SCRIPTURE TEXT JOB 15:1 TO 16:4
RESPONSIVE READING: PG 614 FORTY-SIXTH SUNDAY SECONDREADING CONFIDENCE IN GOD
The book of job is in the main a conversation between Job and three of his friends known as Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhit, and Zophar the Naamathite. Job the hero of the book is not an Israelite, but and Edomite sheil from the land of UZ, which was located in the southern part of Palestine around Edom. The book of Job has been considered the greatest moment of wisdom literature in the Old Testament. Thomas Carlyle said, "I call the book of Job, apaprt from all theories about it, the grandest thing ever written by pen." The prologue chapters 1 to 2:13 and the epilogue chapters 42:7-17 are written in prose. The remained is written in poetic form.
The prologue presents a man named Job, famous for his rightness of principle and piety, he was wealthy, with a large and happy family. The epilogue finds Yahweh rebuking Job's three friends for not having spoken rightly of him as Job had done. He orders them to offer sacrifice and have Job pray for them that they might be forgiven, Yahweh now restores Job's fortunes, giving him twice as much property as he had lost. After this he lives 140 years 4 sons to beautiful daughters and sees grandchildren to the fourth generation. He dies in contented old age. This piety of character, this portraying of a man who patiently and serenly suffered "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes" without losing faith, hold true only in the prologue and epilogue. The main part of the book some, 30 chapters, is in poetic form, and here Job is anything but a paragon of patience. He begins by cursing the day of his birth, and his spirit gathers the fury of a tempest as he hurls his protest to God.
Let me quickly set a thumb nail sketch of the Job story that we might better understand our lesson for this morning. The narrative tells the story of Job, a man renowned for his piety and blessed with divine favor that accompanied his righteousness. But Job's sincerity was suspect to one of the members of the Heavenly Council--the Satan--who in the prologue is an angel in goos standing, who's special function is to investigate affairs on Earth.
When Yahweh boasted the the Council about his servant Job, the "Satan angel" suspecting Job's service to Yahweh was motivated by self interest, cynically asked, "Does Job fear God for nought?" Thereupon he made a wager with Yahweh that if Job's prosperity and family were taken away his faith would be destroyed. These losses did not shake Job's faith, however, for in his sorrow he patiently murmured: "Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away; blessed be the name of Yahweh." So the "Satan proposed a more severe test. Job was stricken with loathsome sores from head to foot, making it necessary for him to sit alone in the city refuse dump. Job's wife advises him to curse God and die. Ignoring his wife's advise, he still refuses to "sin with his lips" by cursing God. Then his three friends--Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar-- came to comfort him in his plight. This brings us to the scripture verse that will consider this morning--16:4 were Job says to his three so-called friends--"I also could speak as ye do; if your soul were in my soul's stead." Job made these three friends the butt of his anger--"Miserable comforters", he called them. He was never polite to them, nor patient with them, nor even fair to them. It says a good deal for their self restraint that they kept on listening to him so long.
On the other hand, it must be admitted that they were rather irritating. They were saying the correct thing in a complacent and orthodox way. They were not Pharisaical nor were they insincere, but they were thoroughly conventional. They had no real feeling for Job's problem. The difficulty would seem to be this. They were trying to help a man in trouble, when they had never been in trouble themselves.
This whole long first part of the book of Job is like certain conversations in which we often found ourselves involved. It is not that we are talking at cross-purposes with someone else, but rather that we are talking to no purpose at all. Our minds never really meet because we have no common ground for experience on which to stand not premises on which we agree. Thus in the words of the text, Job put his finger on what is the real difficulty in such a situation. "I also could speak as you do, if your soul were in my soul's stead." In other words, if you could put yourself in my place and I could put myself in your place, we might understand one another and help one another. Here in the sense of this text we have a bit of Messianic prophecy---Jesus put himself in our place, and in turn asks us to put ourself in his place. "In all things", says the writer to Hebrews, "he has made like unto brethren."
We are living at a time when it is very difficult to see just what the Christian religion can fairly be expected to contribute to our troubled world. But we may say a Christian ought to be a person who can put himself in the other man's place. This does not mean that he will approve of all that the other man thinks and says and does, but it does mean that we will understand how other man came to be as he is--as we say in the vernacular--"how he got that way."
