I recently wrote that if a young man were to stand on my front porch asking for permission to try to win the heart of my daughter, I could tell whether he was marriage material or not by observing how his morning begins.
If he hates getting up in the morning, he could still be a nice, Christian boy but he definitely is not marriage material. And we don't want any more mere nice, Christian boys starting families in the Church of Yeshua ha Mashiach.
Why? He is manifesting that he doesn't know why he has been purchased by the blood of the only Begotten of the Father. He is revealing that he views his participation in the race as not particularly at the top of his list or that whatever the high calling of Jesus Christ is, it doesn't have a claim on his schedule today, or that all potentialities have been addressed and all that is left is to patiently wait for the Rapture. [... vomit.]
Judgment Day is going to be a bad day for that man.
At a local business called Laser Quest, we hunt each other and make a game of it. Each wears a vest (breastplate of righteousness substitute) that records a hit from a laser, friendly or not. When your vest light comes on, you're dead and out of the game. Or, even more fantastically, when you've been hit a predetermined number of times, you're dead and then out of the game.
You know it's a game because in this particular make-believe world, nobody actually dies. You hit the reset button and all is well, everybody gets back up and into the game again, everyone goes home to their families or back to their sin patterns, or whatever constitutes the true love of their lives.
How do you know if you are playing games with your faith? How do you know if you love the world?
One way is this: if the way we live our lives demonstrates that we believe that nobody actually dies or suffers judgment of eternal sorrow, we're playing games with our faith. We would be acting as if no one is in trouble, there are no warnings to give, there is no sovereign God arranging divine appointments, there is no reason to be concerned about keeping His commandments, no effort is applied to the pursuit of godliness, etc. etc. In the words of Psalm 94:17: "settled in silence". Lethargic.
Nobody is going to hell in our game of faith and no one need be concerned about their fruitfulness either. We demonstrate that by the fact that we do not warn men. By the fact that we do not bring up the judgment. We also irrationally demonstrate that we don't think we will be held accountable for every idle word because our day is filled with non-purposed, unemployed-for-the-Kingdom-of-God-type words. In fact, we probably do not even bless our brothers as we go through the day in order that they may bear much fruit for the coming Refiner's Fire to reveal. Even though we've been called to do that (Psalm 129:8 and 1Peter 3:8-9), we feel strangely empowered to ignore it.
How do you know you don't have a concern about keeping His commandments? Because there is no evidence of intentionality in your morning. You had a good dose of Manna from Heaven last Sunday, and even though you haven't thought about it since, you actually believe, evidenced by the lack of pursuit, that it was enough and all is well and you have need of nothing. Your praying as you start your day does not sound anything like the prayer Yeshua gave in answer to a very specific request to teach how to pray. Somehow, the details of His ways escape our notice.
This is because someone convinced you that you are wealthy, well-taken-care-of in your faith and have need of nothing (Revelation 3:15-17).
I wonder who that 'someone' might be?
Because, since we have been carefully instructed by Peter that we must add to our faith if we would have any hope of being supplied an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of our God, we must give all diligence. The bottom line is: no abundant fruit, no abundant entrance.
Give all diligence. What does that look like?
The movie 'Rudy' is a picture of giving all diligence. Here is a young man with a dream of playing football for Notre Dame, mainly for his father's sake, because he loves his father. Rudy is height and weight challenged for such a pursuit. But, even so, the coach lusts that every one on the team, who are actually built like football players, would have the heart that Rudy has. It is his heart of pursuit that equips him to finally get in the last 2 minutes of the last game of the season and to be honored by all the big, strapping giants of the team when they carry him off the field on their shoulders. True story. 1975 was the last time anyone was carried out of the Notre Dame football stadium on the shoulders of the rest of the team.
