SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/24/2019
6:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Sacrificial Love”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:25b
Message of the
verse: “and gave Himself up for her.
We have written about that a husband is willing to give
up his life for his wife like Christ did for the church, and if the husband is
willing to do this then the husband should be willing to sacrifice lesser
things for her. He should be willing to
put his own likes, desires, opinions, preferences, and welfare aside if that is
required to pleas her and meet her needs.
The husband is to die to self in order to live for his wife, because
that is what Christ’s kind of love demands, and that is what submission is
about. Now of course this cannot be done
on his own, or in the flesh, but can only be done by the filling of the Holy
Spirit, otherwise it will not truly be possible.
John MacArthur writes “The true spirituality of a church
leader is not measured best by how well he leads a deacons’ or elders’ meeting,
by the way he participates in Sunday school, or by the way he speaks from the pulpit—but
by the way he treats his wife and children at home when no one else is
around. Nowhere is our relationship to
God better tested than in our relationship to our family. The man who plays the part of a spiritual
shepherd in church but who lacks love
and care in his home is guilty of spiritual fraud.”
As we look at this very penetrating statement from above
we know that it is not what the world tells a man how he should live out his
life, in fact the world that we live in today is different than the time period
when MacArthur wrote this commentary when the world wanted a macho type of man,
but now true to the decline of the man’s role in our society the world wants a
man who doesn’t even act like a man at all as the curse of what happened to the
woman back in Genesis chapter three which says that the woman wants to rule
over her husband is truly seen in our society today.
We will finish with a rather long quote from John
MacArthur which he begins by writing “To regularly remind myself of the essence
of this self-sacrificing love, I have on my desk the following words from an
unknown source:
“When you
are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught, and you sting and hurt
with the insult of the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy
to suffer for Christ—that is
dying to self. When your good is
evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your
opinions ridiculed and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even
defend yourself, but take it all in patient loving silence—that is dying to self. When you lovingly and patiently bear any
disorder, and irregularity, or any annoyance, when you can stand face to face
with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as
Jesus endured it—that is
dying to self. When your are
content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any
attitude, any interruption by the will of God—that is dying to self. When you never care to refer to yourself in
conversation, or to record your own good works, or itch after commendation,
when you can truly love to be unknown—that is dying to self. When you see your brother prosper and have
his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor
question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate
circumstances—that is
dying to self. When you can
receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself, can
humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment
rising up within your heart—that
is dying to self.”
As I read over the things that are written on this SD
which are quotes from this unknown person and also the quotes from John
MacArthur I realize that I can never do these things on my own, and that is why
this section that we have been looking at begins with “do not be drunk with
wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit,” I realize that that is the only way
any of this will ever be accomplished in my life, to which God will receive the
glory for at that time great things He has done in my life.
I have to say that at the beginning of this year when I
desired to better understand humility that I have been going through some very
difficult situations within me, and I full well believe that God is answering
my desire to learn about humility and with that is teaching me that at all
times I need to be filled with His Holy Spirit.
Today’s quotation from “Love
in Action”: “Agape is love that comes
from a God who is love. It is love
lavished upon others without a thought or whether they are worthy to receive
it. It is this kind of love that is to
characterize the Christian. This is
totally selfless love that comes from God.
Agape is the power that moves
us to respond to someone’s needs with no expectation of reward. At least fifty-five times in the New
Testament we are commanded to love. It
is one of Scripture’s most repeated, inescapable directives for the
believer. It touches us in all of our
relationships and affects us in each of the many roles we play as parents,
spouses, children, friends, and fellow believers. It even defines the way we are to respond to
our enemies.”
8/24/2019 6:47 AM
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