1 Samuel 18 -- God's Attractiveness

God at work in a life is very attractive to others.  I’ve witnessed it multiple times in the lives of youth ministers, speakers at youth ministry conclaves, pastors, and evangelists I’ve known.  And it was no different with David and Jonathan.  Though Jonathan was older than David, after he listened to the conversation between his father Saul and David, Jonathan could see that God was greatly at work in David’s life, and unlike Saul, Jonathan wanted to be part of it.

 

David was popular but did not have many possessions.  He was at most 18 years old.  So Jonathan gladly shared with him even the trappings of his status as a prince.  God would even use this to “train David to reign>”  He was from a poor family, by his own admission, yet his royal friend could help him to come to understand much about kingship.

 

Saul had once had God’s Spirit dwelling within himself, and he surely felt a terrible emptiness within, having experienced the Spirit and then knowing the Spirit had departed.  Seeing the Spirit clearly working in David’s life only intensified that loss and caused Saul to target David.  In fact, Saul quickly began several attempts to murder David, but true to His faithfulness, God protected the future king from every attempt.

 

Of course, admiration and praise can often invoke pride.  Proverbs 27:21 says, “A man is tested by the praise he receives.”  My commentary said, “Praise tests and prepares people for what God has planned for them.  How we respond to praise reveals what we’re made of and whether or not we’re ready to take on new responsibilities.  If praise humbles us, then God can use us, but if praise puffs us up, we’re not yet ready for a promotion.”

 

David handled it well, remaining humble and watching to see what God was doing in his life, as God began to prepare him for the throne.  Jonathan could see that, and he could also see the exact opposite in his father.  So he went where God was working.

 

Father, thank you for bringing godly men into my life who first attracted me to You at work in their lives.  Through their examples, You’ve grown me in faith and knowledge of You.  Help me to do the same for boys and men You put me in contact with.  Help me to remain humble before You and trust You to get me where You want me to be.  I love You!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 17 -- God At Work In A Kid's Life

I liked how my commentary segmented this chapter:

 

God GUIDED David – He arranged it for David to come to the war camp on the final day of Samson’s taunting of the Israelite army before a real battle would occur.  The Israelites were so fearful that they might otherwise have lost.

 

God ENCOURAGED David – He didn’t let the discouraging words of David’s brothers cause David to quit.  God had empowered and encouraged him in the past, as a lion and a bear had attacked David’s sheep.  David knew that it wasn’t by his own power that he’d killed the attackers, and now he had God’s Spirit living in him as he faced his biggest giant yet.

 

God ENABLED David – David came to the contest in the name of the Lord.  David did what he did for the glory of God.  He wanted all the earth to know that the true and living God was Israel’s God.  David told Goliath that God was the one enabling him to win the battle, and that He doesn’t need swords and spears.  God guided the stone to the perfect spot and David’s giant was slain and God received all the glory.

 

Father, that’s the kind of heart I want all the time – one that depends on You and is assured by You and enabled by You.  You’ve done mighty things in my life as well – things than can only be explained by Your intervention.  Help me to continue to trust You based on Your past faithfulness to me, and help me to tell the world what You’ve done, just as David did.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 16 -- Making Our Choices God's Choices

Every time I read this chapter, I think back to July, 2005, when my older son and I were in Kiev, Ukraine, about to adopt his brother.  As I flipped through the photos of available boys, I saw my younger son's picture.  He was clearly the handsomest boy there.  I immediately liked him, but remembered what God said to Samuel as he met each of Jesse’s older sons – men look at the outside, but God looks at the heart.  I flipped through the remaining files to be sure God wasn’t pointing someone else out to me, then returned to his photo again, and I silently prayed for God to guide me, and the rest is history.

 

What struck me this morning was that Samuel, the spiritual leader of Israel, was afraid of the assignment God had given him, because he and Saul were now estranged and he feared that Saul’s suspicious nature would cause him to harm Samuel if he knew why Samuel was traveling to Bethlehem.  God reassured him and gave him a valid excuse for the trip – a fellowship offering for a select group of people, my commentary said.

 

Once Samuel arrived, even the town elders were antsy, worried that nay actions by Samuel might bring Saul’s wrath down on them.

