought and three years later to pray for it to rain - our prayers are powerful instruments in the sight and hand of God.
It also does not matter what age we are. It was a young Samuel, not yet of school going age, to whom God gave a message to deliver to Eli. It was a teenager, Jeremiah, whom God annointed as prophet to His people, Israel. John, the baptist, was in his thirties when he was preaching repentance and baptism and preparing the way of our Lord. Paul, Peter and John, preached the Gospel, and wrote the books of the New Testament, when they were already old, infirm and even imprisoned.
2 Cor. 4:16 says:
"Therefore we do not become discouraged (utterly spiritless, exhausted,
and wearied out through fear). Though our outer man is (progressively)
decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is being (progressively)
renewed day after day." (Amplified Bible)
Also remember that God's mercies are new every morning and that He has promised that He will be ever present until the end of the age.
Rom 12:2 reminds us to "not be conformed to the world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the (entire) renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (in His sight for you]." (Amplified Bible)
The most wonderful words ever uttered about any person is this : "He/she was a man after God's own heart".
Let's live it!
Thank You, Lord, that I also can be a woman after Your own heart. Please help me to reach this goal.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)