What happened that the privileged players of the football team would honor this small man? They saw him get his carcass crushed in practice play after play after play for two solid, brutal years. They saw him, bloodily beat to a pulp, pop up from the ground to run back to his position in the line that ensured he would get 'freight-trained' again on the next play. They saw him come in each and every week to the bulletin board outside the coach's office to check the list of who would suit up for the next game, week after week after week to never find his name there. He never gave up and he stole their hearts.
He was faithful; he was persistent; he was diligent. He presented his body as a living sacrifice. That is the picture of what is required in the faith.
Diligent means getting back up in the game when you get the crap beat out of you. When you seemingly fail the first time. And the next. And the next. And the next. How quickly you get back into the game is the measure of a man. Rudy was knocked down over and over again, but he never failed. He, the smallest, drove the team. He, the lightest, was the one preparing the team for actual combat the following Friday night by his tenacious pursuit of whoever had the ball during practice. He was continually kissing the ground through his blood but stole the heart of every player on the team. You should watch this movie. It is a must-see.
With all diligence, we must add to our faith seven essential things. 2Peter 1:5-8. Giving all diligence. Proverbs says that diligence is the precious possession of a man. Proverbs 12:27. From the exhortation to do it with all diligence we know we are entering the arena to fight. There will be fierce opposition and you will taste blood and dirt in your mouth. You can stay out of the fight if you want to, but don't tell anyone you're a follower of Yeshua, alright?
No plan for a half a day remaining? Who's kingdom are you pursuing? Paul beat his body black and blue to make it do what it ought to do. What's up with that? He must believe there is a future reason to get it together and that he must be adding to his faith certain kinds of things lest after he preach to others, he should be found disqualified. So how's your day going? Are you in the fight? Or is it 'Game Over' for you who believe you are on your way to Heaven?
It better be 'Game On' because of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Take note of the great care and tenderness of our Shepherd who gives to us rest first before we take on the day. In God's kingdom, the day starts the night before at dusk. So when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the day is half over and it's time to seize it for the coming Kingdom. Our King refreshes us first, then expects us to execute the battle plan.
His plan? It's a triad of triads - the prayer Yeshua gave His disciples. I'll cover that tomorrow.
If he hates getting up in the morning, he could still be a nice, Christian boy but he definitely is not marriage material. And we don't want any more mere nice, Christian boys starting families in the Church of Yeshua ha Mashiach.
Why? He is manifesting that he doesn't know why he has been purchased by the blood of the only Begotten of the Father. He is revealing that he views his participation in the race as not particularly at the top of his list or that whatever the high calling of Jesus Christ is, it doesn't have a claim on his schedule today, or that all potentialities have been addressed and all that is left is to patiently wait for the Rapture. [... vomit.]
Judgment Day is going to be a bad day for that man.
At a local business called Laser Quest, we hunt each other and make a game of it. Each wears a vest (breastplate of righteousness substitute) that records a hit from a laser, friendly or not. When your vest light comes on, you're dead and out of the game. Or, even more fantastically, when you've been hit a predetermined number of times, you're dead and then out of the game.
You know it's a game because in this particular make-believe world, nobody actually dies. You hit the reset button and all is well, everybody gets back up and into the game again, everyone goes home to their families or back to their sin patterns, or whatever constitutes the true love of their lives.
How do you know if you are playing games with your faith? How do you know if you love the world?
One way is this: if the way we live our lives demonstrates that we believe that nobody actually dies or suffers judgment of eternal sorrow, we're playing games with our faith. We would be acting as if no one is in trouble, there are no warnings to give, there is no sovereign God arranging divine appointments, there is no reason to be concerned about keeping His commandments, no effort is applied to the pursuit of godliness, etc. etc. In the words of Psalm 94:17: "settled in silence". Lethargic.
Nobody is going to hell in our game of faith and no one need be concerned about their fruitfulness either. We demonstrate that by the fact that we do not warn men. By the fact that we do not bring up the judgment. We also irrationally demonstrate that we don't think we will be held accountable for every idle word because our day is filled with non-purposed, unemployed-for-the-Kingdom-of-God-type words. In fact, we probably do not even bless our brothers as we go through the day in order that they may bear much fruit for the coming Refiner's Fire to reveal. Even though we've been called to do that (Psalm 129:8 and 1Peter 3:8-9), we feel strangely empowered to ignore it.
