Posts Tagged ‘ Glory ’

Tweets & Rants 14 March 2013: Matthew 25:14-30; Romans 8:18-39; Psalm 60; Numbers 31-32

believes that we find our greatest effectiveness for Christ’s kingdom when we accept His Lordship over His kingdom. Rom 8:30 @WeeManWest

believes that we show our understanding of Christ’s Lordship when we are willing to suffer all thing for His kingdom. Rom 8:37 @WeeManWest

is assured, if God is able to deliver 12K men from war harmless, so He is able to keep all who trust Christ in His hand. Num 31:49 @WeeManWest

Matthew 25:15 God gives each of us the responsibilities we have in this world on the basis of our ability. God has foreknowledge and knows us totally and He gives to us in accordance with what He knows we will produce. God entrusts those of us whom He knows will produce more for His kingdom more responsibility in His kingdom.

Matthew 25:27 God gives us His kingdom for the purpose of reproducing it. We are without excuse. He has not called us to preserve His kingdom, He promised to do that Himself. He has called us to cast the kingdom out like seed in a field, not store it in grain bins.

Romans 8:18 Our present suffering pales in comparison to the glory that God will reveal in us. He will certainly reveal His glory in us. This is part of our hope.

Romans 8:27 I’m glad to know that I don’t have to remember every prayer request in full detail. The Holy Spirit intercedes. I also know that I can lay before God the desires of my heart because I know that the Spirit intercedes for me in those desires that are in line with the will of God.

Romans 8:28 As far as the will of God is concerned and His people are concerned, all things work together to achieve His will and do good for His people. How willing are we to accept that our own death may be the best thing that ever happens to us and simultaneously the most productive thing for His kingdom in accordance with His will?

Romans 8:30 Unless we are in touch with the full sovereignty of our God this verse will make no sense. However, just like the parable of the talents, God knows who is going to respond to Him and how they are going to respond to Him. He knows this because He made each one of us as we are and know us intimately.

Romans 8:31 What does this mean? Does it mean we will have no more trials, troubles, persecutions, or martyrs in our midst? No! What it means is that in all those things God is working FOR us to bring about His will and kingdom through us. He is continually working on the side of His kingdom in accordance with His will. We must willingly accept whatever He has chosen for our role to be in that and fully embrace what it means for our lives…even if it means our own death.

Romans 8:37 In all what things? In tribulations, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, and even death as he quotes Psalm 44:22. No matter what Satan throws at us in order to destroy Christ’s kingdom it will be conquered through Christ. His will be done, His kingdom come. God sent His own Son to win this battle for His people. He will certainly use all things at His disposal to insure His kingdom come.

Psalm 60:4 Christ is God’s banner set up for us to flee to from our sinful, depraved, desolate and meaningless existence.

Psalm 60:11 All manner in which man tries to bring about his own salvation is worthless vanity. We cannot save ourselves. We must accept the salvation God has provided.

Psalm 60:12 As we go about daily, we are conquerors. Even if we give our lives we have the assurance that our blood will not have been shed in vain, but will have been shed in the accomplishment of His kingdom.

Numbers 31:16 Balaam still managed to turn a profit. He advised Balack to send the women of Midian among the Israelites to lead them astray so that maybe they would be defeated.

God’s kingdom prevailed.

Numbers 31:49 What a statement to God’s victorious power. 12,000 men go to war, 12,000 men return from war.

So it is with Christ, none who are in His hand will be snatched away by the enemy. Not a single one!

Numbers 32:5 The tribes of Reuben and Gad decide the land outside of the promised land is better for them. They ask for it. They swear an oath to continue fighting with all of Israel to conquer the promised land. Yet, their inheritance will be outside of the land.

How often are we driven by our sight to fall short of the promises of God!

2013
03/14
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Tweets & Rants 6 March 2013: Matthew 23:1-12; Romans 5:1-11; Psalm 53; Numbers 12-14

believes it is difficult to respect authority when that authority isn’t doing right, yet Jesus taught us to respect it. Mat 23:3 @WeeManWest

thinks someone/politicians labeling themselves a “servant” is more than likely trying to prove it to themselves. Mat 23:11 @WeeManWest

believes we should serve in humility demanding NOTHING, waiting patiently for Christ to exalt us in His due time. Mat 23:12 @WeeManWest

is certain that unless we believe we are sinful, corrupt, and incapable of good we will not be ready for Christ. Psa 53:3 @WeeManWest

wastes effort doing things expecting God to join in when instead he needs to join God where His is already working. Num 14:42@WeeManWest

Matthew 23:3 Jesus taught us a respect for authority while recognizing that often those in authority do not practice what they preach. Often those in authority will use their “authority” to create themselves and out clause or to just not abide by the standard they have set for the common person.

