Gleanings From The Word

Saturday, March 28, 2020

The Two Great Commandments

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39 NLT)

We are commanded in this portion of Scripture to love God and our neighbor. The second commandment may be the more difficult of the two to keep. What’s not to love about God, yet concerning our neighbor, most of us can think of a few things.

We are told that the first commandment, loving God, is the greatest, yet, loving our neighbor is equally important. Is this a contradiction in terms? Not really. Verse 40 tells us, “All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” They are equal in that you have to obey both to fulfill the law. Conversely, you cannot truly love your neighbor without first loving God. What you have here is an equality of the function of love, but a priority of how it applies to our lives, God first, and then our neighbor second.

If we love others more than we love God, we have started to descend into humanism. Meeting the needs of man should not be our primary motivation, but fulfilling the will of God. Trying to love God without loving our neighbor, God’s creation, is missing part of the equation for satisfying the law.

The love shown for our neighbors needs to be driven by our love for God.

Our love for God is always demonstrated by how much we love our neighbors. Though there is a definite hierarchy of our love, God first and then man, one does not exist without the other.

The image used with permission by Microsoft.

Ken Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: Ken Barnes' Book Site
Blogs: http://kensblog757.blogspot.com
http://gleanings757.blogspot.com

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

God is Still on the Throne

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28 NLT)

Human nature craves certainty and predictability, but Covid-19 has the world anxious because we are uncertain and unable to predict the future. God is the only one with whom we can have absolute certainty that he holds the future. In times of global crisis, there is a God in heaven who is still on the throne.

Human beings like to have control. We avoid situations and circumstances where we cannot dictate the outcomes. At times God allows events to come upon us that are beyond our ability to constrain or avoid. It seems to me that people in times like these, even Christians, tend to over-react or under-react. We try to do everything or nothing. We should do the possible and allow God to do the impossible. The possible as trying to implement good health practices such as washing our hands, social distancing, etc.. These are necessary and good, yet we must realize God is our only safety and protects us as He sees fit.

Remember we are told not to fear those who can kill the body but not the soul (Matthew 10:28). Whether we are infected or not, God will never leave us nor forsake us. When we try to do the impossible, we lose our peace and fear starts to take over. Do what you can and trust God to do what you can’t.

God is not in Heaven wringing His hands over Covid-19 nor is he unconcerned. God has a sovereign plan that sometimes does not look so pre-determined. Yet, God is still good and in control. When the infections rise, the deaths increase, there are dire predictions about the longevity of the virus, remember, that God is still on the throne.

Image used with permission by Google.

Tuesday, March 17, 2020

The God Who Provides

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.

(Exodus 16:4 NLT)

Manna from Heaven

Reasonable demand is always met by God’s supply.

Corvid-19 is upon us, and stores everywhere have empty shelves. People are seeking wipes and disinfectant sprays like they are precious jewels. The problem is not about supply but demand. We can learn a lot from the Bible in how God taught his people to deal with supply and demand.

My daughter and son-in-law live in New York City. Last week my son-in-law went to Costco to pick a few things. One of the items was some toilet paper. He left his cart with his toilet paper in it for a few moments, and when he returned, his toilet paper was gone. Whoever took it must have believed that the demand would exceed the supply, and because of the panic over the coronavirus, he or she was probably right.

Then Moses told them, “Do not keep any of it until morning.” But some of them didn’t listen and kept some of it until morning. But by then, it was full of maggots and had a terrible smell. Moses was very angry with them (Exodus 16:19-20 NLT). The people’s disobedience came from two sources. First, they did not believe God. They had to take more than they needed just in case God couldn’t or wouldn’t provide daily. Second, was their self-centeredness. They believed they deserved more than their fair share, which always breeds resentment.

In times of national distress, people start to stockpile, which brings about an imbalance between supply and demand, where some have too much and others too little. God has a better plan, which is to trust Him. We cannot speak for the world, but as Christians, we should call it what it is. This panic mentality is unbelief in the faithfulness of God. Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides, always supplies our reasonable demands.

The image is used with permission by Microsoft.

Friday, March 13, 2020

Our Spiritual Equation

But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased himto reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. (Galatians 1:15-16a)

A common mission statement among many churches and Christian organizations is to know God and make him known. You can’t make God known if you don’t know him.

Likewise, you cannot fully know him without making him known.

