SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/3/2021 4:40 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4 “Worry
is Unfruitful Because of our Master”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 6:25
Message
of the verse: “25 "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried
about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for
your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than
clothing?”
We begin
this SD by looking at the third reason for us to be content, and that is that
believers are to be content because the Lord provides everything. We know that God is in control of all things
and so He can surely provide for His own children. One of the name for God is “Jehovah-Jireh,
and this means “The Lord who provides.”
Let us look at Genesis 22:14 “Abraham called the name of that place The
LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the LORD it
will be provided.’” I believe that this
is the very first time we see this name of God in the Scriptures and this
occasion was when Abraham was tested in the killing of his son Isaac, but God
stopped him and provided a lamb instead, and so He is call the Lord who
provides. One more verse and this time from
the New Testament Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs
according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Now remember that we are talking about our
needs and not always what we want as those are different. The needs that Jesus is mentioning here in
this verse are food, drink and clothes to put on, and these are the things that
every person in every age has needed. MacArthur
adds “but because most Western Christians have them in such abundance, they are
not often worried about.”
This was
much different during Bible times especially in the Middle East where water was
not always plentiful as it is in our country.
The point is that the Lord cares for His children and has promised to
provide for them, however let us look at people starving in India and wonder
what that happens there. Well they won’t
eat cattle because of their religion and much of the land that could be used to
grow food is used to grow food for their cattle, and one then realizes what the
people are starving there.
Now as far
as clothes we know that things are different today than in Bible times as
people, especially in the West have many changes of clothes. I think that it is a good idea to give
clothes away to people in need when I go out to buy new ones.
We will
conclude with the last paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary as he is summing
up things from this verse: “Therefore,
whether the Lord gives us more or gives us liss of anything, it all belongs to
Him, as owner, controller, and provider.
It is our responsibility to thank Him for what He gives and to use it
wisely and unselfishly for as long as He entrusts us with it.”
A story
from the service from my friend is in order here as it goes along with that
last quotation. My friend, long before I
knew him grew up in Africa as his grandfather was the very first missionary to
head to what is called “The Central African Republic” and so his father was
also a missionary there and my friend was thus born there. It was very hot there and he finally got
enough money to buy a jeep with air condition in it which made a great
difference. One of the members of his
church became deathly ill and wanted to die at her home, and so he was to
support her in his new jeep. He
hesitated at doing this, but his wise father asked him who really is the owner
of this jeep? Well he realized that God
owns everything and never forgot that very valuable lesion. He would always say even in his last days of
cancer that “we are all right” and he said this because He knew that God was in
control. I will certainly miss this man
as I did not get nearly enough time to get to know him better.
1/3/2021 5:05 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment