The Better Part, week #24

 

This week's FB posts:

The Better Part,Day #136:

 

Rth 1:1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

Rth 1:2 The name of the man was Elimelech and the name of his wife Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They went into the country of Moab and remained there.

Rth 1:3 But Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her two sons.

Rth 1:4 These took Moabite wives; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years,

Rth 1:5 and both Mahlon and Chilion died, so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband. 

 

Michael Youseff did a new take for me on this story, and I want to share with you what it taught me. 

 

1- "Elimelech chose the greener grass of Moab over the land of God's Promise". Every time I choose sin over God's promises, I enter my "own Moab".

2- When I choose sin, God chooses to remove my protection. Elimelech's choice cost his life and that of his sons. What is my sin costing me?

3- Naomi was a godly woman- how else would Ruth have learned about another land's God? And because Naomi chose the better part- returning to Israel- God ended up blessing her with a new daughter and son-in-law. Obedience brings the return of God's protection.

4- So why not just give Elimelech protection in the first place? Because he chose to stray from that protection.

 

 

 

 

The Better part, day #137:

 

 

Phil 1:23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith...

 

 

Every morning I pray a little prayer telling God if today is the day we all go home, I'm ready. And how could I not be, in a messed up world where you can get challenged even by family when you take the stand that it is not right to celebrate sin?

So I doubt it was coincidental to hear not one, but two statements that reminded me that if I'm still breathing, God has a use for me here on earth.

Not to say it's time to stop praying that prayer (with as usual, the caveat "But Your will be done"), but to thank God for the encouragement that something I'm doing- or will do- will have an impact on this world.

 

 

The Better Part, Day #138:

 

Rom 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

 

 

David Jeremiah woke me up today to the part I wasn't getting in this passage. "This is Paul, telling us what happened when he tried to do it himself..."

 

 

 

The Better Part, Day #139:

 

2Pe 2:9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,

2Pe 2:10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,

2Pe 2:11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. 

 

Last night I read where (not local) Arbys clerk served a gay couple and put "fag" in the customer line on the receipt. Excuse: "Sometimes the computer glitches and doesn't print what I type in."

This follows a letter to the San Francisco newspaper protesting the celebration of "pride month" in similar fashion. Many probably think about the same thing- and some of them are Christians. You need to get the point of the above passage. Ask yourself which side you're on. I may be against the celebration of a month of sin, but while I have an abhorrence for the sin, I have love and prayers for the sinner "who knows not what they do."