How To Love. Ephesians 5:2

Jesus gives the ultimate example of love. What would sum up his example of how to love? The Bible suggests an answer to this question.

"And live a life of love, just as Christ has loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:2, NIV*.

A LIFE OF LOVE
To live a life of love is a wonderful idea but what is it? Today love has become polluted and is associated with what one can get; love has become all about me and my feelings. It has become cheap, common, and little.

THE LOVE OF JESUS
The Lord did not live a life of seeking gratification, he lived a life of service and sacrifice; this defines Jesus' love. The verse above refers to his love as a past tense. The past tense points out that his love is proved and evidenced by the history of actions. There are things to look at in the life of Jesus which say this action is love.

HE GAVE HIMSELF
His life was not taken it was given; the death of Jesus on the cross was not an accident, but he gave himself freely. It was on purpose that the Lord left heaven to take on human flesh as a baby to become a man that would die as a substitute for our sins.

WHAT IS SO FRAGRANT?
A fragrant offering is one that is acceptable and pleasing to God. It is one that fully satisfies the requirements of holiness, meaning when Jesus died for our sins it was enough- no more is needed to answer the judgment of God.

Jesus' love compelled him to become a servant and he did what no other servant could do, he paid for the sins of mankind. We will never fully appreciate the depth and awesomeness of that act. All of God's judgment against each man's sin entirely came upon Jesus as he hung on the cross.

OUR PART
For salvation there is no "our part," he did it all, we cannot add to it improve it or make it better. We simply accept by faith what Jesus did on our behalf as our savior. When we trust Jesus as savor he comes into our lives and gives us the power to love as he did.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING
"And live a life of love..." These words are words of commitment, not an accident. We must partner with God's Spirit in us by resolving to live a life of love. We must decide to love and seek sacrificial acts of love to perform.

If you are interested in learning more about how to have Jesus' love in your life follow this link: Click Here.

To read this verse in other translations follow this link: Online Parallel Bible.

© Adron 12/25/12

Is It Enough Just To Give to God? 1 Chronicles 21:24

How do we know what to give to God? Should it be a percentage, a set sum or is it that just the giving that is important?

"But King David replied to Araunah, 'No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that cost me nothing." I Chronicles 21:24 NIV*.

THE DESTROYING ANGEL
David's sin of pride caused the Lord to send a destroying angel to bring a plague through the land. David repented and at that spot David was going to make a sacrifice to the Lord. The spot was the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David asked Araunah for it and he offered it freely, but David replied, "No, I insist on paying the full price..."

SACRIFICE
Our worship must be truly our own. Not just some words we recite from a prayer book or sing the same old song but to be like David who would not sacrifice another's property or give what cost nothing. David's worship cost him something. A sacrifice that costs nothing is not a sacrifice. Our worship should not be cheap.

JESUS' SACRIFICE
The statement of David reflects Jesus' sacrifice on the cross years later where he would pay the full price for our sins. The sacrifice that brought us into fellowship with the Father was very costly- it cost his Son on the cross; we belittle or even mock it when we respond with stingy and easy service or worship! It is arrogant to complain about church service in light of Jesus' sacrifice as if our puny sacrifices compares!

OUR SACRIFICE
We should ask ourselves, "When was the last time we gave service to the Lord that really cost? When did our wallet hurt for the kingdom or when did we miss a meal for his service, or got just plain worn out for him? How often have we said this church job or that Christian service it too hard?" It is when we got to that point when sacrifice or worship begins.

GOD HONORED DAVID
The passage ends with, "He called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering," verse 26-b. David honored God, and David's sacrifice was honored by the Lord. The plague was stopped, the angel put away his sword, and David got the answer from the Lord, and later the threshing floor became the site for the temple. God honors our sacrifices.

 To read this verse in other translations follow this link: Online Parallel Bible.

If you want to know more about how to become a Christian follow this link: Click Here.

(c)Adron Dozat 12/17/12

What Does the Bible Say About Giving?

We know we should be giving to God and charity. There are so many that ask for our contributions. What should we give and to who?  An ancient king may give us guidance.

