Archive for July, 2023
Three Empowering Virtues – Part One
“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6: 8
A tree can be identified by the fruit it bears. So a true believer can be identified by the fruit he or she bears. The succulent fruit of justice, mercy, and humility are fruit born only by a child of the Lord.
Jesus spoke of “justice, mercy, and faith” and said of them we “ought to” do these things.
Visitors to our nation’s capital enjoy the beauty of the Library of Congress Building. In it are beautifully decorated alcoves providing reading rooms. The various alcoves are dedicated to different disciplines: art, history, science, philosophy, and religion. Each alcove has a distinctive design and motto. The committee responsible for choosing the motto for the religious alcove requested prominent ministers to make suggestions. The one chosen: “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
When President Jimmy Carter took the oath of office as our nation’s leader he quoted the prophet Micah: “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).
At a time in the life of ancient Israel when moral depravity and religious decadence corrupted the people, God sent forth four prophets simultaneously to preach to His people.
Amos and Hosea were His heralds in the North.
Isaiah and Micah sounded forth the truth in the South.
Amos preached justice.
Hosea struck the note of love.
Isaiah called for reverent, humble fellowship with God.
Micah gathered the gist of all three and summarily said, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, To love mercy, and walk humble with your God?” (6:8).
Three virtues are mentioned in our text that are described by God as “good.” It should also be noted they are required of us by God. Jesus confirmed this when He said of them we “ought to” do them, meaning it is good for us to do them.
Start today to practice the three one at a time. Following are four more posts on the three.
Motivation for Doing What You Ought to Do: Part Three
Romans 7: 22 – 25
To develop a Biblical worldview you have to view the world through the Bible. Too many of us are like the report given by Brit Hume, ABC White House correspondent, on our President’s trip to South Korea: “He was the very picture of an engaged commander-in-chief standing with his men on an outpost watchtower to gaze at the enemy territory just across the way. Whoops! Those field glasses do work better with the lens cap off.”
Preset your mind set. All of us do without realizing it. Most often it is done unconsciously. For example, are you an optimist or a pessimist? How did you get that way? Likely you evolved into it.
The brain is sophisticated and complex. Here is an elemental insight. Negative thoughts produce certain chemicals in the brain. Positive thoughts produce other chemicals. In turn these chemicals tend to attract thoughts that produce them. Therefore, if you have been thinking negatively, you have a negative chemical flow. This causes more negative thoughts. If you have been thinking positively, you have a positive chemical flow and will tend to continue to think positively. You have a preset mindset.
The matter of doing the right and not doing the wrong comes down to mind over matter. “So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, and with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7: 25)
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
Is this a time when our Lord would have you reset your mindset? It takes conscious practice. Start with these. Resolve:
I WILL BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT I HAVE.
Without stopping to appreciate what you have, you tend to devalue it. All of us have things for which to be grateful.
Our text says “I delight in the law of God” (Romans 7: 22). Learn to get pleasure from God’s way of seeing things.
Resolve: “I thank God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7: 25).
I WILL BE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT EVERYTHING I DO.
If you consider every activity a positive adventure, it takes on new meaning and inspires others.
I WILL MEMORIZE SCRIPTURE AND CONSCIOUSLY SEEK TO APPLY IT.
Pre-program your mind on the Word of God. This can enable the development of a Biblical worldview.
I WILL PREMEDITATEDLY SUBMIT MY THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS TO JESUS AS LORD DAILY.
To be right, and do right, think right.
Motivation for Doing What You Ought to Do: Part Two
Romans 7: 22 – 25
It is expedient to learn mental discipline. A technique for doing this is noted in II Corinthians 10: 5.
“…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…”
Here improper thoughts are illustrated as being two strong fortresses. These fortified positions crumble before the weapons of the Spirit.
They are spoken of as “arguments” and “high thing(s).”
Arguments refer to intellectual pretension or human conceit. It is any deceptive fantasy.
The expression “high thing” refers to improper pride.
In summary the two refer to any barriers of pride that are erected against the knowledge of God.
Then follows the appeal to bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…” The New English Bible translates this, “we compel every human thought to surrender in obedience to Christ.”
That great theologian Barney Fife said: “I don’t have time to deal with those trivial trivialities.” Neither do we.
