SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/20/2018 10:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Divine Perspective”
Bible Reading & Mediation Reference: Ephesians 1:11, 12b
Message of
the verses: “having been predestined according to His
purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that
we…should be to the praise of His glory.”
In our last SD we mentioned why these verses are out of
order, that is because the way we read them in this SD is the way they were in
the original Greek. Also we stated that
“The Divine Perspective” is a sub-section under the main section “The ground of
our inheritance,” and in our last SD we looked at the first sub sub-section
“God’s predestination.” Now in today’s SD
we want to begin by looking at the next section “God’s power” which comes from
“who works all things after the counsel of His will.”
When
we look at the Greek for the word “works” we come up with the following
meanings:
“1) to be operative, be at work, put forth power
1a) to work for one, aid one
2) to effect
3) to display
one’s activity, show one’s self operative.”
The English words that come from
this Greek word include energy, energetic, and energize. MacArthur writes that “God’s creating and
energizing are one in His divine mind.
When he spoke each part of the world into existence it began immediately
to operate precisely as He had planned it to do. Unlike the things we make, God’s creations does
not have to be redesigned, prototyped, tested, fueled, charged, and the
like. They are not only created ready to
function, they are created functioning.”
We may not think a lot about the
energizing aspect of God’s creation, none the less it is very important and is
an indispensable part of His creative plan and work. MacArthur adds “God works out what He
plans. He energizes every believer with
all the power necessary for his spiritual completion. It is not sufficient to think that God only
makes the plan. He also makes it work
out.” Paul speaks about this in Phil.
1:6 where he wrote “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who
began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” This plan of God for believers is a part of
His wonderful grace as God chose us to be His children, citizens of His kingdom
and joint heirs with His Son, and that sounds too good to be true, however
every word of it is true. I pray that we
can wrap our arms around this truth and live like we are in God’s eyes. I once heard a sermon a very long time ago
entitled “Becoming what you Are,” and the point of the sermon is to live like
God sees us, as it is a part of being heavenly minded.
God’s
preeminence: “should be to the
praise of His glory.” I mentioned this
above that this phrase in verse 12 should be first as it is in the Greek text,
and that order fits logically with what Paul has been saying about God’s
perspective on our inheritance.
The following is a rather long
quote, but it is the only way that I can do justice to what this section is
about:
“The Lord’s perspective and working are seen in His predestination, in
His power, and as we see here, in His preeminence. Man is redeemed for the purpose of restoring
the divine image marred by sin. Because
God’s intention in creating men was that they should bear the divine image,
salvation’s goal is creation’s goal. God
desires creatures that will give Him glory by both proclaiming and displaying
His glory. For that reason He redeems
men.
“Scripture always presents
salvation from God’s side, in order that He should have full credit. In our humanly-oriented society, God’s
wanting exclusive credit seems inappropriate—but only because men have no
concept of His greatness, holiness, and glory.
What views they may have of Him are simply projections of
themselves. The praise and glory that
men so much desire are totally undeserved, and their motives for wanting them
are purely sinful. But God seeks glory
for the right reasons and because He alone is deserving of it. His seeking glory is a holy desire of which
He is supremely and singly worthy.
“Our predestined
salvation, including our attendant eternal and boundless blessings, are
therefore designed that ‘they should be to the praise of His glory.’”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: As I am
studying in the past month things that speak of God’s great gift of salvation
along with all of these wonderful blessings that He has given to us and
wondering what to make of them I think that in this last section the light has
finally come on and all of these gifts, including the greatest gift of
salvation is to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ who has provided all of
this to me as a believer. As MacArthur
states that they are designed that “they should be to the praise of His
glory.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: Be
determined to live my life to the praise of His glory who deserves it all.
Answer to
yesterday’s Bible question: “Upon the
sun.”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who was noted for fast
driving?” (This is a difficult question
as it surely stumped me, and so the clue I will give is that this man was a
king in the divided nation of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.)
Answer in our
next SD.
11/20/2018
11:38 AM
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