Category Archives: Morning Thoughts

Morning Thoughts (Luke 12:25)

Morning Thoughts,

Luke 12:25, "And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?"

This morning, man continually likes to ignore limitations and restrictions. Today's world could aptly be described as "unrestricted pleasure seeking." Today's motto seems to be, "If you want it, get it. If it feels good, do it." Some today even cry out about their "rights." Society cannot function for long with unrestricted bounds, but whether man likes to admit it or not, we have them even if we do not admit them. Restrictions come in different forms: mandated or automatic. Whenever we drive a car, there are automatic restrictions that we cannot control. For example, there is a top speed that the vehicle cannot exceed, but there are speed limits that we can choose to ignore. One restriction is automatic (cannot be changed), while the other is mandated by enforcers of the law. While man today ignores the mandated restrictions more than he ever has (due to lax or non-existent consequences), man cannot circumvent automatic restrictions, even though he may claim to.

Christ speaks in our study verse about man's automatic limitations. Whether man admits it or not or likes it or not, there are certain bounds we cannot cross. For example, man cannot live underwater without an air supply for him to breathe. Ignoring that principle will not bring about anything short of a swift death. Yet, Christ shows something that is rather small in His own eyes that we are limited in. The next verse after ours (Verse 26) shows that the limitation upon us in verse 25 is something that Christ terms "least." In other words, adding one cubit of stature is power that is "least" in the eyes of an Omnipotent God.

So, Christ attributes man's automatic limitations in things that are least. Therefore, if man has limitations that cannot be undone in small things, what conceivable authority would man have in things that are great? Have you ever seen someone that proudly described their "right decision for Christ" to secure their eternal destiny? Some of these same people have shambles for personal lives. If it really was conceivable that man had authority to dictate his own eternal home in heaven with God, should not we expect the lesser (least) thing of his personal life to follow suit?

Paul makes a simple yet powerful point about the qualifications of a bishop in I Timothy 3:4-5. If a man cannot rule his own house well, how can he be expected to handle the care of the church in a decent and orderly manner. Being unable to ably control his house in a Godly manner (fewer people), why should one expect that adequately control matters in the house of God (more people)? The same problem emerges in natural life compared to spiritual life. If one cannot adequately keep his natural affairs in order, what conceivable reason does he have to think he can keep his spiritual affairs in order?

Not having enough natural might and ability to add height to our stature shows the automatic limitations that we mortals are bound to. Moving from the thought of being automatically ill-suited to make our eternal home in heaven, consider what other limitations we should see from our verse. If I cannot make myself taller naturally, then how would I expect to be able to increase my spiritual stature just by taking thought? The old adage, "Where there's a will, there's a way" is annihilated by Christ's thought. As a young boy, my dream was to play professional basketball with Larry Bird for the Boston Celtics. No matter how much I wanted it (willed it), I just was not able to get tall enough or agile enough to go far in basketball.

Just simply taking thought would never make me any taller. Just simply taking thought will not make us spiritually any taller. For us to grow and have increase in a spiritual way, God must be the giver of it. (I Corinthians 3:6) So, instead of taking thought to increase spiritual might, we must beseech God to give us increase as faithful soldiers of the cross. Just by examining natural limitations, we see that we are severely hampered to do what many today claim to be doing.

However, consider the glory of the thought as it fits within the context. The previous verse says that God cares for simple animals (ravens). Even though they roam the range and sky, God cares for them, and how much more precious are we than birds? Are the birds just as limited as man? Perhaps moreso since man can think in ways that fowls cannot. Yet, if God is able to provide those least things for birds, so can He also provide the least and our all needed things to us. Verse 27 then describes simple plants (lilies) that are similarly cared for by God.

The point of seeing and admitting our own limitations with open honesty is not to have some kind of pity-party about them. We should not wallow in them any more than some proudly choose to ignore them and try to do what they could never do. Rather, we should point our faith upwards to the One that adds those necessary things to us. Have you ever seen lilies during a rainstorm? Those beautiful buds are pointed upward to drink that sweet dew from heaven. So should our hearts and minds be turned upward to receive the wonderful dewdrops of heaven when the Lord graciously showers down those things that we need. Can we just take thought and get these things? No, we are limited, but our thoughts and prayers should continually ascend for those things that we need and thanksgiving for those things that we could never do. I could not pull myself up to heaven by taking thought, nor can I get those things that I need just by taking thought. Yet, my thoughts can thank Him for the former and beseech and thank Him for the latter.

In Hope,

Bro Philip

Morning Thoughts (Acts 9:15)

Morning Thoughts,

Acts 9:15, "But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:"

This morning, we take many daily events for granted. Lost in the hustle and bustle of today's "fast lane society" is the recognition and appropriate thanksgiving for the mercy of God. So many things that God does, as shown in His word, have more than one facet to them. Ask any professing Christian if they believe in the mercy of God, and the answer will be "yes." However, ask them to list the mercies of God to them, and many will fail to recall and bring to mind what God "just did for them in mercy." We remember quite often that God had mercy on us to rescue us from hell, but how often do we remember what He just did for us in that our natural lives and so many of the associated blessings of it continue to this very day? Sometimes, the thought of God's mercy in some situation is lost in our mind due to our own failure to see it for what it is.

