JULY 26, 2023

 “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.” 

― C.S. Lewis

“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.”  

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

PSALM 47-49

 12People, despite their wealth, do not endure;they are like the beasts that perish.13This is the fate of those who trust in themselves,and of their followers, who approve their sayings.^d14They are like sheep and are destined to die;death will be their shepherd(but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).Their forms will decay in the grave,far from their princely mansions.

ACTS 26

“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

19“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. 

JOURNAL 

Paul recounts his conversion to Festus...This appointing of Paul as a servant is really what salvation is all about. We are restored as servants of God rather than as shamed, rebellious men and women seeking to be God instead of serving him. This is what the verses in Psalm 49 are all about. Trying to be our own God through building wealth is pointless and destructive in the end.

I don't think this is saying that we are to be lazy and not use our brains. It is not necessarily the actions but the reason for the actions that matters. If my objective for work is so that I can puff myself up in an effort to become more than simply what I am (a human servant of God), then my efforts will be pointless and futile. I will never find true satisfaction and peace...I will simply find anguish and insecurity and fleeting moments of happiness. 

If however I work daily to serve God in obedience, being content to be all he created me to be. Then I find contentment and satisfaction in my abilities and my efforts without shame. Then I can live a life of peace no matter the circumstance...rich or poor, in sickness or in health, in good times and in bad.  This is the hope and the joy of living life as a servant to God.

 6And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

2 JOHN 1:6