SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/29/2024 9:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 “Choose Your Associates”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
2 Tim. 1:15-18
Message of the verses: “15 You are aware
of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are
Phygelus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus,
for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; 17 but when he was
in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me — 18 the Lord grant
to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day — and you know very well what services he
rendered at Ephesus.”
This morning I begin the eight means for guarding
against being ashamed of Christ, and that is of carefully choosing one’s
associates, which is a means Paul here implies.
MacArthur writes “In these four verses he contrasts fellow workers who
were ashamed of the gospel with those who were not.”
It
was a warm January day almost 51 years ago when after being married since
August 11th of the previous year I decided to go down to Florida and
visit a high school friend of mine. My
previous marriage ended with a great deal of heartbreak for me and so I thought
it would be a good thing to go on a vacation by myself. My friend and his girlfriend were living
together near Orlando and once I got there he offered me to listen to a series
of tapes that had been given to him from his former boss. “Two Years After The Late Great Planet Earth”
was the name of the series of tapes. I
began to listen to the first one and was hooked and listened to one a day for
several days. The messages were on what
the Bible had to say about the end times and at the end of each message there
was what is called an altar call, and offer to receive Christ as your Savior
and Lord. It was on, I believe, the 26th
of January of 1974 that I put my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and my life has
never been the same since. I write this
because it was at that time that I pretty much changed my friends as I could
not hang with the friends that I had and slowly withdrew from them and found
new friends who were also born-again Christians. I still pray for my good friend that I use to
hang around with and it took a while for me to distance myself from him, but
even though I don’t hang around with him, I still see him on occasions along
with others I used to be around before I became a believer.
Paul,
as MacArthur writes contrasts fellow workers who were ashamed of the gospel
with those who were not, and although this is not exactly my case with my
former friends I still care for them and pray for them to accept the Lord Jesus
Christ into their hearts and lives.
Paul
wrote the following to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be
deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals.’” The truth is “if we associate with
spiritually courageous Christians, our own courage will be strengthened. On the other hand, if we associate with those
who are ashamed of Christ and His gospel, we will soon be tainted by that
shame,” writes MacArthur.
Now
in my next SD, Lord willing I will begin to look at the first group that Paul
mentions as seen in these words all who are in Asia turned away from me,
[Paul].
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I desire to live my life in a way that shows
that I am not ashamed of my Lord Jesus Christ.
12/29/2024 10:27 AM
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