Honor God

New Guest: Like this one, most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that title. You might start with 'Welcome,' the first post in the archives, dated November 12, 2008, where I introduce myself and the blog. As you read, I encourage you to add in any reflections or comments you may have.

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Thursday, March 4, 2010
Devotions: Ps 71, 74; Gen 42:29-38; 1 Cor 6:12-20; Mk 4:21-34

Lord, I take refuge in You alone; deliver me from the hand of the wicked and from the grasp of the cruel and unjust. I depend on You, as from my conception on. Keep me strong in my old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent. Put my enemies to shame, and lift up all who trust in You. Let me proclaim Your might and righteousness to all generations to come, for You have done great things. Revive me, Lord, lift me up and increase my honor and comfort, to Your glory. I will speak of Your goodness all day long! The enemy seeks to destroy God’s people completely; they attack from all directions. Yet God is Master, and He will crush their heads, as He did Leviathan and the serpent of old. Protect Your covenant, Lord, and lift up the needy, might Judge and Creator of all!

Joseph’s brothers, still unaware that he was the suzerain in Egypt, reported back to Jacob that ‘the lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us to be spies.’ He kept one of the brothers as a hostage, and demanded that the others return with their youngest brother, as a sign of their honesty. And when they emptied their grain sacks, they discovered that their money had been returned. Jacob flared in anger toward his sons, saying that they had deprived him of Joseph and Simeon, and now they wanted to take Benjamin. So he refused the terms that Joseph had given his brothers.

Paul continued his message to the Corinthians: ‘All things are lawful for me,’ true—but not all things are helpful, and I will not be enslaved by anything. God is over everything, including human provision and human life—all is under God’s lordship. And God specifically owns our bodies—they are literally members of Christ, and must not be joined with prostitutes or in adultery. We must shun immorality; our bodies are temples of God’s own Spirit; we are His property, bought at the price of Jesus’ blood and His life. ‘So glorify God in your body!’

Jesus taught: 'A lamp is put on a lamp stand, not concealed under a basket or a bed. Whatever is hidden, God will make known and manifest. Every secret will be brought to light. Let those who can understand, hear and heed these words! The measure you give, is the measure you will get. Again, God’s kingdom is like a man who scatters seed on the ground; thereafter, he goes about his life, waking and sleeping in turn, and the seed begins to sprout and grow—the man knows not how! Nature produces as God has established—the seed, the blade, the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ripe, at once the farmer puts in the sickle, because harvest time has come. God’s kingdom can also be compared to a mustard seed—the smallest seed when it is sown, yet it becomes a large shrub, so that birds of the air can make nests in its shade.' Jesus taught everything in parables, and explained them privately to His disciples.