 

As Samuel reviewed Jesse’s sons, thinking each one would make a fine king, he was dismayed as God kept saying, “No” about each one.  Surely he hadn’t misunderstood God!  So he asked the obvious question – “Are these all of your sons?”  “David was so insignificant in the family that Jesse didn’t even call him from the flock to the feast,” my commentary said.  In fact, he didn’t even say David’s name – just that the youngest was with the sheep.  Yet David was the man God had chosen, and with his anointing by Samuel, the Spirit of God came upon him in great power, but also departed from Saul forever.  The people had chosen their first king, but God had chosen their second king.

 

Because our hearts are sinful and can make mistakes, I didn’t want to trust my own as I became a father through adoption.  I asked God to pick my sons for me, and with great assurance, He did just that.  Even with the smallest decisions, we can’t do better than to ask God’s guidance.

 

Father, You have proven Yourself faithful and wise over the millennia, and I thank You for building up my own trust and faith in You for the decisions in my own life.  Please help me to build up that same faith in the lives of my sons, leading them to know that You are faithful and trustworthy and capable of leading them in all of their decisions.  Let them lean not on their own understanding, but to depend solely upon You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

1 Samuel 15 -- The Heart Of Disobedience

God had one more test for Saul.  He commanded him to completely destroy every Amalekite man, woman, and child, and every animal and possession they owned.  God had been longsuffering with this very evil people and the time had come for judgment.  But when the time came, Saul spared their king and the best animals.  Knowing he’d willfully disobeyed, Saul still greeted Samuel, “May the Lord bless you!  I have obeyed the Lord’s commands.”  About that time, the mooing and bleating began from the captured animals.

 

My commentary looked at it step by step:

 

“First, Saul lied to himself in thinking he could get away with the deception, and then he lied to Samuel, who already knew the truth.  He even tried to lie to God by saying he would use the spared animals for sacrifices!  Saul blamed the soldiers for sparing the spoils, but surely as their commander-in-chief he could have controlled them … With Saul, it was always somebody else’s fault.”

 

Here was the crux of it:  “The prophet went on to reveal that the sins of rebellion and stubbornness (arrogance) controlled Saul’s heart, and in God’s sight, they were as evil as witchcraft and idolatry.  Both sins were evidences of a heart that had REJECTED the Word of God.  To know God’s will and deliberately disobey it is to put ourselves above God and therefore become our own god.  This is the vilest form of idolatry.”

 

I’ve always read that there was no system of offerings to bring about forgiveness of intentional sin in the laws Moses gave – only for accidental sins.  This certainly describes why that would be the case.  Yet today, I don’t imagine that very many accidental sins occur.  Most would be intentional.  I’m so thankful that I have the blood of Christ covering all my sins – past, present, and future – but I also hate the fact that with every intentional sin I commit, I am in effect crucifying Him again.  It grieves me to hear that rebellion and stubbornness are evidences of a heart rejecting the Word of God, because I cherish that Word.  Yet in this life in this flesh in this sin-infected world, we all still sin.  And like Paul, we find ourselves asking, “Why do I do the things I don’t want to do and not do the things I should?”

 

Father, forgive me.  Help me not to reject Your Word.  Help me to know Your will and obey it always.  Thank You for showing me again that rebellion and stubbornness are as evil as witchcraft and idolatry.  Don’t let me make excuses.  Cause me to ache when I do sin, to feel sorry for my rebellion, and to repent – walking away from the path I’ve gone down.  Bring me back into fellowship with You and hold me tightly.  Keep me from straying again.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 14 -- Not A Way To Win A Battle

“But Jonathan did not tell his father.”  That sounds like trouble brewing ….

 

In this case, Saul wasn’t advancing toward the Philistine army camp, but his son Jonathan saw a possible avenue of attack.  Without consulting his father, he set out to see if it held promise.  He asked for a specific sign from the Lord as he and his armor-bearer neared the camp and received it.  Using his rock-climbing skills, he ascended a cliff and manager to kill 20 enemy soldiers.  God added an earthquake that threw the Philistines into a panic.  Hearing the commotion, Saul interrupted the priest who was consulting God, wanting the Ark moved as probably a good luck charm.

