From here to eternity, where are your eyes focused!? Have you ever asked yourself or wondered why GOD has us to focus so much on the return of the LORD JESUS? Have you considered why the LORD calls us to be so heavenly minded? It happens to be one of the best fruits of spiritual maturity and discernment. We can get a glimpse of this as we examine the growth of a baby into a mature adult. Then we see another example when we look at how employers hire and what they hope to find/develop.
A good example of this kind of maturity and discernment, an employer is looking for, is the ability to know what your boss would expect/ask and before he/she does you have already done it. More so, this is also true of following CHRIST JESUS the LORD. Do you have HIS Word richly dwelling in you so you are able to discern what you should do or how you should act during your stay on earth? Do you filter everything through the lens of the Word of GOD? Does your prayer life consist of you seeking to know the LORD more intimately and walk in a manner worthy of HIS calling and gospel?
Join with me as we examine the parable of the dinner found in Luke chapter 14, especially verse 22, and see how the slaves knew what to do and did it before it was commanded of them.
16 But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’
18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’
19 “Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’
20 “Another one said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’
21 “And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’
22 “And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’
23 “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
24 ‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’ ”
(Luke 14:16–24)
May this also be an encouragement for you to grow in GOD’S Word with the result of your walking in a manner worthy of the LORD. Grace and peace to all who are in CHRIST JESUS the LORD.
Shane Sands is the founder and president of United In Christ Jesus, a gospel evangelism missions ministry which began in 2010. Shane is husband to Holly, his godly wife of ten years (he defiantly married up). They both live in South Carolina at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, along with their ever idiotic cat, Mister Bojangles. Shane has been blessed to travel to numerous countries and states, along with his wife, to preach the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you ever heard the phrase “Coram Deo”? It is a Latin phrase, meaning, “before the face of God”. R.C. Sproul said that the essence of coram Deo is to “live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God”.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly!” Colossians 3:16
James Russell Miller (1840 – 1912) was born of Irish/Scottish descent. He pastored churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois and was the author of over 60 published books, as well as countless booklets and pamphlets; and also served as supervisor of over two dozen periodicals with a combined annual circulation of over 66 million copies at the time of his death.
You know the all-too-familiar drill. You go about your day, minding your own business when all of a sudden the adversary of your soul – the devil – begins pounding you with memories of your past sin. If he is having a good time of it, he will even replay them in vivid detail – perhaps even connecting those sins to various unrelated events and accuse you until you feel depression looming over the guilt and shame you now feel. Oh, then he has you right where he wants you. When you are wallowing in self-disgust, he will begin accusing you with how God must view you. Ever hear this? “See!, he seethes, “You’ve made such a mess of things in your past. Look at how you fell. Look at you. You are worthless…certainly of no use to God. Why would He use you now?” Maybe he even uses it in the first person and you think it’s your own thoughts accusing you. Make no mistake – it’s your enemy.
Sometimes when you are reading through the Word of God, certain verses seem to be emphasized in 3D. Today was one of those mornings as I was reading in 1 John 5.