SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/16/2021 11:25 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Chosen
to be Prepared”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
10:1a
Message of the
verse: “Jesus
summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority”
We continue looking at the
preparedness of the disciples that came from the teaching of our Lord Jesus
Christ, something that all true believers can learn from. Sometimes we can learn things in the
classroom, or from reading books, or even from reading blog post, and also from
personal experiences. However spiritual
growth comes best from close contact with a holy example. We learn from a person who has a consistently
pure life that is patient, loving, reverent, and that has peace of heart and
mind, and that is an unmatched tutor for godly living. To hear a godly person talk to others and
pray to God, to see him act and react, and to feel his heartbeat for the Lord
is to be trained in the best of all schools.
I once read or heard of one of the early presidents of the Moody Bible
Institute, but forget his name at this time, who had someone hire a private detective
to follow him as the person who hired the detective could not believe that this
Moody president could live such a moral life.
The detective came back and said after following him for a long period of
time that he could find nothing wrong with the way he lived. We as true believers in Jesus Christ who
still have an old sin nature are certainly not perfect as we all struggle with
different issues from time to time, but we can through the power of the Holy
Spirit live a life that is worthy of our calling. The disciples had the best Teacher available
at any time, and even though they were a humanly defective and inept group,
they were following the only Person who lived a perfect life as He was
unsurpassed. Now His intention was not
to teach them to be the best they could be in their own capacities and strength
but to teach them to be what they could be through His provision and power. I remember listening to a sermon by the
person I was listening to when I became a believer, Hal Lindsey, and the title
of that sermon was “Becoming what you Are,” and I believe that is what we are
talking about here. When we become a new
person “in Christ” that is the person that we are to be, but as stated the old
sin nature will fight us every step of the way and so we have to rely on the
help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us to overcome those battles that we
fight. Some days they are easier than
others, but some days the fight is very difficult.
As we look at the most obvious
shortcomings of the disciples we find that it was their lack of spiritual
understanding. These men were called to evangelize
the world for Christ, and yet even far into their training they showed no perception
of heavenly truth or of God’s unfolding purpose and eternal plan for redeeming
the world. We know that they were
spiritually alive because they had trusted in Christ, but they had little
spiritual perception or sensitivity.
Another problem was that they were dense to spiritual things, as they
struggled in order to understand Jesus’ parables nearly as much as the crowds
that He was telling them to. Jesus would
ask them a number of times after teaching a parable if they understood it, and
many times they would say, “Yes Lord.”
But their subsequent words and actions invariably proved they did not
understand all that the Lord was teaching.
They were so dull that they did not even understand that they failed to
understand, and added to their spiritual dullness were their many prejudices
and preconceptions, which they were reluctant to forsake even in light of the
Lord’s specific teachings to the contrary.
We know that the Lord had a lot of work to do in getting these men ready
to the most important job anyone has ever undertook, but we also know that this
teaching that the Lord was giving them, even though at the time theydid not
understand all of it would come back to them in greater understanding once the
Holy Spirit came to live in their lives.
I will conclude this SD with a
quotation from John MacArthur:
“When on one occasion
Peter said to Jesus, ‘Explain the parable to us,’ Jesus replied, ‘Are you still
lacking in understanding also? (Matt. 15:15-16). When Jesus gave the disciples an object
lesson in humility by personally washing their feet, Peter proudly
refused. After Jesus told him that
otherwise he would have no part in Him, Peter went to the other extreme, asking
to be washed all over (John 13:5-9). By
both responses Peter proved he had missed the meaning of what Jesus was doing
and teaching.
“When Jesus first
began to tell the disciples of His coming death n Jerusalem, ‘Peter took Him
aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord!’ This shall never happen to you’’—to which
Jesus replied, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you
are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s’ (Matt. 16:21-23). When Jesus took His disciples aside to
explain His imminent crucifixion—telling them of His predicted arrest, mocking,
scourging, death, and resurrection—‘they understood none of these things, and
this saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that
were said’ (Luke 18:31-34).
“After Jesus was
crucified, just as He had predicted, the disciples ignored that He had also
predicted His resurrection, and they went despondently back to their fishing
(John 21). Even after the Lord had
appeared to them several times, proving His victory over the grave, they still
did not understand the prupose of His suffering or death or resurrection—or what
their role in His future ministry was to be.
“Yet through all their
misunderstandings, contradictions, pettiness, and failures, Jesus patiently continued
to teach—repeating many of the essential truths again and again. Even during the time between His resurrection
and ascension, ‘He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many
convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking
of things concerning the kingdom of God’ (Acts 1:3).
“Closely related to
the disciples’ spiritual dullness was their lack of humility. Often they failed to understand what Jesus
said simply because they assumed they already knew They were proud, jealous,
and envious men who were frequently more concerned about their own welfare and
prestige than about Jesus’ teaching or work or about His own human welfare or
divine glory.”
I can see that I will not get
through all of this in this SD, and so we will continue, Lord willing in our
next SD as the things that MacArthur is writing here are very important to us
as I am sure like me, many struggle from time to time in their walk with the
Lord and are thankful for His patience that He has for us, but want to do
better, and so perhaps this will help many of us out as we look at the
struggles that His disciples had.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Perhaps
understanding the struggles that the disciples had will help me in the
struggles that I have.
My Steps of Faith For Today: Trust the
Lord to teach me like He patiently taught His disciples to get them ready to
tell others the greatest story ever told.
7/16/2021 12:20
PM
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