"Besides in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple; three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlay of the walls of the buildings, for the gold work and the silver work and all the work to be done. Now who is willing to consecrate himself today to the Lord?"  Chronicles 29:3-5, NIV*. 

The quote above was when King David was dedicating his fortune to building the temple in Jerusalem.

DEVOTION
David sets an example of devotion.  It was a theme that ran throughout his life, and this generous giving to the building of the temple may be the result of a lifelong attitude and practice of giving. He was faithful in little and was given much. As king he could have levied a tax, or commanded nobles to give a percentage; instead, he sets an example and gives. He did not preach giving- he practiced giving. His devotion was not a religion, creed, system, but to a personal God that he loved.

WHAT HE GAVE
There is much disagreement as to the exact sums of the treasure given, both in measure and value. What is clear is that by any calculation is it was a lot. The gold and silver were above everything else he gave already; he gave and then gave some more. The gold of Ophir was thought to be the best and finest of gold mined in the times of David. This detail suggests his attitude of giving mandates the best not second best or the leftover.

CONSECRATE
To consecrate something has come to mean it is given for service to God. The ancient word for this refers to a full hand, the image is of generous giving in an outstretched hand without reserve. To consecrate yourself is to give yourself away to serving.  David's example of giving of material goods led to the challenge of giving not only material goods but one's self.

NOT JUST A QUESTION
David asked the leaders of the people, "...who is willing to consecrate himself today to the Lord?" He did not command it and neither does God. God is asking us if are we willing to give ourselves to him, his service, his worship, his kingdom. We may give in the offering plate at church, or to charities, or many worthy causes but the better and nobler is to give ourselves to God. Adron

To learn more about coming to God follow this link: Click Here.

*To read this verse in another translation follow this link: Online Parallel Bible.

© Adron 11/28/12

Why Give Thank Offerings To God? Psalm 50:23

A short post looking at the relevance of thank offerings in the modern age.

What good are thank offerings in this modern age? Do thank offerings have any relevance to modern religion?

"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God." Psalm 50:23, NIV.

Nothing adds more grace and charm to a person's character than the attitude of thankfulness. Few things equal thankfulness in strengthening relationships between people; we should at least treat God with no less civility than our friends.

If we gave a gift to someone and they didn't say, "Thank you," we wonder if they liked the gift, and we may not give such a good gift next time. Likewise, if we don't thank God, should we expect such rich blessings to continue in our lives?

"HE WHO SACRIFICES THANK OFFERINGS..."

Since God is the Author and Owner of all creation, any physical offering is already His. We are like children asking our parents for money to buy them a gift. On the other hand, our words are truly ours, ours by creation and ownership; when we give thanks to God, we are giving God something that in all of earth and heaven only we can give.

Our thankfulness "honors" God, and here God makes a point of it.

Thankfulness:

• Acknowledges that God is the source of our blessings.
• Makes us humble before God.
• Is right.
• Expresses our dependence on God.
• Pleases God.

THANKFULNESS WORKS ON OUR HEARTS.

Thankfulness "prepares the way, and it prepares us. Thanking God causes us to grow in our relationship with him. Thankfulness makes us ready for more blessings.

GOD RESPONDS:

God responds, the verse says, "...that I may show him the salvation of God."There is a future tense of this verse; God has a purpose and plan, and thankfulness gets us in tune with that plan. It seems as if some blessings are contingent on a partnership of thanksgiving, for the verse says, "I may," not "I will." Offerings of thanks remove barriers to our faith and in our thinking that oppose God's blessings: so he "may show" us the salvation of God.

GIVE THANKS:

We need to make thankfulness a bigger part of our relationship with God. We need to think hard about our blessings and take time and thank Him. When we pray, we should thank the Lord for that answer even though it has not yet happened; let's thank him for the answers before we end that prayer, even though the answer seems so far off. It takes faith, but this truly honors Him and prepares us to see the salvation of the Lord.

Here is a link to another helpful post on thankfulness, Psalm 107:1.

(c) Adron Dozat 7/20/12

What Is The Main Purpose Of Prayer? Psalm 141:2

Millions of people pray every day in many different ways, but what is the essential purpose of prayer?

