Thursday, August
10, 2017
Give thanks to the Lord and
proclaim his greatness. Let the whole
world know what he has done. Sing to
him; yes, sing his praises. Tell
everyone about his wonderful deeds. Exult
in his holy name; rejoice, you who worship the Lord. Search for the Lord and for his
strength; continually seek him.
Psalm 105:1-4(NLT)
And the people of
Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened
eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched
the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many
of the prominent Greek women and men. But
when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God
in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble. Acts 17:11-13(NLT)
The Psalm
writer says the task of those who love God is to let the whole world know. Those of us who take that seriously also
understand that’s not an easy job! Paul
found that out on a regular basis. Some
won’t hear the message because they don’t want to; others react with hostility,
stirring up trouble. Some receive the
message!
As anyone
who has taken the task of evangelism seriously has found out, our job does not
include management; we are in sales. Our
job is to offer Christ,
not force-feed salvation to the masses.
The question is: What’s the best way to to that?
Scripture rarely
paints a broad picture of what our task is without also telling us how we can
accomplish it; these texts from Psalms and Acts are no different. According to the Psalmist we are to actively
engage the world by singing to God, preaching about God, exulting in God,
rejoicing in our worship and always seeking God.
I was
captivated by the word exult
this morning. I’ve always had a
warm-fuzzy picture of this word when associating it with my relationship to
God. But I looked-up the definition
today and found that, among other synonyms, exult is a verb, meaning there is
action…and so, if we are to exult in God, we revel, glory, delight, or even wallow in the substance of
our relationship with God.
n mud! Why do pigs wallow? Scientists have suggested that lowering the temperature of their big, fatty, round bodies which store too much heat is the reason. But recent studies indicate this is one way they shed parasites[ii]. This is a behavior which is natural; wild or tame, it’s a fact of pig hard-wiring: pigs gonna wallow!
The
follower of Jesus Christ is to exult in God.
In the same way pigs just gotta
wallow in the mud, believers need to recognize and practice the Christian
behavior of taking delight in being surrounded by the presence of God, how it
soothes and marks us as His children. (Probably
gets rid of a few sin-parasites
too!)
Being
covered by His presence is what marks a witness who wants to let the whole world know the
Good News.
For You Today
So, let me ask;
are you wallowing in Him?
NOTES
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