 

Saul had earlier tried to appear super-spiritual to his army by imposing a fast – not the thing to do when soldiers are in battle and need energy.  Jonathan, away at his attack, hadn’t heard the command and ate some honey as he rejoined the army.  When told of his father’s prohibition, Jonathan said that Saul had “made trouble for the land” by making such a rash vow.  Saul’s authority was begging to be undermined.

 

Then when the men were finally free of the fast at sunset, they were so famished that they ate raw meat still containing blood – something prohibited in Moses’ instructions from God.

 

Saul eventually discovered that Jonathan had eaten during the fast, but the soldiers defended him, costing Saul even more respect.  My commentary summed up the situation:  “When you read King Saul’s words recorded in Scripture, they often reveal a heart controlled by pride, foolishness, and deceit.  He would say foolish things just to impress people with his spirituality, when in reality he was walking far from the Lord.”

 

Father, let my words and actions match what is in my heart, and when You find things in my heart that don’t match up with Your will, convict me of them and guide me to remove them from my life.  Help me to have a heart like Yours.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 13 -- Saul Caved And Shouldn't Have

Saul had mustered an army of 300,000 to help Jabesh Gilead, but then sent all but 3,000 home.  As they waited to start an attack against the Philistines, the men began to desert.  The Philistines had 6,000 men and that left the Israelites feeling outnumbered.  Samuel was late arriving and Saul had been told to wait for him.  My commentary said, “This rendezvous was the Lord’s way of testing Saul’s faith and patience.  Without faith and patience, we can’t receive what the Lord promises … Until we learn to trust God and wait on His timing, we can’t learn the other lessons He wants to teach us, nor can we receive the blessings He’s planned for us.”

 

Saul caved and played the priest, offering sacrifices to God.  He hadn’t yet learned that God doesn’t want sacrifice.  He wants obedience.”

 

Then when Samuel appeared, Saul began to practice deception and blame-shifting to cover up his sin, finally making the absolutely stupid statement:  “I forced myself to do it.” “The will is the servant of the mind and heart, but Saul’s thinking and desiring were totally out of the will of God,” my commentary said.  His rash decision resulted in God already having selected a man after His own heart to be king in his place.

 

Father, help me to have patience as You are at work in my life.  I want to be able to wait on Your perfect timing.  I’m facing three things right now that seem to be taking too long, and I just want them all to be done.  I’ve tried pushing them along, and I’ve almost wavered in my faith.  Thank You for giving me this very specific spiritual booster shot this morning, just when I needed it.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 11 & 12 -- Something Samuel Said

Saul experienced his first indwelling of the Holy Spirit when he heard that an Israelite city had been surrounded by enemies.  In righteous indignation, he cut up two oxen and had the pieces delivered to all Israel as a call to arms, at the same time warning that any who did not come would face a similar fate.  “So the people became very afraid of the Lord.”  That “afraid” is akin to our word “dreaded”.  Maybe not the best way to see God.

 

My commentary said that “the Lord condescended to reach down to their level of unbelief…. In His grace, God gave Saul an opportunity to prove himself and consolidate his authority.”  God gave the victory and Saul gave God the glory.  My commentary also said, “The will of God will never lead us where the grace of God can’t keep us and use us.”  Saul had never led men in battle, but at least this time he trusted the Lord to show him how.

 

Samuel then gave his farewell speech, pointing out that God gave them what they’d asked for (a king), but Israel lost something in the transaction.  “Then you will know what an evil thing you did against the Lord when you asked for a king.”

 

Finally, Samuel said, “I will surely not stop praying for you, because that would be sinning against the Lord.”  That’s something we all need to be reminded of today.  Not praying is sinning!

 

Father, again You remind me of the importance of prayer – constant communication with You that will help me to discover Your will and the way that You work in this world.  And again, I ask You to help me become more fervent and focused and disciplined in my prayer life.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 9-10 Humility Or Reluctant Acceptance Of God's Will?

God led donkeys to run away so that Saul would need to travel to where Samuel was!  Saul was a tall, handsome farmer still working with his dad.  He would never have dreamed that this trip would result in his being anointed as king!  My commentary noted that Saul had not shown evidence of being spiritual before, and he didn’t even know that Samuel, the man of God leading his nation, lived just 5 miles from him!  The Holy Spirit would change Saul’s heart to enable him to serve as king and to worship God for possibly the first time in his life!

