Thursday, January 17, 2008
Hearing and Doing - Jesus the example
James 1:19-27, Matthew 16:21-28
Read from this material I'm using for QT along with Matthew. It's called 'Encounter with God'.
This morning's passage was about listening, in particularly the Word. But listening is not enough. To fully understand the Word of God, one must obey what it says, and so we must obey and put into practice the Word of God. Those who merely listen, only deceive themselves (v22). But a man who obeys the Word of God reaps blessing (v25). A man who truly obeys will meditate on the Word and do everything written in it. Joshua 1:8 promises that if we do this, we will be prosperous and successful.
Our call is to witness with our lives and James has brought various sins we can commit because of self-righteousness and pride. We anger (v19,20), we are contaminated with evil desires (v21), we forget our wrongdoings and what is right (v23,24), we are quick to judge with our tongue (v26), we seek self-glory and gain and forget our responsibility to the needy (v27).
When Jesus predicted his death, he had in mind the things of God. He rebuked Peter when Peter said “Never Lord!” Peter had in mind the things of man. And this is how we are sometimes, ok maybe most of the time. Peter understood Jesus from a humanistic perspective but Jesus knew his purpose on earth. The humanistic perspective always belittles God and calls the things of God foolish.
Jesus further said that a disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Jesus because whoever places his own life first loses it, and whoever loses his life for the sake of Christ will gain life (v24,25).
Tying back to what James said, a disciple denies himself by removing his self-righteousness and pride and listen to the Word of God, so that he can be convicted and transformed to be a successful witness for God. If our purpose in life is self-directed, we will lose it. But if our purpose is God-directed, we will find it.
Peace,
Alicia
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I guess the question is in which part of your life do you tend to be most self-directed? What would God-directed look like in this area? WW
i was reminded of Pastor Vincent QNs - our view of God.
to lead a God-directed life, firstly God has to be fundamental. and it will also means to lay everything down at His feet, letting God have the full control.
alright, just a thought that ran through while reading it.
-jami-
I like your thought better Jami ... :-) WW
And I'm reminded of Romans 6:12-13. If we offer our bodies as instruments of wickedness, we commit the list of things James mentioned. But if we offer our bodies as instruments of righteouness, we find life just like what Jesus said.
So cool, the more I learn about the Word, the more I'm told to live for Christ. And that's all I have to do, live for Christ and everything else explains itself.
Post a Comment