Tag: test
What are friends for?
Scripture reading for May 18: Job 4-7
Close friends who we can share our hearts with are few and far between. I am blessed with a close friend in my wife. She is God’s precious gift to me in the area of friendship. I also have several men who are friends I can count on. But outside of your mate, friends who will stick with you and speak honestly to you through thick or thin are not that easy to find. We have trouble trusting others and as we live life, we come to see that each person, ourself included, has his own load of faults and walls of self-defense. The gift of friendship is something special that must be cultivated over time.
Job was in the thick of his personal crisis. He had lost his material possessions and his children, and now had lost his health. His body was covered with sores and he itched and ached. Worms infested the sores and he could find no rest day or night. His skin was disfigured and he was sickly and emaciated. He was just a shadow of his former self and at this point had no answers as to why this was happening to him. His own wife had advised him to curse God and die. Three friends were sitting quietly with him.
One friend, Eliphaz, finally spoke with advice for his friend. Eliphaz believed that God punished the wicked and He rewarded the righteous. Any suffering was the result of some sin and God was punishing wickedness. God would restore and heal any person who honestly confessed their sin. Eliphaz got this revelation from a personal experience with a “spirit” and from personal observation. (Job 4:12-21) The ‘accuser’ had used Eliphaz to torment his friend. Eliphaz did not know God had Himself declared Job righteous before the suffering began and allowed Satan to test Job in this manner! (Job 1:8)
But Job knew his own heart and his integrity would not let him confess to something he did not know about. He would not try to manipulate God just to get everything back. Rather than being comforted by Eliphaz’s words, he was made even more miserable! (Job 6:21) Job went to God in prayer for the help he needed and the advice his friend did not give! (Job 7:17-21)
As I read Job’s story, I am reminded of my need for compassion for those who suffer! It is easy to judge others from our own worldly wisdom! God’s ways are above our understanding and we cannot always know the whole story through our own study or personal experience. Listening closer is wise! Waiting on the Lord and encouragement is a wiser course of action. My prayer: “Help me O Lord, to be a better friend to those who suffer!”
Healthy self-examination
Scripture reading for October 4th: 2nd Corinthians 13
Key Scriptures: 2nd Corinthians 13:2-7 “I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them–since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For He was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but in dealing with you we will live with Him by the power of God. Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?–unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
Paul, as a pastor and apostle, was watchful over the flock of God. He warned those in the congregation on his second visit about sinning and even earlier had instructed them how discipline a sinning brother. In this letter he had instructed them on restoration of the repentant brother. Paul again warned them that if he came again a third time, he would still deal with those who were not living in holiness. Even in his weakness, they would experience the power of God flowing through him to bring order and discipline to cases established by two or more witnesses. Each person was called to examine their own hearts about their relationship with Christ Jesus. “Is Christ in you?” was the question to be answered. If indeed Christ was living in them, sin could not dwell in their midst. Paul preferred to come and build them up, not discipline them.
2nd Corinthians 13:9-10 “For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. For this reason I write these thing while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.”
Faith confession and prayer: Father, thank You for a pastor’s heart of love and watchfulness and tenderness towards Your flock. Help me to grow in watchfulness and ability to gently instruct and correct those who are caught in webs of sin. May I never use the authority You give except under the leading and power of the Holy Spirit. Let it be for building up, not tearing down.
2nd Corinthians 13:11 “Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”