 

Samuel gave Saul signs that, on his return home, would serve to validate God’s call upon his life.  They should also have taught Saul to trust that God was leading Samuel to choose him.  But on a later trip to Samuel where Saul would be introduced to his new subjects, Saul was found hiding among the baggage when it was time to announce his selection to the people!  A quotation I read yesterday in the New Testament showed up again today in the Old Testament commentary:  “True humility isn’t thinking meanly about one’s self; it’s simply not thinking of one’s self at all.”  My commentary said Saul was likely hiding out of fear, not modesty, “because true humility accepts God’s will while at the same time depending on God’s strength and wisdom.  Had Saul been focusing on the glory of God, he would have been present in the assembly and humbly accepting God’s call.  Then he would have urged the people to pray for him and to follow him as he sought to do the Lord’s will.”

 

Father, as I seek to do Your will, help me to listen to You and to do what You ask.  Let me not have to concern myself with humility or modesty simply because I will know that I am in the center of Your will, not needing to worry about what humans perceive.  That’s Your job to handle them.  Keep the sins of pride and entitlement at bay, and let no one ascribe motives to my words or actions that are out of line with what You have me doing.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 8 -- The 5-Year-Olds Pitch A Fit

Despite being a man of God, wise and prayerful, Samuel unfortunately had two sons who did not follow his morals.  They’d become judges in Israel,  but they were corrupt.  Somewhere along the line they had departed from his path.  The older leaders realized this and used it as a further excuse to demand a king.  His sons probably thought nothing of their sin and would have probably denied that they’d been used by Satan to lead their nation further away from God!

 

God told Samuel, “They have not rejected you.  They have rejected Me from being their king.  They are doing as they have always done.”

 

Samuel then told the people what God had said would happen to them under a king’s reign, and amazingly they weren’t fazed by it (not even by the new 10% tax rate)!

 

They sounded like 5-year-olds saying, “No!  We want a king to rule over us.  Then we will be the same as all the other nations (in other words, not holy and set apart to God).  Our king will judge for us and go with us and fight our battles.”  How clouded their minds had become!  That’s exactly what God had been doing for them!

 

Samuel told the Lord what they’d said, and God said simply, “Give them a king.” 

 

(Be careful what you wish for.  You might just get it!)

 

Father, it’s so sad that humanity seems to naturally gravitate away from You because of sin.  Rather than accepting Your best for us all, the vast majority settle for selfish and childish whims and deny Your goodness and Your care.  Sin does that, and it isn’t pretty.  I hate it that we are all subject to it at times, and the last thing I want is to disappoint You.  Please guide us in spite of ourselves – in spite of our sin.  Be the king of reluctant and often unwilling subjects, for our OWN good.

 

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 5-7 Changing Times

Israel had become so disobedient that the Lord allowed the Philistines to take land and even capture the Ark of the Covenant.  But God would not allow any idol to be worshiped in His presence.  Their idol of Dagon fell before the Lord and lost its head and hands.  A plague of tumors and rats afflicted the inhabitants of each Philistine city where the Ark was moved, so that finally the enemy kings and priests devised a plan to “offer” to return the ark, while holding out the possibility of keeping it and the gold penalty offering they’d prepared, hoping that the new mother cows tasked to pull the cart carrying the Ark would stay near their new calves.  “The Lords of the Philistines didn’t know the true and living God, but the COWS did, and they obeyed Him,” my commentary said, leaving their newborn calves to deliver the Ark to Israel.

 

Over the following twenty years, the Israelites began to crave a monarchy “like the other nations”.  The old adage, “Everyone else gets to do it!” reared its ugly head.  They thought a king would solve their problems, but having their own way would lead them to more problems.  “God still gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him,” my commentary says.

 

Samuel, through his prayers and guidance, began to transition the people from judges to kings.  He led them to get their hearts right before God by putting away their false gods, confessing their sins, and praying for God’s help.  God stepped in to help when they did by causing a terrible thundering that confused an invading Philistine army, allowing the Israelites to slaughter them.  He didn’t need the Ark to accomplish victories, they would learn.

 

Father, often You have to get us to the bottom of a well before we will look up and see just how far we’ve moved from You.  Yet in Your longsuffering and lovingkindness You work to change our hearts and bring us back to You.  Thank You for not giving up on me!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 4 -- That AIN'T Gonna Work!

