SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/8/2021 12:21 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Worry Is Unreasonable Because of
Our Faith”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
6:31-33
Message of the verses: “31 “Do not worry
then, saying, ’What will we eat?’ or ’What will we drink?’ or ’What will we
wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for
your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first
His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Perhaps
we all knew that we would come to this conclusion about our battles with being
a worrier, that it is totally against our faith, and we have also mentioned
that worry is a sin, a sin that perhaps many of us commit far too often, even
when we don’t realize that we are doing it.
Let us begin by looking at the Greek word for Gentile, “Ethnoi.”
MacArthur writes “literally means simply ‘peoples,’ or ‘a multitude.’ In the plural form, as here, it usually
referred to non-Jews, that is, to ‘Gentiles’ and, by extension, to unbelievers
or pagans. Worrying about ‘what’ to ‘eat,
drink, and clothe’ themselves with are their hope and expectations in things
they can enjoy now. They have nothing to
live for but the present, and their materialism is perfectly consistent with
their religion. They have no God to
supply their physical or their spiritual needs, their present or their eternal
needs, so anything they get they must get for themselves. They are ignorant of God’s supply and have no
claim on it. No heavenly Father cares
for them, so there is reason to worry.”
I have to say that Jesus, as He came to minister to the lost sheep of
Israel, was talking about unbelieving Gentiles as He gives this message,
however the church today is really made up of Gentiles, as few Jews have come
to realize that their Messiah has come, and that His name is Jesus. My point here is that we as Gentiles who
belong to the church are not to worry.
All
one has to do is to think about the “gods” that the Gentiles of Jesus’ day
worshiped. They were man-made gods
inspired by Satan. The gods that they
worshiped were gods of fear, dread, and appeasement and they demanded much,
however they promised very little, and provided even less, or should I say
nothing. So if a person is worshiping a
god like the ones we just described, don’t you think that whatever satisfactions
and pleasures they could get while they were on this earth that they would
eagerly grab, eagerly seek. MacArthur
writes “Their philosophy is still popular in our own day among those who are
determined to grab all the gusto they can get.
‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’ is an understandable outlook
for those who have no hope in the resurrection (1 Cor. 1532).”
Now
as we look at that the things that these people do and still do we, as
believers should not fall into that sinful outlook for our lives, for we have a
Heavenly Father who cares for us and will lead us and guide us through both
good and not so good times as we who are believers living on this earth are
only living here for a very short time, and so we need to trust the Lord to
provide the things that we “NEED” so that we can do what He desires us to do in
order to bring glory to the Lord. In the
end that is all that will count. If we
are a faithful, trusting, and a reasonable Christian then we will be “anxious
for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
our requests be made known unto God” as Philippians 4:6 tells us. Also as true believers we are to be like what
Paul wrote in Romans 12:1-2 “1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies
of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which
is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God
is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” The highlighted portion of these verses is
what I want to concentrate on at this time.
Believers are not to be conformed to this world system that is here, for
we are not a part of that system since we have become a born-again believer,
which is what Jesus is saying about the Gentiles in this section. However as believers we are to be “transformed
by the renewing of your mind.” What does
that mean? Well the word transformed in
the Greek is “metamorphoo” where we get the word metamorphose from. I like to think that as believers we are
transformed from an ugly worm to a beautiful butterfly, and this can only
happen as we study and grow through His Word, as this is how we renew our
minds.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I surely have a desire to be transformed day
by day in order to bring glory to the Lord by doing what He desires me to do.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trusting the Lord in difficult times is what
I desire to do, and perhaps 2021 will be a difficult time for believers in this
country.
1/8/2021 12:51 PM
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