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May you mount up on wings as an eagle, strength renewed, as you wait upon the Lord, to hear His voice through His word, that you may walk in His will, to see His kingdom come in your life, and be blessed to be a blessing. For, The young lions may suffer want and be hungry, But those who seek the Lord, will lack no good thing. [Psalms 34:10] The goodness of God, brings good things that will see you suffer no lack, through His word spoken into your life.
Framed, fashioned by God’s word:
It was how, in the beginning, God created or framed the world, that was very good in His sight. And so it is in new creation, as He fashions your heart, by His word spoken to you. It is hearing, understanding, believing, and confessing to bring about a change in your conduct, that is the full expression of your faith. And you would then be as the wise man who builds his house, with the incorruptible seed of the word of God, upon the firm foundation of the Rock, Jesus Christ. In the practical application of it though, one can go wrong says in the book of James, practical as it is, makes clear, and you and I would do well to pay heed to it.
Prove yourself to be a doer:
But prove yourself to be doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. [James 1:22] Proof of you being who you are seems to be more and more necessary in every arena of life, these days. And when it comes to faith, James comes straight to the point in saying that you need to prove yourself, for faith without proof is fake. For, when you put your faith in Jesus, He transforms you from within. It is why, James goes on to conclude that when you are a hearer and not a doer of the word that God speaks to you, you are deceiving yourself. And the factors behind it are:
a] A miscalculation,
b] A false reasoning, and,
c] Not acknowledging sin.
a] Miscalculation:
For you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? [1 Corinthians 3:3] Here Paul is addressing the Corinthian church in the context of salvation, regarding which there were factions, each thinking they were better than the others. And it ended up being a miscalculation, for the implication underlying it all, was the attitude of wanting it their way, only. It is why, the book of Proverbs establishes the need, not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to, and lean on your own understanding. [Proverbs 3:5-7] For such a man, will because of his inflated ego, refuse to listen to anyone else. And he is well on the path of deceiving himself, as he tries to prove to the world, his intellectual superiority. And what he does then, is to call good, what the Lord has called evil, call light, what is darkness, and put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. [Isaiah 5:20,21]
Taking care of your family:
And in the spiritual arena, the Pharisees were experts at it. They bypassed the word to do what was financially profitable to them, teaching the people also, to wrongly justify themselves in the sight of God, by giving to Him, what they thought to give their parents, the honor that involves respect and remuneration. [Mark 7:9-13] It is a responsibility that ought not to be dispensed with, and it is how the blessing of God comes into your life, even as the scripture prescribes, that children need to first learn their religious duty to their own family and make some repayment to their parents, for this is pleasing in God’s sight. [1 Timothy 5:4]
Obedience & submission in prayer:
In your life and mine, so very often, we think we know more than God, and in our prayer, we tend to give ideas to God. On the other hand, prayer must be like that of Mary, ‘Be it unto me, according to Your word’. You have a Heavenly Father, who knows your every need, and when you seek Him first, all other things that the Gentiles or the people who have no relationship with Him seek after will be added unto you. And you can with confidence affirm, what is written in His word, that the lines have fallen for you in pleasant places. [Psalms 16:6] You obey God’s word, to be a doer of it, therefore, that you may not deceive yourself.
b] Reasoning falsely:
For if those who are nothing, think they are something, they deceive themselves. [Galatians 6:3] It can happen even now so easily in a family setting when a person thinks he is too important. And it was a truth that the Lord broke down to His disciples, in a manner that they would never forget. Who was the greatest among them all was the silent discussion happening among the disciples that hindered them from carrying out the seemingly lowly act of washing the feet of others, before partaking of the Passover meal.
Servant leadership:
And the greatest among them all, then stood up, to wash the feet of His disciples. And returning to the table, He said ‘You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet. [John 13:13,14] The Lord showed on that day that you can serve God, only by serving people. The Son of God made Himself low, as He came to save, give His life itself as a ransom for many, serving humanity, as nothing or no one else can. And as His disciples, you and I need to pray unto God, for a sober judgment of our importance, that we may not disobey the word, as we deceive ourselves, but know that in the kingdom of God, it is not about lording it over others, but servant leadership. And it is only when you are treated like a servant that you will know what it really is.
c] Not acknowledging sin:
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [1 John 1:8] The sin principle is still there in you, even after you are saved, waiting for an opportunity if you will only allow it to. But now you have the power to say ‘no’ to sin, challenging thought maybe, as you depend on the grace of God, His wisdom and strength when as you lean on His counsel and understanding, He becomes your strength, your enabling and empowering against the attempts of the devil, to make you succumb to sin. It is what God warned Cain when instead of getting right with God, he got wrong with his brother Abel to end up sinning, instead of mastering it. [Genesis 4:7]
And therefore let the inclination of your heart be a desire to be a blessing of God, and not to bring ruin or destruction, by deceiving yourself with wrong reasoning, and assumptions that lead you to death and separation from Him. Be blessed, as you consider taking care of your elderly parents a privilege, and as a parent when you step into the sunset years of your life, know that He will take care of you, as you trust and find your rest in the God who has formed you and will carry you until the very end. Father, We thank Thee, that we can come to Thee just as we are, for You know who we are. And as we surrender ourselves into Your hand, have Your way in us. Help us not to deceive ourselves, but to depend on Thee, so that everything good can come into our lives, as we experience Your goodness every day of our lives. In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