Matthew 23:4 So often those in authority use the burden and labor to keep the common man occupied while they themselves become the beneficiaries of the work of the common man.

Matthew 23:5 As Jesus teaches elsewhere so He revisits here, those who do their works to be seen by others are in the wrong. All the pomp and pageantry of this world is vanity. Whether its ceremonial pageantry in religion, industry, or politics you still face the same worthlessness.

Matthew 23:11 Serving others is what truly leads to greatness in the kingdom of Christ. Are we the servant or the served? Our goal should be to humble serve for the honor and will of Christ.

Applying this also to the political realm where our leaders call themselves “servants”. Servants don’t make the rules but rather abide by the rules of their master. When someone is a master, a rule-maker, they are not serving but are being served. Don’t be so easily decieved by the slick words and pageantry of the elites!

Matthew 23:12 If we must exalt ourselves then we are in defiance of Christ. We should serve in humility and demand NOTHING and wait patiently for Christ to exalt us in His due time!

Romans 5:2 We stand by the grace that we have accessed by faith we have received through Christ. Nothing of our salvation is our own it is all God’s and for His glory alone does it come to us.

We rejoice in this hope, that God is not looking at any of our works of which even the most righteous among them are like filthy rags, but rather that God looks at us and sees the works of Jesus Christ which are complete in Him alone.

I add nothing but my own sin to the equation. Yes, my faith leads me to good works that yet are tainted by my own sinful motivations, attitudes, and actions. Woe unto me if I were to think any work of my own added anything to what Christ has done to save me wholly and completely into everlasting life.

Romans 5:3 We rejoice in our sufferings. REALLY?! Last time I checked most of us tend to moan and complain in our sufferings. Paul is describing a faith that embraces our sufferings for the value they will produce in our lives.

Suffering stinks!

Yet suffering is the powerhouse of spiritual production for the life of faith! Suffering produces endurance in our walk. Endurance is beneficial in and of its own because we must endure so much turmoil at the hands of our enemy that we need the ability to endure.

However, endurance that is born through suffering then produces character in our walk. Character/integrity is a solid compass for all of our living. Character then produces hope. Why? Because our character witnesses to us  having been born from our endurance that was forged in our suffering. Our character KNOWS undoubtedly from where it has come and gives us hope of where we are going.

Romans 5:8 Jesus didn’t sit around and wait for us to get things right before He came to die for our sins and reconcile us to God. Jesus knew we would NEVER get things right. Instead, Jesus came at just the right time to reconcile us, the avowed enemies of God, to God. He died for His enemies!

Romans 5:10 How powerful the knowledge that Jesus died for us while we were His enemies in order to reconcile us to God and make us His allies! Why? Because now we can be even more confident that if God would spare not even His only Son on our behalf when we were His enemies how much more can we expect from God in our redemption now that we are reconciled to Him as His allies?!

Psalm 53:1 I’ve heard many a Christian assert that April 1 is National Atheist’s Day on the basis of this verse. Yet, the context here condemns all of mankind for we all live like atheists!

We live as though there is no God or worse yet that our achievements are our god or still even worse yet that our achievements make us a god!

Psalm 53:3 Until we take to heart what this verse says and realize that this verse is saying this about us we will not be ready to truly grow in Christ Jesus.

We are all fallen away and corrupted in this world. None of us are capable of doing anything truly good. We all carry some hidden motive, deep within our being, that taints even the best of our good works.

Numbers 12:1 Moses is catching it from all sides and angles. Not only are the people complaining about everything, but now also his own family is speaking against him. Many are the trials and troubles of the righteous in this world.

Numbers 12:3 Moses was very meek. He was extremely humble, even more humble than all the people on earth. Moses’ humility is what stands out in this episode more than anything.

Moses humbly complies and goes to the tent with Aaron and Miriam. When God has sentenced Miriam, Moses prays for her healing.

