Submitting to One Another (and other devotionals)

Submitting to One Another

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

If we are going to survive in the tough times of our lives, we must learn to submit. That’s right. Now, I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but let me explain.

The Word of God teaches us that no one is inferior to anyone else. We are one in Jesus Christ. Submission is something we do to one another “in the fear of God” (Ephesians 5:21). Through submission comes power and victory.

Do you want to know a good definition of submission? Here it is: Submission is one equal willingly placing himself under another equal that God may therefore be glorified.

ACTION POINT:

We are never more like Jesus than when we submit. And never more like the devil than when we rebel.

~Adrian Rogers~

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Little by Little

Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.

Exodus 23:30

In Chapter 23, God grants the Israelites various promises, including utterly overthrowing and completely cutting off their enemies. The Lord further states that He will bless their bread and water and take their sicknesses away. With the Lord on their side, the Israelites cannot lose.  But in verse 30, the Lord says that He will fulfill His promises by driving out their enemies little by little. Why? Why doesn't God just wipe their enemies out like He did the Egyptians as they entered the Red Sea? What benefit is there to do it little by little?

Exodus 23:29 says "I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field become too numerous for you." In other words, a place of instant abundance and blessings would be harmful for the Israelites. Blessings are not true blessings unless they come when we are able to handle them. Think of areas in your life that you would love to see the Lord work in you today. Maybe you need deliverance from sin that seems to have trapped you or maybe it is your finances. The list can go on and on. God wants to deliver you and bless you, but He will only give you what you can handle. God knows what is best for us. Even the blessings can become curses if we do not have the wisdom, maturity and honesty to handle them.

The Lord's timing is never too late nor too slow. He is patient and kind, assessing the whole situation, so that when He fulfills His promises in you, you will be able to receive them in peace. We want the quick fix or the instant gratification. We want the immediate and the miraculous. However, God's ways are not our ways and He desires to give us a future life in His promises. Little by little, complete victory will be yours by having faith and patience day by day.

~Daily Disciples Devotional~

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Deliverance Not Limited 

"He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee"   (Job 5:19).

Eliphaz in this spoke the truth of God. We may have as many troubles as the workdays of the week, but the God who worked on those six days will work for us till our deliverance is complete. We shall rest with Him and in Him on our Sabbath. The rapid succession of trials is one of the sorest tests of faith. Before we have recovered from one blow it is followed by another and another till we are staggered. Still, the equally quick succession of deliverances is exceedingly cheering. New songs are rung out upon the anvil by the hammer of affliction, till we see in the spiritual world the antitype of "the Harmonious Blacksmith." Our confidence is that when the LORD makes our trials six, six they will be and no more. It may be that we have no rest day, for seamen troubles come upon us. What then? "In seven there shall be no evil touch thee." Evil may roar at us, but it shall be kept at more than arm's length and shall not even touch us. Its hot breath may distress us, but its little finger cannot be laid upon us. With our loins girt about us, we will meet the six or the seven troubles and leave fear to those who have no Father, no Savior, and no Sanctifier.

~Charles Spurgeon~

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Bad to Worse

Today's reading: 2 Samuel 13:20-39

David's family situation is a mess. Amnon has raped his half sister Tamar, Absalom (Tamar's brother and Amnon's half brother) now hates Amnon and is set on getting revenge for Tamar, and David who is "angry" about Amnon's actions does nothing to address or make right what has taken place and completely disrupted his family. It's not a pretty scene to begin with, and it only gets worse as time goes on.

Once again, there are numerous lessons for us from this passage--parenting, anger, revenge, relationships. The main thing that stood out to from this story was David's lack of action once he learns that Amnon has raped Tamar. Rather than stepping up and dealing with a messy, difficult situation between his children, he chose to ignore it, probably hoping that time would take care of the problem. However, the exact opposite happens. The unresolved situation only serves to grow and fester Absalom's hatred, and ultimately leads him down the path to murder.

Based on this passage and your own experiences, how important is it to address conflict within your family before it escalates? What about in situations at work or at church? 

~Tami~

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Simultaneously Righteous and a Sinner? by Tullian Tchividjian

“Sinner” is an identity word and is misapplied if it’s used to name the Christian’s identity—their person. Before God, identity is not a both/and (sinner and righteous); it is an either/or (sinner or righteous). The basis of this difference is not anthropological (what I do or don’t do). It is strictly and solely Christological: to be in Christ is to be righteous before God. Paul does something unprecedented (in comparison with early Jewish literature) in that he designates all people outside Christ with the identity “sinner” (Romans 5:8, for example). But even more novel and scandalous is his corresponding claim that it is precisely “sinners” who are identified as “righteous” in Christ (Romans 3:23-24). So, to borrow an expression from a Reformation confession, while the old Adam is a “stubborn, recalcitrant donkey,” this does not define Christian identity before God.... The pastoral payoff here is that it enables us to affirm (without crossing our fingers) that in Christ—at the level of identity—the Christian is 100% righteous before God while at the same time recognizing the persistence of sin. If we don’t speak in terms of two total states (100% righteous in Christ and 100% sinful in ourselves) corresponding to the co-existence of two times (the old age and the new creation), then the undeniable reality of ongoing sin leads to the qualification of our identity in Christ: the existence of some sin must mean that one is not totally righteous. This is acid at the very foundation of the peace we have with God on the other side of justification. To say simul iustus et peccatoris [simultaneously righteous and a sinner] is therefore not to say that “sinner” is our identity; it is to say that while we remain sinful in ourselves we are, in Christ, totally righteous.This pastoral pattern is reflected in 1 Corinthians. In themselves, the Corinthians are anything but sanctified saints: they are quarreling and creating factions around various Christian leaders; they are taking one another to court; sexual immorality is rampant; the bodily resurrection is being denied; worship is chaotic. But writing to these people in the face of this sin, Paul addresses them as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2). The possibility of this kind of speech is anchored in a distinction between who the Corinthians are in themselves and who they are in Christ. This confident and creative “calling”—this naming of a person in terms of who they are in Christ—is the catalyst of change. To call a person by their “new name” is to summon them away from faith in themselves–away from the sin and death that defines the old age–and to summon them to faith in Christ, to the salvation and status that defines the new creation and the Christian as one whose identity is “hid with God in Christ.”