Wisdom for life is best given at the end of one’s life. With age comes experience and with experience comes wisdom. Hence the value of the book of Ecclesiastes. Writing about life as his own came to a close, Solomon expresses the virtues of a life well-spent and the vanity of a life wasted.
Last week I was given the opportunity to give a devotional to the lower level of my dorm here at Faith Baptist Bible College. During my time here at school, I have really been challenged with the importance of using time wisely and redeeming it as Paul exhorted Christians to do in Ephesians 5:15-16. So the topic of my devo last week was using time wisely, and my text was Ecclesiastes 12:9-14. After studying the passage and talking about it to the guys here, I was challenged to read through the book of Ecclesiastes for my daily devotions.
Category: Bible
iConfess
All right…so the next time you feel burdened down with your load of sins, iHave the perfect solution for you (no pun intended, but since I left it, I guess it becomes intentional). iThink you just might like this…Actually, iDidn’t come up with this solution but iAm referring you to it. Introducing (drum roll please) the new confession app for the iPhone, appropriately named “Confession: A Roman Catholic App“. That’s right. If you sin, you can go straight to your iPhone to take care of your problem and entirely bypass any other system. Bye-bye confession booths- you have gone out of style.
Striving to Be an Abomination
Not the average goal for a born-again believer, huh? But why not? It’s a worthy goal on second thought, is it not?
Perhaps an explanation would be helpful here before you entirely tune me out. Proverbs 29:27 says, “An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked” (NKJV). Does that clear up any confusion you might have had?
After reading this verse in my personal devotions with God one day, I thought to myself, “I want to be an abomination!” Of course, I want to be an abomination of the latter sort- “an abomination to the wicked.” Oh may I never be “an abomination to the righteous.” Those are the ones whom I wanted to be counted among.
For the past several months, I have been working on memorizing the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7. It has been slow going, but I’m learning from it, thus fulfilling the main objective. As I meditate on the significance of Proverbs 29:27, I can’t help but also think of Matthew 5:11-12 which says, “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before me” (NKJV).
My desire is not to go around and to make everyone hate me, but rather to be so much like Christ and so much unlike the world that the world doesn’t like it. If Christ is repulsive to sinful mankind then I want the same to be true of me. At the same time, I want to be an abomination in such a way that the unsaved see their own sinful condition and the abomination that they are to God.
The bottom line? “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2, NKJV).
God, make me an abomination to the wicked so that I may expose others to your glory.
Living with No Rights is Living the Right Way
Wielding a hammer, the master firmly struck the awl through the soft flesh and into the door post. The servant bravely suppressed a scream that tried to escape his mouth as pain seared through his ear lobe. But he was not afraid or distressed by the situation. No, he was full of joy and pride because of the significance of the moment. This man just made the transition from a servant to a bondservant. He would never be free again, and he had no rights, but he was happy. He was happy because he had chosen to be compelled to serve his master…for the rest of his life.
My blog as a melody for Christ
The subtitle of my website is “Serving the God I Love.” This blog willl hopefully be another way I can do that through the tool of writing. Just as an instrument is capable of playing more than one melody or emitting more than one style of music, I want to “play” more than one melody for Christ, and my love for writing is just another style of music that I want to use for Christ.
The sub-purposes of this blog are several. I want to use it to communicate my beliefs and convictions in a biblical manner as a resource for others who want to know my stand on different issues. Secondly, I want to use it as a personal method of learning, recalling things that I learn each week in school, church, and ministry so that the concepts I am taught will be further ingrained in my mind. Finally, I want this blog to be an avenue by which my family, friends, and church can stay up-to-date on what God is teaching me and doing in my life. If you are one of those people, thank you for your prayers and frequent words of encouragement.
May God be glorified through this blog, and I pray that others will also be challenged and encouraged through it.
