Category Archives: My Walk

Blog entries in this category are my own personal reflections, experiences, and growth.

Willing obedience should be our testimony

Posted on December 15, 2014 by | Comments Off on Willing obedience should be our testimony

open-bibleWilling obedience is different from reluctant obedience. If we are honest with ourselves, we all can remember the times in our lives when we did things because we were expected to do them and not necessarily because we wanted to do them. For those of us with children, we also often see this demonstrated as they will do what we ask but out of a lack of any other choice but to obey. How we do things tells others a lot about us, including the very basics about our character. Continuing with the thoughts of the previous two entries about being an obedient servant and having the proper attitude, it is important for us to realize that when we do the things we do for the Lord, we have other people watching us. Whether it is where we work, with our family, or even within our Christian service, the attitude of how we do things often becomes more important than why we do things. 

The testimony of willing obedience

When we choose to show willing obedience to God, it sets us apart from those around us that are lost or that may be less than sincere about their faith in God. Willing obedience comes out of our unconditional love of the Lord; we do the things He desires us to do not because we are expected to do them as Christians, but because we know that when we do them, we actually please Him. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil (Romans 16:19). Paul is commending the Christians within Rome that their obedience to the things of God; their willing obedience had become a part of their testimony. They were doing the things that Paul taught them to do not because they felt as if they had to as Christians, but because as Christians, they had the sincerest desire to do what the Lord would have them to do. When we do things out of willing obedience it does become a part of our testimony.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus taught all who would listen, Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them (Matthew 7:16 & 7:20). While the most common application of this verse is that we can tell someone’ spiritual health – if they are saved or not – there is also another application. How we bear fruit tells others about our walk with the Lord. What does our obedience say about us? Does our obedience have a positive or negative impact on our testimony? Are we identified as a genuine servant of God because of our willing obedience by those around us or does our profession for the love of Jesus surprise others? In a letter to Philemon, the apostle Paul wrote, Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my bowels in the Lord. Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say (Philemon 20-21). Just as with what Paul is writing to Philemon about, our obedience should be to the point that it can actually encourage others to continue in their faith. In Paul’s day, the seat of human emotions was considered to be in the bowels – the intestines was considered the center of our being. In our time, it is the heart that we consider the seat of the emotions. What Paul is essentially saying is that the obedience of Philemon actually encourages and refreshes his heart!

Willing obedience encourages others

Just Philemon was an encouragement to Paul through his willing obedience to what he had been taught. When we show willing obedience to the will of God, it encourages others around us as well. Just as Paul understood that Philemon would go above and beyond what was required, our obedience should also tell other Christians that we are willing and ready to go above what is required of us without being asked. Jesus taught a parable about three servants. Two of the servants, out of willing obedience and the sincere desire to please their master both were praised by him: His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matthew 25:21). Each servant was given talents – money – by their master with instructions to take care of his business while he was away. This parable teaches us that their testimony, or their demonstrated ability to be obedient to their master determined the responsibilities that they would be entrusted with while their master was away. Our willing obedience to the things that God has set before us also determines what God will entrust us do to for Him. If we are obedient in the smallest of things then he will entrust us with.

Our willing obedience to follow the teachings of the Lord and to do the things we know will please Him are considered worth more to Him than anything else we have to offer: Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:6-8). To live justly and humbly before the Lord, we cannot simply be obedient because it is expected of us and expect the Lord to bless our efforts. We are showing reluctant obedience, of which the apostle James warns us, A double minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:8). Obedience, when done out of reluctance, is just as bad as being indecisive. Sure, we are being obedient, but out of a sense of duty. The Lord wants us to be willingly obedient, because we want to please Him. Others will notice the difference in things done out of a willingly obedient heart versus those things we do because we feel we must.

Willing obedience brings its reward

When we choose, as a servant of the Lord, to do the things that He has set forth for us to do in willing obedience, He will reward us of our faithfulness and determination: Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:24). Our rewards for our willing obedience come from Christ himself. When we are an obedient servant, we do our best for the Lord; the Lord will reward us for our service and our faithfulness.  The scriptures make it clear that the Lord will reward us with increased responsibilities: His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matthew 25:21), rewards that are not dependent on our position, but based on our service to Him: Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour (1 Corinthians 3:8), rewards that are worthy of what we have done for Him: For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward (1 Timothy 5:18), and finally, rewards that cannot be lost once earned: Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward (2 John 1:8).

  

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The four snows of scripture

Posted on November 17, 2014 by | Comments Off on The four snows of scripture

2013 Winter - along the Ohio River in Henderson, KYBefore anyone gets too excited, this picture is from last winter (February 2014) where the town I live in experienced one of the snowiest winters on record. This past Friday (November 14th), we saw the first snow flurries of the season and for those who like snow, it puts a certain excitement in the air. Ever since my first winter in Germany in 1994, I have always loved watching snow fall. The cold, crisp smell of snow in the air, the reflection of the light as the snow falls at night are not only comforting but relaxing as well.  Within the Bible there are various snows that are mentioned that I always think of as I watch the snowfall. To me, just as the rainbow is a reminder of God’s promise never to judge the sinfulness of man by flood again, snow also is a reminder of God’s goodness and grace towards man.