The people of Israel were not being the people of God, and the priesthood was corrupt.  When they decided to fight the Philistines, they thought that God would ensure victory despite their disobedience.  They were sorely wrong, and they lost 4,000 soldiers.  They also failed to see the answer to the question they asked:  “Why did the Lord let the Philistines defeat us?”

 

My commentary said, “The Lord had clearly told them how to fight their wars, but instead of searching their hearts and confessing their sins, the people decided to imitate Moses and Joshua and take the ark of the covenant into the battle with them … God will not be used just to make sinful people achieve their own selfish purposes.”

 

They boldly attacked again, with Eli’s two evil sons shepherding the ark in battle.  Thirty thousand Israelite soldiers died in battle and the ark was taken from them.  Eli’s two sons were killed in battle.

 

My commentary noted:  “The Jews had forgotten that the ark was God’s throne in Israel only if Israel was submitted to Him and obedient to His covenant.  Anything else was nothing but ignorant superstition … The two brothers used the ark as a good luck charm.”

 

God was doing something new in Israel, but first He had to get their attention, and He did so by having His glory depart.  Israel couldn’t see how much they’d lost until it was gone.

 

Father, help me to set aside anything in my life that threatens to take me away from You.  I deeply treasure the fact that You never gave up on me, and now that I hear from You, I don’t want to ever lose that relationship!  Keep me close!  Warn me when my thoughts or actions imperil our relationship.  Don’t ever let me try to use you as they did.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1st Samuel 3 -- Hearing From God For The First Time

These were really sad words about a nation, but they were turning into hopeful words:  “Samuel serve the Lord under Eli … Samuel did not yet know the Lord … In those days the Lord did not speak directly to people very often; there were very few visions …”

 

That says a lot right there.  Samuel was serving in the Tabernacle a God he did not KNOW.  His mentor wasn’t obedient to God, and neither were the religious leaders, “and God’s people weren’t obeying His law anyway, so why should God say anything new to them?  …. The silence of God was the judgment of God,” my commentary noted.

 

It also said that, like Paul, “Samuel’s call and conversion occurred at the same time.”  Though he had not known God, God spoke to him anyway, causing him to become a believer, and God immediately told him His plans for him.  The message was quite a lot for a young boy to take in, I’ll bet.

 

Rather than being prideful at having heard from God and been given a commission, Samuel simply woke up at the same early hour and continued doing his duties, “opening the doors to the tabernacle so that people could come to sacrifice, and he said nothing to Eli about what God had told him,” my commentary said.

 

Eli pressed him about the message, and Samuel faithfully related it to him.  Eli’s family would lose the priesthood for their failure to obey the Lord.  Rather than fighting God to keep his position, Eli resigned himself to his fate.  God had already told him that both of his sons were to die on the same day.  He said, “He is the Lord.  Let Him do what He thinks is best.”  My commentary added, “Though Eli and his sons were priests, they could offer no sacrifice that would atone for their sins!  Their sins were deliberate and defiant, and for such sins no sacrifice COULD be offered. (Numbers 15:30)”

 

God remained with Samuel, making sure that none of Samuel’s messages failed to come true.  Everyone in Israel came to accept him as a prophet of God.

 

Father, I remember a time, which I readily admit to the youth I teach, when I didn’t hear from You.  I asked those in the adult Sunday School class I was teaching how they knew if they’d heard from You.  My question was met with deafening silence.  Yet You drew me to Yourself and You began to show me regularly more and more about Yourself.  You answered my questions and my prayers.  You allowed the light of Your Word to dawn on me and in me.  I’d given You my heart, but I hadn’t let You be Lord of my life, and finding that out made all the difference.  Thank You for Your patience, Your grace, and Your mercy.  Thank You for letting me hear You.  Now I can’t imagine what it would be like if You stopped!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 2 -- About The Boys

Hannah had been distraught most of her married life because she had been unable to have children.  But she had never given up on God.  Now that He had answered her, she exclaims His praises:

 

“The Lord has filled my heart with joy … I am glad because You have helped me! … There is no God but You; There is no Rock like our God.”

