SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/26/2021 9:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “God’s
Pattern For His Children Demands It.”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 7:9-11
Message of the verses: “9 “Or what man is
there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 “Or
if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 11 "If you
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more
will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
Now
as we look at these three verses they continue to point to and to illustrate
the golden rule of verse twelve. As
believer in Jesus Christ who are a part of the kingdom of God here on earth we
are to love others as we love ourselves because that is a part of God life here
for His kingdom citizens, this is what we are to do. Paul writes about this to the Ephesian
believers in 5:1-2 “1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2 and
walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an
offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”
Those
of us who claim to be born-again believers in Jesus Christ we should have God’s
nature in us as we reflect His life.
Think of it this way by looking at the sun and think of Jesus Christ
being the Sun, and then the sun reflects onto the moon. In this illustration we as believers would be
the moon as His light reflects off of us so people in the night will have light
to see. We are the light of the world as
the world is in darkness so we as believers should shine in the darkness so
others will be able to hear and understand the gospel and be saved. Now as we move on to look at our verses today
we will see that Jesus is giving several illustrations from family relationships
by asking two rhetorical questions.
MacArthur
writes “What man…among you,’ that is to say, what loving father, ‘when his son
shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone?’ The obvious answer is no man, no loving
father. The crudest of fathers would
hardly deceive his own son by giving him a stone to eat that looked like
bread. Even if the son discovered the
deception before breaking a tooth, his heart would be broken by his father’s
cruelty.”
The
same thing is true in the next illustration when Jesus uses a fish and his
father gives him a snake. The idea is
not that the snake would be alive or poisonous, and therefore would bring harm
to his son. The suggestion is that the
snake would be cooked in order to look like ordinary meant would, unlike the
stone, would meet his physical need.
According to Lev. 11:12 snakes were unclean animals. According to Wikipedia “The earthworm, the snake, the scorpion, the beetle, the centipede, and all
the creatures that crawl on the ground are not kosher. Worms, snails and most invertebrate animals are
not kosher. All reptiles, all amphibians and insects with the exception
of four types of locust are
not kosher.” MacArthur adds “A loving, Jewish father would
not deceive and defile his son into dishonoring the Word of God by tricking him
into eating ceremonially unclean food.
Our Lord is simply showing that it is not natural for a father to ignore
either the physical or the spiritual needs of his son.”
If
one looks at the account of this in the gospel of Luke, Luke records Jesus as
talking about giving a scorpion in the substitute for an egg. In this instance the father would do great
harm to his son as in the Middle East scorpions can actually look like an egg
when they are curled up, so this could give great danger and even an agonizing
death.
It
looks like we will try to complete this section in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It
is important for me to continue to realize that as a believer I am living in
the kingdom of God and should act like a citizen of the kingdom of God.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord to bring revival
into my life, into my family’s life, into our Sunday school’s lives and into
our churches life.
This past Sunday my wife and I were
waiting to eat at a Cracker Barrel restaurant and I came across a book by Billy
Graham which had daily prayers in it, one for each day of the year. I opened up the book to January 24th
and read the following: “John Know
prayed, and the results caused Queen Mary to say that she feared the prayers of
John Knox more that she feared the armies of Scotland. John Wesley prayed, and revival came to
England, sparing that nation the horrors of the French Revolution. Jonathan Edwards prayed, and revival spread
throughout the American colonies.
History has been changed time after time because of prayer. I tell you, history could be changed again if
people went to their knees in believing prayer.
Even when times are bleak and the world scorns God, He still works
through the prayers of His people. Pray
today for revival in your nation, and around the world.” “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous
man avails much” James 5:16.
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