Shall we feast some more…. pick up your spiritual forks and knives and dig in. By the grace of our Lord we will be well fed.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God...
Looking DILIGENTLY.
If I tell you to look diligently what exactly am I telling you to do?
Dictionary definition-
dil·i·gent (dnt)
adj.
Marked by persevering, painstaking effort.
Pasted from
Did you read that? Looking with effort painstakingly, persevering!
Does that mean you should do this half-heartedly? Does it mean you should put very little effort into this? I'm just trying to get the REAL meaning here, not the one we gloss over as we read Bible verses and nod and smile to ourselves telling ourselves they're nice verses and then we go away having not been fed by them at all. It's true! We read but we are not EATING. Or we are eating but we are NOT digesting! We don't even know what we are putting into our spiritual mouths beyond that it's spiritual food. We think gulping it down, swallowing without tasting, eating it as if it is just empty spiritual calories holding no sustenance whatsoever that we are spiritually feasting but we are not! So what if you've filled your spiritual belly to the fullest if you've not taken the time to savor and truly taste each and every bit of the spiritual food you are feeding on. It does no good to read the entire Bible and learn nothing from it, no good at all. The words can go in and just as soon as they've gone in they can disappear as well and in the next moment you remember nothing.
We need to look diligently! Our effort has to be painstaking and persevering!
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God
We need to look diligently as we are following PEACE with all men, because if we don't we may FAIL of the grace of God!
People hear the words - grace of God and believe that no matter what it's theirs. If that's true how can this statement be truth as well? How can anyone fail of the grace of God?
You can fail of it, you really can and this is truly FOOD for thought, isn't it?
Again, I have to mention that spiritual food isn't sweet honey and chocolate, it can be castor oil and hot sauce. It's not going to go down smoothly all the time, it's meant to open our spiritual eyes so we can discern good and evil and that isn't something that is pleasant. It is especially not pleasant for us when our eyes are opened to see that some cherished behavior we have is really an evil behavior. Remember, we like to call evil good and good evil, but our eyes will be opened by the Holy Spirit if we choose to believe and have faith in God for ALL things. When we eat the bitter food and realize we are standing on sinking sand we are meant to realize that we must cling to Christ for our salvation. We must repent of that evil we've been allowed to see, and repent daily if need be, seeking forgiveness. The repentance has to be a real repentance though, not some habit we've formed admitting to our wrongs but truly not intending to make any effort to stop them.
If we are impatient by nature we must repent of that nature and seek to cultivate patience all with Christ's help. If we are shown our impatience over and over, day by day, we must each and every time feel the remorse it calls for- not just shrug it off, not just give up, not when the chastisement is the spiritual fire purifying us. Remember this--
Heb_12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
We aren't supposed to enjoy being chastised, but we are supposed to realize that we are being taught. We are being shown. We are being guided.
Children often rebel against chastisement. Adults who are chastised have a better chance to learn from it than a child. Still, adults can take offense when they are chastised and they too can rebel against it, but they have more maturity to look for the reason for the chastisement, looking beyond the initial emotional injury of being chastised. Remember, it's not pleasant now but it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Get that, PEACEABLE fruit of righteousness and we are to what… follow peace with all men. If we are exercised by the chastisement, if we learn from it we have hope. We can choose not to be exercised by the chastisement- despising it, rebelling against it, but that will only lead to our failing of the grace of God. It is most assuredly the grace of God that works in us as we are being exercised by chastisement.
Please Lord, please help us to accept Your chastisement, help us to be exercised by it, help us to follow peace with all men, bless us Lord, keep us in YOU always. We are wretched, poor, blind, and naked, and we need YOU for everything! We need YOU in us making us NEW in YOU.
Thank you, Lord, for the spiritual feast You prepared for us tonight, please let it nurture us as we need it so desperately to do.
All by YOUR LOVE!
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God...
Looking DILIGENTLY.
If I tell you to look diligently what exactly am I telling you to do?
Dictionary definition-
dil·i·gent (dnt)
adj.
Marked by persevering, painstaking effort.
Pasted from
Did you read that? Looking with effort painstakingly, persevering!
Does that mean you should do this half-heartedly? Does it mean you should put very little effort into this? I'm just trying to get the REAL meaning here, not the one we gloss over as we read Bible verses and nod and smile to ourselves telling ourselves they're nice verses and then we go away having not been fed by them at all. It's true! We read but we are not EATING. Or we are eating but we are NOT digesting! We don't even know what we are putting into our spiritual mouths beyond that it's spiritual food. We think gulping it down, swallowing without tasting, eating it as if it is just empty spiritual calories holding no sustenance whatsoever that we are spiritually feasting but we are not! So what if you've filled your spiritual belly to the fullest if you've not taken the time to savor and truly taste each and every bit of the spiritual food you are feeding on. It does no good to read the entire Bible and learn nothing from it, no good at all. The words can go in and just as soon as they've gone in they can disappear as well and in the next moment you remember nothing.
We need to look diligently! Our effort has to be painstaking and persevering!
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God
We need to look diligently as we are following PEACE with all men, because if we don't we may FAIL of the grace of God!
People hear the words - grace of God and believe that no matter what it's theirs. If that's true how can this statement be truth as well? How can anyone fail of the grace of God?
You can fail of it, you really can and this is truly FOOD for thought, isn't it?
Again, I have to mention that spiritual food isn't sweet honey and chocolate, it can be castor oil and hot sauce. It's not going to go down smoothly all the time, it's meant to open our spiritual eyes so we can discern good and evil and that isn't something that is pleasant. It is especially not pleasant for us when our eyes are opened to see that some cherished behavior we have is really an evil behavior. Remember, we like to call evil good and good evil, but our eyes will be opened by the Holy Spirit if we choose to believe and have faith in God for ALL things. When we eat the bitter food and realize we are standing on sinking sand we are meant to realize that we must cling to Christ for our salvation. We must repent of that evil we've been allowed to see, and repent daily if need be, seeking forgiveness. The repentance has to be a real repentance though, not some habit we've formed admitting to our wrongs but truly not intending to make any effort to stop them.
If we are impatient by nature we must repent of that nature and seek to cultivate patience all with Christ's help. If we are shown our impatience over and over, day by day, we must each and every time feel the remorse it calls for- not just shrug it off, not just give up, not when the chastisement is the spiritual fire purifying us. Remember this--
Heb_12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
We aren't supposed to enjoy being chastised, but we are supposed to realize that we are being taught. We are being shown. We are being guided.
Children often rebel against chastisement. Adults who are chastised have a better chance to learn from it than a child. Still, adults can take offense when they are chastised and they too can rebel against it, but they have more maturity to look for the reason for the chastisement, looking beyond the initial emotional injury of being chastised. Remember, it's not pleasant now but it will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Get that, PEACEABLE fruit of righteousness and we are to what… follow peace with all men. If we are exercised by the chastisement, if we learn from it we have hope. We can choose not to be exercised by the chastisement- despising it, rebelling against it, but that will only lead to our failing of the grace of God. It is most assuredly the grace of God that works in us as we are being exercised by chastisement.
Please Lord, please help us to accept Your chastisement, help us to be exercised by it, help us to follow peace with all men, bless us Lord, keep us in YOU always. We are wretched, poor, blind, and naked, and we need YOU for everything! We need YOU in us making us NEW in YOU.
Thank you, Lord, for the spiritual feast You prepared for us tonight, please let it nurture us as we need it so desperately to do.
All by YOUR LOVE!
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