SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/12/2019
9:17 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “The Commission”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:11b-13
Message of the
verses: “but instead even expose
them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them
in secret. But all things become visible
when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is
light.”
As believers are responsibility does not end by just not participation
in sinful way of the world we are to “instead even to expose them.” When we ignore evil it is to encourage it,
and to keep quiet about it is to help promote it. I have to say that this goes along with the
sinful and hateful practice of abortion that has been going on “legally” ever
since 1972 in our country and it continues to go on because not enough believers
are doing anything about it. This is not
true of a lady who attends our Sunday school class as every Wednesday she
stands in front of the abortion clinic near Cleveland, Ohio to be led by the
Lord to tell ladies to think about what they are doing. One lady she spoke to was actually rapped,
and so she told this lady not to do something evil because something evil was
done to here. I lift this lady up in
pray many times each week, especially on Wednesday, the day she is there.
John MacArthur writes “The verb here translated ‘expose’
(from elegcho) can also carry the
idea of reproof, the correction, punishment, or discipline. We are to confront sin with intolerance.”
I want to quote this next paragraph from MacArthur’s
commentary as I believe it also can be something that can be applied to the
abortion issue in our country and what believers can do about it.
“Sometimes
such exposure and reproof will be direct and at other times indirect, but is
should always be immediate in the face of anything that is sinful. When we are living in obedience to God, that
fact in itself will be a testimony against wrong. When those around us see us helping rather
than exploiting, hear us talking with purity instead of profanity, and observe
us speaking truthfully rather than deceitfully, our example will itself be a
rebuke of selfishness, unwholesome talk, and falsehood. Simply refusing to participate in a dishonest
business or social practice will sometimes be such a strong rebuke that it cost
us our job or a friendship. Dishonesty
is terribly uncomfortable in the presence of honesty, even when there is no
verbal or other direct opposition.
“Often
of course, open rebuke is necessary.
Silent testimony will only go so far.
Failure to speak out against and to practically oppose evil things is a
failure to obey God. Believers are to ‘expose
them’ in whatever legitimate, biblical ways are necessary. Love that does not openly ‘expose’ and oppose
sin is not biblical love. Love not only ‘does
not act unbecomingly’ itself but it ‘does not rejoice in unrighteousness’ wherever
it might be found (1 Cor. 13:5-6). Our
Lord said, ‘If your brother sins, go and reprove him in private…If he does not
listen to you, take one or two more with you…If he refuses to listen to them,
tell it to the church’ (Matt. 18:15-17).
This is the responsibility of every Christian (cf. 1 Tim. 5:1, 20; 2
Tim. 4:2; Titus 1:13; 2:15).
“Unfortunately,
many Christians are so barely able to keep their own spiritual and moral houses
in order that they do not have the discernment, inclination, or power to
confront evil in the church or in society at large. We should be so mature in biblical truth, and
in obedience, holiness, and love that part of the natural course of our life is
to expose, rebuke, and offer the remedy for every kind of evil.
“Many
Christians do no expose and rebuke evil because they do not take it
seriously. They laugh and joke about
things that are unadulterated wickedness, that are immoral and ungodly in the
extreme. They recognize the sinfulness
of those things and would likely never participate in them; but they enjoy them
vicariously from a distance. In so
doing, they not only fail be an in influence against the evil but are instead
influenced by it—contaminated by it to the full extent that they think and talk
about it without exposing and rebuking it.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Our country is
being torn apart between those who believe in God and those who do not, which
is the product of many generations who were taught the fact that we are only an
accident created by accident from the big bang theory of evolution. I will have to face the Lord one day on the
things that I am doing in this life for the cause of Christ, and I know now that
I can do more to get the word out about the evils of evolution, and abortion
that is going on around the world, especially in our country.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to pursue humility in my life each
day.
The verse that goes along
with our quotation from Francis of Assisi from yesterday is Matthew 6:19-20 “Do
not lay up for ourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal; but bay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in
and steal.”
6/12/2019 9:55 AM
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