Time with Jesus - Saturday, 16 June
2012
Hi all,
How do we cope with being a
Christian in the 20th/21st century? It really depends on
your commitment and willingness to carry on. It also depends on what we regard
as “success”. I think our ideas and Jesus’ ideas are not the same. How we get
on is the subject of today’s meditation
Blessings
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
|
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
Time with Jesus – Saturday, 16 June 2012
|
Matt 10:8
Freely you received, Freely give |
||||
|
©
|
These
devotionals are the intellectual property of Jim Strickland and copyright
protected. You are welcome to copy and distribute them to anyone provided it
is for non-commercial Christian purposes
|
©
|
||||
|
INTRODUCTION
|
DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES
|
FINISHING
THE RACE
|
||||
|
Stick-ability. One of the most difficult things we
face as Christians and as people is to keep on keeping on.
Many of us are excellent starters. But then it becomes
boring and we stop. Perhaps the best example of this is going to the gym. We
go and sign up for a fixed period. Usually two or three years. Then we go
along for the first time. It’s new and exciting. It’s a bit like the first bloom
of love. Wonderful. We’ll do this forever. After a couple of weeks, the gilt
starts to wear off the gingerbread and our enthusiasm wanes. After about
three months, it gets a bit tedious. All that keeps us going is the fact that
we’ve paid up front for two or three years. It cost us a lot of money and we
don’t want to lose it. Then we don’t attend as often as we should. Then
finally we get to the stage where it’s too much of a schlep. Perhaps we’ve
paid lots of money. But the investment is forgotten and we pull out. Of
course there are those who carry on to the bitter end. There are also those
who have made a commitment and the gym becomes a regular lifestyle. Which
type are you?
Things are not a lot different in Christianity.
Jesus’ parable of the sower puts it in perspective. Today, things are little
different. I remember the joy that overflowed in my heart when the Lord found
me. Things somehow looked different. They were! But suddenly I found that
many of my former habits and beliefs had to be put aside. This was not a
problem at first. Then after a few months, friends wanted me to do some of
the things I felt were incompatible with being a Christian. It was a struggle
to say “No!” Sadly, I lost many of these friends. At the time I thought it
was what the Lord wanted me to do. On reflection I think it was more a question
putting on a Christian face for Christian people. I’m sorry now that I lost
those friends. Within six months I only had Christian friends. It sounds very
noble and right. But my former friends were no longer impacted for Jesus. I’d
isolated myself from “ungodly influence” and was regarded as a freak.
There was a movie on the circuit in those days
called “Elmer Gantry”. I have it on DVD. It was the story of an unsavoury
“evangelist” who had one purpose in mind. He wanted to corrupt the Salvation
Army Lady Officer who was the heroine. How he did this and the way he “duped”
people into giving their lives to Jesus, I found very disturbing. It still
happens. Some men will do almost anything to corrupt a faithful and devoted
young woman who wants nothing more than to serve Jesus. Why I mention this is
that one morning I came to work and found that my wooden toolbox had been
painted. Someone wrote “Elmer Gantry” in paint on my toolbox. It reflected his
opinion of my Christian witness.
It is 50 years since that happened. Hopefully I’ve
learned one or two things in the interim. Even so, I recognise how unloving
and objectionable I was back then.
Perhaps the only thing I can comment usefully on from
those days of objectionable arrogance, is that many men have made commitments
to Jesus since then. Many of them are no longer even pretending to follow
Jesus. My problem is I cannot quit. I’ve tried to do it, but the pain of
being without Him is worse than the pain of following Him. So now, all these
years later for Phyllida and me there is no longer an alternative. He is our
reason for living. Even so, Come Lord Jesus!
Jim & Phyllida Strickland
|
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you
have, so that no one will take away your crown.
Revelation
3:11 NLT
21 She thought, "If I only touch his
clothes, I'll get well."
Matthew
9:21 GW
2 Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached Him and knelt before Him.
"Lord," the man said, "if You are
willing, You can heal me and make me clean." 3 Jesus
reached out and touched him. "I am
willing," He said. "Be healed!" And instantly the
leprosy disappeared.
Matthew
8:2-3 NLT
20 He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say
to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard
seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it
will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."
Matthew
17:20 ESV
35 So do not throw away
this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings
you!
Hebrews
10:35 NLT
12 My dear friends, you have always obeyed God. You obeyed while I was
with you. And you have obeyed even more while I am not with you. So continue to work out your own salvation. Do it with
fear and trembling. 13 God is
working in you. He wants your plans and your acts to be in keeping with his
good purpose.
Philippians
2:12-13 NIrV
28 The earth does it all without his help: first
a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain.
Mark 4:28
MSG
3 Let us know; let us press on to know the
LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the
showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."
Hosea 6:3
ESV
12 From the time of John the Baptizer until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful
people have been seizing it.
Matthew
11:12 GW
24 Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person
gets the prize? So run to win!
1
Corinthians 9:24 NLT
7 I have fought the good fight, I have
finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 8 And now the prize awaits me--the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of His return.
And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to His
appearing.
2 Timothy
4:7-8 NLT
|
We talk of Christian giants and of faithful
men of old.
I’m sure they won’t agree with you;
such comments leave them cold.
We speak of William Wigglesworth and
all that he achieved:
But if he heard us speak like that,
I’m sure he would feel grieved.
We think he was “successful”; that he
was greatly blessed.
But if we go and ask him, I’m sure he’d
have confessed;
He only did his duty as His Master’s
“worthless slave”
“Well done My faithful servant!” is
all he’d really craved.
I think that D L Moody and Spurgeon
would agree,
That when their race was over, “The master came for me!
It was no great achievement” is what they both would say.
“The only thing I ever did was Jesus all the way!”
We
see the self-same attitude to Timothy from Paul.
Some would say, “successful” But he’d say, “Not at all!”
“Perhaps
my best achievement was finishing the race.
In spite of all the problems I was required to face!
Just
one thing kept me going; to run to win the prize.
And see the loving-kindness expressed in Jesus eyes!
I
am no Christian giant. I don’t deserve a thing.
I laboured for my Master. To Him, my
praise I bring.”
I’m sure no matter who you ask they’ll
answer just the same.
That everything they ever did was done
in Jesus name.
The woman got her healing through the
tassels on His shawl.
Then Jesus told her firmly, her faith
had done it all.
She knew that He could do it and she
stretched forth her hand.
Her bleeding stopped and she was
healed by His inward command.
He cleansed the man with leprosy; He
raised men from the dead.
He was the one who did it, just as His
Father said.
So let us all be honest. It isn’t me or
you.
It’s all the work the Father said that
Jesus was to do.
There are no Christian giants. There’s
only you and me
To do what He has told us, and be what
we should be.
We’re called to serve His purpose; to
listen to His voice
And do what He’s commanded, like it’s
our only choice.
We’re called to go the distance. To
finish with a flair.
To know, whatever happens, Christ
Jesus will be there.
To face up to our challenges and never
ever quit.
For those who do not finish, are
certainly unfit,
To go into His Kingdom. The Righteous
crown we’ll wear,
Only at the finish line. We’ve got to “hang
in there”.
So do not slip or stumble and put the
race aside
For if you do, you’ll surely find,
you’ve been disqualified.
Jim Strickland
Written 16th
June 2012
|
||||
