SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/22/2019
11:11 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Believer’s Limited Privileges”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:16
Message
of the verses: “16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.”
We have
been talking about the believer’s limited privileges, and that is just what it
means, that we as believers only have a limited time in order to serve the Lord
while on this earth. Napoleon stated “There
is in the midst of every great battle a ten to fifteen minute period that is
the crucial point. Take that period and
you win the battle; lose it and you will be defeated.” I would say that this is true in the
Christian life too.
We have to
walk obediently in this narrow way of the gospel, we must walk carefully, so
that we can be “making the most of our time.”
As a believer we must take advantage of every opportunity we have to
serve the Lord as we redeem our time in order to use it for the glory of the
Lord. We must take every opportunity to
shun sin and to follow righteousness.
Paul writes the following in Galatian 6:10 “So then, while we have
opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of
the household of the faith.”
I do not
presume to understand why God allows some of His children to live a very long
life and to serve Him far into those long years that He gives some, but I do
know that God’s purposes are always right even if I don’t understand them at
this time while living on this earth.
Nor do I understand why the Lord only allows some to live for Him a
short time.
John
MacArthur in his commentary gives an example of living a short life: “When I was a boy I had a friend who, like
myself, planned to be a pastor. He often
told me of his plans to finish high school, go to college and seminary, and
enter the pastorate. But in the twelfth
grade my friend was driving his canvas-top coupe down a street and the brakes
suddenly locked, catapulting him through the car top and onto the street. He struck his head against the curb and was
killed instantly.
“The great
sixteenth-century reformer Philipp Melanchthon kept a record of every wasted
moment and took his list to God in confession at the end of each day. It is small wonder that God used him in such
great ways.”
Think for
a moment of Noah and after taking 120 years to build the ark, giving a
testimony to what was about to happen to sinful men he went into the ark with
the animals and with his family and God shut the door, thus ending any
possibility of anyone entering to be saved from the flood. Another example comes from the life of King
Ahab who disobeyed God by not putting to death Ben-hadad and so the prophet
came to him telling him “"Thus says the LORD, ’Because you have let go out
of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your
life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.’"
Another
example comes from the parable that Jesus gives in His Olivet discourse found
in Matthew chapter 25 where He talks about five foolish virgins who did not
bring enough oil for their lamp and thus were shut out of the wedding
feast. Jesus said the following in John
9:4 “"We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day;
night is coming when no one can work.”
Jesus said to the Pharisees the following in John 8:21 “"I go away,
and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot
come.’” In Matthew 23:37 we see the
terrible things that happened to Israel because of their sinfulness, not even
recognizing the Messiah: “"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets
and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your
children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you
were unwilling.” We end this SD by
talking about the person who had one of the greatest opportunities and yet
turned it down for 39 pieces of silver and that of course is Judas.
Scripture verse that goes along with yesterday’s quotation
from William Penn comes from Proverbs 18:13 “He who answers a matter before he
hears it, it is a folly and a shame to him.”
6/22/2019 11:41 AM
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