Do your best with what God entrusts to you

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

Blessings and best wishes,
Dr. Will

Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Devotions: Ps 26, 28, 36, 39; Josh 2:15-24; Rom 11:13-24; Mt 25:14-30

YHWH, vindicate me by the integrity of my Lord Jesus. Test my heart and mind, and keep Your steadfast love before my eyes; keep me waling in faithfulness to You. I avoid the false and unfaithful; I will continue to testify concerning Your goodness and greatness. I love Your house, where Your glory dwells. I stand on level ground, by Your grace. Separate me from the wicked; YHWH is my Strength and Shield; my heart trusts in God alone. And so I am helped, and my heart exults. YHWH is the Strength of His people, our Shepherd forever. Sin tempts the wicked, for there is no real fear of God in his heart. He believes God cannot find him out, so all his words are mischief and deceit. He cannot think without plotting evil, and when a sinful impulse comes, he dwells on it. But, YHWH, Your steadfast love extends to the heavens and Your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, and Your justice rolls like the ocean tides. I stand in God’s integrity! When I have tried just to keep still, God’s pressure builds inside until I must speak. Lord, let me know my future—I am mortal, and my lifetime is a moment in Your sight. Deliver me from my transgressions; protect me from the scorn of fools; remove Your scourge from me, and let me grow under Your discipline. I am a passing guest, a sojourner in Your household. Mercy, eternal Lord!

Rahab helped the Israelite spies escape from Jericho. They left her a scarlet cord to tie in her window, a sign to protect her and her family when Jericho fell to the armies of Israel. The spies hid in the hills for three days, and when the Jericho searchers found nothing and returned to the city, they came down from the hills and returned to Joshua, saying, ‘Truly YHWH has given all the land into our hands; all the inhabitants are fainthearted with fear of us and our God.’

Paul continues his discourse concerning salvation of Jews and Gentiles: I write to you Gentiles, magnifying my ministry as apostle to the Gentiles, in order to make my fellow Jews jealous and so save some of them. For if their rejection enabled the world to be reconciled to God, what could their acceptance mean except life from the dead? If the firstfruits are holy, the whole is holy; if the roots are holy, so are the branches. Now, if some branches were broken off, and you Gentiles were grafted in, like wild olive shoots, in the place of the alienated Jews, to share the richness of the olive tree, do not boast over those whose places you have taken. Remember that the root supports you, not the opposite. You might think, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ True; they were removed because of their unbelief. But you stand fast only through faith. So stand in awe! If holy God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you! Notice God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who fall, and kindness toward you, as you continue in His kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off! And the unbelieving Jews, if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has that power. If you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own tree of origin.

Jesus taught about the coming of God’s kingdom: It will be as when a man, going on a journey, assembled his servants and entrusted his property to them: five talents to one, two to another, one to another—to each according to his ability. Then the master went away. The one who received five talents immediately began to trade with them, and he made five talents more. Likewise, the servant with two talents made two talents more. But the servant who received only one talent simply buried it in the ground. After a long journey, the master returned and settled accounts with the servants. The master praised the servants who had doubled their trusts, and set them over much greater riches, and invited them to enter the joy of their master. But when the servant who had received one talent admitted his fear of the master and returned the talent, his master was angry: ‘You ought at least to have invested the talent with the bankers, so I would get back my own with interest.’ So the master directed that the one talent be taken from the slothful servant and given to the one who now had ten talents. ‘For to every one who has, more will be given; but from the one who has not, even the little he has will be taken from him. Cast that worthless servant into the outer darkness, where men will weep and gnash their teeth.’