There are a vast number of people in the world who seem anxious to do good to others, but who will do good only on their own terms. We meet them on committees, we watch them manage our philanthropies, we find them at work in politics and in business. They are not bad, yet somehow they are imperfect Christians. They are, if the truth be told in Job's words, "miserable comforters" or our humanity, because they stand aloof from it; they never identify themselves with it.
Our experience of life may seem to us to be of a personal and private character. But they are more than that, they are a passkey into the lives of others. There are three words which describe what our attitude ought to be towards humanity today: the first is "pity", the second is "Compassion", the third is "sympathy". There is a difference between the first of these words and the other two. Pity is an aristocratic virtue: Pity is static, Sympathy and compassion are dynamic virtues. Pity condescends; compassion and sympathy share. The greatest help we get in time of trouble comes to us from someone who can say to us wuite simple, "I have endured all that".
We have in those words the secret of the appeal of Jesus to our minds and hearts. He was tempted just as we are. He was hungered and homeless as millions are today. He was misunderstood and rejected and lonely. The greatest thing we know about pain is that Jesus felt it. And for the Christian the significance of these facts rests on the conviction that God Himself is not content with divine and aristocratic pity for his children; but that He has compassion on them and sympathizes with them.
Life has not been easy for any of us. Yet we are here alive, in securtiy, and as the world goes, in great comfort. Our happy circumstances might prompt us to be content with pitying the rest of the world. But that temper that thought will never get us far. There is in our humanity some proper pride, some deep-rooted self-respect which prompts the comeback, "I don't want your pity. I prefer to do without it."
Our real problem as a Christian is, therefore this; How far can you really put yourself in the place of another whom you would really like to help? How far can you say, "I have endured all that," or if you have not endured enough to understand something of your life and your lot, even though it be far off. From the Christian standpoint the hurt of our time will never be healed by an autocratic pity. They require the Dynamic and Christian virtues of compassion and sympathy.
There remains one final problem. You may not pretend to experiences you have not had, and all of us know quite well that there are ills in the world that lie beyond our experience. No two lives coincide, and given the totallity of man's experience, what any of us may know and feel is very little. How then, are we to match a limited life to the limitless occasion's for sympathy.
The best we can do is try to cultivate patiently that unselfishness of mind and heart which we know as imagination. When human relationships break down, that break down always implies failure on someones part to put himself in the place of another. Thus a student of social affairs says, "The broken link between classes in the modern world is a fundamental defect of imagination." This is the weak link, ending often in broken link, in homes, in churches, in races, in states. The white Gentile is inclined to talk in a condescending way about the Negro problem and the Jewish problem. But he has never tried to feel what it is like to be regulated to a Jim Crow car in the south, or tuned away from an apartment house in the north. It is not the Negro or the Jew who is his initial problem. His first problem is his own unimaginative self. He will never contribute much to the solution of those other problems until he has solved that prior, and more intimate problem. He will be in Job's words, a "miserable comforter" of mankind until he has cultivated the power to put his soul in their sou's stead.
An unknown author says:
I sought my soul
but my soul I could not see
I sought my God,
But my God eluded me.
I sought my brother
and I found all three
Jesus stood in our place he calls us to stand in his place. What will you do with this call of Jesus.
Let us Pray
Nottingham United Methodist Church.
Nottingham Village, Cleveland, Ohio
August 1, 1965
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
From the desk of William F Morgan 196_?
I was asked to come this evening and speak to you concerning witness. Specifically witness on the job, or more specifically how and why do I as a Christian, witness on my job.
I think we must first consider why. And even before we consider the why we must determine together just what we understand witness to mean. Webster says it means to act so as to furnish proof of ones convictions. There's a word in that last sentence that's very important when we try to understand the meaning of witness. Did you catch it? It was a little three letter word "act". Yes we can witness with our mouths and this is important to do, but we make our greatest witness, our best presentation of our convictions by the way we act. Now we said witness was furnishing proof of our convictions. Convictions about what? Well, tonight because we are talking about Christian witness, we understand our task to be to furnish proof by our acts about our faith in Christ and our belief in God as Heavenly Father.
