All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:12
A godly seminary professor once told his students about spending the summer in Jerusalem working on a new Bible translation. While the students were envious of such a spiritual assignment, they were shocked to hear the professor say it had been one of the most unfruitful and carnal summers he had ever experienced! How could studying and translating the Bible result in carnality and spiritual frustration? The professor reported that their scholarly efforts became mechanical and academic. In the midst of their dictionaries and texts, they lost sight of the One they were there to serve. Christian service is important, but it can actually draw us away from the Savior if we let it. We can become so focused on meeting goals and achieving objectives that we don’t notice ourselves drifting away from the Lord. Like Paul, we need to differentiate between the good, better, and best. Is there anything—even a good thing—that is keeping you from the Best? Just because something can be done is not enough of a reason that it should be done. Dr. David Jeremiah Morning and Evening
I will confess that I often have difficulty in understanding the doing.
It's hard to know when its really for ME to be the one to do. It's not always easy to step back and guide someone else into the doing of things. I have a vivid memory of a time when I made a wrong assumption that my just doing was the wrong thing to do. The person in question was offended that I just assumed that I could do it for them rather that show them an let them learn.
It's also been a recurring theme to make myself teach others rather than do for them.
There's an old saying about fishing. You can give a man a fish and feed him for a moment. Teach him how to fish and you'll feed him for a lifetime.
Looking at the 3 and a half years of Jesus’s ministry He was going for the second one.
We who are in Christ aren't here for a free ride. If you are saved, truly saved, sealed by the Spirit saved, then you are part of the body of Christ here on Earth.
You do have a role and responsibility in the body. We aren't on some luxury liner now to be waited on hand and foot until we reach Heavens shore.
You have something that the Spirit needs you to be doing to contribute to the cause of Christ. It's part of our Spiritual service of worship. It's part of what a healthy body does for the rest of the body. In Paul's writings he tells of how the body has many parts but we are all members of the same body. Of how each part must do its part. How the function may differ but that responsibility remains. An eye must do the part of an eye, must not think more or less of its position in the body. There are small and large roles in the body of Christ, but He is the head.
We need to be in prayer, need to be cleansed of our daily sins, need to be living out our salvation.
That early lesson from about 12 years ago comes to mind when at work people bring me stuff that needs doing but I know that they are capable of. So rather than doing it, I stop n teach them how.
We can only and should only be doing what the Spirit calls us to do as well.
Even earlier in my life I made a bold assumption with what I thought God was telling me that He wanted me to do. In the end it was a disaster. I had to crawl back to where that point in my life was and wait for Him to start with me again. I still have lingering problems with those years of my life. Words said, things done, that just now have becoming scars.
Don't get ahead of God. Best advice that I can give you. I had great joy in that day of my great assumption. It was a downhill spiral into darkness that I shudder to describe. I jumped in thinking God was going with me. Take my advice, let God go first. Let Him lead.
We aren't here to be consumed by the things of this world, but are to navigate through it telling others that Judgment is coming. As aliens and sojourners in this world we have no home until we stand in Heaven with Jesus. We see how the Apostles lived. We see what Timothy was taught on how to be a Pastor. We see how the people of the book of Acts treated one another. Letting go of attachments to the things of this world in order to help one another.
Letting go of status and prestige. Letting go of egos. Doing what was necessary for the body of Christ to thrive and grow.
Why do so many Churches have sermons a plenty on giving? It's because the people within are looking at where they are as a person, their wants, desires, status, as being more important than lifting up the needs and ministry of the body.
Look at your life this morning. Look at what you do and really think on why your do.
I have a feeling that many reading this have been blinded by the god of this world into a false sense of personal image. No we don't need the best of everything. No we don't need to mind our own business when we have a brother or sister in need. Look at what Jesus says when He separated those who are saved from those who are not.
"For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’" Matthew 25:35-40
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