Category: Chosen by God

Strive for Perfection, Just as Christ is Perfect!

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Bold Confidence, Chosen by God, Christian, Faith, Follow Jesus, God’s Word, Imitator of Christ, Listen to the Word of God, Obedience, Reflecting Christ, Righteousness, Share God’s Word, Victorious LifeLeave a comment

Scripture: Matthew 5

OBSERVATION (What is God saying here?)

48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matt 5:48 (NLT)

APPLICATION (How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

At the conclusion of a chapter devoted to telling us how to live a true Christ-like life, Jesus tells us that we are to strive for perfection like the only perfect One – Himself. I feel like there are several things to consider here:

  1. In Character: When we continually sin and just shrug it off to excuses like: “Well I’m sorry, after all I’m just human” or “It’s OK, I know that God will forgive me”or “Well, there’s always another chance for me to try and do this right”, then I believe that we are giving in to being a child of this world and accepting the pitfalls and weaknesses of this world rather than placing our faith solidly in the hands of the almighty and striving wholeheartedly to be like Him. Let’s aspire to be as much like Christ as possible. He will see our sincerity and help us through our human flaws;
  2. In Holiness: In striving to be more like Christ, we will find that love for, and service to others, become a priority in our lives. God showed mercy and love even to those who hated Him and chose to fight against Him. Look at how He healed the soldier in the Garden of Gethsemane. Let’s remember that we are chosen by God to carry His love into this sick world and represent Him in all of our interaction with sinners.
  3. In Maturity: Christ-like maturity doesn’t happen instantly. Just like we expect more from a teenager than we do from a child, or more from an adult than we do from a teenager because of the years of maturing into adulthood, so it is as we study God’s Word, learn more about Him and how we can become more like Him. We should be showing signs of maturing more and more each day. Friends, we don’t mature into adulthood strictly by what we learn in school – we learn it from our everyday living. So it is with maturing as a Christian – don’t depend solely on what you may learn from a weekly sermon. Get into the Word (God’s book of instruction) and learn daily what it is that God is teaching you that day to help you mature in Him.
  4. In Love: We must seek to love others with the same love that Christ loved us. He gave His life for us, while we still hated Him, while we plotted to kill Him, while we spat in His face and mocked Him. We weren’t deserving of His love, yet He gave it all to show His love for us. That’s the kind of love we must have for those that we come into contact with daily.

Christ calls us to rise above mediocrity and be perfect even as He is perfect. When we strive for this perfection we stop accepting anything less. One day we will be perfect, just as He is perfect!

PRAYER (With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I serve the only perfect one. My desire is to daily grow to be, or mature to be, more like You in every way. This means that I am striving to also be perfect. This requires my daily time on Your Word and my ultimate desire to overcome the things of this world that will distract me in every way possible. However, I have the confidence in knowing that I serve the only One who could give me the strength, wisdom, desire, boldness and power to overcome the sinfulness of this world and strive for ultimate perfection in You. Please give me a constant desire to be more like You so that others may see Jesus in me and want to also know You. thank You for providing such an example for me to follow and mature in.

Make God First in Your Life, then……

On By Ed AlgreenIn Allegiance to the Lamb, Bible Believing, Bold Confidence, Born Again, Chosen by God, Christian, Disciple, Faith, Follow Jesus, God’s Word, Imitator of Christ, Listen to the Word of God, Obedience, Our Help comes from God, Pleasing to God, Reflecting Christ, Righteousness, Servants of God, Surrender, Work Til Jesus ComesLeave a comment

SCRIPTURE Studied: Matthew 4

OBSERVATION (What is God saying here?)

18 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living.19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”20 And they left their nets at once and followed him.21 A little farther up the shore he saw two other brothers, James and John, sitting in a boat with their father, Zebedee, repairing their nets. And he called them to come, too.22 They immediately followed him, leaving the boat and their father behind. Matt 4:18-22 (NLT)

APPLICATION (How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

While this seems like a miraculous thing for Jesus to call these men from what they were doing, and especially for them to leave their secular jobs and follow Him, I believe that this also occurs today. We were created by God, and while our flesh strives to live in and enjoy the pleasures of this world, I believe that our inward soul longs to be with Jesus and live a life pleasing to Him while here on this earth. Unfortunately I believe that the latter is not possible until we accept that deep longing to accept Jesus as Lord of our life. We can always stop and think of what life could be like if we weren’t so stuck on pleasing others. It is so unfortunate that we try so hard to please our peers, our family, our friends, our co-workers, our boss, our pastor and then with whatever is left in us we try to please God. Friend why not try and do this in reverse order – surrender your heart to God, give Him 100% of your effort to please Him and follow His commands, then watch how easy it will be to see others accept you for who you are. A life surrendered to, committed to and following the commands of Jesus will result in a happy, satisfied, fulfilled life with a purpose and a goal oriented mindset that will be fixed on Jesus Christ. Oh that we will do just that this Christmas season – a time on our calendar that we dedicate to the One whose birthday is the whole purpose of Christmas.

PRAYER (With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

Father, I rededicated myself anew to You this Christmas. I pray that You will direct me each and every day, especially during this busy time on my calendar. I pray that You will help me place my life in perspective – You first, and all else to follow as You direct. May I be deep into Your Word daily so that I may learn of and subsequently follow the plan You have designed for my life. May I be an influence to others, especially those that have not yet accepted You as Lord of their lives. Like Peter, Andrew, James and John, may I be obedient to Your call on my life and serve You willingly every day. Please touch the lives of all readers today that they too may first of all accept You as Lord, then submit their lives totally to You and Your service. You gave Your very best that very first ‘Christmas’, may we in turn give our very best to You this Christmas.

Be One Who Serves Others

On By Ed AlgreenIn Bible Believing, Chosen by God, Christian, Disciple, Love God, Obedience, Servants of GodLeave a comment

A Quality of a Mature, Reproducing Disciple of Jesus Christ

SCRIPTURE

Studied: Eph. 4:11–13, Rom. 12:3–8, 1 Cor. 12:7-11

OBSERVATION (What is God saying here?)

  1. Ephesians 4:11-13 ~ Christ chose some of us to be apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors, and teachers, so that his people would learn to serve and his body would grow strong. This will continue until we are united by our faith and by our understanding of the Son of God. Then we will be mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like him.
  2. Romans 12:3-8 ~ I realize how kind God has been to me, and so I tell each of you not to think you are better than you really are. Use good sense and measure yourself by the amount of faith that God has given you. A body is made up of many parts, and each of them has its own use. That’s how it is with us. There are many of us, but we each are part of the body of Christ, as well as part of one another. God has also given each of us different gifts to use. If we can prophesy, we should do it according to the amount of faith we have. If we can serve others, we should serve. If we can teach, we should teach. If we can encourage others, we should encourage them. If we can give, we should be generous. If we are leaders, we should do our best. If we are good to others, we should do it cheerfully.
  3. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 ~ The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. Some of us can speak with wisdom, while others can speak with knowledge, but these gifts come from the same Spirit. To others the Spirit has given great faith or the power to heal the sick or the power to work mighty miracles. Some of us are prophets, and some of us recognize when God’s Spirit is present. Others can speak different kinds of languages, and still others can tell what these languages mean. But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us.

APPLICATION (How Can I apply what God is saying here to my circumstances today?)

  1. What a pity that today many of us expect all of these gifts to be in the pastor, so we sit back and expect him to do his thing, while we relax and sometimes soak it up, sometimes just be entertained, often just grumble about what he should have done differently, etc, etc. God knows what He is doing. The Word says that God has given these gifts to some so that His body of believers (the church) will learn, serve and grow strong. When we talk about having ‘weak’ churches that are falling apart, perhaps we are not recognizing the gift of God in the people that surround us, or perhaps not allowing them to exercise their gifts. I believe that this passage teaches us that this method will continue until the church becomes completely like Christ – in other words until Jesus comes, because if there is ever a chance that we might become perfect, there will be new members joining us who will need to learn all about this. My logical brain would say that we should be looking among us to see who may be gifted in the areas mentioned, and then make sure that they are given opportunity to exercise those gifts for the strengthening and growing of the body at large.
  2. There are times that we may start to feel proud if we feel like God has gifted us as indicated in Ephesians, however in this passage from Romans we are reminded that we should measure ourselves according to the faith that God has given to us. Any talent that we possess is a gift from God to be used for His glory and for edifying His church. Conversely, we should be careful not to sit back thinking that we have no usefulness in the kingdom at all, but we should recognize where our source of strength/talent/ability lies and for what purposes it should be used. As we recognize this, and give God His true place in all that we have become, He will be able to use us to help achieve His work among this lost and dying world.
  3. I realize that this study is much longer than my normal ‘Nuggets’ but I believe that it is virtually overwhelming as God has shown in His Word how important it is for us to recognize/acknowledge the gifts given to us by Him, and then use those gifts for His glorification through the local church. I believe that any who say that they have no gift probably displays the unfortunate gift of lying, because God didn’t make junk, so when He said in His Word that He has given each of us a special way of serving others, I believe that gift must be used. I am challenged today to look within and ensure that I am using all the gifts that God has blessed me with, for His glory and for the strengthening and uplifting of the church. I can’t hardly imagine the ‘buzz’ that will fill our church if visitors came and saw our folk actively serving in one capacity or another because they felt like God had gifted them, and that they want to use that gift for the benefit of God and others in the church. Wow, I’m talking about a great big fire of excitement would be evident, and the church will grow by leaps and bounds!!

PRAYER (With God’s help, what am I going to do differently today because He said it?)

I am filled to overflowing from this study this morning oh Lord! To recognize that You not only loved me enough to sacrifice Your only Son to die on a cruel cross so that I may have eternal life, and now to study and be reminded that You have also given me special gifts/talents to use in Your service, is nothing short of amazing, glorious, unbelievable, exciting, filled with anticipation, yet humbling to know that I have such an awesome Savior! Please help me to constantly be reminded of the gifts that You have blessed me with and help me to always use them for building up Your kingdom. If I am not at liberty to use these gifts in the work of my local church, then I ask that You direct me to a place where You know that my gifts and God given abilities could be best utilized. May You reign, and may Your servant use the gifts You have blessed me with for the furthering of Your kingdom here on this earth.