Joshua 24:15.
Good morning, fully committed
Christian! For your full commitment to
the Living Lord God, in Christ Jesus, you have not received the praises of
world leaders, worldly Governments, or the so-called ‘great and good’. Yet, I am fully persuaded, that you have, and
will continue to receive, the praises of God Himself - and for such a privilege
as this, all other praise fades into insignificance. Glory to the Lamb Who alone is worthy to be
praised!
“And the Lord said
unto Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in
the earth, a perfect (mature) and an upright man, one that feareth God, and
eschewed (continually shuns, flees from, abstains from) evil?” (Job 1:8)
As we can understand, from the
verse of Old Testament Scripture above quoted, things happen when the Lord God
sees fit to praise one of His servants.
Terrible things happen, that are often not easy to bear!
Old Satan was incensed when
the Lord God praised His servant Job. He
immediately set about to persecute Job, to see if he could get Job to fail God,
and thus abrogate God’s praise of the
man. Satan still works in this manner
today.
When, by God’s great grace and power, we receive faith to believe
the Gospel message of Salvation in Christ, and through His Cross alone - we are
immediately tested by the world, the flesh, and old Satan - in an effort to
bring our new found faith in Christ to nought. Was that your experience?
Our faith is tested
constantly, as the Devil probes our many weaknesses in order to cause us to sin
against our Saviour’s grace. And the Lord permits our faith to be tested
in this manner, but assures us of His keeping power:
“Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath
begotten us again (born again, Spiritually regenerated us) unto a lively hope
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible,
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who are
KEPT by the power of God through faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in
the last time. Wherein ye greatly
rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptation: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:3-7)
Like the precious metal, gold,
our faith, being much more precious, is tried and tested over and over again -
until, in the end, it is utterly purified, and fit for the Lord God’s praise.
Wow! What a privilege to be part
of this Eternal process! The Lord God Almighty
is constantly caring for you and for me!
“Wherefore gird up
the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to
be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1
Peter 1:13)
Job’s sufferings in the service of God were extreme and
severe indeed. Few of us today go
through the extremes of Job’s sufferings, but
sufferings and persecutions are an integral part of any sincere Christian
believer’s life.
No suffering, no persecutions
for faith - no real Christian witness for Christ! We cannot have God’s praises without a blasting from Hell!
Today’s Scripture passage clearly informs us that, “…among the chief rulers also MANY believed on Him
(Jesus); but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they
should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praises of men more than
the praises of God.” (Vs.42-43)
These early church believers
did not have the wisdom nor experience of 2000 odd years of Christianity to
encourage a bolder witness for Christ.
They quite naturally feared being ‘…put out of the
synagogue…’ and all the religious and social marginalization
that would bring. Not much has changed
today.
Only after Christ’s terrible Crucifixion, did Nicodemus and Joseph of
Arimathaea come out publicly as Christian believers! But out they came, eventually! (John
19:38-42)
I have often taught the fact
that there can be no such person as a ‘secret Christian’ - if we are saved by Christ, then we must seek to be
His open witnesses. Bold Christian
witnessing brings the praises of God to us.
Thought: Do we seek to have praise of God, or praise
of mere men?
No comments:
Post a Comment
I invite comments that are Christian in nature. All comments are moderated, and any negative submissions are deleted and never published.