The Better Part, week #22

 

This week's FB posts...

The Better Part, Day #127:

 

Mat 12:31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

Mat 12:32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. 

 

David Jeremiah gave an explanation of this that touched on how it was a warning to the Pharisees, who were consciously calling Jesus's miracles works of Satan. That a living person might commit this sin while alive ONLY if he had Jesus bodily performing miracles in front of him as he said it. For the rest of us, the unforgivable sin is waiting until death and not accepting Him. So, see, if you're breathing, you're still eligible!

 

 

The Better Part, Day #128:

 

Eph 5:15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

Eph 5:16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 

 

I was thinking about this today, how people like Billy Graham (I just read Greg Laurie's bio, highly recommend) certainly live out this verse. Charles Stanley has even written something for people who say, "When I relax, I feel guilty". I think of all Moses took on, how David composed music while on the battlefield, how Paul's engine was in high gear even before his conversion. It gets me to realizing that greater gifts are given to people with greater drive. I'm not saying I could handle THAT kind of drive, but it would be nice to get to a point where I can use my gifts at the level I CAN achieve.

 

 

The Better Part, Day #129:

 

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  

Preaching on this, David Jeremiah pointed out that the Golden Rule- 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'- is backwards, because: Read as written, it suggests you decide what YOU would want in the situation and do that. What it does NOT do is have you look at the situation from THEIR shoes, and see what you would want if YOU were them.

 

 

The Better Part, Day #130:

 

1Jn 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 

 

And for the second time this week- though hardly the only times it was necessary- I had to stop and say, "Jesus, I'm not listening. I'm not paying attention as I ought. Sermons are becoming words, sound bites." And when I get to the point of asking, He opens up my ears again. We as humans are so used to 'hearing things' without any active effort, we forget that listening to God takes just that effort. Passive listening equals ZERO listening.