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| Reconciliation House in Burnsville, NC, near Mt. Celo Church - a Christian Outreach Ministry "in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." |
My Lessons and Applications from Today's Readings
(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)
Prophecy Fulfilled - Israel Judged - Psalm 106: 32-39 What It Says - Summarized) - The Psalmist is remembering Israel's judged sins: 1) that Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because he responded with anger to the people at Meribah, which caused the great leader to sin..."They angered him at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses on account of them...because...they rebelled against His Spirit...so that he spoke rashly with his lips." 2) that Israel did not destroy the peoples as God had commanded...but mingled with the Gentiles... 3) learned their works... 4) served their idols, which became a snare to them...5) shed innocent blood, sacrificed their sons and daughters to the idols of Canaan... 6) polluted the land with blood, 6) thus, were defiled by their own works, 6) played the harlot by their own deeds."
The Upward Look and Light - 2 Corinthians 5 (What It Says - Summarized) - Some of the greatest tenets of our New Testament faith are contained in this magnificent chapter. "WE KNOW: 1) that if this earthly house, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2) For we who are in this tent, groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 3) He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has also given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 4) SO that we are always confident, KNOWING, that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 5) FOR we walk by faith, not by sight. 6) We are confident, yes, and well pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. 7) THEREFORE, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 8) FOR we all...must...appear before the judgment seat of Christ...that each one...may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 9) KNOWING, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. 10) FOR the love of God compels us, for we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live...should no longer live for themselves...but for Him...who died for them and rose again. 11) THEREFORE, if anyone...is in Christ...he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 12) Now all things are of God...who has reconciled us to Himself...through Jesus Christ...and has given us...the ministry of reconciliation...that is, that God was in Christ...reconciling the world to Himself...not imputing their trespasses to them...and has committed to us...the word of reconciliation. 13) NOW THEN, we are ambassadors for Christ...as though God were pleading through us...we implore you on Christ's behalf...be reconciled to God. 14) FOR He made Him who knew no sin...to be sin for us...that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
My Lessons and Applications - The history of God's Chosen People has been one of repeated patterns: forsaking God, disobeying His commandments, serving idols, becoming like the evil people around them. This is one of the great lessons of the Psalms to me: look back...recall...remember - both God's gracious goodness, the great leaders, AND the mistakes...where we went wrong and why. It is about the old adage, "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it." This is perhaps more so in our spiritual walk with God than in our national and world political history. This is why I read the Bible in its entirety each year - to get the overall Plan of God, the pattern of rebellion and harlotry we as a people have played in not yielding our lives to Him, but - stupefyingly- willing to yield to the sin and corruption of the world and the corresponding horrific consequences of this. What about my own history with God? If we are in a hard place, it is almost certain that it is a direct result of ours or someone else's disobedience to God. The Israelites refused to separate themselves from godless people. Do I separate myself from those who openly live in disobedience to God...in marriage...in close friendships...in business partnerships? If not, what has been the result of this? A great caveat: beware that not all who "profess" a love and life devoted to God "possess" this life. Do I look at the patterns of behavior of these people I bring into my life that will influence my behavior and that of my children and of the generations to come? Do I look back and consider? Then do I consider deeply the impact of the New Covenant life of faith now and eternally...at the difference a life IN CHRIST makes on the family, in the world? Is my life a ministry of reconciliation of others to God, not necessarily a reconciliation of persons to any and everyone? We as believers are ambassadors for Christ - sent out to plead with others to be reconciled to God. This is our Great Commission (Matthew 28:16:20)
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away." 2 Corinthians 5:17
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
Our Lord never nurses our prejudices; He mortifies them, runs clean athwart them. Instead of God being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately wiping them out...There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender...When we are born again, the Holy Spirit, begins to work His new creation is us, and there will come a time when there is not a bit of the old order left, the old solemnity goes, the old attitude to things goes, and "all things are of God." How are we going to get the life that has no lust, no self-interest, no sensitiveness to pokes, the love that is not provoked, that thinketh no evil, that is always kind? The only way is by allowing not a bit of the old life to be left; but only simple perfect trust in God, such trust that we no longer want God's blessings, but only want Himself. Have we come to the place where God can withdraw His blessings and it does not affect our trust in Him? When once we see God at work, we will never bother our heads about things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in Heaven Whom the world cannot see."
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