I happen to be one of those persons that believes that there is a purpose and plan behind this universe. I could never believe that all of this, all that surrounds us is an accident.--And so because there is purpose and because our Bible tells us of God's rule--and God's creation---I have in my belief of Rule and order the beginning of belief in God. And as I read, study and observe life around me my conviction of God's rule and care over my life firms up my belief in a Heavenly Father, a Heavenly Father who loves me, who loved me to the extent that he sent his son Jesus our Lord to set forth a pattern of life for each of us to follow. And because of this pattern this plan of life that tells us to love God and our fellow man with all our hearts, and as we love ourselves, because of this I witness, this is the reason I am here tonight.
The proof of God is within me and all around me, this is why I witness.
Now, how do I witness, and specifically how do I witness on the job. First let me tell you what my work function is. I work at National Acme Co. in the Engineering department as a supervisor in Hydraulic and Pneumatic Control section. We are responsible for all control functions of the machinery that requires hydraulic or pneumatic muscle. I also am the Supervisor of the experimental department. So I have both engineering and shop personnel working for me. Now because I believe that witness is action, I try to demonstrate this to these people who work for me by always showing an interest in each of them personally. I am concerned about their working conditions, their health, their family health and problems, and I try to always be ready to help in any way I can. Some times my position requires me to be a Solomon and I try to be fair to all persons concerned when I have to settle disputes.
I always make it a point to talk to each person I become associated with at work about their Church life. If they are active members of a church I praise them and encourage them to do even better. If they are so-so about church and are receptive to discussion I try to show them the need for an active life in the Church. If they are not receptive I won't force myself on them---(Tell story here) Rather the forcing my views on them I try to demonstrate the advantages of Christian life, and yes, the joy of a Christian life, by the interest and concern I show towards them. When I feel by either their action or something they say that the time is right to discuss their position concerning the church I go back at them. I don't give up on them. ---
I have an opportunity on my job to witness to many salesman during the working day. Here I have an opportunity to witness concerning morals.
I think we must first consider why. And even before we consider the why we must determine together just what we understand witness to mean. Webster says it means to act so as to furnish proof of ones convictions. There's a word in that last sentence that's very important when we try to understand the meaning of witness. Did you catch it? It was a little three letter word "act". Yes we can witness with our mouths and this is important to do, but we make our greatest witness, our best presentation of our convictions by the way we act. Now we said witness was furnishing proof of our convictions. Convictions about what? Well, tonight because we are talking about Christian witness, we understand our task to be to furnish proof by our acts about our faith in Christ and our belief in God as Heavenly Father.
I happen to be one of those persons that believes that there is a purpose and plan behind this universe. I could never believe that all of this, all that surrounds us is an accident.--And so because there is purpose and because our Bible tells us of God's rule--and God's creation---I have in my belief of Rule and order the beginning of belief in God. And as I read, study and observe life around me my conviction of God's rule and care over my life firms up my belief in a Heavenly Father, a Heavenly Father who loves me, who loved me to the extent that he sent his son Jesus our Lord to set forth a pattern of life for each of us to follow. And because of this pattern this plan of life that tells us to love God and our fellow man with all our hearts, and as we love ourselves, because of this I witness, this is the reason I am here tonight.
The proof of God is within me and all around me, this is why I witness.
Now, how do I witness, and specifically how do I witness on the job. First let me tell you what my work function is. I work at National Acme Co. in the Engineering department as a supervisor in Hydraulic and Pneumatic Control section. We are responsible for all control functions of the machinery that requires hydraulic or pneumatic muscle. I also am the Supervisor of the experimental department. So I have both engineering and shop personnel working for me. Now because I believe that witness is action, I try to demonstrate this to these people who work for me by always showing an interest in each of them personally. I am concerned about their working conditions, their health, their family health and problems, and I try to always be ready to help in any way I can. Some times my position requires me to be a Solomon and I try to be fair to all persons concerned when I have to settle disputes.