Consider the case of the Apostle Paul as shown in our study verse above. Many times, we hear the thought that, "God's ways are not our ways. Paul seemed a prime choice to preach to Jews – as the Jew of Jews – yet the Lord chose a poor fisherman to be the apostle to the Jews and sent Paul primarily to the Gentiles." There is much truth in this thought, but the thought's truth still fails to bring to light the mercy of God in this action. From our verse above, we see that God tells Ananias that Saul of Tarsus – later the Apostle Paul – would carry forth the gospel as a chosen vessel to Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel. We see from the ministry of Paul that his primary ministry was to Gentiles (Galatians 2:7), though his life showed a great love and desire to preach from time to time to his Jewish brethren as well. (Romans 9:1-3, 10:1)

Even though Paul did preach from time to time to the Jews while constituting and writing to "mixed" churches (comprised of Jews and Gentiles), why would God use such a man as Paul to primarily go to Gentiles? To a man's way of thinking, he makes perfect sense to minister to the Jews, while another man could be raised to preach to Gentiles. By looking at the context of this verse, we see a glorious glimpse of the mercy of God in this divine direction. God speaks these words to Ananias who is being sent to restore Paul's sight and baptize him. Ananias, as no doubt many Jews in that area, saw Saul of Tarsus as a terrible force to contend with. As one that had Stephen put to death (Acts 8:1) as well as put the saints in prison, who would want Ananias' job to go to this man without some assurance from the Almighty that his life would not be in danger for doing so? Further still, who might want to be around him even after his conversion?

While Scripture is silent on the thought, Stephen could have had natural family in the church at Jerusalem. Even if he had no natural family in the church, he undoubtedly had a host of friends that still mourned his untimely passing. How difficult might it be for these people – forgiving as their hearts might be – to listen to a man preach to them who had just recently put their friend or relation to death? For those that had been imprisoned by this man or had loved ones that were, how hard or difficult would his preaching be for them to take?

Considering the other side of the coin as well, how difficult a time would Paul have had in preaching to the saints at Jerusalem? If any minister today had to preach to people he jailed the week before, how tall a task would be before him? While we certainly understand that God's power can overcome all these natural obstacles of our minds, consider just how merciful He was on this occasion to prevent these tense moments and situations from materializing.

Looking at situations that we are very familiar with today, we see that some churches and areas have a difficult time receiving a preacher that has "grown up among them." By seeing the boy become a man and later a minister, he has no honour in his home country (Luke 4:24), for they cannot get the mental image of the boy out of their head. Instead of seeing a servant of God with a mighty gift from above, they see that "little rascal" that got into so much trouble. Some have a hard time being ministered to by their natural kin. Instead of seeing their pastor trying to do what God would have him do, they see their little nephew, cousin, or child and fail to accept or receive the instruction.

If seeing these types of issue cause so much trouble and problem today with just the thought of natural ties and circumstances, how much more tension would they have caused with a former murderer and pillager of churches? If people cannot receive the "boy preacher" today, how much harder would it have been to receive the "murdering, bloodthirsty preacher" then? Too often today, people mourn when ministers get called to other places without considering God's will in the matter. Many times, God calls the "boy preacher" away – mercifully – to keep him from having to wrestle with his acceptance and their mental image of him. God here calls Paul away to other places to keep these dear saints from having to wrestle in their conscience with what they think of the man and Paul from having such a smitten conscience every time he preached to them.

Indeed, we many times have to get over things and forget things of the past. (Philippians 3:13) God would have been just in saying, "People, that is in the past. Deal with it. Love each other and let bygones be bygones." Our striving in this world should be to have the mind of Christ that overlooks one another for good, seeking to hit the mark of Christ in our walk of faith. However, God knoweth our frame and remembereth that we are dust. (Psalm 103:14) Since our Heavenly Father knows that we have problems in the flesh, He sometimes mercifully keeps some problems from being a problem. In this passage, we see Paul's past mercifully removed by God in sending him to people that do not know him and have no "bone to pick" with him about it. Just as God so often sends the boy preacher to a location that knows little of his background, so God sent Paul to lands that were unfamiliar with the deeds of Saul of Tarsus.

Truly, God doled out mercy beyond compare when He reached down to save us from our sins. Mercy poured forth from the Son of God when He willingly took our sins upon Himself and imputed His righteousness unto us. Yet, how merciful is God to us daily in our lives that we sometimes do not see the wondrous beauty of it. Heads have been scratched down through the centuries as to why God would use Peter for the work Paul seemed so "suited for." Yet, the mercy of God took Paul away from the work that would have posed so many extra issues for him and them. When our lives take paths that remove us from "extra issues" or "extra tensions" that we would have had otherwise, may we thank Him for His mercy to us daily. And should we fail to see and understand His mercy on some occasion, may we thank Him anyway, knowing that His mercy and compassion does not fail, being new every morning. (Lamentations 3:18-20)

In Hope,

Bro Philip