Of
Wills and Ways, Part 3
Today's
Three-minute Bible Study
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Title:
Of Wills and Ways, Part 3
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Date: 8/10/2002
Keywords:
"credit" "good day" "pride"
"righteousness"
Welcome
to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand
strong in the face of sexual temptation.
Passage:
Philippians
3:4-9*
4. although I myself might
have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has
a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far
more:
5. circumcised the eighth day,
of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a
Pharisee;
6. as to zeal, a persecutor of
the church; as to the righteousness which is in the
Law, found blameless.
7. But whatever things were gain
to me, those things I have counted as loss for the
sake of Christ.
8. More than that, I count all
things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of
knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in
order that I may gain Christ,
9. and may be found in Him, not
having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law,
but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which comes from God on the basis of
faith,
Question
How's you spiritual
vitality when things are going really well in your
life?
Practical
help
The Tempter (Satan) has
many tricks. One of his most insidious is to kindle
our human pride. He looks around for a Christian who's
had a lengthy time of smooth sailing and scatters a
few "mirrors" in his/her life. You see, he knows that
when things are going good for us it's easy
(ironically) to neglect our relationship with God. All
he wants us to do is glance at one of those "mirrors"
at the end of a good day. Where we normally would have
seen God's hand, he wants us to see our own.
It seems trivial — taking a
little credit for a good day. What's the harm? I
worked hard today, and I didn't even ask God to give
me a hand. Maybe He had nothing to do with
it?
But what happens when things
crash and burn? You want to turn to God and yell
"Help!" But you've got this issue to resolve —
What do I now deserve from God? When things were good,
I wanted to rest on my laurels, not God's blessing.
Now that things have gone sour, those laurels aren't a
lot of help.
Take those laurels and toss them
on the rubbish heap. Now take Paul's cue in verse 9
and change your address. The only place you want God
to find you resting is in Christ. The only way to get
there is by faith. Faith that Christ made the bed, and
you get to sleep in it. Rest worthy. Rest
well.
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2002 by eXXit
*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD
BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation
1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995. Used by permission."
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