SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/23/2022 9:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Third
Component of Faith”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
18:1-4
Message of the verses: “1 It was at this
time that the disciples came to Jesus with the question, "Who is really
greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?" 2 Jesus called a little child to his
side and set him on his feet in the middle of them all. 3 “Believe me," he
said, "unless you change your whole outlook and become like little
children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. 4 It is the man who can be
as humble as this little child who is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven”
(Philips).
It is the third component of faith that allows us to
enter into the kingdom is meekness, and this is closely related to the sense of
having nothing of value to offer to God.
It is because of his sense of personal unworthiness, the humble and meek
person neither claims nor demands anything of glory for himself, and this is
difficult to do because of still having the flesh to contend with. This believer is committed to fight for God’s
causes, not his own.
In
Matthew 7:21 we read “"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in
heaven will enter.” We can see from this verse that the one who
enters God’s kingdom also will have a desire and also a capcity to be obedient. MacArthur writes “Entering God’s kingdom is
more than simply expressing the wish to be in it and having the conviction that
Jesus is its Lord. The sovereign, saving
God will produce in the soul a personal submission to Jesus as Lord and a new
heart longing to obey His commands. The
person who is unwilling to leave the things of the world for the things of the
Lord has no genuine desire for salvation (8:19-22). Coming into the kingdom assumes by the very
term that one comes under the rule of the Lord of that kingdom.”
The new birth makes people followers
of Jesus. “Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and
sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure
in heaven; and come, follow Me.’” Now we know
that this person did not come to salvation through the Lord, but what we can
see from this is that when Jesus called people to follow Him, He was calling
them to salvation, which is what He was doing “rich young ruler.” The ones who do this Jesus said in Matt.
10:32-33 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess
him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 "But whoever denies Me before
men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” We can see that there is a choice, a choice
that is the greatest choice anyone will ever make.
We
can see from Matthew 10:38-39 that the one who enters God’s kingdom is aware of
his need to be self-denying: “38
"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of
Me. 39 "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his
life for My sake will find it.” This
verse came up in my preparation for a lesson in Hebrews and what I learned from
it was that a believer must be willing to take up his cross and follow the
Lord, and this does not mean that persecution will come about in the believer’s
life, but that he is willing to accept whatever the Lord has planned for him in
his life, including persecution.
We
want to move on now and talk about that the faith that saves is the component
of persistence, which is taught in Matthew’s gospel. There is a wonderful story that we have gone
over in the 15th chapter Matthew which illustrates this component of
persistence. It is the story of the
Canaanite woman who had a demon possessed daughter. She came to the Lord who was staying in a
Canaanite village in order to get some R & R with His disciples and the
woman knew about Him and His ability to heal and cast out demons. She would not let Him alone until He healed
this woman’s little girl.
John
MacArthur writes “All of these components of the faith that God grants for
salvation can be summed up in the first lesson Jesus teaches—the lesson of
humility.
“It
is impossible to miss the fact that this teaching is directed at the disciples
and implies they needed to hear and accept it.
And from the argument among them that prompted this lesson from Jesus,
it is obvious they were not living according to His standard of humility. They were manifesting pride and
self-seeking. It may be that some of
them were not yet in the kingdom (certainly this invitation was pertinent to
the power-hungry, money-hungry Judas), and those who were in the kingdom had
allowed their fallen flesh to dominate their attitudes. This makes the important statement that even though our hearts are in
line with these principles of genuine saving faith at the time God graciously
grants it to us, we fall often and easily to the power of sin that is still in
us.”
Lord
willing in our next SD we will pick up the story of Jesus picking up the young
child in order to illustrate what we have been learning so far in these four
verses.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: “This makes the important statement that even
though our hearts are in line with these principles of genuine saving faith at
the time God graciously grants it to us, we fall often and easily to the power
of sin that is still in us.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to trust the Lord to, through His
Holy Spirit, to convict me of sin in my life so that I can confess it to the
Lord and ask for His forgiveness.
11/23/2022 9:43 AM
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