SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/19/2014 11:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus: A Total
Transformation from Idolatry
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1
Thessalonians 1:9b
Message of the
verses: “and how you turned to God from idols to serve a
living and true God.”
I posted something of Facebook this morning that goes along with what
we are studying in this portion of 1 Thessalonians and would like to put it
here, but first a little background on how I happened to read what I am about
to quote. Last night was one of those
nights when I could not sleep as I was up to sometime after 3:00 AM. I had read a little bit from the book that I
have been reading “The Joy of Knowing God” right before I planned on going to
sleep, but sleep would not come to me and so I finished the chapter before I
finally went to sleep. The book is about
the attributes of God, and the attribute that I was studying last night was
God’s Jealously. Now how can the
jealously and the study of turning from idols to serve the living God go
together? Well I hope the quote will
explain that. “If God, by virtue of His essential being, must be
jealous for His uniqueness and His supremacy above all, then those who know Him
and want to please Him should be just as jealous for Him. If we are serious about our relationship with
Him, we shall exalt Him above everyone and everything else in our lives; we
shall be absolutely dedicated to living for His honor; we shall be zealously
committed to doing His will. The primary
goal of our lives will be to show the world that our God is the one true and
living God—that he alone makes life meaningful and worthwhile.
“We live in a pagan society
where money is god and material possessions are the chief object of man’s
worship. We need people who will be very
jealous for the Lord God of hosts, people who will stand alone if need be
against this insidious and contagious brand of idolatry and show the world that
the Lord is God, people who will adopt a simpler life style and use their resources
for His glory rather than for their own comforts and pleasures.” (The Joy of Knowing God by Richard Strauss)
I suppose that when we look at the
last half of verse nine from 1 Thessalonians we think that we do not have the
problems that those people had before they became believers, as we don’t bow
down to idols like they did, but do we?
An idol is anything that keeps us from the true worship of God. “1Then God spoke all these words, saying,
2 "I am the LORD your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself
an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or
in the water under the earth. 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for
I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on
the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6
but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments
(Exodus 20:1-6).” This is the first of
the Ten Commandments, so we must believe that the Lord had great reason to make
this the first.
This is the 9th
characteristic of the elect and it shows that the Thessalonian believers went
from the worship of idols to the worship of God, for they had a new Master and
it showed in their lives that they had a new Master. Remember 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if anyone is
in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things
have come.” John MacArthur writes the
following about the word “turned.”
Turned is from the verb epistrepho,
which is used in the New Testament to indicate the fact that in the sinner’s
conversion there is a turning in the absolute opposite direction. (Acts 9:35; 11:21; 26:18; 2 Cor 3:15; cf.
Luke 1:16; James 5:20). Such conversion entails
repentance, a turning from idols and in faith submitting to the Savior alone
(Acts 20:21). Such turning is far
more than merely changing one’s belief about who Christ is—it is a complete
reversal of allegiance, from idols to serve a living and true God. The word Paul chose for serve (doleuein) means to serve as a
bond-slave, which was the most demanding form of servitude.” I can understand this turning and serving a
new God from the time of my conversion in January of 1974.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: A desire
to live a more simple life and to be able to give more to the cause of Christ,
for that is the best investment one can make.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Allow the
Holy Spirit to give me the grace to commit to serve Him and to bring honor to
my Lord.
Memory
verses for the week: Philippians 2:5-9
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was
also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He
existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be
grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking
the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being
found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly
exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.”
Answer to
yesterday’s Bible question: “Joshua”
(Joshua 24:15).
Today’s
Bible question: “where did Cain go to
live after killing Able?”
Answer in
our next SD.
3/19/2014
12:10 PM
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