 

My commentary said, “It’s good for us to begin our praying with praising, because praise helps us focus on the glory of the Lord and not on the greatness of our needs.  When we see the greatness of God, we start to see life in perspective…. There’s no place for pride or arrogance when you stand before a God who knows you through and through, everything you’ve thought, spoken, and done.”

 

So as we pray, it’s important to establish our perspective and to understand Who we are praying to. 

 

I always think of my boys as I read verse 8:  “The Lord raises the poor up from the dust, and He lifts the needy from the ashes.  He lets the poor sit with princes and receive a throne of honor.”  What a change He’s brought to their young lives from the poverty – both financially and spiritually – of a Ukrainian orphanage!

 

Finally, God warns us as parents about failing to help our children maintain their respect for the Lord:  “It’s tragic when a father – and a spiritual leader at that – loses his influence over his own family and can only wait for God’s hand of judgment to fall.”

 

Father, help me to raise my sons to honor You all their lives.  Show them Your love for them in bringing them here.  Remind them often of what their lives might have been like had You not loved them so and personally intervened in their lives.  Help me to guide them to seek after You and to trust You.  You are our God.  Thank You for answering my prayer to be a father as You did Hannah’s to be a mother!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Samuel 1 -- A Soon-To-Be-Parent's Prayer

God had left Hannah barren, but she had not given up on Him.  She remained devoted to him, accepting her condition in spite of the constant tormenting she suffered from her husband’s other wife.  How incredible it was for her to pray for a son and at the same time offer to give him back to God forever once he was weaned!  I’ve only had my oldest for 10 years and my youngest for 8, and already I’m struggling with the thought that soon they won’t be living with me!

 

God must have given her great assurances and peace that she’d prayed in His will, for she returned to the feast as a woman full of joy.

 

My commentary said, “Hannah was a woman of prayer and taught her son to be a man of prayer,” and later she would turn him over to Eli, who had shown that he was entirely too tolerant of his own sons’ sins and had allowed them to continue in their wicked ways.  My commentary added, “Just as God protected Joseph in Egypt, so He would protect Samuel in Shiloh, and so He can protect our children and grandchildren in this present evil world …  The story thus far makes it clear that the life and future of a nation depends on the character of the home, and the character of the home depends on the spiritual life of the parents.”

 

Father, help me to be the parent You want me to be.  Help me not to shrink from any discipline that You lead me to administer.  Let my life be an example to my sons, and help them not to rebel against You, but to trust and obey You.  In the same vein, help me not to exasperate them by being overly harsh and critical, Father.  Show me the proper balance in love.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Colossians 4 -- Father, About My Prayer Time ....

“Continue praying, keeping alert, and always thanking God.  Also pray for us … pray that we can preach … pray that I can speak in a way that will make it clear …”

 

Paul was writing these words from an Italian jail cell.  Notice what he didn’t pray for – his release, better conditions, more visitors…

 

Years ago, I started using a prayer journal that:

·         Reminded me to pray for certain people on certain days, so I wouldn’t forget to pray for them.

·         Kept special prayer requests ever before me so that I would continue to ask God for His help.

·         Helped me to witness firsthand God’s repeated answers to the prayers I’d been praying.

 

Somewhere along the line (probably as a result of needing more morning time with two boys), it went by the wayside.  Oh, I still lift up prayers every day, and I am so thankful for every answered prayer.  But I’m missing so much more, I feel, by not having that reminder and that evidence of answers constantly before me.

 

Father, help me in whatever shape or form You know will work best for me with my life right now to begin again a more organized prayer ministry.  Help me to see again how You open the windows of the storehouses of heaven and pour out blessings for others through my communion with You.  I want more than fellowship with You in my prayer time.  I want again to minister to others through my prayers.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Colossians 3 -- It's The Thought That Counts

Man, I hate having feelings of entitlement, especially about sin.  It seems like the devil tries to plant thought that say, “You’ve been good!  Your deserve a little slack!”  I think lots of us find that happening from time to time.  Paul could see it happening with the Colossians, too.  So in no uncertain terms, he pointed out what worldly people back then would think nothing of, but what we as Christians should have no part of.

 

We he starts listing sins, it’s easy to agree that sexual sinning shouldn’t be happening in the life of a Christian.  Doing evil is also probably easily agreed as being a big no-no.  But then we get to letting evil thoughts control you and people start to complain that Paul is meddling.  After all, it’s only in my MIND, they’d say.