"May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice." Psalm 141:2 NIV

OUR REASONS
We pray for different reasons.
     * We get in a crisis.
     * We are in need and call to the Lord.
     * We want something and God has it so we ask him.

THE PSALMIST'S REASONS
Such concepts are foreign to the spirit of this verse. The psalmist desires for his prayer to be a blessing to God not a source for a blessing to himself.

MAY...
The humble psalmist saw no guarantee that his prayers were heard because without demand he says, "May my prayer be set before you..." We in the church should be deeply grateful to live in this age where through the blood of Jesus we have access to God the Father. In ancient times the faithful had little assurance as we have. We understand that God in his infinite knowledge knows all things and is aware of every prayer prayed, but only Christians have the assurance of being heard because Jesus bought us access by his atoning death.

INCENSE...
To the psalmist his prayer is an offering before God, it is "Set before you…” Too unworthy to hold his prayer up instead his prayer of praise was placed, or lay down at the Almighty Father’s feet, as the ultimate act of worship.

WORSHIP
In our materialistic age, we have turned prayer into a wish list that we bring to God like a heavenly Santa Clause asking for healing, possessions, comfort, and deliverance. There is nothing wrong in praying for our needs and giving to God our wants, Jesus taught us to pray and to ask the Father to give us our daily bread; but the example of the verse is worship, the reference to incense and sacrifice are both pictures of worship, devotion, and thanksgiving. Incense was used in the temple to symbolize the worship prayers and the evening sacrifice was the thanks at the end of a day of work where you were safely brought home.

THE ESSENTIAL
There are many purposes for prayer and many types of prayer but worship is the foundational essential. How often do we truly worship our God and what caliber of worship is it? Let’s follow the example of this verse and use our prayers to give passionate worship and thanksgiving to our heavenly Father.

(c)Adron Dozat

A Christianity that is un-American. Philippians 3:7-9

There are a few teachings of the Bible that stand in defiance of modern views.

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ…” Philippians 3:7-9.

Ours is a consumer-driven materialistic generation. We quickly acquire the newest technology, the latest electronics, and the most up to date toys. How different we are from our Lord who was a homeless traveling teacher possessing only the clothes on his torn back the day he was crucified.

THINGS LOSS
Why are we not like the Apostle who considered “everything loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus?” We have to know Christ, seek him, become intimate with his words and teaching. Intimacy with Jesus will keep us from being allured by advertisements that call us from the Lord and enslave us to the idea that possessions give meaning. Jesus has been out-marketed by TV commercials, junk mail, billboards, digital media and all the weapons of advertisers.

GREATNESS
The Apostle Paul considered knowing Jesus to have “surpassing greatness.” The surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus was a fact to him. Knowing Jesus was so much more, above, and ahead of anything else he could do, be, or possess. To Paul all profit gain, possessions, status, wealth, and treasures did not compare to Jesus; Jesus was the greater treasure to Paul.

FOR THE SAKE OF...
How could he consider “all things loss for the sake of Christ?” Did he know something we don’t? Do we not know the same Christ? The Jesus we hear taught about today is a watered-down and sterilized from the dynamic world-changing Jesus whose followers brought down empires. Our Jesus is the helpless baby in a manger, or the misunderstood teacher, or the abandoned martyr on the cross.

GREATER WORTH
Paul had a vision of who Jesus was, and his Jesus was worth all things; status, reputation, finical security, future plans, friendships, wealth, and whatever you name. Let’s find that Jesus. It takes time, time in the Word, prayer, communion, service, and fellowship, but we can do it; when we do we again will turn the world upside down.

MODERN PAULS
If Paul lost all things to know Christ what can we moderns point to and say, "I have counted this as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ?" After all, what is there that really does compare to knowing Jesus? Let’s not spend our time and resources gaining more things- instead, let’s rediscover Jesus.

Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I sincerely hope this post is helpful and is an encouragement.  For more like this see the most popular post in the left sidebar, or use the search box above. 

(c)Adron Dozat 11/26/10