Good Morning Friends,
From an early age we learn about picking and selecting when it comes to options as to team members and leaders and spouses. There is an order to the process much like the order of our alphabet and the order of our lives. Between our Birth and Death comes Choices. They are made with certain needs and wants in mind and can bring success or failure, happiness, or sadness, make us win or lose. In many ways the election is a process that is deciding on something, or someone not made in the moment but in consideration of many things over time. When Jesus chose the disciples, there was a purpose behind it all that is instructive in what decisions we are to make and those that are made for us. And so, even the small choices we make each and every day have a collective impact over time, and an especially positive one if done out of love for the right things. Consider it destiny. Applying this concept to our life, the more fruitful and meaningful our decisions for the Kingdom of God, the better the providence. Things came together for Solomon when he chose wisdom perhaps because God had already decided to give him what he desired. It did after all, in some ways, benefit the Kingdom of God as well as Solomon. So, What Choices Will You Treasure?
Scripture: At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.
1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 (NRSV)
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Romans 8:28-30 (NRSV)
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
Matthew 13:44-52 (NRSV)
Message: Growing up as children we learn that there are rewards and punishments in life defined by what was old in the light of what is new. I learned a sense of what was right and wrong when it came to people but when it came to the big picture of God I was reduced to small acts and decisions leading in the same general direction over a long period of time. God joined in what I was doing until I figured out that I was supposed to join God. That is why I do this devotional. But people will have doubts about becoming righteous and wonder if the effort is worth it simply because some people are blessed with the benefits of the world without following the Way of God. Thankfully
God considers us as jewels and of great value to be gathered together when Jesus comes again. But until then and especially then we are to believe that God has our best interests at heart. We are to believe that God wants us to live in the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of a moral and spiritual order for the Kingdom to come. We get the sense of this current benefit of the Christian life in today’s parable passage from Matthew guiding us to choose what is good. But its validation as to process is in our passage from Romans for it brings clarity to the issue of God’s will for us to love as being superior to our choices. Friends, if the righteous children of God ask God, the benefits of God’s love will become clear and so will God’s will. We are to trust Jesus as being more important than even having the wisdom of Solomon.
And So, if our minds feel worn out, we are probably not trusting God nearly enough. Sometimes knowing everything can be uncomfortable and can even hurt us. Where is our faith then? Regardless, it is difficult to exercise discernment if we are always trying to figure everything out. But when one is willing to trust God even when one cannot figure it all out, we have the opportunity for a peace that sets us free. This is the choice of a treasure that lasts. And in choosing a revelation of peace that comforts us despite limited faith. You see, trusting God, often, if not always, requires not knowing how God is going to accomplish what needs to be done and not knowing when it will be done. We often say God is never late, but generally God is not early either. Why? Because God uses times of waiting to stretch our faith and to bring about change and growth in our lives. Ultimately history has an end. Our citizenship is eventually in heaven. Until then our choices need a focus on the Kingdom of God, namely a society on earth in which God’s will is perfectly done as it is in heaven. Friends, public trust is the currency of those who serve in ministry and mission and if that trust is also in Jesus, then we have indeed been given the gift to succeed if we but choose to use the tools given by God to us.
Pray we choose wisely. Pray we desire God. Pray we seek the Kingdom of God first.
Pray
we take what the world sees as worthless and pour love into it. Pray we value the gift of Jesus and his righteousness and love. Pray we realize that we are to give back by loving others as God loves us. Pray we treat others in the same fair way that we want them to treat us and in the same fair way God treats us. Pray we have compassion for others just as God has compassion for us. Pray we trust God and have hope in belonging to God. Pray our requests are not deceptive, perverse, unkind, or abusive but reflect a righteousness that is also empowered by God’s goodwill for us in our calling. Pray therefore we respond to God with reverence and grace and persistence and purpose. Pray we serve God with courage and righteousness. Pray we are remembered as the faithful treasure of God forever. Pray our priority for Jesus clarifies and purifies the choices that we are to make each day.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 