Meekness leads to mercy. Yet, neither meekness nor mercy are weaknesses but rather strengths. Humility and mercy are two of the most difficult things for us to do as human beings.

Numbers 13:28 Israel was to inherit the land and the spies’ report of the land was that it was good, it was exactly as God had promised. Yet, the big word is “however”. However shifts the emphasis from the land to its people.

They saw the land to be a good land but saw the task to conquer the land to be a giant task.

Numbers 13:30 Caleb views the land through faith and sees it as their land for the taking. What God has promised He will provide. Faith allows us to see God’s promise as the reality instead of our circumstance.

Numbers 13:32 The other spies lacked faith and instead of trusting in God’s promise as the reality they instead made the circumstances the reality. They told the people that the land would eat them up. Often we will surrender to our greatest fears when we fail to look at our circumstances through faith in God’s promises.

Numbers 13:33 Apparently the land had a population of giants living in it, the Nephilim (Genesis 6) were in the land. Some archaeology is beginning to confirm this fact of history.

Numbers 14:1 This generation shows themselves rejected. They are so trapped in the mentality of the oppressed that they cannot trust God to keep His promise. Rather than rejoice at the opportunity ahead they weep.

Numbers 14:4 After deciding in their lack of faith and in their victim/oppressed mentality that it would be better to either die in Egypt as an oppressed slave or die in the wilderness from old age than it would be to even attempt to conquer the land of promise the Israelites begin searching for a new leader to take them back to Egypt!

No return policy exists for the plan of God. You don’t get to enjoy His deliverance to turn back to the old life.

They were worried their children would become prey, yet their children are the ones through which God will later conquer the land.

Numbers 14:8 The men of faith speak out: Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua. God will bring them into the land. The people of the land are no threat to Israel if God delights in them. Four men of faith speaking to a couple million people who lack faith.

Numbers 14:12 As the people were ready to stone the men of faith God shows up and is ready to disinherit the entire nation due to their unbelief. Yet, humble Moses intercedes again, even on behalf of this nation of people who were ready to stone him to death.

Numbers 14:16 Moses pleads with God on behalf of His own great name. All of this life is about the greatness and glory of the name of God among all the nations.

Numbers 14:28 The Israelites were going to get exactly what they feared, sort of. That generation was going to die in the wilderness with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. I wonder if Moses and Aaron were listening?

Instead God is going to take the next generation, the ones this generation thought erroneously would be prey, they would be the generation to conquer the land of promise.

Numbers 14:34 Certainly I do not ever want to know the displeasure of God. He sentences them to 40 years, a year for every day that the land was spied out, to wander aimlessly in the wilderness until that generation dies off.

How terrible to never get there? They are on the border of the land of promise and yet will never set foot in it.

Numbers 14:37 The men who had lied about the land and led the people into this rebellion against God were struck with plague and died immediately. We should be careful never to be at war with God.

Numbers 14:42 Israel presumed to go into the land anyway, in spite of God’s decree. Moses warned them that God was not with them and that they would be defeated and so they were!

We need God with us in our lives. Therefore, the simplest solution is to watch to see where God is and follow Him into that work. We must be spiritually attentive to the work of God in and around us so that we can join Him in His work and be where He is.

2013
03/06
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Tweets & Rants 3 March 2013: Matthew 22:1-14; Romans 2; Psalm 50; Numbers 5-6

is ashamed at how little time he spends in actually giving thanksgiving to God, we should all spend more time in it! Psa 50:23 @WeeManWest

thinks we often point out and judge the sins of others because we don’t want to look at our own sins and judge them. Num 6:23 @WeeManWest

Matthew 22:7 Jesus chooses another parable to lay out what was soon to come to Jerusalem. Their city would be burned and destroyed. The kingdom would transition to the nations as it goes today.

May we be wary in and of ourselves that our jobs and finances will not be more important than His kingdom.

Matthew 22:11 This man wasn’t clothed in wedding clothes. He wasn’t walking in the righteousness imputed to him by Christ Jesus.

Many will cling to Chritianity for its benefits while simultaneously denying the God of Christ. They don’t know Christ, but believe the Christianity is the right way to go. Do we really know Jesus? More yet, does Jesus really know us?

Romans 2:4 We are so drawn to judgment, especially when it comes to the actions of our enemies. Yet we commit sin just as they do so we really are in no place to judge them as condemned. God’s grace to us is designed to lead us into repentance. Instead, it hardens our hearts because we presume that we deserve grace.

Pharoah’s heart was hardened by grace because he failed to repent, but yet presumed upon the mercy of God.

Let us not be found with the same judgmental, unrepentant heart in the day of judgment for God will judge justly.

Romans 2:11 We can be certain that God will not be partial when He judges. Everything will be laid bare before Him and we must all give an account. How woefully we approach the judgment as we live for ourselves with judgmental attitudes and yet we presume that God should be merciful to us when we have shown no mercy and no repentance.

Romans 2:13 The Law is not about hearing, but about doing. Justification comes to those who do the law by faith. Everyone hears the Law of God in one form or another. Yet those who believe will do the Law.

Do we really believe what God says? If so, we should live like it without question.

How do we explain those who haven’t heard the Law and yet keep the Law? They hear the Law in their conscience that is informed by God and they either obey or disobey their conscience.

Romans 2:24 We have set a terrible example of holiness if indeed God’s name is blasphemed among unbelievers because of the way we act as believers. We are so quick to rush to judgment when so often it is we ourselves who should be judged and found guilty!

Romans 2:29 Circumcision is a matter of the heart. Are our hearts circumcised to God to do His will and heart His voice? All the outward adornments and trappings of religion and religiosity are meaningless. What matters is that our heart belongs to God and the works that show up in our lives as a result bring honor and glory to God alone!

Psalm 50:6 The heavens declare the righteousness of God. Look how they shine and light our days and nights and yet we don’t give God the glory they do.

Psalm 50:16 We wonder how God may feel as people who openly reject Him try to call upon His blessings only to give themselves credit for them. Here we get a glimpse. Wicked people call upon God as though He is a talisman or token to get them through difficult and perilous circumstances.

Is that what God has become to us? Is He our token, our talisman, our get out of jail free card? He should be our King from whom we take orders and live our lives in full obedience.

Psalm 50:23 The sacrifice that glorifies God is one of thanksgiving. Do we really have a thankful heart when we approach God? We should be continually thankful for all that He has done in our lives.

Yet, we tend to take God’s blessings for granted and we presume upon His mercy and barely even speak to Him, much less thank Him.

Numbers 5:2 The Scriptures give us a picture of both sides of God. Here we see a picture of God’s holiness and how disastrous sin (leprosy pictures sin) is to the community of God.

Yet, we see Christ touching the leper and thus see the other side of God. So many are quick to judge the word when they have only read it in part. We must commit ourselves to read the whole word of God in order to get the fullest picture of God that we can in this age.

Numbers 5:15 I know, some of you are like, “Seriously, the guy only has to be jealous to do this?!” Yet, one thing this should get across to us is that God cares about our marriages and wants us to remain faithful to one another.

Another point is that the guilty woman, more than likely isn’t going to submit to this but will testify to whom she has committed adultery with so that both will be punished.

Numbers 6:8 The Law of the Nazarite was separationg from fermented drink or from any fruit of the vine. He was also not to shave or cut his hair. He was also not be touch anything dead or he would have to start the vow over again.

The Nazirite was to be holy to God the entire time of his vow.

Numbers 6:23 The priests were charged with blessing the nation of Israel. They were to ask for God to bless and protect them. They were to call His face of blessing, mercy and grace to be upon them. They were to call for God to bring them peace with Himself.

We should call similar blessings upon our families and our churches that we may shine a light for this world to see

2013
03/03
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Tweets & Rants 17 February 2013: Matthew 16:13-28; Acts 23:1-11; Psalm 37:23-40; Exodus 38-40

Matthew 16:16 This is who Jesus is. He is the Christ, the Messiah, the very Son of God! We must come to Him on those terms otherwise we will miss who He is and what He is capable of altogether.

Matthew 16:18 We must recognize that God is the one who builds His church, not us. God alone binds hearts together for His glory. No program or plan that we devise will build the church without God working in people’s hearts to build it.

Matthew 16:18 Hell, no matter how furiously it assails the church, will not be victorious against the church. In the end, God wins, His church will stand. His church may take on various forms through the ages, but it will stand nonetheless.

Matthew 16:23 Is anyone else as amazed at how quickly Peter goes from being praised for his proclamation of Christ to his listening to Satan and not keeping his mind on the things of God?

We are continually assailed by Satan and must keep our minds on the things of God so that we keep ourselves in line with God’s plan for our lives.

Matthew 16:24 We must be willing to lay down everything to follow Christ, even our very lives. This is part of the “setting your mind on the things of God” that we should be focused on.

Matthew 16:28 Jesus tells them that some of them would see Him coming in His kingdom. I think this means we need to get a better grasp of what Jesus means. I definitely believe this means that Jesus is NOT referring to His return/second coming. However, He is referring to His “coming in His kingdom” which is a separate event that one will not understand unless they have taken the time to understand what the “coming of God” meant to the prophets in the Old Testament.

This speaks to His judgment coming that was going to occur against Jerusalem in 70 AD. Not all of the disciples made it to that event with their lives.

Acts 23:11 Paul lived off of the fuel of God’s promise to him that he would indeed make to Rome and bear witness to Jesus Christ. He wouldn’t get there by the means he had thought, but he would get there.

Psalm 37:34 We live on, enduring the agony of dealing with wicked people, knowing with a certainty that God’s day will come and in His day we will inherit all things in Christ. The land will then be ours, once the wicked have been removed from it. All the more reason for we ourselves to come to Christ Jesus and be found in Him.

Psalm 37:37 Followers of Christ should be seekers of peace. We know certainly that God’s peace will eventually prevail. We have to trust God to provide peace in His way and on His timing. As far as we are concerned we are to be at peace with our fellow man.

Exodus 39:43 Moses blesses the workers once they have completed the work of all the tabernacle furnishings. He blessed them for they had done them as exact replicas of what Moses saw on the mountain.

Exodus 40:9 Whatever the anointing oil was poured upon became holy. The holy oil anointed and made holy. Just as the Holy Spirit today is poured upon us and makes us holy.

Exodus 40:34 The glory of the Lord fills the completed tabernacle because it was completed as God had commanded. We must be obedient to the command of God if we are going to see His glory fill our lives.

Exodus 40:36 Israel had the visible leadership and direction of God. When the cloud rested, there they stayed. When the cloud departed, they moved. Wherever the cloud was so also was Israel to be.

We must be open to the leadership of God. We should place ourselves where He is working and follow His lead. All too often we attempt vainly to manufacture God into our circumstances when instead we should be following His lead.

God leads by BOTH staying and moving, not just by staying and not just by moving. We stay when God stays, He may tarry much, much longer than we would like, yet we tarry with Him. We move when God moves, even if He stays someplace for an hour, so we stay for an hour. But when He moves we move.

2013
02/17
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Tweets & Rants 14 February 2013: Matthew 15:21-39; Acts 21:27-40; Psalm 36; Exodus 34

believes Statism is a religion defended by murder and ignorance of due process in order to “protect” state interests. Act 21:31 @WeeManWest

Matthew 15:23 This one solitary statement is the entire point of this exchange between Jesus and this Canaanite woman. His disciples didn’t disapprove of Jesus’ ignoring her for the sake of her humanity but instead were upset that Jesus had tarried in sending her away.

They saw her as an annoying Canaanite who should deservedly be rejected by Israel’s Messiah. Jesus used her faith to speak volumes to the disciples for their own lack thereof.

Matthew 15:33 The disciples are being stretched by Christ. More than 4,000 people are to be fed at the command of Christ in a desolate place. Such is the glory of the Gospel. Our supply is not of this world, but of Christ’s kingdom of plenty and bounty. Nothing is impossible with Christ.

Acts 21:31 This is what religion does to people. They ignore the strictest statutes of their “law” in order to fulfill their own bloodlust to defend their religion by killing those who seem to even be the slightest bit opposed to their religion.

Religion is not just of the religio-god type. Statism is a religion as well and people will murder and prevent due process in order to “protect” the “state” from harm.

Psalm 36:1 We must understand the depth of the darkness for those who have not received Christ. Things that would terrify a righteous person to even consider doing actual percolate in the heart of the wicked. They can conceive of such things without the bearing of conscience upon them for the wickedness of the work.

Whereas the righteous will have only holy things upon the table, the wicked are not so, but much differently, all options are on the table for them for they do not fear the finality of the judgment of God.

Psalm 36:11 We should pray earnestly that the foot of arrogance would not come upon us. Whether it be the arrogance of the wicked or our own arrogance we should be vigilant and guard ourselves from the destroying power that arrogance has over us.

Exodus 34:6 God reveals His glory to Moses and what does God proclaim as His glory? He is merciful, gracious, patient, loving, faithful, forgiving before He is judge. God’s emphasis is on His mercy. We should run to His open arms and receive the mercy He has for us.

Exodus 34:35 Moses’ skin of his face would shine when he had met and spoken with God. He would cover his face with a veil to speak with Israel the words of God.

They saw God’s glory behind the veil, we see God’s glory in Christ Jesus without the veil.

2013
02/14
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Tweets & Rants 13 February 2013: Matthew 15:1-20; Acts 21:1-26; Psalm 35; Exodus 32-33

believes the best revelation of who we are is found in the things we say because such comes from our hearts. Mat 15:18 @WeeManWest

asks for the humility to deal peacefully with those who seek to trample on his goodwill at the slightest inconvenience. Psa 35:12 @WeeManWest

thinks that sin doesn’t just “happen”; it is the result of the compromises and longings we allow to guide us instead of God. Exo 32:24 @WeeManWest

must ask God as Moses did, “Please show me Your glory,” and truly desire this above all else in this world. Exo 33:18 @WeeManWest

Matthew 15:9 We must take great care that what we teach others is truly what the word of God teaches. We do not want to be guilty of supplanting the word of God with the teachings of man.

Matthew 15:18 If we do a spiritual inventory of ourselves the most important place for us to look is to our words. What do our words reveal about what is in our hearts? Our words come from what is in our hearts so we should pay very close attention to what they reveal about us.

Acts 21:8 We reunite with Philip, one of the 7 deacons in Jerusalem, who was called to the desert place where he baptized the Ethiopian eunuch and then whisked away. Philip is now known as the evangelist and has four unwed daughters who prophesy. He was truly a man of God as evidenced not only by his ministry to the world, but also to his own family.

Acts 21:14 Paul, even with the prophetic word of Agabus promising that he would be bound in Jerusalem, believed his mission was to return to Jerusalem even if it meant his own death.

Paul was willing to pay whatever price was involved in order to be obedient to Christ. Our obedience tends to wane when the cost seems to high. We tend to step back and compromise rather than continue intently in obedience to our King.

Acts 21:21 Isn’t it sad to see that what drove Paul to the temple, where he would be arrested, was the religious suspicions of other believers?! It is truly sad indeed when we allow our “religious” concept to come before the relationships we could be building with other believers.

Why not instead do these believers not come and meet Paul and become acquainted with Paul rather than have such a wall set up that he has to prove himself to them before they will receive him as their own. Truly shameful!

Psalm 35:7 Jesus and Paul both endured those who hated them and sought their destruction without cause. So also should we endure those who are against us without cause.

I can’t be caught up in continually seeking out and pursuing those who pursue me without cause. My focus should be on Christ and on following him. Christ will have His vengeance.

Psalm 35:12 One of the most difficult things for me is when people return evil to me when I have done them good. I don’t respond well when this occurs. I need more humility to face such a challenge.

It is very frustrating when to your utmost you have done good to an individual only to have them trample on your goodwill simply because of a slight inconvenience. Humility is the only way to face such a challenge.

Psalm 35:14 We must continue to humbly care for all people that God brings into our path, even though we know that it will matter very little at all to some of them. Some people are inconsolable in spite of our best will and efforts and we just have to accept that.

Exodus 32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed they assumed he was not coming back. Their interest was not in waiting for the things of God or in the timing of God…it never had been. Their interest was in having everything their way…even if it meant staying in Egypt.

We must never assume that God’s delay is his neglect or abandonment. His delay is simply that, delay.

Also, it is easy when we credit a person with our success to replace that person when times become convenient. Since they credited Moses with bringing them out of Egypt it was easy and convenient since Moses delayed on the mountain with God to replace him with a golden calf to worship.

Exodus 32:7 Notice how God phrases this: whom you brought up. God is playing on what the Israelites themselves were saying. They were crediting Moses, not God, so quickly after affirming themselves under God’s law by blood oath and now they have quickly broken the law.

Exodus 32:10 God offers Moses the chance to wipe out the entire rebellious and stiff-necked nation in order to replace it with one from his own family.

How often are we tempted to seek the removal of those who oppose us when really God’s plan for us includes them?

Exodus 32:11 Moses corrects the Israelites. God is who has brought them out of Egypt. Moses humbly pleads for God’s mercy upon the people of Israel. True leadership is humble and merciful.

Exodus 32:15 The tablets of God’s law were written by God on the front and back of the tablet just as the scroll (Revelation 5:1) was written front and back in the hands of Christ.

Exodus 32:24 And out came this calf…as though it wasn’t fashioned by his own hand and craftsmanship. Aaron seeks to blame the guilt of the whole matter on God. God gave them this people set on evil to watch over. God kept Moses up on the mountain too long. God made this calf hop right out of the fire on its own.

We are so quick to blame God when the sin that is festered within our hearts springs forth into this world rather than take responsibility for our internal longings that have led us into sin in the first place.

Exodus 32:28 Does anyone else find it similarly interesting that the Levite tribe has been responsible for the most killing up to this point in Israel’s history?

Levi and Simeon struck all the men of Schechem, and now Levi is striking 3000 men of Israel for the sin with the golden calf.

Exodus 32:32 Moses exudes even more humility than before in that he is willing to bear their sin and himself be blotted from God’s book. Christ, the greater Moses, would indeed bear the sin of all mankind upon the cross.

Exodus 32:34 I believe that God is looking ahead to the days of Christ when He visited His people and yet they continued in their stiff-necked rejection of Him. He visited their sin upon them in 70AD at the hands of the Romans.

Exodus 33:11 What we must realize is that Christ made this relationship possible for all of mankind. God desires to speak with each of us face to face as our friend. He provided the means for us to have that relationship through the atoning blood of Christ.

Our sinfulness is dealt with on the cross. Whereas God could not dwell among the Israelites or they would be consumed but instead met with Moses in a tent on the outskirts of the camp. We all know go, as Moses did, to the tabernacle outside the camp (Hebrews 13:13) where we meet with God face to face as friends because of Christ.

Exodus 33:18 Moses pleaded with God to be present with the people of Israel, to make them distinct from the other peoples on earth. God promises to do this for Moses. Moses then asks to see God’s glory. This should be our plea, that God’s glory would break out in our lives.

2013
02/13
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Ambitiously Humble

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3

Ambitions often launch the greatest exploits of humanity. Ambition can drive us to brilliance as it did the Mayans in developing an astronomical calendar with amazing and intricate accuracy. Ambition can drive us to feats of ability as it did the United States hockey team in the Miracle on Ice.

Yet, with everything human, ambition has an ugly side as well. Ambition has driven many leaders and nations into brutal and bloody conflicts. Ambition has driven brother against brother for the sake of a dollar. Apparently, ambition is something we should approach with caution for our souls!

What should ambition look like in a Christian life? We claim to follow Christ but are we really willing to follow His example?

Jesus’ example was a life not driven by His own glory, but instead by the glory of His Father. He just so happened to accomplish the amazing work of redeeming mankind in the process of glorifying God.

Jesus said, “I have glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” John 17:4 His statement reveals that His ambition was to glorify the Father and that ambition drove Him to complete the work given to Him, the work or our redemption.

Now we can begin to piece together just how extreme Jesus’ ambition to glorify God is. Paul discussed this also when he wrote that Jesus, “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:7-8

Jesus, being God and living in the glory of heaven, shed all of His heavenly glory to take on human flesh. He did this so that He could accomplish His work of redeeming mankind in a sacrificial death. He was ambitiously humble enough to trade heaven for earth in order to glorify God by dying for us. Are we that ambitious? Would we make that same trade?

So we have a challenging example to follow. As Philippians 2:3 states above states, we are to deny selfish ambition and instead be humble… ambitiously humble…and put the needs of others ahead of our own needs. Christ doesn’t need redemption, we do. Christ gave up all to provide for our need. Paul continued, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:4

An ambitiously humble person will set his/her own needs and interests aside in order to meet the needs and interests of others. Christ gave us a difficult example to follow. Fortunate for us He has graciously given us His Holy Spirit to develop in us the virtue of ambitious humility…if only we are willing.

In the Lamb,

Mark West

2012
12/11
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