I always make it a point to talk to each person I become associated with at work about their Church life. If they are active members of a church I praise them and encourage them to do even better. If they are so-so about church and are receptive to discussion I try to show them the need for an active life in the Church. If they are not receptive I won't force myself on them---(Tell story here) Rather the forcing my views on them I try to demonstrate the advantages of Christian life, and yes, the joy of a Christian life, by the interest and concern I show towards them. When I feel by either their action or something they say that the time is right to discuss their position concerning the church I go back at them. I don't give up on them. ---
I have an opportunity on my job to witness to many salesman during the working day. Here I have an opportunity to witness concerning morals.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
COMMITMENT
OPENING HYMN: #249 I LOVE THY KINGDOM LORD
THE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER:
Oh Lord God, who hast bidden the light to shine out of darkness, and who hast again wakened us to prasie thy goodness and ask for thy grace: accept now the sacrifice of our worship and thanksgiving. Make us to be children of light and of the day, and heirs of thine everlasting inheritance. Remember, O God, thy whole Church, our brethren in every land. Pour out the riches of thy mercy, so that we, being redeemed, and steadfast in faith, may ever praise thy wonderful and holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
RESPONSIVE READING: #623 THE LORD CREATED MAN
SCRIPTURE: EPHESIANS 2nd Chapter
HYMN: OF PREPARATION: #170 JESUS CALLS US, O'ER THE TUMULT
COMMITMENT
Websters says that commitment is an agreement or pledge to do something in the future, it is the state of being obliged or bound to do something. Webster also says commitment is a moral choice that involves a person in a definite course of action.
I think you will agree that our lives are bound by commitment. We are committed to a daily work schedule. If we are house wives we are committed to a schedule in order to maintain a peaceful, orderly clean home for the family. If we are a working person we are committed to a work schedule by an agreement. We who are married commit ourselves to a life long partnership in marriage. The success of that partnership is related to the degree to which we adhere to the vows we made together in marriage ritual. We each of us commit ourselves to many causes and many things in our daily lives, and we feel honor bound to uphold every commitment that we make, and this right and good.
But these are not the commitments i want to talk with you about this morning, however the commitments I'm going to talk about deserves the same or I should say a higher place of honor in our lives.
I want to talk to you this morning about commitment to God through Jesus Christ, about commitment to the Christian life as outlined in the Scriptures.
Let's approach this subject from three basic points, namely, the "Reasons" for commitment, (2) the outgrowth of commitment, and (3) the result or perhaps a better word than results would be the benefits of commitment.
What are the "Reasons" for commitment to God and the Christian Life?
In today's world it is hardly respectable to be good. We see this in the attitudes of many younger people and some that are not so young. As churchmen today in the twentieth century we are constantly seeking the comforts of life and are feverishly striving to build security for our old age. When we attain this in our material world, when we have a nice home, a good job and money in the bank for our old age, we suddenly discover that something is missing, that all this is not enough. We want to be sure also about security in the life to come. So as we search for the ways to obtain this assurance of security we are driven to the Bible and God's plan of salvation that is set forth in it's pages. The Bible is a window in this prison world, through which we may look into eternity.
Each of us has within ourself this need, this drive, to seek out God's way as he has set it forth in the life and teachings of his son Jesus Christ. Today more than ever we need to be committed to the "Jesus Way". And just what is the "Jesus Way"?
First of all it is total. He told the rich young man to go and sell all he had and then to come and follow him. I believe that commitment today must also be total, not that we must sell all tha we have, but rather we must commit all that we are and have. Our lives must be totally envolved in the "Jesus Way". And not after we have made our material world secure, but rather day by day as we live out our lives we must serve God. What did he say to the rich farmer. Jesus gave us marching orders when he said, "Thou shalt love thy Lord thy Gos with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Why? Because on these two commandments Jesus said hang all the laws of the prophets. Pattern your daily life to obey and be commited to these two commandments and then you shall surely "See the city of God".
Now this is not accomplished by coming to church Sunday morning, or by contributing regularly to the church budget, or by joining a Men's or Women's Society of the church, or by teaching a Sunday School class or by serving on a church commission or board.
Many people are running away from God today by being envolved in "Church work". We must make our commitment either to God or against him. We cannot remain forever poised on the spring board. Eventually we must either jump into the water or get off the board.
All these avenuse of service are necessary and good, but they are not all that was intended by Jesus when he said, "go and sell all that you have and come follow me."
It means that you will honor God in everything that you say and do. It means that you will be concerned about the problems of your neighbor both at home and away. It means that you will be so committed to this concern for others that your service to the local church will become a service of love instead of service duty. And your service to the community outside of the local church will be changed into service of action. Instead of giving lip service to the needs that are all around us we will place ourselves within the circle of need and work, work so that every man might live in dignity, and come to love the Lord God, and to live according to the "Jesus Way". We need to remember that God loves each one of us, as if there were only one of us. This is the total commitment that Jesus was talking about to the rich young man who had sought him out. It is the same today--Jesus is saying to us if you love me, jeep my commandments.
Notice he doesn't say give me lip service alone by saying, "I believe", he says, "keep my commandments". Be envolved, act. -
Harry Emerson Fosdick said something concerning commitment: "No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No steam or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated disciplined." Yes we need to be committed to the Jesus Way to become great.
When then are the outgrowths of this commitment to the "jesus Way" if we make it and truly keep it?
First of all we will have a sure faith to live by, a faith that gives to us the promises of future life. It will make of us humble persons, obedient, loving and sacrificing persons. We will be able to carry on through hardship and suffering, because Jesus knew hardship and suffering, but he overcame, and because he overcame we have the promise that if we endure we will also overcome. The promise is good and true--there shall be no more sorrowing no more suffering, no more pain. " Jesus has overcame". So you see we are made enduring Christians because we are committed to the "Jesus Way". And we will be made loving Christians. Jesus said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me: shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
Now what are the results or benefits of commitment. The basic ingredient involved with commitment is "faith". The Bible says faith is the assurance of things hoped for the proving of things not seen. People who are committed to the "Jesus Way" have a firm belief and will remain true to the pilgrimage to the "City of God". This pilgrimage is what life is all about.
And then we will become witnesses to the "Jesus way". This is a blessing of commitment. And never say that you are not good enough to be witness, because you will be saying, "I am not a Christian." When we think of witnessing we naturally think of speaking words, but remember you make your greatest witness with your lives, the way you live and the way you act. Phillip brooks said, "It does not take great men to do great things, it only takes consecrated men." So each of us as we commit ourselves to Christ can do great things, he gives us this power.
Commitment then is handing God a blank sheet to fill in, with your name at the bottom.
Christ calls to us, "Follow Me." What will your answer be?
Let us pray--
PRAYER:
Have thine own way, Lord
Have thine own way
Thou art the Potter, We are the clay
Mold us and Make us
According to thy will
While we are waiting
Yielded and still. Amen
Noe add -
Instead of being work horses we turn into hobby horses
1962
THE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER:
Oh Lord God, who hast bidden the light to shine out of darkness, and who hast again wakened us to prasie thy goodness and ask for thy grace: accept now the sacrifice of our worship and thanksgiving. Make us to be children of light and of the day, and heirs of thine everlasting inheritance. Remember, O God, thy whole Church, our brethren in every land. Pour out the riches of thy mercy, so that we, being redeemed, and steadfast in faith, may ever praise thy wonderful and holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
RESPONSIVE READING: #623 THE LORD CREATED MAN
SCRIPTURE: EPHESIANS 2nd Chapter
HYMN: OF PREPARATION: #170 JESUS CALLS US, O'ER THE TUMULT
COMMITMENT
Websters says that commitment is an agreement or pledge to do something in the future, it is the state of being obliged or bound to do something. Webster also says commitment is a moral choice that involves a person in a definite course of action.
I think you will agree that our lives are bound by commitment. We are committed to a daily work schedule. If we are house wives we are committed to a schedule in order to maintain a peaceful, orderly clean home for the family. If we are a working person we are committed to a work schedule by an agreement. We who are married commit ourselves to a life long partnership in marriage. The success of that partnership is related to the degree to which we adhere to the vows we made together in marriage ritual. We each of us commit ourselves to many causes and many things in our daily lives, and we feel honor bound to uphold every commitment that we make, and this right and good.
But these are not the commitments i want to talk with you about this morning, however the commitments I'm going to talk about deserves the same or I should say a higher place of honor in our lives.
I want to talk to you this morning about commitment to God through Jesus Christ, about commitment to the Christian life as outlined in the Scriptures.
Let's approach this subject from three basic points, namely, the "Reasons" for commitment, (2) the outgrowth of commitment, and (3) the result or perhaps a better word than results would be the benefits of commitment.
What are the "Reasons" for commitment to God and the Christian Life?
