Good vs. Best

March 5, 2013

Numbers 4-5:31

 

I feel like I’m in the prime of my life right now at 36 and with the desire to serve Him and His people I struggle with what is good and what is best.  Jesus tells us to come boldly to His throne of grace and seek direction for our lives.  Just because we may feel that serving the church or another brother or sister is the best thing because it’s a “Christian thing or church thing” may not be what we are called to.  I am one who wants to do it all and way too often reach my limitations to the point of drowning.  God cares about every detail of our life and when we put off our flesh, we will hear the direction He has for us to go.  This life is temporary and these bodies are temporary vessels He has given us until we are taken home and given glorious bodies!  Whatever God calls us to, He WILL equip us with what we need to get the job done, and the strength to do it.  

I think that’s how we  begin to discern what is good and what is best – what comes surely from God’s direction and what comes from our own direction thinking we are doing the right thing.  If I don’t feel I have the strength from the Lord to do a certain thing, how then can it have come from God?  His grace is sufficient – but we can’t pile on more than we can handle in our flesh and say it’s for the sake of the gospel when we’re overwhelmed to the point of tears.  We can’t pollute ourselves with “doing stuff” because it makes us feel good to do it – important, used, talented, or any other feeling of selfish ambition.  I don’t ever want to overreach and deceive a sister or brother in any way because it is a sin against God.  I think we can sin with good intention, and we sin in secret even in our own mind.  God is faithful though to bring it into the light, and He doesn’t need our help.  Most adulterers don’t jump up and admit their sin, only when they’re caught.  Any sensual lust causes bitterness and distance from God, and if we are His, He will bring it into the light.  This shouldn’t just bring a sense of terror to our own flesh, but should bring terror in accountability to God. 

Mark 12:18-37
How would it feel to question the Word of God and hear Jesus say to you “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?”… Ouch!  This should validate for us why it is so vital to be in God’s Word daily and pray for discernment in understanding the Scripture.  I personally don’t understand why the rules on marriage in the Old Testament were set forth in that way, but I do know what God commands us to and that is submission to each other and to Christ.  I’ve always wondered if our earthly marriage will also be so in Heaven and many theologians have differing opinions on the matter.  What we do know on this side of Heaven is to love God, and love others and obey His commandments.  We know that we won’t have marital problems in Heaven, no affairs, no lusts, no coveting, no despair, no heartache, no intense fellowship, no divorce, and no broken families.  If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength on this earth we  still won’t achieve these things in our own power.  It is apparent to me that we need these transgressions in our earthy life to experience the grace, mercy, and forgiveness of God. 

Psalm 48:1-14

Our faith in God’s Word is our hope and we should constantly be filling and renewing our minds with the Truth.  God is full of loving-kindness and we should let the grace pour over us like a flowing fountain in all submission.  Our minds can be our number one worst enemy.  We tend to focus on what we don’t have and why we’re unhappy with our life rather than what we should be focused on – thankfulness and praise.  Christ is the Cornerstone and Rock of our individual and collective faith in the church and His love is steadfast and never changing.  Now that is something to celebrate and be thankful for in ANY circumstance!!!

Proverbs 10:26

Plain vinegar is disgusting and can take your breath away just as smoke blown in your eyes causes you not to see and stings like nobody's busines – just as laziness is harmful to the soul.  It can cause us to just close our eyes and not want to get in the fight around us.  Vinegar can take your breath away just as laziness and selfish ambition can suck the life right out of you.