SPIRITUAL
DIARY FOR 7/26/2025 9:51 AM
My
Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “The Past: The Course, In Which He
was Faithful”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
2 Timothy 4:7
Message
of the verse: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished
the course, I have kept the faith;”
Today we begin
to look at the second of five principles which are expressed or implied in this
verse that were foundational to Paul’s life and service. Second, Paul recognized that the cause he pursued was noble.
I
have read in the past from different commentaries that Paul was the greatest
believer that has ever lived, and as I study, and re-study things that Paul
wrote and also from the last half of the book of Acts, I surely do agree with
that statement. I suppose that the thing
that stands out in his life is how he endured all of the suffering that he went
through for the cause of Christ, and I believe that because He was so close to
the Lord in his life that he was able to endure suffering for the cause of
Christ.
Now
we move on to some commentary that John MacArthur wrote as he began to write
about this second of five principles: “He
had a tremendously elevated sense of dedication to the divine cause in which he
was engaged. He was fighting the good fifth. Kalos (good) refers to
that which is intrinsically good, good in itself, without any
qualification. It also was used of that
which is inherently and genuinely beautiful and of things that fully conform to
their basic nature and purpose. Elsewhere
in the New Testament it is used of many such things. In Matthew it is used of good fruit (3:10),
of a good tree (12:33), of good ground (13:8), and of good fish (13:48). Paul uses it of God’s law (Rom. 7:16) and of
all His creatures (1 Tim. 4:4).”
This
section is not as long as the previous one, but that is all that I am going to
cover this morning. I like what is
written here about the Apostle Paul as I can learn from it and then try to put
these things into practice in my life.
He is such a wonderful example of a person who was filled with God’s
Spirit and thus doing His work for the cause of Christ.
“The
apostle was extremely perplexed that so many believers were seeking ‘after their own interests, not those of
Christ Jesus’ (Phil. 2:21). To
complete contrary, he considered his own impressive religious credentials to be
rubbish (Phil. 3:4-7) and, in fact, counted ‘all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and
count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ’ (v. 8). Nothing mattered but the cause of Christ.
“It
was a great satisfaction for the apostle to be able to say that Timothy ‘is doing the Lord’s work, as I also am’ (1
Cor. 16:10). Despite his limitations,
this younger co-laborer was following the apostle’s footsteps, selflessly serving,
expending himself in the cause of Christ, faithfully proclaiming the divine ‘word of reconciliation’ (2 Cor. 5:19).
“Christians are
not saved simply or even primarily for their own sakes. We are first of all saved for the glory of
God and to fulfill His holy calling to be His witnesses to an unsaved world
(Matt. 28:19-20; 2 Tim. 1:9; Heb. 3:1).
That noblest of all callings to the noblest of all causes should inspire
every believer to ‘seek first His
kingdom and His righteousness, every hour and opportunity, ever resource and
all of our energy to lifelong service in the will and power of our Lord.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today:
It is my desire to do the things that God has called me to do for the
cause of Christ, and to be ready to tell those that the Lord brings onto my
path how they too can be saved, and then also how to grow in their faith.
My
Steps of Faith for Today:
Trust the Lord to have my wife do the things she needs to do to keep any
more cancer out of her body.
7/26/2025 10:26 AM
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