SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/14/2025 10:31 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-4
“The Soldier”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 2 Timothy
2:3-4
Message of the verses: “3 Suffer hardship
with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active
service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may
please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.”
We have been talking about the soldier is always on
alert ready to do what his Commander wants him to do for the cause of Christ,
so consequently, he is separated from his normal environment so that he will
not entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life. MacArthur writes “Entangle himself translates
a passive form of empleko, which
literally means to weave. Paul is not
speaking about things that necessarily are wrong in themselves. It is not that a soldier should have no
contact at all with his former friends and surroundings, but that he is not to
become caught up and enmeshed in them.
Those things are irrelevant to his soldiering and are always subject to
being relinquished. In the same way, a
good soldier of Christ Jesus refuses to allow earthly matters to interfere with
the fulfillment of his duty to his Lord.
Many Christians, pastors, special
ministries, and doctrinally sound churches have been undermined by concerns and
activities that are innocent in themselves but have been allowed to crowd out
the primary purpose of serving Jesus” (I have highlighted this portion).
As
I think about this highlighted part above I think about when I first became a
believer in Jesus Christ, which will be 51 years ago twelve days from now. I knew in my heart that I had to break away
from those friends that I was hanging around with but it took some time for me
to do that. My daughter turned 48 years
old two days before Christmas and the day before she was born I was hanging
around with my old friends and some things happened that caused me to not want
to hang around with them any longer. I
have a really good friend that I was with that evening and I can say that I
have prayed for him to come to know the Lord for over fifty years. Recently I have got together with him and
some other friends I use to hang around with as we are not much older and I
have had a little bit of time to witnesses to them as we once in a while meet
for breakfast. I have to say that it is
my desire to meet with my friend Troy and his wife to once again tell them the
good news of the gospel, and perhaps because he is older now and realizes that
he will not live forever that both of them will allow me to tell them what
happened to me almost 51 years ago. I
pray that is true. Now the other part of
this highlighted portion seen above has to do with when a person is a believer
and how believers can be taken away from the things that the Lord wants them to
do, and perhaps this partly happens from Satan, and partly happens from the old
nature that can still tempt a believer and will until he receives a new body
and I have to say that I am looking forward to that, and it is my hope that I
will be alive when the rapture happens.
“Jesus
recognized that such disconnection and call to duty required of His faithful
disciples, a soldier in His active service, is not easy. As He and His disciples
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him,
"I will follow You wherever You go." 58 And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have
holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has
nowhere to lay His head." 59 And He said to another, "Follow
Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father."
60 But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for
you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God." 61 Another also said,
"I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at
home." 62 But Jesus said to him,
"No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for
the kingdom of God’ (Luke 9:57-62).
It looks like that I will have one more SD in this
section of verses on the life of the soldier, and Lord willing will do it
tomorrow morning.
Spiritual
meaning for my life Today: One thing that I have realized since I
retired from my main job that a believers is really not to retire from serving
the Lord. I have mentioned that a former
Pastor of mine when he was about to retire said that he was going to retire
from something to something. I have
never forgotten that and try to live by his good advice as the Lord has kept me
pretty busy since I retired in June of 1999.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: It is my desire to be a good soldier of Jesus
Christ and do the things that He has called me to do for the cause of Christ.
1/14/2025 11:06 AM
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