SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/1/2021 11:15 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “John Overcame Weakness”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 11:7-8
Message of the verses: “7 As these men
were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John,
"What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the
wind? 8 "But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing?
Those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ palaces!”
I
want to remind that we are looking at the first sub-section under the heading
of “John’s Personal Character. I also promised to give you a quotation from
General Douglass MacArthur in this SD which we will do at the end of it.
When
a person has doubts they can become perplexed and that is what was happening to
John as he lingered in the prison cell, as he probably felt that he was being
betrayed. Things were not working out
the way that he envisioned them, which caused doubt. He could not dispel the doubts, and so he
acknowledged them to his disciples and asked two of them to seek out Jesus and
confirm the truth from His own lips.
John
MacArthur writes “Above all other considerations, John wanted to know the truth
about Jesus. He was not concerned about
protecting himself by not admitting his doubts to his own disciples, to Jesus’
disciples, or to the multitudes among whom he had become so popular. John had no desire to play the
hypocrite. He had no interest in
religious pretense, illusion, or self-deception. His assurance about certain truths had become
clouded, but his humility and his underlying faith protected him from
skepticism and denial.
“John
had no resentment of Jesus’ popularity when it began to overshadow his own and
had in fact declared of Jesus that ‘He must increase, but I must decrease’
(John 3:30). He confessed publicly that
he was unworthy even to remove Jesus’ sandals; and when Jesus asked to be
baptized by John, John replied, ‘I have need to be baptized by You, and do You
come to me?’ (Matt. 3:11, 14).”
Now
as we think about greatness we have to realize the pride will curse true
greatness, and the person who proudly refuses to admit and deal with personal
weaknesses is doomed to hypocrisy and mediocrity.
Now
we come to the quotation from General Douglas MacArthur:
“Build me a son, O Lord, who
will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself
when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and
humble and gentle in victory…
“Build me a son whose heart will be clear, whose goal
will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other
men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will
reach into the future, yet never forget the past.
“And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of
a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too
seriously. Give him humility, so that he
may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true
wisdom and the meekness of true strength.
“Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, ‘I have not
lived in vain.’”
12/1/2021 11:35 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment