March 31st 2019
During This Lenten Season, What Can You Do For God?
Joshua 5:11-12 (NIV)
The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.
Does God supply your every need? While you may answer yes, to the stated question, many people on this earth would answer no! In the selected verses God has supplied all of the food the Israelites needed for the past forty years as they walked around in the desert. If you read the details of this wondering journey, God also allowed supernatural support for His people, in that their clothes and shoes never wore out! So God gave them everything they needed to survive. So, of course, they were happy, right? If you answered yes, you had better read the accounts of this journey again!
In the daily devotional I read (The Upper Room) the person who used these verses wrote, “God’s people had the freedom to fail, but they also had the faith that could help them succeed.” Notice the writer’s selection of words here, “faith that could help them succeed.” Faith “could” help them succeed. How about you, and your faith, does it help you succeed? Of course, you must first determine what success is, how do you measure it? An old bumper sticker said something like, “Whoever dies with the most toys wins!” Are you measuring success by how much “stuff” or “toys” you have accumulated? Many people in this country today are renting storage space for the extra “stuff” they have accumulated. Maybe the measure of success should result in a bumper sticker saying “Whoever has the most storage space rented when they die, wins!”
The writer of this daily devotional later wrote, “Beyond the slavery of sin lies the freedom of the Resurrection!” Have you accepted the freedom of the Resurrection? If you have, please remember your freedom was paid for by Jesus who allowed Himself to be hung on that cross, for you! While you are now free from the worry of, “What happens when I die?” You now owe your eternal life to Jesus. Have you therefore, turned over your earthly life to Him?
Should we depend on getting everything we need in this life from God? Well if you read those verses describing the Creation you will note that from the very beginning, God expected humans to not only care for themselves, but He also expected humans to care for the rest of the Creation. And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for ever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. (Genesis 3:22-23) Humans became mortal, because of that first sin. We inherited the death gene, so to speak. We now have an immortal soul dwelling in a mortal body. That is why we need a Savior!
The Bible tells us that following Jesus is the only way to salvation. If a person is not following Jesus, then today is the day of salvation! Every day that passes and you, or they, do not accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the closer they get to going to hell. Do you have a loved one who it appears is going to hell? Do you care enough for them to try and tell them the Good News? Christ is our example and we need to not only follow His example but His words to, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." (Luke 14:23 KJV) Luke tells us to “compel” them to come into His house. Are you asking people to come into the House of God that is the church of your choice? Are you attending a worship service at the church of your choice regularly?
In Luke’s other book of the Bible, he tells us we are commanded by the Lord to “bring salvation to the ends of the earth." For this is what the Lord has commanded us: "‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’" (Acts 13:47) This passage also tells us we have been prepared for this work by the Lord, when it says, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles.” Ash Wednesday started the Lenten season, and we are expected to give up something during this season. In the worship service I attended on an Ash Wednesday, we were prompted to give up some of our time, and redirect that time toward service to God. We were directed to answer the question, “What Can I do For God?” We were also told to emulate Jesus during this season, and to become a “lover, giver, and forgiver!” Jesus did this when He walked this earth.
Ask yourself, WWJD during the Lenten season? Would Jesus give-up something?
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
Joshua 5:11-12 (NIV)
The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.
Does God supply your every need? While you may answer yes, to the stated question, many people on this earth would answer no! In the selected verses God has supplied all of the food the Israelites needed for the past forty years as they walked around in the desert. If you read the details of this wondering journey, God also allowed supernatural support for His people, in that their clothes and shoes never wore out! So God gave them everything they needed to survive. So, of course, they were happy, right? If you answered yes, you had better read the accounts of this journey again!
In the daily devotional I read (The Upper Room) the person who used these verses wrote, “God’s people had the freedom to fail, but they also had the faith that could help them succeed.” Notice the writer’s selection of words here, “faith that could help them succeed.” Faith “could” help them succeed. How about you, and your faith, does it help you succeed? Of course, you must first determine what success is, how do you measure it? An old bumper sticker said something like, “Whoever dies with the most toys wins!” Are you measuring success by how much “stuff” or “toys” you have accumulated? Many people in this country today are renting storage space for the extra “stuff” they have accumulated. Maybe the measure of success should result in a bumper sticker saying “Whoever has the most storage space rented when they die, wins!”
The writer of this daily devotional later wrote, “Beyond the slavery of sin lies the freedom of the Resurrection!” Have you accepted the freedom of the Resurrection? If you have, please remember your freedom was paid for by Jesus who allowed Himself to be hung on that cross, for you! While you are now free from the worry of, “What happens when I die?” You now owe your eternal life to Jesus. Have you therefore, turned over your earthly life to Him?
Should we depend on getting everything we need in this life from God? Well if you read those verses describing the Creation you will note that from the very beginning, God expected humans to not only care for themselves, but He also expected humans to care for the rest of the Creation. And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live for ever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. (Genesis 3:22-23) Humans became mortal, because of that first sin. We inherited the death gene, so to speak. We now have an immortal soul dwelling in a mortal body. That is why we need a Savior!
The Bible tells us that following Jesus is the only way to salvation. If a person is not following Jesus, then today is the day of salvation! Every day that passes and you, or they, do not accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the closer they get to going to hell. Do you have a loved one who it appears is going to hell? Do you care enough for them to try and tell them the Good News? Christ is our example and we need to not only follow His example but His words to, "Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." (Luke 14:23 KJV) Luke tells us to “compel” them to come into His house. Are you asking people to come into the House of God that is the church of your choice? Are you attending a worship service at the church of your choice regularly?
In Luke’s other book of the Bible, he tells us we are commanded by the Lord to “bring salvation to the ends of the earth." For this is what the Lord has commanded us: "‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’" (Acts 13:47) This passage also tells us we have been prepared for this work by the Lord, when it says, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles.” Ash Wednesday started the Lenten season, and we are expected to give up something during this season. In the worship service I attended on an Ash Wednesday, we were prompted to give up some of our time, and redirect that time toward service to God. We were directed to answer the question, “What Can I do For God?” We were also told to emulate Jesus during this season, and to become a “lover, giver, and forgiver!” Jesus did this when He walked this earth.
Ask yourself, WWJD during the Lenten season? Would Jesus give-up something?
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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