SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/13/2014
7:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Father as Producer
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 Thess.
2:12
Message of the
verses: “12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of
the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”
We begin this SD with a quote from Warren Wiersbe as he
answers the question “What was the prpose for this fatherly ministry to the
believers?” And the answer is that
children ought to walk in a manner worthy of God. “Every child must learn how to walk. He must
have good models to follow. Paul
admonished them to walk ‘worthy of the Lord’ (See Col. 1:10 and Phil. 1:27) We
are to walk worth of the calling we have in Christ Jesus (Eph. 4:1). God had called us; we are saved by
grace. We are a part of His kingdom and
glory. One day we shall enter the
eternal kingdom and share His glory.
This assurance ought to govern our lives and make us want to please the
Lord.”
“The verb in 1 Thessalonians 2:12 is in the present
tense: ‘who is continually calling you.’
God called us to salvation (2 Thess. 2:13-14), and He is constantly calling
us to a life of holiness and obedience. “15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy
yourselves also in all your behavior; 16
because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.’”
Now in John MacArthur’s commentary he writes about the
calling that God has given to us as believers, the calling that we looked at in
the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians when we looked at ten characteristics of
the elect. He writes “Here the divine
call, as always in the epistles, refers to the effectual saving call. By it God, through the faith graciously and sovereignty
granted to sinners, regenerates, justifies, and sanctifies them. And Paul stated the singular end of that call—entrance
into His own kingdom and glory. Though
they, as all believers, had not yet seen either the millennial kingdom or the
eternal kingdom, they were already citizens of the redeemed kingdom over which
God now rules. (Luke 17:21; Col. 1:13; cf. Rom. 14:17).”
His concluding comments on this chapter are as
follows: “The paternal pictures of
spiritual leadership in 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12 clearly demonstrate that
leadership in the church must be balanced.
It is not enough for leaders just to be compassionate, tender, and
caring as spiritual mothers. They also
need to live uncompromising, pure and exemplary lives as spiritual fathers—lives
that, in their motives and actions, set the standard for all to follow (cf. 1
Cor. 11:1). Furthermore, they need to
teach the truth faithfully, building up the saints in spiritual wisdom (cf.
Eph. 4:11-16) and displaying the courage of conviction to come alongside and
exhort and call their spiritual children to obedience, through both strong
discipline and tender consolation. These
efforts lead their congregation to live in a way that honors God, who has
called them to His eternal kingdom and glory.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I think about
what I have learned and been reminded again of the high calling that God has
given to me I must walk in a manner worthy of that calling, for that calling
cost God His only begotten Son as He died in my place on the cross, and not
only my place, but all of those who will except His forgiveness offered to them
through His death, burial and resurrection from the dead. We live in a world that offers us a lot of temporary
stuff that only satisfies for a little while, kind of like the new car does
until a newer one comes out and then the new car shine is all gone. God is the only One who can truly satisfy the
hunger that all men have.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
Walk in a manner worthy of God.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Stephen” (Acts 7).
Today’s Bible
question: “What is a centurion?”
Answer in our next SD.
4/13/2014 8:31 AM
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