Tag: Beloved

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Polish the Gift!

ImageWhen we recently moved and unpacked all of our remaining trinkets, some of which are priceless antiques, it was amazing to note that even after hours of carefully packing and having sat for over 4 yrs in the covering of those supposedly tarnish free papers, many of the silver pieces had indeed tarnished. With a cloth the work began and with intense rubbing slowly the tarnish was removed. Paul says, in Romans 5 that like the tarnish on our silver, our suffering is the tarnish we carry with us as we face the struggles in our walk on this earth. Daily God uses His rubbing tool to polish away our tarnish so that we may reflect Him and His love to the world.

In chapter 6 of Romans, Paul is reminding believers that believers have a precious gift of eternal life but it is not always so wonderfully visible due to our tarnish a.k.a. sin.  The Holy Spirit must polish us to remove our tarnish and sometimes He uses suffering. The question before us is: Are we allowing Him to rub away our flaws? We can aid in this by immersing ourselves in the Word daily.

Our gift of eternal life has taken us from death to life through the baptism of regeneration and now  our old self is buried with Christ. Paul will reiterate this same thought in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” So Paul then asks, why then would you want to exploit God’s grace by resurrecting the old man, the old life,  the tarnished man? He who has died to sin should reflect that marvelous sheen that comes with polishing just like your earthly silver.

So then, as eternally secure believers, dead to sin what must we do? We must make 4 choices:

  1. Not let sin reign 1Co 9:27 Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified.
  2. Offer ourselves as a gift to God Col 3:12 “clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,”
  3. See from whence we came—the mirror has no claim on your past life now.
  4. Polish your gift of eternal life. How? By immersing yourself into the Word of God and let the Holy Spirit polish your tarnish away.

Today, take a look in the mirror, you have been bought with a price far beyond what anyone could fathom to purchase. It was paid by our Beloved Jesus. Treasure it and polish your gift until the world can see your reflection. The world is watching, looking, what do they see when they see you? Are you tarnished or perfectly polished? Is this your prayer? Holy Spirit polish me until I reflect the Savior to the world!

 

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An Invitation…Will You Accept?

ImageThe Parade is over and Jesus is in the Temple once again and is teaching, as he has so often, about the kingdom of heaven through parables. We remember that Jesus told the disciples that he would be using that approach: “I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand” thus fulfilling Isaiah’s 6:9-10 prophecy. Although this was Jesus’ method the Pharisees and chief priests knew not only was he directing his teaching at them but also they understood the implications of his teaching. That is why they wanted to arrest him as we found out in chapter 21.

Jesus spoke to them again in lest any should say they never understood. He has just told them that they were rejecting Him as the Chosen One and now He will emphasize it in greater detail through an illustration that they could all relate to which is a method that we must learn to utilize as well. Start with a common every day thought and use it as a spring board to the truth you want the audience to grasp. In this parable the listeners would have grasped the importance of the wedding banquet in their first century culture, but more importantly they would have been astounded that the king would invite any to his son’s banquet! This was thus not just any banquet–it was for his son! In that culture one received an invite and then when the banquet was ready the ‘king’ would send for them. Try to picture you receiving an invite to a head of state’s home for dinner. You receive it in advance and when the time is ready your limo arrives to pick you up. But, notice the responses of the invitees. They would NOT come! They were indifferent and turned their back even when he sent a second gracious summons! No wonder the king was furious! He had spared no expense nor the preparation.

What are we to learn? The king is God and He has a banquet prepared for Jesus, His Beloved Son. He has spared no expense; he sent his only son so that no one would perish but have eternal life. All have been invited to come and celebrate! Yet there were some then and some today who say no or some who are just too busy. In Matt 8 we read that many said they would go but they had many excuses as to why “not now.”  When he sent out the disciples he gave them orders to shake the dust off their shoes if the message they brought was ignored or rejected. We meet these same people today in the marketplace; in our workplace and even in our families. They are more concerned about their now than their eternal destiny. Felix said the same thing to Paul in Acts 24.

What about the intruder in the banquet? Who is he? And why is he even there? He is there because the invitation was to both good and bad but even with that there are rules of decorum to be followed and he chose to not do that. How often have we heard that the “I am the Way, The Truth, The Life” just doesn’t cut it for me? I will come to Jesus in my way. Note the consequence! Bound and sent packing to outer darkness. There will be some that will face this in the day of judgment.

Beloved, God has a plan and it includes you. He has issued His invitation and He has sent this message to you. What will you do with it? Will you come and celebrate or are you just too busy to do it now? Remember the intruder when this crosses your mind.

ImageMatthew chapter 22

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