Saturday, September
01, 2012, 5:44 a.m. – the Lord woke me again with the song “Blessed Are You” playing in my mind.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read 2 Corinthians 10 (NIV 1984):
By the meekness and
gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face
with you, but “bold” when away! I beg you that when I come I may not have to be
as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the
standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as
the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On
the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish
arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of
God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And we
will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is
complete.
You are looking only
on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he
should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he. For even if
I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you
up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. I do not want to
seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. For some say, “His letters
are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking
amounts to nothing.” Such people should realize that what we are in our letters
when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.
We do not dare to
classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they
measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they
are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will
confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches
even to you. We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if
we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ.
Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope
is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will
greatly expand, so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For
we do not want to boast about work already done in another man’s territory.
But, “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” For it is not the one who commends
himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.
God-given Authority
Paul had the respect and admiration of many of the followers
of Jesus Christ who accepted his calling in Christ and his God-given authority
in the church. Yet, not everyone accepted Paul for who he was in Christ, nor
did everyone accept his God-give authority in the church. He had those who
stood in strong opposition to him, and who looked for opportunities to accuse
him at every turn. So, frequently Paul found it necessary to defend his
ministry in Christ, and this was one of those occasions.
Paul’s accusers were saying of him that he was bold in his
letters, or bold when he was physically absent from the people, but that he
was, or else he would be timid with them face to face. They were basically
saying that he was breathing out false threats, but they did not believe he
would carry them through. So, Paul defended himself on that account, i.e. he disputed
the lies and he reaffirmed the truth that he had the authority of God to carry
through in person what he had said when he was away from them, that he was a
man of his word, and that he would, in fact, do what he said he would do.
A Loving Parent
Paul was like a loving parent, and the churches were like
his children. He had the God-given authority and responsibility to parent these
“children” and to train them to be godly. He did not make false threats. If the
children did not change their behavior, he would provide the necessary
discipline (or correction). Yet, Paul was not to be seen as a tyrant or as an
abuser of the people. His goal and purpose was always to build up the believers
in the faith, never to tear them down. Yet, to build up may require some
necessary tearing or cutting away of what is rotten first. For instance, when a
dentist builds up a tooth to prepare it for a crown, he first of all removes
any decay. To build, we must first of all remove all obstacles in the way that
might hinder that building process.
Not as the World Does
The people who were misjudging and accusing Paul were
judging from worldly standards and from their own lives and experiences and
ways of thinking and behaving. And, we will face these same types of false
judgments from people, even in the church, and even among church leaders, when
we are truly following God’s calling upon our lives and are obeying him to the
best of our understanding.
We will, too, be judged by human standards. For instance, we
may be judged by the culture of the people with whom we live, yet following
Christ does not always comply with the culture of a society, especially if what
that culture deems as important directly conflicts with the word of God. They
also may measure us by themselves, i.e. if what we do reminds them of something
they did, but they did it for the wrong reasons and with incorrect motives,
they may decide we are just like them. They may also judge us by religious
practices and instructions that have been passed down from generation to
generation as something sacred when it is, in fact, of men and not of God.
Paul said that he and his fellow apostles lived in the
world, but they did not wage war as the world does. The weapons they fought
with were spiritual weapons (see the Armor of God in Ephesians 6), not the
weapons of this world.
Paul, I believe, was not speaking of physical weapons of war
here such as guns, knives, etc., but of the kind of weapons Satan uses against
us to accuse us and to try to discredit us or to shake our faith and to try to
get us to give up. The weapons of this world include lies, false accusations,
treachery, willfully misleading people, gossip, slander, judging by human
standards, etc. Jesus Christ faced the same kinds of judging of himself and his
ministry when he was on this earth. Yet, God has a different standard than what
this world does. He doesn’t think like we, mere mortals, think. He doesn’t
judge by outward appearance, but he judges the heart. Humans get things all
backwards, even in the church, when they think we have to look and act like the
world in order to appeal to the world to come to Christ. And, in the process
they misjudge and often exclude those among them who are truly listening to God’s
voice.
By putting on the armor of God each day, i.e. by choosing to
tell the truth instead of lies, by choosing to exercise faith over fear, by
choosing to fight off Satan’s lies with the word of God, by choosing to share
the gospel of salvation, and by choosing to listen and to follow the voice of
God over the voices of men, etc., we can fight off the strongholds (grips) Satan
has over our own minds and hearts and/or over the church.
One of Satan’s greatest tools against us is his lies and
deceptions which he will whisper in our ears, or else he will use human
messengers to try to convince us of what is not true in order to try to keep us
down, discouraged, unfruitful, complacent, and not doing the will of God. So,
not only do we need to use our spiritual weapons of warfare against Satan in
demolishing his strongholds in our lives and in the church, but we need to take
every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. In other words, as soon
as we realize we are having a straying thought we need to pray, we need to
reject those thoughts, and we need to put on the right way of thinking. The
Holy Spirit will help us by gently prompting us when our minds begin to stray,
if we will ask him.
We Are Blessed
Even though we may be going through similar persecutions and
false judgments as Jesus and the apostles faced, we should be encouraged,
because we have been found worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ and of his
gospel. We are blessed (favored; cared for; provided for; protected; and/or
gifted) of God when we are poor (humble) in spirit, when we hunger and thirst
after righteousness, when we have sorrow and anguish in our hearts over lost
sinners or wandering Christians, and when we are hated and rejected because of
our faith in and our testimony for Jesus Christ.
Yet, we must be careful to love those who hate us by praying
for them, by doing good (what is beneficial) for them, and by saying kind
things about them. We should always treat others the way in which we want to be
treated. It is of no credit to us if we love only those who love us. We must
show the love and mercy of Christ even to those who despise and mistreat us.
Blessed Are You /
An Original Work / August 29, 2012
Based off Luke 6:20-49 NIV 1984
“Blessed are you;
Blessed are you who
are poor
For God’s kingdom is
yours.
(Kingdom is yours)
Blessed are you;
Blessed are you who
are hungry,
You’ll be satisfied.
(Be satisfied)
Blessed are you;
Blessed are you who
weep now,
For you will laugh
with joy.
(Will laugh with joy)
Blessed are you;
Blessed are you when
men hate
And reject you because
of Christ.”
(Because of Christ)
“Rejoice in that;
Rejoice in that day
and
Leap for joy; great
your reward.
(Great your reward)
But I tell you;
But I tell you to love
those
Who hate you; do them
good.
(Do good to them)
Pray for those who;
Pray for those who
treat you wrong
And say kind things of
them.
(Kind things of them)
Do to others;
Do to others as you would
have
Them do; have them do
to you.”
(Them do to you)
“If you love those;
If you love those who
love you,
What praise is there
for you?
(What praise for you?)
Because Christ is;
Because Christ is
kind,
Be merciful, just like
He is.
(Just like He is)
Forgive others;
Forgive others their
offense
Against you; be ye
kind.
(Be kind to them)
Hear My words and;
Hear My words and put
them
Into practice, then
you’ll be fulfilled.”
(You’ll be fulfilled)
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