Therefore, when you have a deceptive fantasy or improper pride, rethink the subject and superimpose a thought you are confident Christ would have if thinking on the subject. That is what is meant by bringing our thoughts into captivity.
Start by praying with the Psalmist: “Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight. O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19: 12 – 14)
Preempt improper programming and preset proper pure ones.
Some people have an immature concept of prayer as being like a child asking a divine Santa Claus for things. We are to ask Him to supply our every need, but prayer is more. We need to grow out of the stage of making prayer a matter of “Lord give me,” into a deeper level of “Lord, make me.”
Few people think instinctively about such mental moral concepts. You can be one, starting now. It is a mental matter that matters. It is a matter of the heart for, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…”(Matthew 15:19)
That can change and out of the heart come constructive and productive thoughts which result in such conduct. The rewarding result is a more content and joyous life. Begin that journey now.
Motivation for Doing What You Ought to Do: Part One
Romans 7: 22 – 25
JESUS CHRIST “…works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure” (Philippians 2: 13).
The energetic living Lord Jesus spiritually indwells the believer. Two of the many functions He performs are to motivate and enable a person to do what is right.
He is responsible for the INWORKING, we for the OUTWORKING. Somewhere between the inworking and the outworking there is often a breakdown. Embarrassingly Scripture speaks of most of us:
“For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.” (Romans 7: 19)
Is that a painful description of you? None can answer “yes,” with pride. If there is no false pride, let there be no contentment in continuing a herky-jerky, on-again-off-again lifestyle.
Christianity isn’t intended to be a series of ups and downs. It is to be a succession of ins and outs. Christ works in us that His will might be worked out by us.
Two full-time college students majoring in music were discussing their part time jobs. One said, “I work in the opera at night. The pay is good even for my bit role as a spear carrier.”
The second, knowing of his fellow student’s long day and heavy schedule said, “How do you stay awake so late at night?”
“Simple, the guy behind me carries a spear also.”
We need to develop the mind-set of a person with a motivating spear carrier behind him if we are to avoid doing what we should not and doing what we should. To do this a certain mind-set is essential.
We program our mind to think a certain way. We must preempt our mind of negative improper thoughts.
Before medical science had progressed to know better, it was believed that conscious thoughts came from the heart. Knowing the heart pumped blood it was thought of the point of origin for thoughts which were believed to be carried from the heart to the brain by the blood. Figuratively, this language was used by Christ who said, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts…” (Matthew 15:19).
If we are going to do what we should and avoid what we should not do, we must preempt improper thoughts. Don’t program your mind with secret improper thoughts and expect your conduct to be correct.
What mental pre-set needs to be reset with pure and positive thoughts. If there are some, now is the ideal time to change your mind, that is, reset.
Run With Endurance Let You Into Heaven
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12: 1, 2)
Athletic metaphors abound throughout Scripture. The parallels between sports and daily life are too clear to be overlooked. In the above text there are many similarities. Consider just one: “…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus….”
As different athletes specialize in an event, so we each have a distinct competition. There are many different races affording different challenges.
In addition to the various races we as individuals have there is one for all.
We are all to be distance runners. In ancient Greece the cursus publicus was the state mandated and supervised courier and transportation runner. They could run for days. Among the Aztecs in America were the Tarahumara, also known as the Rarámuri, which roughly translates as “foot runners.” They were known to run as much as 600 miles, both as recreation runners and as messengers.
The race for sum, that is length of life, for all of us varies. Resolve to run well and finish strong.
We are encouraged to be “looking unto Jesus.” Most distance races have a pacesetter, called a rabbit, who determines the pace at certain intervals.
Most people have a “rabbit,” be it Jesus or some other standard barrier. Such a one becomes one’s idol to be modeled. Select your rabbit with care knowing where he is going.
One old timer advised a younger person, “Be careful who you identify with, because if they falter or fail you will be identified with the failure.”
Even Jesus had a motivating factor. He is spoken of as He “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
His eyes were not on the cross. He looked beyond it to the joy it made possible. The joy He experienced because of the cross motivated Him. It was joy found in the completion of His earthly mission in opening the portal of heaven to whosoever would accept His invitation.
As you look unto Him, include your aspiration to hear His “Well done.”