The purity of snow shows the sinful nature of our own self-righteousness

Within the book of Job, as he is beginning to question all that he believes about the Lord, he states: If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;  Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment (Job 9:30-32).  Snow water is often considered one of the cleanest forms of water. Back when I was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, I loved going to the Cascade Mountains along the trails and loved doing the hiking trips of Mount Rainier. At one station, you could take a cup and catch meltwater from the glacier and drink it. It is a clean taste that has the ability to quench any physical thirst; and if you let the cold water run over your hands, there’s something about the way your hands feel afterwards – as if they are more clean than they have ever been.  Job is saying that even if he were to wash his hands in the purest of water, his hands would still not be clean enough for the Lord. This is just what Isaiah said when he wrote, But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away (Isaiah 64:6). It is of the similar mindset when the apostle Paul wrote, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). No matter what we try to do on our own, our sense of purity and righteousness is contaminated by the flesh. Think of the physical contrast between a yard when snow begins to fall – the snow in all its white purity seems to bring out the darkness, the filth, and the decay on the ground around it.

Snow as a picture of judgment against sin and rebellion

There are a few places in scripture where the phrase “white as snow” is used when referring to the results of God’s judgment. The first time this phrase occurs is the results of a brief rebellion led my Miriam, the sister of Moses. Not only was she questioning Moses’ position of leadership and his marriage to an Ethiopian woman: And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it (Numbers 12:1-2). As she challenged Moses authority, the Lord interceded for him: And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous (Numbers 12:5-10).

Continued on next page.

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A day of rest – a gift from the Lord

Posted on October 29, 2014 by | Comments Off on A day of rest – a gift from the Lord

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It is easy to lose sight of what is important to us, especially when we fill our days with so many things such as work, church, family obligations, and community involvement.  There are times we get so busy what we feel must be done that things we once enjoyed now seem like work. We adopt a mindset that the things we did to unwind are completely avoided because we feel we do not have the time to spend on them. If we are not careful, we can easily fall into a dangerous trap where we become physically, emotionally, and spiritually tired.

I’ve experienced this more times than I would like to admit; I’m hard-headed and it takes me a while to learn things. Even though the Bible makes a provision for us to set aside one day a week for rest, it has been difficult for me to take the time off especially when I look around at everything that needs to be done. Not only did God make a provision for us to have a weekly day of rest, He instituted it within the Law that he gave Moses to teach the children of Israel: Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed (Exodus 23:12). I know that Christians will often claim that we are no longer under the Law but under grace, and they are correct. However, the reasoning for setting aside one day out of each week for rest goes beyond being a part of the Old Testament canon. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and Scribes when they were attempting to rebuke Jesus for working on the Sabbath: And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28). What Jesus was telling the Pharisees is a lesson that we all need to remember from time to time.

Under the Law, the Jews were required to set aside the seventh day of each week, from what we would consider sundown on Friday evening until Saturday evening (as a reference, see Genesis chapter 1, verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31). It was to be a day set apart for rest of the body, soul, and mind, and a day to worship the Lord. Before the law, I can imagine that human society treated this day as we do – as any other day. Instead of it being regarded as a day of rest as God intended, it became another day to work, another day to meet deadlines, another day to toil and labor. Even under the Law, the Sabbath had become transformed from a day of rest to a day of judgment by religious men. Jesus experienced this first hand, as recorded in the gospel of Luke: And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things (Luke 14:1-6). In their zeal to discredit Jesus, they were willing to condemn Him for healing on the sabbath when they would have done greater work to keep their own wealth and livelihood.

Under grace, what we now have since the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, we do not have to become “sabbath keepers” as some denominations believe. As Christians, we worship on Sunday, the day of the week that we believe that the resurrected Jesus rose from the grave. For all “legalistic” purposes, Sunday is not the Christian sabbath but simply a day we set aside to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. I know Christians that work on Sunday and I know other that treat Sunday the way that the Pharisees treated the sabbath.

Under grace, I am convinced that it does not matter which day of the week I set aside for the worship of God and as a day of rest. What is more important to God is that whatever day I say I set aside for Him, I must not let it become common or filled like every other day. From a spiritual perspective, we need that day to worship and fellowship with the Lord; from a biological perspective, each week we need one day where we break from our normal routine and get rest for the body, mind, and soul. Under the Old Testament, God made the provision and later the Law reflects His practicality that the day of rest and day of worship should be the same. Under grace, while there is no biblical requirement that the day we set aside to rest and worship must be the same day, for me it is not only practical but it is being a good steward of the time that the Lord has given me.

Jesus understood the need for rest; although He was God, he was also man. His disciples were men – flesh and blood just like us. Shortly after the death of John the Baptist, Jesus and his disciples were living a fast paced life and they were beginning to feel the pressures: And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they departed into a desert place by ship privately (Mark 6:30-32). Jesus understood that if they were not given an opportunity to rest, they would become ineffective in their ministry. They would begin to question the reasons why they were doing all they were doing. They would begin to question His leadership and if they were really effective in their efforts.

If you think about it, when we become spiritually, emotionally, and physically tired, we begin to question ourselves. We get discouraged, we get ineffective. We begin to lose our joy. He doesn’t want us to face spiritual, emotional, and physical exhaustion. This is not the life that Christ has for us. He wants us to live a life of joy and He wants us to be able to get the rest that we need so that we can continue our work effectively and in a manner that brings glory to Him.  

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