In today's world it is hardly respectable to be good. We see this in the attitudes of many younger people and some that are not so young. As churchmen today in the twentieth century we are constantly seeking the comforts of life and are feverishly striving to build security for our old age. When we attain this in our material world, when we have a nice home, a good job and money in the bank for our old age, we suddenly discover that something is missing, that all this is not enough. We want to be sure also about security in the life to come. So as we search for the ways to obtain this assurance of security we are driven to the Bible and God's plan of salvation that is set forth in it's pages. The Bible is a window in this prison world, through which we may look into eternity.
Each of us has within ourself this need, this drive, to seek out God's way as he has set it forth in the life and teachings of his son Jesus Christ. Today more than ever we need to be committed to the "Jesus Way". And just what is the "Jesus Way"?
First of all it is total. He told the rich young man to go and sell all he had and then to come and follow him. I believe that commitment today must also be total, not that we must sell all tha we have, but rather we must commit all that we are and have. Our lives must be totally envolved in the "Jesus Way". And not after we have made our material world secure, but rather day by day as we live out our lives we must serve God. What did he say to the rich farmer. Jesus gave us marching orders when he said, "Thou shalt love thy Lord thy Gos with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Why? Because on these two commandments Jesus said hang all the laws of the prophets. Pattern your daily life to obey and be commited to these two commandments and then you shall surely "See the city of God".
Now this is not accomplished by coming to church Sunday morning, or by contributing regularly to the church budget, or by joining a Men's or Women's Society of the church, or by teaching a Sunday School class or by serving on a church commission or board.
Many people are running away from God today by being envolved in "Church work". We must make our commitment either to God or against him. We cannot remain forever poised on the spring board. Eventually we must either jump into the water or get off the board.
All these avenuse of service are necessary and good, but they are not all that was intended by Jesus when he said, "go and sell all that you have and come follow me."
It means that you will honor God in everything that you say and do. It means that you will be concerned about the problems of your neighbor both at home and away. It means that you will be so committed to this concern for others that your service to the local church will become a service of love instead of service duty. And your service to the community outside of the local church will be changed into service of action. Instead of giving lip service to the needs that are all around us we will place ourselves within the circle of need and work, work so that every man might live in dignity, and come to love the Lord God, and to live according to the "Jesus Way". We need to remember that God loves each one of us, as if there were only one of us. This is the total commitment that Jesus was talking about to the rich young man who had sought him out. It is the same today--Jesus is saying to us if you love me, jeep my commandments.
Notice he doesn't say give me lip service alone by saying, "I believe", he says, "keep my commandments". Be envolved, act. -
Harry Emerson Fosdick said something concerning commitment: "No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed. No steam or gas drives anything until it is confined. No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled. No life ever grows until it is focused, dedicated disciplined." Yes we need to be committed to the Jesus Way to become great.
When then are the outgrowths of this commitment to the "jesus Way" if we make it and truly keep it?
First of all we will have a sure faith to live by, a faith that gives to us the promises of future life. It will make of us humble persons, obedient, loving and sacrificing persons. We will be able to carry on through hardship and suffering, because Jesus knew hardship and suffering, but he overcame, and because he overcame we have the promise that if we endure we will also overcome. The promise is good and true--there shall be no more sorrowing no more suffering, no more pain. " Jesus has overcame". So you see we are made enduring Christians because we are committed to the "Jesus Way". And we will be made loving Christians. Jesus said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me: shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."
Now what are the results or benefits of commitment. The basic ingredient involved with commitment is "faith". The Bible says faith is the assurance of things hoped for the proving of things not seen. People who are committed to the "Jesus Way" have a firm belief and will remain true to the pilgrimage to the "City of God". This pilgrimage is what life is all about.
And then we will become witnesses to the "Jesus way". This is a blessing of commitment. And never say that you are not good enough to be witness, because you will be saying, "I am not a Christian." When we think of witnessing we naturally think of speaking words, but remember you make your greatest witness with your lives, the way you live and the way you act. Phillip brooks said, "It does not take great men to do great things, it only takes consecrated men." So each of us as we commit ourselves to Christ can do great things, he gives us this power.
Commitment then is handing God a blank sheet to fill in, with your name at the bottom.
Christ calls to us, "Follow Me." What will your answer be?
Let us pray--
PRAYER:
Have thine own way, Lord
Have thine own way
Thou art the Potter, We are the clay
Mold us and Make us
According to thy will
While we are waiting
Yielded and still. Amen
Noe add -
Instead of being work horses we turn into hobby horses
1962
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