Majoring on the Majors
Psalm 37-39
My eyes slipped over to Psalm 40 while I was thinking on, and praying over, the other three chapters assigned for today.
The dilemma? Well, not exactly a dilemma I suppose, but certainly a question. As always there are more possibilities in ministry than there is time to accomplish them all. I confess I could be better at time management but still, my ambitions are still greater than the number of hours I have to dedicate to their pursuit. So what's the bottom line?
That's when my eyes slipped over to Psalm 40 and fell upon verses 8 to 10.
"I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O Lord. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly."
First of all there is a commitment to do the will of God above all else. That will is connected not just to an outward obedience to his commands, but to a heartfelt belief that his way is not just the best way, but the only one.
But "my" beliefs are not simply personal and private—a misconception that has become the watchword of modern-day society. God's will for my life may take a different direction than God's will for yours, but his truth for me is no different than his truth for you. God's truth is absolute and applies to everyone.
So the mandate is to speak God's truth, to proclaim his righteousness and his standards for our righteousness, to exalt him before men for his faithful actions on our behalf and to deliver his message of salvation, to speak of his love for a broken world and to be dedicated to his truth even when it isn't politically correct, comfortable or convenient.
We who long to solve the unsolvable, to fill in all the gaps, and to answer all the questions, are often diverted from the path of truth, forgetting that our task is not to find answers to mysteries that God hasn't revealed but to share with others what God HAS chosen to tell us.
For example, it's easy to speculate and argue about the details of the second coming of Christ and forget to prepare people for it by focusing on the reason for his first coming.
In the end, majoring on the majors boils down to living out the changes in our lives that God began to make when we came to faith in Christ and then sharing our story of spiritual growth with others. David describes it this way, in this same psalm: "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord." (40:1-3).
And that last line describes completely the mission of every believer.
My eyes slipped over to Psalm 40 while I was thinking on, and praying over, the other three chapters assigned for today.
The dilemma? Well, not exactly a dilemma I suppose, but certainly a question. As always there are more possibilities in ministry than there is time to accomplish them all. I confess I could be better at time management but still, my ambitions are still greater than the number of hours I have to dedicate to their pursuit. So what's the bottom line?
That's when my eyes slipped over to Psalm 40 and fell upon verses 8 to 10.
"I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O Lord. I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly."
First of all there is a commitment to do the will of God above all else. That will is connected not just to an outward obedience to his commands, but to a heartfelt belief that his way is not just the best way, but the only one.
But "my" beliefs are not simply personal and private—a misconception that has become the watchword of modern-day society. God's will for my life may take a different direction than God's will for yours, but his truth for me is no different than his truth for you. God's truth is absolute and applies to everyone.
So the mandate is to speak God's truth, to proclaim his righteousness and his standards for our righteousness, to exalt him before men for his faithful actions on our behalf and to deliver his message of salvation, to speak of his love for a broken world and to be dedicated to his truth even when it isn't politically correct, comfortable or convenient.
We who long to solve the unsolvable, to fill in all the gaps, and to answer all the questions, are often diverted from the path of truth, forgetting that our task is not to find answers to mysteries that God hasn't revealed but to share with others what God HAS chosen to tell us.
For example, it's easy to speculate and argue about the details of the second coming of Christ and forget to prepare people for it by focusing on the reason for his first coming.
In the end, majoring on the majors boils down to living out the changes in our lives that God began to make when we came to faith in Christ and then sharing our story of spiritual growth with others. David describes it this way, in this same psalm: "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord." (40:1-3).
And that last line describes completely the mission of every believer.
Very excellent teaching, Lynda! Agreed with all of it!
ReplyDelete