A chemical formula is equal on both sides of the equation. For instance, the chemical formula for water is H2O. The chemical equation is H2+O=H2O. Both sides of the equation need to be equal to form water. It is much the same with our relationship with God. We have to know him to make him known. You cannot give away what you don’t have. In a balanced Christian life, there is a dynamic tension between the knowledge of God and endeavoring to reveal him to a sick and dying world. My observation of my own experience and many others is that we often struggle to balance our spiritual equation.

Our relationship with God tends to tip in one direction or the other. We spend all or most of our time studying or praying with very little time for practical manifestations of our faith. Or we spend an excessive amount of our waking hours doing for God with little effort expended on knowing him. The answer is not either, or, but and, both.

Striking a balance between doing and being is critical. Doing for God and resting in Him need to be in equilibrium. Maintaining a dynamic tension between knowing God and making Him known balances our spiritual equation.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Saturday, February 29, 2020

My King of Heaven

“Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”

(Luke 19:38 NLT)

“Be Thou My Vision” is a Christian hymn of Irish origin. The words are based on a poem attributed to a sixth-century Irish poet and Priest, Saint Dallan Forgaill, who had gone blind.

One of the lines of the poem goes, “High King of Heaven, my victory won.

May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n sun” The powerful words of this song indicate that this Irish Priest, who could not see the world around him, saw God like most of us don’t. He had a vision of heaven, like many of us, can’t grasp.

I will be seventy-four years old on my next birthday. As I ponder about heaven, it seems sweeter with every succeeding year. I don’t want to die, clinging to life is normal, yet when God calls my number, I don’t think I will argue. As I have said before, you can be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good, but you can also be so earthly minded you have no heavenly vision.

Forgalill wrote, Thou and Thou only, first in my heart

High King Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

I can only add, be Thou my vision, my Creator, and God.

https://youtu.be/XiukM6WHQEQ

Be Thou My Vision | Celtic Worship Debut Album 'Homeward' Available NOW: http://celticworship.co.uk

Friday, February 21, 2020

Grace Over Nature

But Joseph was upset when he saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head. So Joseph lifted it to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. “No, my father,” he said. “This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”

(Genesis 48:17-18 NLT)

God's sovereign will does not always choose by order of nature. God often picks the younger over, the older, and those seemingly less qualified over others.

Jacob and Esau

Manasseh was Joseph's oldest son. The first-born always was the first to receive their inheritance. In modern-day monarchies, the eldest son or daughter is first in line to the throne, not so with God. Remember, Isaac was chosen before Ishmael, Jacob before Esau, Moses before Aaron, and David before his elder brothers. God does not choose based on birth order, the education degrees we possess, or the affection that others' may place upon us. He decides as he pleases. That is why we call him God.

Joseph was upset because of Jacob, his Father, ignoring the rule of natural succession in his family. Today, we get angry because someone is picked for leadership that may be less well-positioned, or seemingly less qualified than others. We can be particularly distressed when that choice is someone else before us.

One of the most freeing things I have ever learned is that I don't always have to be first. God calls us through the grace bestowed upon us through our gifts and natural abilities. These gifts and talents are commensurate with our level of calling. It is not about our age or position in an organization, but God's sovereign will. God knows where we will be most effective and fulfilled. Grace always prevails over nature.

Image used with permission by Microsoft.

Thursday, February 13, 2020

Job-Humility and Repentance

Then Job replied to the Lord:“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. (Job 42:1-3 NLT)

People have read Job for centuries and have pondered about their suffering. We can only understand our pain and anguish like Job did, through humility and repentance.

In Chapter 40, God asks Job a question. "Do you still want to argue with the Almighty?" Then Job answers contritely, "I am nothing---how could I ever find answers?" I will put my hand over my mouth in silence." Sometimes we have to quit talking before we can hear from God. Humility always precedes finding wisdom.

God proceeds in this chapter and following to ask Job sixty-six questions, none of which he can answer. Talk about bombing an exam. The Lord was trying to say that he was God, and Job wasn't. There is a great line in the movie "Rudy" by an old Catholic Priest, who said, "In thirty-five years of ministry there is one thing I have learned for sure. There is a God, and I'm not him." Humility is just a proper view we are in relation to who God is. Pride confuses the role of the creature and the Creator.

Suffering can make us bitter or better. God never does explain to Job why he suffered. Life is complicated, it is more than a cause and effect relationship. Job did not suffer because of his sin, nor was he blessed later due to his righteousness? Humility and repentance can make us look upon our blessings as a gift rather than an entitlement, which none of us deserve.

The last thing that Job said to God was, "I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes" (v.5). Humility always opens our eyes to see who God is.