Thought for the Week

Inspiration for this ‘Thought’ comes from John Glick. Lots of things look good just as they are. But in order to be useful, some things must be crushed or broken. Many of those things are food items. We sometimes purchase “whole grain cereal.” But, it is not really whole grain. The grain has been ground into flour and then further processed in order to create the cereal. You would be disappointed if you opened the box and found whole-kernel-grains of wheat, rice, oats, or corn. Of course much the same is true for juices. Grapes, cranberries, apples, etc. are crushed or pressed to be used. That may well be true of people. I remember an illustration. The principals were G. Campbell Morgan and F.B. Meyer. I do not remember which it was whose wife said to him, “Wasn’t he a fine young preacher?” To which he answered, “Yes, but when the Lord has led him through suffering, he will be better.” Both men were fine preachers and authors. We recognize that suffering does something positive for preachers and people in general. Suffering frequently brings one to a deeper level of compassion and sympathy. It also can do something positive to individuals. It has been said, that suffering will either make one better or make them bitter. We can likely not choose to suffer nor would we. Suffering comes upon us. Often God chastens us for our own benefit and for our good. Jesus Christ suffered for us; the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. God will not despise or reject a broken spirit or a contrite heart. We are encouraged to “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and in due time He will lift us up.” There is another illustration in the Old Testament, when God was giving Moses advice and instruction on His desired worship from people. Moses or Aaron were to take certain things and crush them to fine powder. As they were being crushed, they gave off a beautiful fragrance. Later, they were burned and that fragrance filled the tabernacle. God rejected King Saul in his pride but He accepted David in his humility. II Chronicles 7:14 reminds us God requires Israel (and us) to humble ourselves as we pray. Humbling ourselves is not something we naturally want to do. But it is better to humble ourselves than to be humbled by someone else. Christ’s self-sacrifice for us is considered by God to be a fragrant offering and sacrifice. For Him it was terribly painful but for us it was a beautiful evidence of His love. Greater love no one has than this, “That a person would lay down his lie for another person.” Jesus told it would be evidence of the Christianity that people love each other. The world needs to see this evidenced and demonstrated. If we do not genuinely love each other, we have much less to offer as proof that we belong to Jesus. When it seems life is just crushing you, look to the example of Jesus. Even as He was dying, He prayed for the forgiveness of those who were taking His life. He does not simply tell us to love our enemies, He showed us how. Only a holy God can generate this kind of loving sacrifice. Only a holy God can bring this beauty and fragrance out of us and it will be for His glory and honor. You can be useful in God’s kingdom if you humble yourself and pray.

Scriptures to Read

St. Matthew 18:1-4 20:25-27

St. Luke 14:7-11

Romans 12:3

St. Luke 18:9-14

Exodus 30:34-37

Leviticus 24:5-9

Isaiah 53:3-6 &10-11