 

But Paul didn’t stop there.  My commentary described these sins of good standing:  “We are so accustomed to anger, critical attitudes, lying, and coarse humor among believers that we are no longer upset or convicted about these sins.  We would be shocked to see a church member commit some sensual sin, but we will watch him lose his temper in a business meeting and call it righteous indignation.”

 

Father, I know that I can’t pick and choose which sins are okay and which are not for me.  Your Word plainly says that anything that is done without thinking it is right is a sin.  I have to always agree with You and change my thinking and my actions.  Thank You for showing me how easy it’s become to bring sin even into the church and not realize it!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Colossians 2 -- Relationship, Not Rules

There were so many ideas floating around Colossae about how to be super-spiritual, and Paul knew that all of them would only serve to shift the focus of the new Christians away from Christ.  It was more of that same Gospel-plus mentality.

 

“Keep your roots deep in Him and have your lives built on Him,” Paul said.  “All of God lives in Christ fully … It was through Christ’s death that you were made free from the power of your sinful self … When you were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self, God made you alive with Christ, AND He FORGAVE ALL your sins.”

 

Paul then asks why, after being set free from sin, would any Christian act as if they still belonged to the world?  That included following manmade rules about what not to eat and not to touch.  He said the only thing these rules really do is make people pretend not to be proud and make them punish their bodies, without giving them any control over their evil desires.  Our only strength and hop in those areas come from Christ alone.

 

Father, rules don’t cut it.  Only a relationship with You through Your Son can lead me to live a life separate from the world and apart to You.  I’m only human, and that’s not an excuse to sin.  Instead, it’s an admission of weakness and an acknowledgment of my need of Your power in my life to overcome sin every day.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Colossians 1 -- Who We ARE

The Christians in Colossae were new to their relationship with Christ and still had a lot to learn.  False teachers had already descended on their church, trying to change what Paul preached about the Gospel.  They were talking about a gospel-plus way of life that was wrong.

 

Some of the reminders Paul wrote to them, as my commentary noted, were:

 

·         God does not make peace so that we can continue to be rebels!  He has reconciled us to Himself so that we may share His life and His holiness.  We are presented to God holy and unblameable and unreproveable.

·         God looks at His children and sees no blemish on them!

·         People may have accusations to bring against us but they cannot change our relationship with God.

·         The most important thing in our Christian lives is not how we look in our own sight or in the sight of others, but how we look in God’s sight.

 

Father, I know the world hates us because we love Your Son, but help me never to listen to their taunts when they try to knock me down.  Remind me often that I am Yours, I am loved, and I am holy and unblameable before You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Corinthians 12 & 13 -- What's In YOUR Side?

My commentary explains that Paul was using a teaching technique favored by Jewish rabbis, who often referred to their own experiences in the third person.  He was the man who was taken up to the third heaven and then returned to earth.  Then he was given his thorn in the flesh.

 

It said:  “The Lord knows how to balance our lives.  If we have only blessings, we may become proud; so He permits us to have burdens as well.  Paul’s great experience in heaven could have ruined his ministry on earth; so God, in His goodness, permitted Satan to buffet Paul in order to keep him from becoming proud.”

 

It also mentioned how in Christian life we get many of our blessing through transformation of our problems, not substitution.  Praying for something to be removed is asking God for a substitution (“Give me health instead of sickness.”).  Sometimes, though, God meets the need by transformation.  He does not remove the affliction, but He gives us His grace so that the affliction works for us and not against us.  We do have to remember that “Satan cannot work against a believer without the permission of God.”

 

One thing I read had special significance, and I think it is only understood through Christ’s words that eternal life begins now, not at death:  “We have a marvelous encouragement in the fact that we are today seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6).  Since God is outside of time itself, our future is His present.  Therefore because Christ has saved us, we are already sitting with Him.  That means that this life on earth is at the same time playing out as we watch from heaven.  Doesn’t that put a unique slant on things!

 

Father, thank You for knowing that I need balance, whether I can acknowledge it or not.  Thank You for keeping me humble through thorns so that it is You who gets the glory and not me.  Help me to see that I am being blessed by transformation as often as by substitution of the problems I encounter.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford