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The Parable Of The Sting

Read: 1 Peter 2:9-12
They may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. —1 Peter 2:12
Bible in a Year: Psalms 89-90; Romans 14
I can still see Jay Elliott’s shocked face as I burst through his front door almost 50 years ago with a “gang” of bees swirling around me. As I raced out his back door, I realized the bees were gone. Well, sort of—I’d left them in Jay’s house! Moments later, he came racing out his back door—chased by the bees I had brought to him. I had more than a dozen stings, with little effect. Jay had a different experience. Though he’d been stung only once or twice by “my” bees, his eyes and throat swelled up in a painful allergic reaction. My actions had caused a lot of pain for my friend. That’s a picture of what’s true in our interpersonal relationships too. We hurt others when our actions aren’t Christlike. Even after an apology, the “sting” sticks. People would be right to expect an absence of harshness and an air of patience from those who follow Christ. We forget sometimes that people struggling with faith, or life, or both, watch Christians with expectation. They hope to see less anger and more mercy, less judgment and more compassion, less criticism and more encouragement. Jesus and Peter told us to live good lives so God is given the glory (Matt. 5:16; 1 Peter 2:12). May our actions and reactions point those around us to our loving Father.
We have found that it’s easy to hurt others with our words or actions. Teach us, Father, to pause and to think before we speak or act. Fill us with kindness and care.
May others see less of me and more of Jesus.

Insight

Peter wrote to Christians who were going through fiery trials of intense persecution (1 Peter 1:6; 4:12). He encouraged these believers to persevere, to remain faithful, and to view these difficult times as opportunities to strengthen their faith and bear witness to Christ. In today’s passage, Peter reminded them of their special identity and spiritual status as God’s chosen people (vv.9-10). “A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” are descriptions applied to the Jews in the Old Testament (Ex. 19:5-6; Isa. 43:20-21), but here Peter applies them to believers. He reminds them—and us—that we are chosen by God for the purpose of witnessing and testifying to God’s love (vv.9-10).

Speak a Word of Encouragement in Due Season!

Friday, May 4, 2012 (7:56 am)
by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. William Wilberforce led a campaign against the British Parliament to abolish slavery in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. During the course of his intense efforts, Wilberforce came to a desperate place of discouragement, feeling he had absolutely no more strength to continue. In this condition he was about to give up, when his elderly friend, John Wesley, lying on his deathbed, was informed of his friend William’s distress. Wesley requested pen and paper, and with a quivering hand, wrote these words, “Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them stronger than God? Oh be not weary of well-doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery shall vanish away before it.” John Wesley died six days later, but William Wilberforce fought for forty-five more years, and in 1833, three days before his own death, witnessed the abolition of slavery in Britain. Do not grow weary in well-doing, for we can still triumph! It’s exactly when everything looks hopeless that our God has opportunity to display His awesome power. Even the great men that changed history needed a word of encouragement now and then – so be encouraged, and be an encourager! You never know when you may enable another saint to continue pressing on, or how that may change the world!

Press through the Swamps!

Thursday, March 13, 2014 (11:58 am)
by George Whitten, Editor of Worthy Devotions
Psalms 107:2-6 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
In his book, Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan has written one of the most beautiful allegories about the journey we all travel as a believers.  The book describes the hero, Christian, and his journey from the City of Destruction to his heavenly destination, the Celestial City. Now there’s one part of Pilgrim’s Progress that I want to focus on today — walking through the Swamp of Despondency! At one point during their travels, Christian and his companion suddenly find themselves there….in the Swamp of Despondency. Still bearing his burden, Christian, begins to sink in the mire.  His traveling companion manages to get out, but he returns to the City of Destruction without giving aid to Christian.  Christian is left all alone and sinking even deeper in the mire, until Help, the allegorical figure for the Holy Spirit, pulls him free from the swamp. Christian then asks Help why this dangerous plot of land has not been mended so that poor travelers might go safely to the Celestial City. Help replies, “This miry slough is such a place that cannot be mended.” How true it is in real life!  As hard as we try to avoid them, whether young in the Lord, or spiritually mature…swamps of despondency seem inevitable, and we must struggle through them! Charles Spurgeon once wrote to his students in the book, “Lectures to my Students”, “Fits of depression come over most of us.  Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down.  The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy.  There may be here and there men of iron…but surely the rust frets even these.” There are times in our lives when we will struggle through the swamps of despondency — but praise God that He has provided us a helper for those times of need!  We need to press through, seeking and trusting the power of the Holy Spirit to pull us out of those nasty swamps, and set our feet back upon the Rock of our salvation.  Let’s also look around us to see our brethren who may be struggling in the swamps of despondency, so that, rather than abandoning them, we might give them a hand on their journey to the celestial city!

Joash Did What Was Right

August 14

From: Through the Bible 2 Chronicles 24:2,5-6 (NIV) 2Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the years of Jehoiada the priest… 5He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the temple of your God. Do it now.” But the Levites did not act at once. 6Therefore the king summoned Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the LORD and by the assembly of Israel for the Tent of the Testimony?”

It was really Jehoiada’s love for God and faith in His promises that motivated him to risk his life to see that the throne was restored to the lineage of David. Being Joash’s surrogate father, he had a great deal of influence on the king. Our passage today indicates that his influence kept Joash obedient to God as long as Jehoiada lived.

Joash, was probably a young teen when he ordered the collection of the temple tax. He wanted the temple repaired. Former Queen Athaliah had robbed the temple for the temple of Baal. When the priests were slow to obey the command, he called Jehoiada and asked him why he wasn’t seeing that the Word of God was being lived up to. Now it is Jehoiada’s turn to reap what he had sowed. He sowed the word into Joash’s life and now Joash was requiring him to act on that word. For those who love the Lord, a challenge to obey is not a trial to bear. It is a blessing.

Sometimes the ones we mentor can turn around and mentor us in areas we are blind to, or making excuses for. What better evidence could we have that our work in the LORD is being blessed and taking hold? Proverbs 12:1 tells us the man who hates correction is stupid. Proverbs 13:8 says the one who heeds it is honored.

Consider: Do you welcome the correction of others, even when they are someone you have taught?

Evening

August 14

Romans 8:9-11 (NIV) 9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

The Apostle saw things in black and white. He declared that every man and woman is controlled by the sinful nature or by the Spirit. The Spirit of God cannot live in someone without controlling him or her. Most Christians seem to think that the Spirit lives in them but they are often controlled by their sinful nature. That isn’t the teaching we find here.

Paul is telling us that if the Spirit of God lives in us, that old nature is dead to us, and our spirit is alive because of the righteousness of Christ. In 6:11 he encouraged us to consider ourselves dead to sin but alive to God. Yet, most Christians consider themselves alive to sin and barely alive to God. We have compromised the Word and the power of the resurrection. It is not that we must insist that we have become sinless, but that we must recognize the power of the resurrection to break the control of sin and replace it with the control of the Spirit.

Because of this common misconception, we tend to read verse 11 as something that will happen when we are physically resurrected one day off in the future. He is speaking of this very moment. The power of the Spirit that raised Jesus is at work in you, this very moment, to give life. Throughout the New Testament, death is walking in sin, and life is being in the Spirit of God. This physical house of our bodies can be made alive to obey the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Christ, who indwells us. If Christ lives in you, consider yourself awakened to life, empowered to walk in holiness, and controlled by the Spirit of God.

Remember: Know that you are enabled by the power that raised Jesus to walk in newness of life.

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