SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/16/2019
9:35 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Right Behavior”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:5-8
Message of the verses: “5 Slaves, be
obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and
trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of
eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God
from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to
men, 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive
back from the Lord, whether slave or free.”
Just
a reminder from our last SD that what we are looking at today is a sub-section
to the main section “The Submission of Employees,” and perhaps this will take a
couple of days to complete.
We
want to look at the word “obedient” as we begin this section as this word is in
the present tense in the Greek, which indicates uninterrupted obedience. As an employee we are not to just be obedient
when we are being watched, but we are to be obedient at all times. I remember when I first began at my job at
the Cleveland Casting Plant I was talking to the superintendent of my
department and he was talking about one of the men named Bruce, and I later
found out that Bruce was a believer in Jesus Christ. The superintendent stated that Bruce will
always find something constructive to do as he did not need to be told what to
do at all times. This is the mark of a
good employee.
We
have mentioned that in the New Testament times that there were many slaves, and
many of these slaves became believers in Jesus Christ thereby became children
of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, as Paul had already reminded his
readers of this in 1:5-14. When a slave
became a believer he may have thought that he needed to become free from his
master and not have to be subservient to any human being, certainly not to a
ruthless pagan. As spiritual nobility,
they deserved more than common slavery.
We
see that Paul plainly tells these slaves that they are to be obedient, (all the
time) to their masters, as the first obligation of a Christian is to please his
Lord and to be a faithful testimony to Him, which is what Paul is telling the
slaves to do by obeying their masters.
One of the ways of being a good testimony to the master is for the slave
to be obedient to him and this would probably be a different look for the
master as perhaps the slave before becoming a believer did not obey his master
all of the time, but now it was going to be different as he desired to be a
good testimony to his master. This
certainly goes along with believers in the workforce today. I have to say that I was not the best worker
before I became a believer, but afterwards I strived to be a good, godly
worker.
There
could be a problem today and back in New Testament times when a worker today or
a slave back then is working for a believer, and thus thinks that because both
are believers that he can slack off.
This is certainly not the case as this person can show a good testimony
to other workers, or slaves, that they desire to do their best because they are
working for a believer.
We
will continue this section, Lord willing, in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Whatever I do I am to do it to the glory of
the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to keep short lists with the Lord so
that His Spirit will fill me to do what He has for me to do, and by being
filled with the Spirit He will cause me to be humble in whatever I do.
Today’s quotation from “Love in Action:”
Let us not neglect our church meetings
as some people do, but encourage
and warn each other; especially now that
the day of
His coming back is drawing near.
Hebrews
10:25 TLB
9/16/2019 10:02 AM
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