How do you know you don't have a concern about keeping His commandments? Because there is no evidence of intentionality in your morning. You had a good dose of Manna from Heaven last Sunday, and even though you haven't thought about it since, you actually believe, evidenced by the lack of pursuit, that it was enough and all is well and you have need of nothing. Your praying as you start your day does not sound anything like the prayer Yeshua gave in answer to a very specific request to teach how to pray. Somehow, the details of His ways escape our notice.
This is because someone convinced you that you are wealthy, well-taken-care-of in your faith and have need of nothing (Revelation 3:15-17).
I wonder who that 'someone' might be?
Because, since we have been carefully instructed by Peter that we must add to our faith if we would have any hope of being supplied an abundant entrance into the Kingdom of our God, we must give all diligence. The bottom line is: no abundant fruit, no abundant entrance.
Give all diligence. What does that look like?
The movie 'Rudy' is a picture of giving all diligence. Here is a young man with a dream of playing football for Notre Dame, mainly for his father's sake, because he loves his father. Rudy is height and weight challenged for such a pursuit. But, even so, the coach lusts that every one on the team, who are actually built like football players, would have the heart that Rudy has. It is his heart of pursuit that equips him to finally get in the last 2 minutes of the last game of the season and to be honored by all the big, strapping giants of the team when they carry him off the field on their shoulders. True story. 1975 was the last time anyone was carried out of the Notre Dame football stadium on the shoulders of the rest of the team.
What happened that the privileged players of the football team would honor this small man? They saw him get his carcass crushed in practice play after play after play for two solid, brutal years. They saw him, bloodily beat to a pulp, pop up from the ground to run back to his position in the line that ensured he would get 'freight-trained' again on the next play. They saw him come in each and every week to the bulletin board outside the coach's office to check the list of who would suit up for the next game, week after week after week to never find his name there. He never gave up and he stole their hearts.
He was faithful; he was persistent; he was diligent. He presented his body as a living sacrifice. That is the picture of what is required in the faith.
Diligent means getting back up in the game when you get the crap beat out of you. When you seemingly fail the first time. And the next. And the next. And the next. How quickly you get back into the game is the measure of a man. Rudy was knocked down over and over again, but he never failed. He, the smallest, drove the team. He, the lightest, was the one preparing the team for actual combat the following Friday night by his tenacious pursuit of whoever had the ball during practice. He was continually kissing the ground through his blood but stole the heart of every player on the team. You should watch this movie. It is a must-see.
With all diligence, we must add to our faith seven essential things. 2Peter 1:5-8. Giving all diligence. Proverbs says that diligence is the precious possession of a man. Proverbs 12:27. From the exhortation to do it with all diligence we know we are entering the arena to fight. There will be fierce opposition and you will taste blood and dirt in your mouth. You can stay out of the fight if you want to, but don't tell anyone you're a follower of Yeshua, alright?
No plan for a half a day remaining? Who's kingdom are you pursuing? Paul beat his body black and blue to make it do what it ought to do. What's up with that? He must believe there is a future reason to get it together and that he must be adding to his faith certain kinds of things lest after he preach to others, he should be found disqualified. So how's your day going? Are you in the fight? Or is it 'Game Over' for you who believe you are on your way to Heaven?
It better be 'Game On' because of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Take note of the great care and tenderness of our Shepherd who gives to us rest first before we take on the day. In God's kingdom, the day starts the night before at dusk. So when your feet hit the floor in the morning, the day is half over and it's time to seize it for the coming Kingdom. Our King refreshes us first, then expects us to execute the battle plan.
His plan? It's a triad of triads - the prayer Yeshua gave His disciples. I'll cover that tomorrow.